Making a Crater in Antarctica

Making a Crater in Antarctica

In order to dispose of a few pounds of PETN explosives at WAIS Divide Field Camp, the decision was made to simple blow them up under the snow. The alternative was to go through the certification process for transporting by air back to McMurdo, which would have been a bit overkill, given the small amount of explosives remaining. I believe this was about 15lbs of explosives, buried a few feet under the snow. Everybody stood a long ways back, and the resulting explosion made a huge plume of burnt snow, and left a nice sized crater. Never a dull moment at WAIS!

Blowing up 15lbs of PETN in Antarctica
Blowing up 15lbs of PETN in Antarctica
The crater left behind.
The crater left behind.