A Different Kind of Lazy Sunday.

Kicking back in the greenhouse.
As my time here has worn on, I have become more worn out. Sometimes, I think the best way to recharge my batteries is to go hike. Other times, I do nothing. My Sundays have usually been dedicated to nothing. This Sunday, I got sick of doing nothing in my room (two movies and lots of reading), so I decided to change it up.


Tomatoes on the vine.


The Fun house or the Greenhouse?
I braved miserable condition two weather to head up to the greenhouse. I actually couldn't find the greenhouse at first. When I finally found it, it was an oasis of light and warmth. It was wonderful. Over the summer, I headed up to the greenhouse a few times, but I just haven't made it up over the winter much. It is probably the best place to have a phone conversation on station because no one is usually up there after work hours and it the greenery gives it a great energy.


Tomatoes and flowers.


GREENERY!
Most of these pictures didn't come out right. The lighting causes them to turn out yellow. I need to figure out my white balance and how to adjust it in photoshop. I also need to find a computer with photoshop. I should have brought my copy down. So much to learn. Such is life. This is what you get for now. (EDIT: B-Nelson edited some of these photos for me so they are better than in the original post).


ET searches for Yoda on Dagobah.
The greenhouse is a good place. Too bad these photos just don't do it justice. Back home, I don't even know if this would be an attractive greenhouse to me. I am normally drawn to flower gardens over vegetable gardens. Antarctica is simply so devoid of color and life that the greenhouse stands in such stark contrast to it. That contrast draws me in.


Happy Me.

Night photography deserves a quiet night.

Peter and James take pictures at Raysat.
Most of my photography trips this year have been hikes. This past weekend, I tried something new. We loaded into a van and just drove up the hill. The aurora forecast was high, but a storm was also rolling in. We'd be lucky to get anything before the clouds came.


McMurdo, the Pegasus shortcut road, and the Pegasus runway with lights.
Because no auroras were in sight, we focused our cameras on other sights. I had tried to capture town and the Pegasus runway lights in April, but neither one worked because I didn't know how to use my camera well enough. Now that I have finally figured it out, I got a picture I was happy with. Normally, the Pegasus lights aren't on, but we might have a Medivac later this week and so they have been preparing the runway just in case. The Medivac isn't likely to go, but they need a lot of time to set it up.


The Hut Point Peninsula looking back towards Mt. Erebus.
I'm not entirely sure why, but it felt a lot colder than the temperature was reading. It might have been the wind, but I think it had more to do with driving up. Normally, when I hike I generate a lot of body heat. While driving, I generate none. Luckily, we could just hop back in the van to warm up for a bit. I might take a few more van rides, but I'll probably stick to hiking if weather and time permit.


Raysat and James (to the left of the ball).
Don't be fooled by the next picture. It was taken at night with a fifteen second exposure. The moon definitely lights this place up but not that much. The sun is coming back though so it will be lit up like that soon. I can't wait. Some days, I'm really ready to get back home to Colorado. Other days, I just can't wait to see what treat I'll find next.


Mt. Erebus.

Half Done Run

Last Sunday, we had our Half Done Run. It has had many names over the years including the Midwinter run and the Frozen 4K. It is actually only about 2k (1.3 miles), but Frozen 4K has more flare. The year it earned than name, it is rumored they ran in Condition 2 weather and had 30 cases of frost nip or bite. I'm sure medical was appreciative for the extra unsolicited business.

This year we had 35 participants. The weather started out around -17F with a -38F wind chill. We all huddled inside in the big gym to stay warm. About two minutes before start time, we finally went outside. The race got underway and I tucked in behind someone tall to let them block the wind and just followed them as far as I could. I got lucky because Bodie led for 70% of the race. At some point, he got tired and I had to fend for myself in the wind. Not fun. Andy and I kept on trucking and he pulled into the lead.

*warning - long winded personal musings ahead*
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This is where things got interesting for me. Near the end, Andy was only about fifteen feet ahead at the road that leads down to the transition. We had about 100 feet to the turn and then 75 yards to the finish. I felt pretty sure I could catch him by the turn and at least have a chance at beating him in the final sprint. As I was realizing this, I also thought that this was the first time I had run hard outside since spraining my ankle and that I might end up reinjuring it by pushing too hard. I always push. I'm too competitive to not go for it all. That is the only reason I succeeded in ultimate. I certainly didn't have the skill or athleticism of most of my teammates. I just wanted it more, pushed harder, and chose to deal with the consequences later. I didn't go for it. I eased off just enough to make sure that I wouldn't let my competitive side get a hold of me and force me into a sprint. Andy was running well and I finished five seconds behind him at 9:24.

