Another week surrounded by the crowding mass of yahoos within the confines of the asylum which is Davis station. A full week of work around station undertaking several different surveys. Activities performed included a reference mark survey of the permanent GPS station, levelling between tide gauge bench marks, GPS surveys, slushy work, an infrasound survey and a topographic feature survey as a favour for a biologist on station. It is all well and good to keep busy but one must keep in mind that ALL WORK AND NO PLAY MAKES ALEX A DULL BOY.
Although we have been particularly busy on station this week, a nutcase biologist also asked us to survey the old elephant seal wallow with the main feature of the survey being drill hole samples taken in deposits of seal fur. The biologists had drilled through metre high mounds which were made up of layer upon layer of seal fur, malted each year. A survey was requested to observe the position and height of the samples, with respect to each other, the surrounding wallow and water level on the nearby shore. The survey also provided them with a nice little map of the wallow. Of course, to perform the survey involved getting in amongst the colossal beasts, within biting distance, and who better to do that than your humble narrator. The wallow contained about 15 massive seals at the time of survey and I mean massive, some of them weigh several tonnes. There mass makes them pretty slow which was an advantage to the nimble footed surveyor, trying not to upset them too much and get away with his feet attached. Elephant seals aren’t the most modest creatures, constantly snorting, growling and lying around in their own filth. The wallow smells pretty bad as you might expect, comparable to the smell of tanning factories or abattoirs on a hot day, or the royal show. The seals aren’t the brightest animals either, with their thought processes not extending much beyond competing with each other for space. Fighting and confronting each other is just about all they do, practicing all their lives, starting from when they are pups. Despite all this the survey was completed successfully and the seals were quite good natured about my intrusion into their domain. I think some of the seals followed me back to Davis (like little lambs) and I can still hear them growling and snorting (not screaming) on the shore nearby my donga at night.
When we were in the deep field we had to melt snow for water. This is a slow process but at least you know where the water is from and that it is clean. On station the plumbers make the drinking water. They do this through a process called reverse osmosis in which sea water is forced through a membrane skin which extracts the salt from the water. I refuse to drink this water and am continuing to melt snow for my drinking water as I am convinced that there is a conspiracy on station in which the plumbers are trying to sap and impurify all of my precious bodily fluids. I will continue to deny them my essence.
