Sun During WinFly

We are navigating our way through the collection of trainings and meetings that occur immediately after arrival in preparation for going out into the field. The weather is forecast to be bad tomorrow so we are expecting a quiet day with some work to prepare the SUMOs for flying. Other than that, I’ll take advantage of the quiet day to get some work done on other projects related to my research position at the University of Colorado.

One of the big benefits of being in McMurdo during WinFly is being able to experience the dramatically changing daytime sun. McMurdo Station had its first sunrise on August 19 and that was the first time the sun had been above the horizon since April 24. McMurdo is located at approximately 78degS, which is south of the Antarctic Circle. Because it is south of the Antarctic Circle, McMurdo receives 24 hours of daylight during the austral summer (winter in the US) and 24 hours of darkness during the austral winter (summer in the US). The length of the day (when the sun is above the horizon) on August 19 was approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes. By the time I arrived on August 27, just a little over one week later, the length of the day was up to 5 hours and 35 minutes. Today (August 30) the length of the day is up to 6 hours and 30 minutes. The length of the day will be increasing by about 15 minutes per day until I am scheduled to leave on October 3. On October 3 the length of the day will be 15 hours and 7 minutes. There are also very long twilight hours in McMurdo with the sun at such a shallow angle both above (during the day) and below (during the night) the horizon. Absolute darkness is considered to no longer occur starting approximately September 7. By the time I leave in early October it will appear that it never gets fully dark anymore. The last sunset will occur on October 23 and the sun will be continuously above the horizon until the first sunset on February 20. This dramatically changing length of the day and changing skylight conditions is one of the big reasons why I am excited for this WinFly experience. The low sun angles throughout the day should also make for great pictures with the soft light that is common around sunrise and sunset.

Observation hill being lit up by the sun not longer after sunset.

The horizon to the west not long after sunset. The location where the sun sets will also shift dramatically further to the south as it occurs later and later in the day.