Scientists to do global warming research - Yahoo! News

MCCHORD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. - The U.S. Air Force has begun a two-week effort to haul scientists, supplies and equipment from this base for global warming research in Antarctica.
A group of 20 people arrived Sunday in Christchurch, New Zealand, en route to McMurdo Station in Antarctica for Operation Deep Freeze, the military's annual mission to support U.S. research on the ice-clad continent.
Small teams of pilots, loadmasters and maintainers were flown to Christchurch starting in August, followed by shipments of fresh fruits and vegetables for McMurdo. The flights also carry workers and equipment to prepare the sea ice runway for the main flying season between late September and early March, when more than 50 C-17s are scheduled to touch down at McMurdo.
McChord has about three dozen personnel at Christchurch split about evenly between aircraft maintenance personnel, loadmasters and pilots from the regular duty 62nd Airlift Wing and the reserve 446th Airlift Wing at McChord. Their shifts last from a couple of weeks to a month.
On Monday, Air Force officials said, some flew the first of eight missions that are scheduled through the end of the month. They took 80 researchers and support workers, five National Science Board members and parts of a massive telescope the
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Crew members are chosen for the assignment based on performance, experience and attitude.
"This is definitely a good mission. Everybody wants to get on it," Senior Master Sgt. Dave Stotts, a reservist from Lacey who has flown on 34 Deep Freeze trips, told The News Tribune of Tacoma.
New Zealand is "a nice area, a beautiful place to be," he said. "You get time off between missions, plus you're going to Antarctica, a place that hardly any people can get to."
Master Sgt. Leon Harper, a reserve loadmaster who has been flying Deep Freeze since the early 1990s, said the mission also improves military readiness by expanding the range of experience for loadmasters whose previous work may have been almost entirely on flights to and from
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"We're flying families, space-available passengers, there are different procedures," Harper said. "They don't get all that.
"It's a nice break. Christchurch is a far sight different than Kandahar or Balad."