An Antarctic MasqueRAGE Party

Another party in McMurdo! During the last few weeks people having been making masks and artwork for the party. I made a space shuttle mask of Discovery. The name was appropriate because that is the name of Robert Scott's first expedition ship in 1901-1903. In fact the space shuttle was named after this ship. I had a really good time and once again happy that I participated. Sometimes I have to force myself to attend functions but always am glad that I go. My daughter Jocelyn would have loved this and probably would have been the star of the hip hop show as she is known for her Dub Stepping skills. 

I am not an artist. Kind of juvenile and dumb but so "in" at McMurdo!

Really dumb looking!

This was interesting.

I like the rainbow over my head.

They like me!

A five minute poorly lighted YouTube video of a hip hop dance routine. Rated PG-13 for music language. McMurdoites having fun!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_VNIYIPJC4

A sometimes dangerous environment

Monday night at 10:30 a huge storm knocked out power to the entire town. I received a page that all the NASA instruments were on Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) battery backup power. My work partner and I arrived at work to find the UPS batteries holding up power. After about 10 minutes power to our building came back online. We spent a few hours working through some resets than went back to sleep.

The next morning brought even more wind and snow. We were notified from Colorado that one of the antennas that lost power was again at its limit and needed to be moved to restore operations. At that point it was not safe to travel as the wind up the hill was being clocked at 87mph. In the mid afternoon the wind appeared to slacken so I drove us up in a Pisten Bully (PB). We put the antenna back into operational mode then filled the PB with diesel. It was a rough ride with white-out conditions.

Tuesday evening it was announced that all evening activities were canceled and we would soon be in Condition 1. Walking was almost impossible. That night we recorded 123mph gusts.

Filling the Pisten Bully with diesel.

Soon after we left this road to Scott Base was shut down.

 I really enjoy driving the Pisten Bully.

 To operate depress the gas pedal until the tach gets to 17...

 then release the brake, depress the left 3 way toggle switch (forward, neutral, reverse), then using the white dial to the right of the switch set a speed. The speed is controlled with the dial while always keeping the tach up around 17 with the gas pedal.

The NASA meatball splattered with snow.

Wednesday 1pm: moon over Mt. Discovery. At the same time the Southern Cross and other stars were visible. A beautiful windless day. Photo credit to Matt Nelson.

A Sunday hike in the diminishing light

The weekend update:
On Saturday night several of us got together in the dorm lounge and watched a few of the surfing DVDs I had brought. That along with popcorn and beer made for a fun evening. 

Sunday morning I was in the gym early for a weight routine then brunch at 10am. At 11:30 a friend and I hiked the 3 mile Hut Point Ridge Trail. This was one of the last chances to climb as our light is quickly fading. The weather started out snowing but warm. We covered the distance in 2 1/2 hours, slow but sure footed. 

After that it was laundry, clean my room, write in my book, then dinner for delicious pan cooked mahi fillets. Sundays is McMurdo Science Theater 3000 (movies so bad they are good) for a viewing of "The Room". This is a popular cult film with probably the worst acting I have ever seen. The Kiwi's came dressed in character! What a hoot! It was almost non-stop laughter. After that is was hot chocolate at the coffee bar then bed at 10:30.


Starting tonight are the every Monday evening science lectures in the Crary Lab Library. Looking forward to that.


On Tuesdays in the big gym is open volleyball. I wanted to participate in a team sport (there is volleyball, basketball, and indoor soccer) and since I have never played volleyball I decided to do something different. I had a lot of fun last week with a very friendly group of us and the Kiwi's.

A memorial to a fallen Seabee.

I found a better picture.

Our Lady of the Snows shrine next to the memorial plaque. Our Lady of the Snows chapel is in town. I added three lava rocks for my mom, dad, and sister. This was my mom's favorite statue.

Also known as "Roll Cage Mary".

We still have some light from 11am-3pm. Overlooking Winter Quarters Bay.

It was a snowy hike but warm at +12 degF

Overlooking Hut Point. It is so warm that much of the sea-ice is gone.

A nice wide hiking trail.

McMurdo at 1pm.

Not a good place to slip and fall.

A prominent landmark seen from the Ross Sea. The early explorers had "arrived" to Winter Quarters Bay.

Two of the antennas that I work on.

A well hiked and skied trail system.

Back in town the weather has cleared.

The stabilicers worked well.

McMurdo Science Theater 3000 viewing. This movie is so bad it's hilarious.

Aurora Australis

It is time for the Southern Lights! An aurora is a natural light display in the sky particularly in the high latitude (Arctic and Antarctic) regions, caused by the collision of energetic charged particles with atoms in the high altitude atmosphere. The charged particles originate in the magnetosphere and solar wind and, on earth, are directed by the earth's magnetic field into the atmosphere.

I am on the aurora pager list. If someone spots one they call the firehouse who in turn sets out a page to everyone on the list. I have gone out twice now in the middle of the night for viewing. Simply awesome! I am still trying to figure out how to take a picture with my camera. A friend, MC, took the following pictures behind the dorm. I don't know if my little digital camera will ever take a picture like this.

Photo credit to MC.

Photo credit to MC.

Photo credit to MC.

Wind driven snow onto different surfaces make for some interesting pictures. Here are a few I took near the doorway of the main building 155.

YouTube link is fixed

Due to an embedding problem the YouTube playlists for the posts of 
"A Sunday trip to the igloo village" with 4 videos and "We began our Austral Winter..." with 7 videos would not play the entire playlists. That link is now fixed and all of the 11 videos should now play.