I'm happy with my decision, but it was weird for me to not choose to go for it. I don't think my competitive drive is gone. I just might be getting a little wiser and realizing this body has to last me a few more years before I turn it back into dust. Would I have won? I have no idea and it really doesn't matter. Not giving it my all is the part that is making the rounds in my brain.
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By the time I finished the race and got back to my room, it was down to -30F and a -66F wind chill. Due to the weather, we ended up with at least five cases of frost nip or bite. However, in each of those cases I don't think they had full skin coverage. No matter how it happened, I'm glad I wasn't one of them. I had run outside in the week leading up to the race to make sure I had the right gear. I ended up settling on thin wool socks, shoes with the toe vent blocked by a toe warmer, under armour tights, wind pants, under armour top, capilene top, fleece jacket, balaclava, goggles, and mittens with hand warmers.

Bar Triathlon

Bringing your A game after a few drinks may be difficult.
The week of the 4th of July was really cold. I was looking to spend my day curled up in bed with a couple hot cups of Oregon Chai, a book, and maybe a couple movies. However, as I was exiting brunch around 1pm, Dave P. stopped me to ask how I was at darts and pool. I said medium and he said I was in. He needed a partner for the bar games triathlon.



Alex and Bob play shuffleboard while Dan and Tim square off against Jim and Jeremy in darts.
The bar games triathlon was a twelve team double elimination bracket tournament. You and your partner would pair off against another team in a best of three series of 8-ball pool, shuffleboard, and 301 darts. Dave and I had a first round bye. I'm not sure when we finally got started, but we edged out Bec and Mike in darts to start the round. Then, we got waxed in pool, but made the game take forever with some great defense. Finally, we pulled out the win in shuffleboard. At this point, it was almost 5pm. We had only played one round and had two or three to go. It wasn't looking like a short afternoon.



Hosts with the most.
Luckily, the tournament coincided with Shandra and Lisa's Happy Hour. Around 5pm, they set up and brought back some energy to the event. I don't know about others, but I was definitely running low because I didn't expect there to be so much down time.



Alex and Eric take on Louie and Ogre in darts.


Shuffle board and pool in the back.
For our second round, we went up against Jim and Jeremy. I think they beat us in two rounds at darts and pool. For the next round, Dave and I were just as motivated to win as we were to lose. We had simply been there too long, but I didn't like the idea of quitting. Unfortunately, our opponents, Gerry and Andy, felt the same way. We took them in darts. They rallied in shuffleboard. Then, we missed an 8 ball shot in pool that left them set up for the win. They moved on. We finished in fifth. We went home and that was just fine with me. I think they kept playing until 9pm while I watched the Goonies. On the Goonies DVD, Cyndi Lauper has an amazing music video that has WWF stars of old. Brilliant!



Me, Karen, and Ogre.
Yesterday, the low was -40.1F over by Scott Base. Eek! With wind chill it was, -80. Eek, eek!

July 4th Carnival!

What defines the 4th more than a plate of great food?
Everyone has a different image of what a 4th of July celebration should be. Where I lived in Colorado, it became the two months of fireworks between Cinco de Mayo and July 4th capped off with a backyard BBQ. Most of my recent 4ths have been spent in Pittsburgh at the Mars ultimate frisbee tournament. Unfortunately, I had to miss it this year. Instead, I attended a celebration which felt like a good 4th carnival back home.


Community seating.


Tub of soda and beer.
To start off with, most people filed through a room with burgers, potato salads, cupcakes, friend chicken and other great food in giant trays. We filled up our paper plates, grabbed our plastic ware, and headed for the giant paper covered tables. After dropping off your food, you went over to the giant tub to grab a drink. Some soda. Lots of beer.

After eating, everyone got down to the business at hand. Games. We had all types of carnival games and activities. Through the night, you'd gather and spend tickets that you could use for the raffle at the end of the night.


J-Bird, Angie, Dave, and Casey see who is the best behind the wheel in NASCAR racing.


Keith gets ready take a swim in the dunking tank.


Rolling the big dice isn't easy. (Yes, that is a beaker in his hand.)


