another con1

woke up this morning and it was condition 1 again. no leaving the buildings. switched to condition 2 just in time to walk to work, then back to con 1. likely to stay much of the day. winds blowing at 68 knots (about 74 mph. hurricane force). snow blowing everywhere. a window blew out of one of the third floor dorm rooms. crash. last year i didn't see a single con 1 in town. this year two so far.

so here are our weather definitions...

Condition THREE is observed when all of the following are true:
Wind speed is less than or equal to 48 knots,
and Visibility is greater than 1/4 mile,
and Windchill temperature is greater than -75°F.

Condition TWO is observed when any one of the following is true:
Wind speed is greater than 48 knots but less than or equal to 55 knots,
or Visibility is greater than 100 feet but less than or equal to 1/4 mile,
or Windchill temperature is greater than -100°F but less than or equal to -75°F.

Condition ONE is observed when any one of the following is true:
Wind speed is greater than 55 knots,
or Visibility is less than or equal to 100 feet,
or Windchill temperature is less than or equal to -100°F.

trash

we sort everything. all of us before it even gets to waste management folks. there's a long matrix of what goes in which category. it all gets shipped off continent back to the u.s.

other day i took a photo trip to the waste barn to catch some of the equipment. wore the appropriate shirt for the occasion.

sunrise at south pole

the only one for the year happened this weekend . too bad i wasn't there to see it. i won't get there until early november. here at mcmurdo we still have 24 hour day/night, light/dark cycles. but crazy to think of only one sunrise, one long day, one sunset and one long night per year. to see the sunrise and sunset one has to winter at the pole. 9 months with no flights in or out because it's too cold to land planes. fewer people have wintered at pole than have been to the top of mt everest.

(south pole sunrise sept 20, 2008; sunset march 22, 2009)

tings i forgot

my benchmade pocket knife
i almost lost it last year at mcmurdo, then really did lose it at south pole. so made a point to buy replacement before coming back. left it in storage in christchurch.

phone card and postage stamps
got those especially before leaving the states. have no idea where they are. maybe ended up in one of the suitcases i put in storgae in california.
(*editor's note 10/20/08 i found the phone card and stamps. i had cleverly put them in my 2009 calendar. of course?)

shampoo
i know i don't use it much, but thought i might need a little in these six months.

cotton socks
for working out. only have wool.

dish pit & fata morgana

had to do a shift in the galley this morning. during the preseason everybody on station gets one of these. nsf budget cuts mean fewer janitors and dishwashers. 4.5 hrs of washing pots and pans. forgot my ipod so listened to "ice radio" which is mostly armed services feed with an occassional spot by our local media guy. odd commercials, well not really commercial more like psa. lots of stuff about depression. go figure.

in the afternoon saw the fata morgana. mirage, optical illusions. things get stretched vertically. not sure what causes them, something about a temperature inversion. looking out our second story window across the ice shelf, darker lines where the ice meets the continent looked like cliffs. there are no cliffs there. another time a plane out on the ice runway looked like several stacked on top of each other. crazy stuff.

international incident

busted. couple of my winter-over coworkers had a wee bit of wheatgrass growing on a paper towel. in violation of the antarctic conservation act (no introduced species). a federal offense. had to sign affidavits and all. the wheatgrass had been a gift from someone at scott base (new zealand's station down the road), so now the kiwis are in trouble too. who knew a little nutritional supplement would turn into an international incident? yikes.

maps

mcmurdo station is on ross island in the ross ice shelf. i think it's the southernmost port in the world.

con 1

spoke too soon about the nice weather.

condition 3 is normal, condition 2 is reduced visibility, high winds, and/or very cold temps. condition 1 is most extreme.

the picture above was during con 2 when we could still go outside.

we are now in con 1. they have not had a con 1 in town all winter and now here it is. white-out with mega gusty winds. not allowed to leave the building until gets back to con 2. not sure when it will clear. hopefully before bedtime so i can get to my dorm.

(note: the weather changed back to con 2 about an hour later)

on ice

arrived mcmurdo station, antarctica today.
no problems. weather good -32c/-26f with no wind.

first flight of the season so the folks who've been here all winter are kind of excited to see us, but kinda shaken with all the new people (they've been alone for 6 months in darkness)
they are very happy with the fresh fruit we brought though.

found out today that i will receive an antarctic service medal from congress. who knew? but they are about 4 years behind in sending them out to summer people. the winter folks got theirs at least.

internet is slow here.

i'm exhausted. been up since 3:30 for various admin stuff before the 8am off-deck. but there's a birthday party for one of the winter-overs. haven't seen her in about 9 months, so i will muster energy to go.

ChCh

arrived christchurch, new zealand this morning, sept 2. lost sept 1 for the date line. oh well.

chch is a nice city. kinda small. feels like i only left yesterday. the woman at front desk of hotel even remembered me.

here for 2 days then fly back to the ice for another season. not sure if i'll have much new stuff to write about. "still cold, still white, still working long days, blah blah." we'll see...