Fun Facts On the Pole

So I thought I'd share some fun facts I've come across down here.

Fun Fact #1
I mentioned before that we're at a pretty high altitude where the oxygen and air pressure are much, much lower. This has some pretty funny effects. I brought some medications in sealed packages down from Chicago. When I got them out of my bag, they had blown up like those silver balloons you give people when they're in the hospital. My favorite though has to do with contact solution. We were deploying some of our instruments, and one of the guys on our team took a break to wet his contacts. All of the sudden we hear screaming--the bottle of solution had basically exploded and squirted high pressure saline solution right into his face. Pretty hilarious.

Fun Fact #2
There's no dirt at the South Pole. Well, there is, technically, but it's 9,000 feet down under the ice, so you don't see it. For someone who grew up in Chicago or Boston or some other place where it snows, you're used to a beautiful, fresh snowfall which then gets nasty and black and slushy in a day or two. But since there's no dirt down here, the snow is like a brand new snowfall everyday. I think it's the whitest substance I've ever seen, and it glistens like it's got diamonds in it when you're walking along, your boots crunching with each step you take.

Fun Fact #3
The South Pole is a lot like Wisconsin. It seems like half the people I meet down here are from Wisconsin, and they're right at home. A lot of drinking, a lot of snow, and a lot of snowmobiling. I learned how to drive a snowmobile today. Flying over the snow on a snowmobile at the South Pole. Pretty unbelievable. Of course, I almost flipped it my first time. I went the wrong way and ended up driving over a trench. To get out, I had to get off and guide it from the side. It was at a pretty steep angle, but it made it without flipping. (Don't worry Mom, I won't make that mistake again).

Fun Fact #4
The South Pole is technically a desert. It's basically the driest place on Earth. It snows a tiny, tiny bit each winter, but not much at all. It's only because it's been snowing for 40,000 years, and since it never gets warm enough for it to melt, that it builds up into this 9,000 foot tall ice sheet.

Okay, enough of the fun facts. Time to get some sleep... Oh, one of my co-workers put up some more photos and videos of the penguins we saw here . His camera had a crazy zoom lens, so some of them are amazing.