46 ASTRONOMY • FEBRUARY 2018
McMurdo, or Mac Town, as the inhabitants affectionately call
it, has the feel of a small town. People watch out for each other,
help preserve the delicate polar environment, and even make sure
everyone has an occasional dose of entertainment through local
bands and parties. The station has its own health center, store,
hair salon, gym, coffeehouse, bar, and chapel. And perhaps best of
all, it has an extensive galley — complete with fresh-baked cook-
ies, a pizza bar, and a hamburger joint — that’s open 24/7.
But for us, McMurdo was a means to an end: an expedition
to Mount Erebus. Before arriving at the southern outpost, the
National Science Foundation (NSF), which manages the Antarctic
Program, insists that all prospective visitors and researchers sub-
mit to a series of medical tests. The NSF has a good reason. While
McMurdo’s medical facilities are impressive for such a remote
locale, Antarctica is unforgiving. Even medical evacuation flights
operate at the mercy of the capricious weather.
McMurdo serves as the hub for many deep field camps that
support research on the vast ice plains where meteorite hunts
take place, at South Pole satellite camps, and in the McMurdo
Dry Valleys, which are some of the most Mars-like places on
Earth. The station also serves as the training center for anyone
destined to go to those camps or to the Amundsen-Scott South
Pole Station. We were heading to the remote Lower Erebus Hut
near the volcano’s crest, so our trip qualified for in-depth training
and classroom experience.
Depending on the environment for which they are bound,
researchers must be trained in polar survival, crevasse climbing,
high-altitude medicine, erecting emergency tents, snowmobile and
helicopter travel, and cleaning up environmental spills. (We had
training in all of these.) But not everyone travels to Antarctica as
part of the NSF’s science research program; we went under the
auspices of the foundation’s Writers and Artists Program. The NSF
chooses participants in this program the same way it selects scien-
tists — an external panel of experts conducts a competitive review.
We did not receive a grant as scientists do, however. Rather, the
NSF housed and fed us, supplied us with Big Reds — a formidable
set of standard extreme-weather clothing — furnished us with an
expert mountaineer, and got us into the field.
As our helicopter lifted off and took us toward our lofty desti-
nation, we contemplated other volcanoes even farther afield.Volcanoes in the solar system
Volcanoes sprout across the faces of many planets and moons.
They have played, and in many cases continue to play, an impor-
tant role in sculpting the objects’ surfaces and atmospheres.
Volcanoes enriched Earth’s primordial atmosphere; in fact, muchStairs lead down to the door of the Lower Erebus Hut, seen here at roof level
against the slope of Mount Erebus, which is shrouded in mist. MICHAEL CARROLL
Far Left: A ski-equipped LC-130
Hercules aircraft lands at Williams
Field on the Ross Ice Shelf. Mount
Erebus looms behind the wing
tanks. MICHAEL CARROLLLeft: A National Science Foundation
helicopter pauses at the Lower
Erebus Hut before returning to
McMurdo Station. ROSALY LOPESBelow: A halo surrounds the
Sun above the stark beauty of
Fang Glacier, which lies 9,000 feet
(2,740 m) above sea level. EVAN MILLER