Antarctic ditzels #3
Time once again to pass along a few trivial tidbits - -
1) I just realized last night that the sun moves in the wrong direction here [I KNEW something is weird about this place . . .]. Let me explain: picture yourself standing somewhere in the northern hemisphere. It's noon and you are facing toward the sun [which means your nose is pointing South]. The sun rises to your left [East] and sets to your right [West]. This is "normal". Down here the sun is North at noon; the weird part is that it moves from my right [still East, though] to my left. Another way to look at it - - if the sun moves clockwise to you, it moves anti-clockwise to me.
2) Speaking of the sun, don't put too much stock in the weather forecasts here. If there is no wind and it's +30 degrees out, it feels very pleasant. But if a slight breeze comes up my fingers go numb rather quickly even in 100gm Thinsulate gloves. Even though it's almost the longest* day of the year here, the sun has no real warmth. A couple days ago I could see liquid water from snow melt, fog rising from the water and "diamond dust" all simultaneously. Diamond dust is very fine ice crystals that blow around. I have become a very big fan of wind pants.
3) Skuas [Antarctic gulls] deserve their soiled reputation. They are the original "dirty birds". Not only are they large [about 1 1/2 times the size of ordinary gulls], they are VERY aggressive in certain circumstances. Several times recently unsuspecting people have left the Galley with trays of food, the plates covered with cellophane, to take to their dorms. Walking across the open areas outside these people have been dive-bombed by the skuas who generally knock the trays out of the victims hands and inhale the food - - almost literally. As I was coming around a corner, one skua swallowed a chicken wing, bones and all, in one gulp and then proceeded to finish off the rest of the plate. I didn't see that one but a friend described it to me within 30 seconds of its occurence. When I got there the skua was just swallowing the last bite.
4) LDB: The "balloonatics" have been ready to launch their first 'long duration balloon' package since 7 December; and every day the launch has been cancelled due to weather. They need pretty still air to get it off the ground - - the package is worth several million dollars and they don't want it to collide with Mt Erebus, which is 12,448 feet tall and only 15 miles away.**
5) The annual ice runway is now closed for the season. It has to be more than 6 feet thick for planes to safely land on it. When I arrived in the beginning of October it was 18 - 20 feet thick. In the next couple weeks the Krasin [a Russian icebreaker] will arrive to break a channel for the supply vessel which arrives in January. Hopefully, we will get a big blow after the channel is opened; 3 or 4 days of a steady wind would probably clear ice out of the Sound. If we have good open water, we will probably see lots of wildlife - - Weddell seals, penguins and orcas [killer whales]. I may not be here to see that - - right at the moment, I'm manifested to go to the South Pole from 17 December 2005 to 6 January 2006. I hope to be back after this to see the wildlife; but I've been told to take everything with me - - so I may not see McMurdo again this season. You never know . . .
*translation: the sun is almost as high as it gets - - it's been visible 24 hours a day for almost 2 months and will be for another 2 months at McMurdo Station: 77.5 degrees S
** additional note: LDB was finally able to launch their first balloon of the season [there will be two] on 12/16/05 at 5:10 AM. It was very foggy, so we couldn't see it from Town. LDB controls the package from here for about 6 hours then hands off control to their headquarters in Palestine, TX until it's time to bring it back down.
1) I just realized last night that the sun moves in the wrong direction here [I KNEW something is weird about this place . . .]. Let me explain: picture yourself standing somewhere in the northern hemisphere. It's noon and you are facing toward the sun [which means your nose is pointing South]. The sun rises to your left [East] and sets to your right [West]. This is "normal". Down here the sun is North at noon; the weird part is that it moves from my right [still East, though] to my left. Another way to look at it - - if the sun moves clockwise to you, it moves anti-clockwise to me.
2) Speaking of the sun, don't put too much stock in the weather forecasts here. If there is no wind and it's +30 degrees out, it feels very pleasant. But if a slight breeze comes up my fingers go numb rather quickly even in 100gm Thinsulate gloves. Even though it's almost the longest* day of the year here, the sun has no real warmth. A couple days ago I could see liquid water from snow melt, fog rising from the water and "diamond dust" all simultaneously. Diamond dust is very fine ice crystals that blow around. I have become a very big fan of wind pants.
3) Skuas [Antarctic gulls] deserve their soiled reputation. They are the original "dirty birds". Not only are they large [about 1 1/2 times the size of ordinary gulls], they are VERY aggressive in certain circumstances. Several times recently unsuspecting people have left the Galley with trays of food, the plates covered with cellophane, to take to their dorms. Walking across the open areas outside these people have been dive-bombed by the skuas who generally knock the trays out of the victims hands and inhale the food - - almost literally. As I was coming around a corner, one skua swallowed a chicken wing, bones and all, in one gulp and then proceeded to finish off the rest of the plate. I didn't see that one but a friend described it to me within 30 seconds of its occurence. When I got there the skua was just swallowing the last bite.
4) LDB: The "balloonatics" have been ready to launch their first 'long duration balloon' package since 7 December; and every day the launch has been cancelled due to weather. They need pretty still air to get it off the ground - - the package is worth several million dollars and they don't want it to collide with Mt Erebus, which is 12,448 feet tall and only 15 miles away.**
5) The annual ice runway is now closed for the season. It has to be more than 6 feet thick for planes to safely land on it. When I arrived in the beginning of October it was 18 - 20 feet thick. In the next couple weeks the Krasin [a Russian icebreaker] will arrive to break a channel for the supply vessel which arrives in January. Hopefully, we will get a big blow after the channel is opened; 3 or 4 days of a steady wind would probably clear ice out of the Sound. If we have good open water, we will probably see lots of wildlife - - Weddell seals, penguins and orcas [killer whales]. I may not be here to see that - - right at the moment, I'm manifested to go to the South Pole from 17 December 2005 to 6 January 2006. I hope to be back after this to see the wildlife; but I've been told to take everything with me - - so I may not see McMurdo again this season. You never know . . .
*translation: the sun is almost as high as it gets - - it's been visible 24 hours a day for almost 2 months and will be for another 2 months at McMurdo Station: 77.5 degrees S
** additional note: LDB was finally able to launch their first balloon of the season [there will be two] on 12/16/05 at 5:10 AM. It was very foggy, so we couldn't see it from Town. LDB controls the package from here for about 6 hours then hands off control to their headquarters in Palestine, TX until it's time to bring it back down.
