Origins ANTARCTICA, Scientific Journeys from McMurdo to the Pole
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Field Notes

Our crew scratched, sniffed, listened, watched, talked and flew their way through Antarctica. You can experience their exploits through these Field Notes. Plunge in and experience the penguins, glaciers and snowstorms!
 
Past Notes
1.11.02 A Taste of Life
1.10.02 Glaciers in the Desert
1.07.02 Antarctic Feelings
1.04.02 Melt a Glacier
1.03.02 Welcome to the South Pole
1.03.02 Meet Chico
1.02.02 Balloon Illusion
1.01.01 Shooting the Ground
1.01.02 Cold, Clear and Quiet
12.31.01 Five senses on Erebus
12.28.01 Sounds Like Antarctica
12.26.01 Balloon Over Antarctica
12.25.01 Christmas on The Ice
12.22.01 Flying Geologists
12.20.01 Climbing Erebus
12.20.01 Blowing in the Wind
12.19.01 Volcano on Ice
12.18.01 Finally, Some Weather
12.15.01 Iron Science
12.15.01 Penguin Ranch
12.14.01 Antarctic Odors
12.13.01 Antarctic Light
12.12.01 A Coal in the Icebox
12.07.01 Lessons on the Sea Ice
11.30.01 From Green to White
11.26.01 Antarctic Fashion
 
Latest from the Field
  A lump of cyanobacteria on the shores of Lake Chad.
 
A Taste of Life in a Dry Valley
by Paul Doherty
January 11, 2002

There is little to smell or taste when hiking through the Dry Valleys of Antarctica. The air, water, ice and rock give off few molecules detectable by the human taste buds or nose. But, lack of smell or taste in water does not mean that it is safe to drink, as the men in Scott's expedition discovered when they drank the water of Lake Chad in the Taylor Dry Valley. This is the story of how they came to name this lake, as told to me by Dr. John Priscu, and expert on the native life in the Dry Valleys.
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