At the Photo Booth, Casey wishes he was somewhere warmer.


Austin bobs and weaves in the Server's Challenge.


Our store managers, Jolene and Amy, tested our shopping savvy at Guess the Price.


Tom and Will whip up some old style funnel cake.


Sean adds another level in the highlight of the evening, Human Jenga.


Meghan topples the Human Jenga.


Joe gets to the top of the Human Jenga.


The Firehouse, VMF, IT, Pat, James and a few others had a Chili Cook Off.


Todd and Angie delivered tattoos to order.


Sensitive Dan displays his new ink.
After all the games slowly wrapped up, everyone got ready for the annual auction. People donated all types of items to be sold off. Traditionally, the money is donated to charity, but the federal government says you can't collect money for charity at a federal work place anymore. Since we are funded by the National Science Foundation, we are federal. This year, all the money went back to the community in the form of a raffle. Some of the items up for grabs were tucker rides, massages, and knit products. I think the hottest item was either the only thing that survived the smurf shack fire, a warped wrench, or the knit G-string seen below.


Chris models the knit g-string for auction.
I can't find any pictures, but after the auction wrapped up the live music started up. We started out with a great bass rendition of the Star Spangled Banner by J-Bird. Then, McBand was up. They were composed of B-Nelson, Jim, Jen, Tom, Kish, Dave, and J-Bird. They played a lot of great covers of old favorites like Johnny Be Good. Perennial band, Level 5, closed out the evening. Great stuff all around. I was in and out for most of the evening because my mood wasn't fitting the festivities, but for when I was there I had a great time.

Light on the horizon!

I was on my way to the waste water treatment plant just after lunch to fix a printer problem when I saw something I haven't seen for a long time - orange light on the horizon. The sun is coming back! It is just in time too. Our abnormally mild winter weather has finally taken a turn for the worse. -26F was the high I saw today. This past weekend it was even colder. Unfortunately, we won't really feel the warmth of the sun until it rises in late August.


Orion over the rising sun, though we won't see the sun for another six weeks (ISO 800, F/3.5, 2 sec).
If you look closely, you'll see the three stars of Orion's belt. The brightest star in the picture (top left corner) is Orion's foot. It is Rigel. Down here, Orion is upside down from what I'm used to seeing in the Northern hemisphere. I like to think that the constellation is really named Achilles and his mother his dunking him in the Ross Sea.

More auroras!!

Auroras and the Milky Way galaxy over McMurdo
After figuring out some stuff with my first successful aurora excursion and the LIDAR, I had another chance to go out and try to photograph auroras. I'm not sure if I did better as a photographer or if they were just that much more spectacular. Probably, a little of both. I figured out how to use the mirror lock and set a self timer to get rid of some of the shake. Since I took these, I figured out I need to also remove my camera strap because the wind is blowing it. I also might use a heavier tripod. Someone else suggested using a bungee cord to keep the tripod stable. I'll probably give all those suggestions a try.


Red auroras!
Technical camera nonsense aside, these auroras were great. They might be the best I've seen. It was certainly the first time I had ever seen a hint of red auroras. I thought I saw them when I was out, but wasn't sure until I saw my pictures. Our Alaskan friends regularly remind us that they aren't as good as theirs and they may be right, but these are good enough for me. Auroras apparently fall in 'rings' around certain areas. I guess Anchorage is directly under a ring while we are to the side of one. If you are under the ring, you can get really great auroras. If you aren't under the ring, you may or may not get great ones. Pictures of the rings are in the top left corner of the Geophysical Institute's page.


Auroras as they looked to the human eye.
I included the last picture in this blog for a couple reasons. First, it is a cool picture. Second, it has some red auroras. Third, you can see the steam of Mt. Erebus illuminated by the lava lake below on the right of the picture. Fourth, I like it and hope you do too.


"I like it a lot" as Shuttle Jami would say it.

LIDAR

The LIDAR fires from Phase Two of Crary.
LIght Detection And Ranging is commonly known as LIDAR. It is used scan the lower atmosphere for solid particles and the upper atmosphere for chemicals. It shoots a laser at the sky and the reflected light is analyzed to figure out what the laser is looking at.

