Friday, January 26, 2007

Moving Poles

I thought I'd write in today with your friendly geography lesson for the week. We had a discussion today about moving poles, and that reminded me that I had been meaning to post on that for awhile now...

I took this photo in the cockpit of the C-130 on our flight from McMurdo to the Pole. If you look closely over the co-pilot's knee, you'll see the plane's electronic compass. And if you look really closely, you'll notice it says that we're flying North, not South. "What the?!", you might be asking yourself. "I thought you were going to the South Pole." Well, it turns out that the magnetic South Pole (the one on a compass) and the geographical South Pole (the point around which the Earth spins) are not in the same spot. The magnetic South Pole is quite a ways from here, and it's moving further away each year (the magnetic poles are moving pretty quickly and will eventually change place. Don't know when that's supposed to happen...) During our flight, we had already passed the magnetic South Pole, so technically, we were flying north again. At the magnetic South Pole, any direction you go in is north.

Funny geopolitical fact: After the U.S. established this base at the geographical pole, the Russians got pissed and wanted a piece of the action too. So they built Vostok station at what was then the magnetic pole. Unfortunately for them, it's not there anymore. Gotta love the Cold War.

You'll notice something else interesting in this photo at the geographic pole. I have no idea what Justin's trying to do with the Pole marker, but if you look back into the distance, you'll see a series of othe poles (and ice sculptures). Those poles are there because every year the location of the pole changes. While it feels like the ground underneath my feet is pretty stable, I'm actually sitting on top of a huge moving ice sheet. Ever year, the ice sheet flows a little bit downhill towards the ocean. The rock underneath it stays in the same place, so the actual geographic pole stays in the same place, but the place on the surface that's over the pole changes. Every New Year's, there's a ceremony here where they install a new pole. But I guess, technically, a few minutes later the Pole is no longer where that pole is... I think in a few years the Pole is going to intersect the station. Who knows--maybe the ceremonial marker will be sitting on top of someone's desk.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

A Few More Photos

I've been messing around with stitching together panoramas for my computer, so here are a couple. Two different views of the station (the nice place where I work but don't get to sleep...), here and here . A better photo of me at the Pole . A photo of the new 10 meter South Pole Telescope that's being built down here. And another photo of me that I just like, for some reason.
[Note: The satellite is about to go down, so if some of these links don't work, check back later. I'll get the photos there eventually...]

It's A Harsh Continent

This is one of my absolute favorite sayings down here. In fact, I think most of the other jargon is pretty stupid and is just intended to show how smart and experienced some people think they are. Anyway, the saying is usually in a joking context:

"The vanilla side of the icecream machine is broken."
"Well, what do you expect? It's a harsh continent."

"The picture quality of this Bears game is pretty crappy. Why couldn't somebody have sent down a better tape?"
"Shutup. It's a harsh continent."

It's a joke, but it's also a deadly truth. I've been thinking a lot lately about just how harsh it is down here (and, conversely, how easy it is to forget that fact). There's absolutely nowhere else on earth where man's very survival is so dependent on science and technology. Plain and simple, without technology, we'd all be dead down here. First off, we'd freeze to death before long. Well, I guess people have had thick-ass wool and fur coats for a long time, so maybe that's not technology. But take food, for instance. Nothing grows here to forage. There are no animals to kill to eat. All the steak and eggs and whatnot that I eat everyday have to be shipped or flown from New Zealand and then flown to the Pole (incidentally, I just ate breakfast for the third time "today". Man I need to get back to a regular schedule.) Something like 70 percent of all the cargo flights (and there are like 6 a day) carry nothing but fuel for the lights and the heating. It's a little bit like what living on the

A few years ago, the a big ice shelf broke off near McMurdo. The icebreakers that usually clear a path for the resupply cargo vessel didn't think that they were going to make it through, and they were talking about having to abandon McMurdo and the Pole for the winter. Apparently they thought that it was going to take something like five years to recover for a setback like that (over the winter, basically everything would get buried by snow.)

On a side note, I discovered why it's not a good idea to go for a walk at the South Pole wearing Birkenstocks. I almost broke my leg five or six times. I can't wear Birkenstocks?! It's a harsh continent.

Monday, January 22, 2007

Stuck In A Time Warp

So I realize it's been awhile since I've posted anything. I think part of the problem is that I've completely, utterly lost all sense of time. I actually found myself arguing with someone today about whether it was Tuesday or Wednesday. When I first got here I couldn't understand why there were big clocks everywhere with the day of the week and the date on them. It's because it's always bright sunshine and people are working crazy, shifting hours (I've worked two 24 hour shifts this week). I actually fell asleep in the dining hall the other day. Most days, I go to sleep in the morning and wake up in the evening. So I go to sleep and wake up, but the date hasn't changed. It all adds up to some serious confusion. I'm starting to understand why people drink so much down here (Don't worry Mom, I'm not going to become an alcoholic...)

Anyway, these last few days have been the first that I've found myself longing for the normal world again. Can't wait to be sitting on the beach in Australia. There are people who've been here since October, and I can't even imagine how they must feel.

So I deployed the instrument that I built and came down here to install. So far, it's been a mixed bag. Some things worked, others didn't. I have some really cool video that it took as it was being lowered into the hole. I'll try to put that up for tomorrow. As for now, it's 9:30 AM. That means it's bedtime...