The Ice, Science and the Midnight Sun

Walking on the Ice, the frozen ocean, Antarctica!

Today is a warm sunny day (warm spell here, it is 21 degrees F!) so I walked out onto "the Ice", the frozen ocean. 

I have been here in Antarctica now going on seven weeks.  It is much different here now than it was when I first got here.

First of all, the sun now is up 24 / 7.  The sun spirals around in the sky and does not set anymore.  The last sunset here was on Oct 24th.    When I first got here end of September it was also much colder, windier, and the light was more like twilight.  But now it is very bright.  Day and night, it is bright sunlight, the Midnight Sun.

The other big difference is that now there are so many people here, about 1200 or so.  When I first got here,  there were only about 300 or 400 people.  So the pace and activity level is now much more intense!

Sea Urchins at Crary Lab

A starfish in the Crary lab, animals that live under the Ice

They put in a tube  that goes down into the ocean and under the ice so you can climb down in it and see under the water.  Many have seen seals, fish, the divers, etc.  So I climbed down there, about 25 to 30 feet down in a small tube (not for the claustrophobic) that looks like going down into a manhole from the frozen ocean top down into the water under the ice.  It was pretty wild seeing the ice up top and looking at it from underwater!    I saw some teeny tiny fish, but no other wild life.  Darn!  I still have not seen one penguin here!  I have seen a few Skua birds (aggressive seagull like birds) but no penguins or seals.

Piston Bully, vehicle you travel in on the Ice

Tonight I will attend a science lecture at the Crary lab on penguins!  Every week Crary lab has lectures by the scientists who are doing research projects here.  

See the Piston bully, the little red vehicle with tracks, this is one way they travel out on the ice to get to various remote locations to do their research, wherever it may be here in Antarctica.  Other ways of travel are helicopter and C-130s. 

If you would like to read more about the research projects and the science here, go to the United States Antarctic Program website.  Here is the link:  http://www.usap.gov/

McMurdo also has a live webcam, check it out!  Link:  http://www.usap.gov/videoclipsandmaps/mcmwebcam.cfm 

I am now winding down my 60 day tour here and preparing for my replacement to arrive tomorrow.  

I am here only a few more days...