But if the Aliens from the antarctic Predator temple come you have to stay frosty.

Hicks knows best.

"Check it out. Independently targeting particle-beam phalanx. Whap! Fry half a city with this puppy! We got tactical smart missiles, phase plasma pulse rifles, RPG's... we got Sonic Electronic Ball-Breakers! We got nukes. We got knives, sharp sticks."
~Hudson

We've got plenty of bamboo flag poles with which to make sharp sticks, but there is a decided lack of that other gear on-station...

So?

"This little girl survived for longer than that with no weapons and no training."

Never mind the aliens.

Any chance of getting some good pics of this kind of stuff?
http://www.atoptics.co.uk/
Try this book by Minnaert if you can find an affordable edition.
Where I am, the best I can hope for is rainbows & sundogs. It seems like the best pics come from Finland and Antarctica.

Cusp, I missed all this! Norwegian flag and all-- just now caught up via The Man's blog -- wow!

Yes, SRu, there have been a decent number of halos and sun dogs this season at Pole, but I seem to never have my camera handy when they occur.

Stay tuned, Aisha, because I'm only 3 months into my 13-month contract here at Pole.

I saw the halo pic in your blog, Cusptech. Cool. I hope you get to see some more of the fun ones. Lots of clear air, and no shortage of ice crystals.

CuspTech, this is great. Have you been able to photograph the aurora australis yet in any meaningful way? (I've seen the aurora borealis in Russia, and can't imagine being able to get that properly on film.)

Also, we haven't met before, so I hope you will forgive my utter crassness in saying "Holy shit, you're in the Antarctic! I'm writhing in jealousy!"

Greetings Hive, and no worries about any "crassness".

There has not been any opportunity to photograph the auroras as the sun is still up and will stay up until sometime in April. We'll eventually have about three weeks of dusk as the sun gradually dips below the horizon, and even once it's actually below the horizon it will look like it's still somewhat up due to some bending effects of the atmosphere. We should have plenty of time to get aurora photographs by the time the sun comes back up in late September, though.

I had twigged that you've been there since late last year, and yet I didn't even consider the glaringly obvious thing of there not being any dark! All I can offer in mitigation of this ridiculousness is that I am a Northern creature, and it's difficult to keep Southern patterns in mind when it is dark here by 5 pm...

Anyway, I did enjoy reading your blog, and look forward to reading more over the course of your contract.

No worries. You've not asked if I've seen any polar bears in Antarctica, so you're golden. It's going to be awesome when the sun finally sets and the lights go out. Actually, I think we're supposed to have an 80% solar eclipse down here roundabouts the seventh of February, so that should be an interesting little teaser of what winter will be like.

That whole boreal/austral effect is super strange. Coming home last year I went from the beginning of winter in Antarctica to late summer in New Zealand to fall in South America to spring in the States.

quote:

Originally posted by CuspTech:
You've not asked if I've seen any polar bears in Antarctica, so you're golden.

*sniggers* ...thanks.

I'm soon taking my kid to an interactive exhibition at the Natural History Museum in London, called "Ice Station Antarctica", curated with the British Antarctic Survey, which advertises itself as an unparallelled opportunity to "smell some penguin vomit". How glamorous they make it sound!

That's neat that you and your child will have the opportunity to go see an exhibition like that. I haven't encountered any polar exhibits in museums anywhere besides Christchurch, New Zealand, which is our gateway to Antarctica for McMurdo, Pole, and the field camps they serve.

I've never smelled a penguin rookery, but I gather it is an olfactory experience nonpareil on the continent. Here at Pole nothing is alive, or organic for that matter, so it's a pretty benign environment when it comes to smells.

I was going to ask if there was anything living down there, but you just answered.

quote:

Originally posted by CuspTech:

I've never smelled a penguin rookery, but I gather it is an olfactory experience nonpareil on the continent. Here at Pole nothing is alive, or organic for that matter, so it's a pretty benign environment when it comes to smells.

I like the purity of that. One of the reasons I like the cold, I think.

CuspTech:
"We'll eventually have about three weeks of dusk..."

Aaahhhh...such light!

The environment here at Pole is definitely simple. It definitely doesn't impose itself upon you like a range of mountains or a forest does.

Dusk and night are going to totally transform this place. I guess full moons are almost surreal down here in the winter. It's also going to be just a little bit colder, which will be an interesting experience as well.

CuspTech,

I once shot a 20 minute exposure of a comet and the North Star with portrait film rated the lowest ASA I'd ever found...20? 30? 40? Long time ago. I got the entire heavens in motion, in color, North Star fixed, with comet.

I don't know digital tech, but I am hoping you can pull off some kind of timed exposure down there that we can't do up here with your extended crepuscular light! [I can wait.]

I don't have that fancy a camera, but there are some serious photogs down here that will probably be all over the sunset and aurora scene this winter. We'll have 5 months of night, so that should give folks plenty of time to hone their skills. Some folks hope to set up a dark room from which to print digital negatives. I'll share links to folks' pictures as they come.

The sun is now less than one of my hand's-widths from the horizon, but we won't have true twilight until April. This place is amazing in its gradual slide from one extreme to another. Temps are plunging though, and our wind chill was in the -90F range (-96F was the lowest I saw today). I got pretty frozen while we were running an emergency response drill this morning.

Anyhow, gotta sleep now.

"We'll have 5 months of night..."
Surreal conditions. Looking forward to seeing what your compadres come up with.

"...wind chill was in the -90F range (-96F was the lowest I saw today)."

Stay warm and keep posting!
And thanks for all your information.