Since 1990, an Italian-American group has been using a LIDAR system on base to observe Polar Stratospheric Clouds (PSC), which somehow correlate to the quality of the ozone layer that keeps us from getting burnt to a crisp by the same rays that create those lovely auroras. Each day that the sky is clear the research associate, B-Nelson, fires the LIDAR. This past Saturday, I got to see it. I had no idea the laser would be so visible. The beam is only one to two inches in diameter. When it is fired, B-Nelson lets it run for fifteen minutes to take three different observations and then sends the data off to those who want to know.


The LIDAR's end point in the sky.
Personally, I'm not so sure it is collecting information. When B-Nelson sets off the LIDAR, he puts signs up everywhere to make sure no one gets near where it is firing. If someone did, they could be blinded and burned by the beam. Sure, you could say that any beam that is strong enough to reach the atmosphere has to be strong enough to damage a human. I'm not buying it. Think about it. A human will block all the sun's rays (a shadow). The ozone only blocks part of them (we still get sun). If this LIDAR system can damage a human, just think what it could do a thin layer of gas. I think they are burning a hole in the ozone with this fancy laser. CFCs are all a lie. Bring back the styrofoam that McDonald's served everything in. Using paper wrappers is accelerating the destruction of the world's forests. This message has been brought to you by an Onion inspired news source.


The chalet deck with Jupiter above the railing.

The golf ball in the aurora pictures

The golf ball.
A few people asked what the giant golf ball was in the last post. Over the summer, my boss arranged a tour for us. Unfortunately, I don't remember too many details. It is NASA's McMurdo Ground Station and run by Honeywell. It is the world's farthest South satellite tracking station. Combined with tracking stations scattered around the world, it tracks satellites that are in polar orbits approximately 400 miles above the continent. At that height, those satellites should complete an orbit every 90 minutes. (Mary K, can you confirm that?)


A 10m satellite dish is inside the golf ball.
Inside the golf ball is a 10 meter satellite dish. It automatically moves around to catch satellites when they come into view. It moves a lot quicker than you might expect. When the dish starts tracking a satellite, it will follow it for about fifteen minutes until it disappears from view.


My boss, Atlas, posing with the UpRight.
This UpRight is what Atlas really used to hold the world up. That Greek myth isn't true. However, it can also be used to complete maintenance work on the satellite. If you look carefully you can see orange lines on the floor outside the tires. That marks where the UpRight should be parked when it isn't in use. Once when it wasn't parked there, the satellite started tracking and crashed into it. I can't imagine the repairs were cheap.


Nik explains things that I have long forgotten.
The computers that work with the satellite dish are housed in the green building in in the first photo. Lots of systems. Lots of computers. Lots of automation.


A sight for sore eyes.
I took this photo from the golf ball on the day of the tour. It seems like so long ago that base looked like that. I'm not sure I'll get to see it like that again. I am tentatively leaving just two weeks after the first sunrise.


A walk down memory lane.
This last photo is a throw back to my high school years in Danville, PA. Two different times, I took off on a one week biology 'camp.' It was held at Wallops Island, VA. I remember there being some NASA stuff going on, but we didn't see get involved with it. Apparently, it is the headquarters for the project that uses the golf ball down here. Small world.

AURORAS!!!

Aurora's over RaySat.
My hunt to photograph auroras started in early April when it first started getting dark. I only went out a few times, but I did see some great auroras. Unfortunately, when I came back from those walks it was clear I didn't know how to use my camera. All of my pictures were black. After a few frustrating attempts at trying to figure out my cold metal camera with frozen fingers while auroras were going on, I took the time to figure out what I needed to do inside where it was warm. I thought I was all set to go. Then, I sprained my ankle so I couldn't hike and auroras are usually washed out by the town lights so it appeared I'd be out of luck for a while.


This photo is too underexposed to show a good aurora, but this is the closest I got to what they really look like to the human eye.


This photo is also part of the learning process. The auroras look neat, but town looks like it was just zapped by aliens.
About six weeks ago, I was cleared to start hiking again. I was a little tentative to get out again. When I finally did, no auroras. This past month I only saw starts on TWO day. Not two hiking days, two total days. We've been pretty clouded in. On Friday, that cloud cover finally broke and was planning to go for a hike. Additionally, Antz sent out an e-mail letting us know that it was also a good aurora day. Auroras can be forecast. I'm not entirely sure how, but this is the page for forecasts: http://www.gedds.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast/


Auroras over Crater Hill.
I hiked the Hut Ridge trail and before we got very far along at all, the sky behind us was lit up. Beautiful.

Me, unable to stay still for twenty seconds. Not a surprise.