Q & A

Q: Does it get dark enough down there to see any stars?
A: No it does not. Even during the middle of the night, the sun is out and shining. The only time it "darkens" is when clouds or storms move through and block the sun. But even then, the light level is only that of early evening before sunset.

Q: Or will it get dark enough by the time you leave to see stars?
A: It will not. McMurdo's next sunset is expected to occur on February 21, 2012, a couple weeks after I am scheduled to leave.

Friday, December 30, 2011

Hut Point Hike Redux

McMurdo's appearance has almost inverted in the 3 months I've been here.  As the summer has progressed, the white background with brown speckles has become a brown, dusty background with white speckles.  Our Christmas Day weather was quite nice so I hiked the Hut Point ridge line again and took some updated pictures.  Below are a couple sets that best illustrate the changes.











Finally, another short video from the hike.  This video starts looking at White Island and pans by Black Island and the Royal Society Range.  About 5 seconds into the video, the path leading out onto the sea ice is the old road that used to lead out to the Sea Ice Runway (the vague rectangular area also seen).  The speckling seen around 10 seconds in, below Black Island, is Pegasus Runway.  The runway was moved from the sea ice to the ice shelf the first weekend of December as the sea ice conditions deteriorated.

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2 comments:

  1. Virginia (aka Mom)December 30, 2011 at 6:23 PM

    Today on MPR Ira Flatow talked with a scientist/PhD student doing research on Mt. Erebus. I checked their website (ScienceFriday)and it's kinda fun to see - but not as good as your pics & posts!

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  2. Melanie RaineJanuary 1, 2012 at 8:22 AM

    This is all so very cool, R.E. I'm glad you have the opportunity to do this. Well done.

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