It's been seven years since anyone has been able to explore any ice caves near McMurdo Station, Antarctica. The caves have not existed since the summer season of 2001 due to the dynamic changes in the sea ice surrounding the edge of the glacier tongue, a long and narrow sheet of ice jutting out from the coast.
The “caves” are not really caves per say, but instead are crevasses that are covered by snow bridges with a re-frozen seawater floor. The Erebus Glacier had been held back from surging at a steady pace toward the sea by the frozen sea ice surrounding it. This increasingly built up the potential energy of the glacier tongue. Finally, this past season, when the sea ice edge started to recede south toward the glacier tongue, the energy was released and the glacier surged forward, causing large chunks of glacier ice to break off the edge of the tongue. Once the movement had settled, the tip of the Erebus Glacier Tongue was left as the vertical blue wall of ice that can now be seen. A small portion of the edge folded forward to create the crevasse that is now accessible to enter. There are snows steps that have been cut to gain access to the entrance into the Ice cave.
Visitors enter the cave by sliding down a slope into the cave, which is walled by the actual glacier. Along the entrance to and inside the cave, there are ice crystals, ice stalactites, and varied shades of blue light filtering through the ice and snow bridge overhead. It was truly and exciting to ride this ice slide but I remain speechless about my view once I hit the bottom. When my feet landed I was surrounded by the most beautiful vision of God's creation I have ever seen in the natural world. This photo was snapped of me when I hit the bottom and the look on my face speaks of utter amazement and awe. A tear came to my eyes and the tour guide looked at me and said: "Oh, Father Jon...it's okay!" I said: "It's more than OKAY, God is amazing!"
Here is the Frozen Chosen amidst God's Deep Blue Something!
I continue to be amazed by the beauty of what surrounded me!
Once beyond the entrance, everything is blue. This is the true color of the interior of the cave. The ice is blue because the red/yellow wavelengths from the full spectrum of light coming from the sun is not refracted more than a meter inside the ice. The blue wavelength has enough energy to penetrate deep inside the ice and scatter. Red has the slowest wavelength and is quickly absorbed by the dense ice. Without the red/yellow wavelength available in the ice environment, the human eye reads the aura of the ice as blue. It all has to do with the electromagnetic spectrum and the relative energy of each wavelength of photons.
Enough science....I wish these photos did the beauty justice.
This ice cave has left and indelible mark of God's Deep Blue Something on my life forever!
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