In January of 2005 a visit was made to the Ross Sea, on the Southern Ocean of Antarctic.  The transport was by a Russian icebreaker.  Visits were made to several sites accessible only by helicopter, such as the cabins where the Shackleton and Scott explorations started.  Fortunately the weather was fair and allowed a large number of pictures to be taken.

One unique spot shown in this series is the Dry Valley. This is a region near the coastline where there is encapsulated between ice sheets and glaciers a very large and long valley without cover beyond the rich variety of stone and larger rocks.  Because of its unique situation neither snow nor other precipitation lands on the surface.  As can be seen in one of the images is the desiccated remains of a seal.  Naturalists state that this valley has remained dry for eons.