...we entered the new large, multi-wing, Crary Science Lab building. (That's the gray building near the middle of the base with several perpendicular wings.) Inside, it looked just like a modern hospital. I was amazed by the difference from the outside. Inside, you'd never know you were in Antarctica.
Looking down the hill inside Crary Lab
We were shown some of the offices and labs. The offices were very basic: Steelcase furniture and a computer or two in most. I noticed that the first computer I saw was a Mac IIci, which I found several more of throughout the offices. Other included Zenith and other PC compatibles.
Researcher offices within Crary Lab
The labs were also fairly standard, with lots of equipment for chemical and biological analysis, hooked up to computers of various types.
A lab room inside Crary Lab
Upstairs, we saw the telecomputing lab, where the big computers are and where the network is available.
McMurdo's telecomputing lab (with David Walden)
I saw two Sun SPARCstation 2 systems being used for satellite image processing and data analysis, a couple of small PC clones, another IICi, and a Quadra 950. The Quadra was running NCSA Telnet! I was fortunate enough to be able to meet a supervisor at the lab (David Walden), who gave me his business card. I'll be trying to contact him when I get back to Ann Arbor for sure.
SPARCstation II with imaging software, and David
We got a view of the Marco Polo out the window of the lab. The outside certainly looked different when we weren't feeling the wind or cold!
The Marco Polo, from the telecomputing lab window