New Experiences

I have not written much lately because there has not been much to say. That changed in the last 36 hours, but I'll get to that. The rule of thumb is that it takes a week from when you arrive in McMurdo until you are ready to go into the field. Lately, it seems that delay has been decreasing but it still takes several days. Much of that time is spent in trainings, meetings, and briefings. There is also the time it takes to unpack the cargo and to prepare the equipment for the field. One of our last tasks on our todo list was to make a visit to Pegasus Field to get a tour of the facilities and decide on how we want things set up at Pegasus. We visited Pegasus on Thursday and had the hopes to do our initial UAV trial flights on Friday. The weather was poor Friday morning with light snow and limited visibility. On Saturday, we made it out to Pegasus with hardly a cloud in the sky. However, this time we had no winds and the UAVs require a little wind in order to launch the plane into flight. Sundays are typically off days but we were planning on doing the trial flights today. Those plans were scrapped due to once again having limited to no winds at Pegasus. The latest is that we will get in the flights tomorrow (Monday).

One of the highlights from the last couple days has been finally getting some cold temperatures. The first week of WinFly has been about as warm, if not warmer, than my first week of the field season late last October. The temperature in McMurdo started decreasing Thursday night and into Friday. The temperature around noon on Friday was -18F. I estimated that we'd have temperatures around -28F at Pegasus, where it is generally colder. Not long before leaving for the drive out to Pegasus, I checked the observations at the Willie Field automatic weather station (AWS) and the temperature had dropped 15F in the previous hour down to -42F. (Willie Field AWS is located along the drive to Pegasus.) This was now some seriously cold air and a strong contrast to the temperature in McMurdo. As we were driving to Pegasus, we drove by the Willie Field AWS and John held a Kestrel (a small handheld weather station) out the window and observed a temperature of -47F. We immediately pulled the van over to get out, experience the cold, and to take pictures of the moment. This temperature crushed my previous all-time personal cold temperature from when I was growing up in Minnesota. It was also extremely odd because I can honestly say it didn't feel crazy cold. We are confident with the temperature being in the -40Fs as we measured it multiple times and with four different instruments. The best guess why it didn't seem so cold was because we were fully bundled in our extreme cold weather clothing, there was no wind, and the sun was up and shining on us, albeit minimally. We returned to McMurdo about five hours later and the temperature was now around mid -20F. For the last day the temperatures have remained that cold and this evening the temperature was around -30F. The winds have been light to calm the last day so it has felt very cold but bearable when outside.

Standing outside in -47F on the Pegasus Road to experience a new personal all-time record cold temperature.

The sun above Ross Island when we pulled over to experience the -47F temperatures. It is actually very bright out at the time. The darker colors are from taking the picture with the camera directly pointed at the sun. 

Measuring the -47F temperature with the Kestrel handheld weather station. It was odd but the -47F did not feel that extremely cold. The cold temperatures in McMurdo the last day have felt cold.

In addition to the cold temperatures we have also been able to experience several other great outdoor sights. The first, and most basic, is that we saw the sun for the first time on Saturday during out drive to Pegasus. McMurdo is located on the south side of Ross Island. Because it is on the south side, and due to the low angle of the sun, McMurdo has been in the shadow of Ross Island whenever the sun has been up since the first sunrise two weeks ago. McMurdo will soon start seeing the sun as the sun gets progressively higher in the sky. The drive out to Pegasus allowed us to get out of McMurdo and out of the shadow. We were able to see the sun for the first time just as we were about to drive onto the snow road. We decided to capture the moment and we pulled the van over to take pictures. Throughout the afternoon I continued to take pictures of the sun to capture the low angle of the sun.

McMurdo Station and sea ice in front of McMurdo in the shadow of Ross Island due to the low sun angle.

The higher parts of McMurdo are starting to come out of the shadow and see the sun.

The first time we have seen the sun on this trip. The sun is low in the horizon but above Ross Island. Mt. Erebus, in the center of the picture, is an active volcano and it is emitted some steam.

Later Saturday evening, John went outside and he came back into the lab to let me know that the aurora australis (southern lights) were out in the night sky. The aurora were present, although a little weak and they came and went fairly quickly. I am hoping for a better display of aurora australis in the next couple weeks, especially when we are doing the night flights at Pegasus. Then this afternoon we were able to see nacreous clouds. Nacreous clouds, also known as polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs), are clouds in the stratosphere, above the level of the clouds that make up the weather. The PSCs require extremely cold temperatures to form, which is why they are a feature in the polar regions, and are typically illuminated by the sun shortly after sunset or before sunrise. The clouds, sometimes referred to as mother-of-pearl clouds, have a milky-white appearance and often include iridescent colors. The clouds that we saw today were fairly small and occurred before sunset. I took a few pictures of the nacreous clouds and I am hoping for a more impressive display before I leave the first week in October.

Nacreous clouds (also referred to as polar stratospheric clouds) in the sky shortly before sunset. 

Another photo of the nacreous clouds. Notice the distinct iridescent color of the clouds.

In the end, we are still waiting to do our initial trial flights with the UAVs but in the meantime we have been able to see and experience some of the features that make the WinFly season in McMurdo a special adventure.

A photo of Observation Hill near sunset on a Sunday afternoon. Notice all of the red dots near the top, which are the "big red" parkas that most everybody wears. Hiking Obs Hill is a common recreation activity, especially on beautiful days.