Auroras, Penguins & Seals

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Greetings from Antarctica!

The last several weeks have been somewhat quiet down here. The sun has disappeared and it now stays dark for most of the day with only a brief moment of twilight like light in the middle of the day. The new darkness that has surrounded us has made the stars appear brilliantly in the sky, even in the middle of the day, and has blotted out the surrounding scenery - Yes, that means no more pictures of the Royal Society Range for a few months. Storms have become a lot more regular with strong winds and lots of blowing snow, but it hasn’t gotten very cold yet and there still haven’t been any condition 1 storms. In fact, this past week has been surprisingly warm with temperatures in the teens - I had to break out the t-shirts again! The last few weeks have also brought us some animal visitors here in town and some amazingly vivid and colorful auroras overhead.

Two weeks ago, a seal decided to pay McMurdo Station a visit. It was a young Weddell seal with a heavy fur coat and it lumbered around town for several days providing ample photo opportunities. It is against the rules on station, due to the Antarctic Treaty, to bother or touch any of the wildlife here, but at one point the seal was getting into some potentially dangerous situations, for itself and us, and the NSF station manager received a permit to move it if it didn’t move along. Luckily, the seal moved down the hill on its own, past Scott Base, to one of the construction projects on the sea ice and then disappeared - Hopefully the seal found its way to an opening in the ice and back into the ocean and a long awaited meal. Though I have sighted many seals here, it was great having this one in town because normally they are way out on the sea ice and out of camera range.

Earlier this week a large storm on the sun made the conditions right for an amazing night of aurora sightings. Auroras are essentially charged streams of particles from the sun that are attracted by the Earths magnetic field. When the particles reach the polar regions, they decrease in energy and emit a photon of light. These photons are visible in the form of auroras and the colors vary from the most common green, to red and blue depending on the energy level of the particles and the gases present in the atmosphere. Up to this point, the auroras that I have seen have been grayish-green in color, but this week was different. The report from NOAA said that there would be a strong chance of seeing auroras and gave it a rating of 10 on a 1 to 10 scale, which was great. I gathered up a few of my friends and we hiked out to hut point at about 8:30 pm to see if we could spot any auroras away from the lights of town. We immediately started seeing shooting stars, which were unexpected, and then signs of the auroras presented themselves. It was very cold and I couldn’t figure out the proper settings on my camera without freezing my hands, but, after nearly two hours of star gazing, a brilliant aurora filled the sky. It was a wide, bright green ribbon that stretched from horizon to horizon, directly overhead, and slowly shimmered and changed its appearance before our eyes. We watched the light dance across the sky for what seemed like an eternity, though it was actually only a few minutes. We tried in vain to get some photographs that would do justice to the spectacle that we were witnessing, but in the end all we got were some grainy pictures of what appears to be grey clouds. Someone else managed to get some great pictures that night, but the camera I have can’t do what he did to capture his pictures - I will keep trying though. I will always remember that night, because seeing the Aurora Australis was one of my main reasons for wanting to spend the winter here. Shortly after the southern lights started to fade, I made my retreat to the warmth of a building half way back to town - Due to the warm weather we had been having I didn’t wear enough clothes and I was freezing. The rest of our group showed up a half hour later with impressively frozen up beards and just a touch of frost nip. We all warmed up and walked back to town reveling in the night’s spectacular display - A first for all four of us!

Saturday morning another big first occurred for me - An Adelie penguin paid us an unexpected visit in town. This time of year the penguins have normally moved far to the North, but occasionally, like today, a few isolated penguins come down to see what “those giant, funny looking penguins” at McMurdo Station are doing. Word spread fast that we had visitors and, though the workday had already started, a large group of us turned out to see the penguin, some of us for the first time. It was exciting! We all stood a reasonable distance from the penguin and with cameras flashing away, reminiscent of a star-studded red carpet at a Hollywood gala, we watched it strut its stuff, while showing off its shiny, thick, black and white, winter coat. With flippers stretched out perpendicular to its body, the penguin ran (or waddled rapidly) back and forth along a retaining wall, while occasionally calling, in a truncated trumpet-like sound, for its friends who were nowhere in site. After several passes back and forth in front of us, the penguin approached the foot tall retaining wall and, with flippers flapping like wings, attempted to jump over it - Luckily it was an unsuccessful attempt, because there was a large drop-off on the other side. The penguin then turned, took a few steps towards us, faced all of the cameras and began flapping both of its flippers as if to say “Good by, it was nice visiting with all of you!” and then it turned and walked off stage into the shadows behind the waste storage bins next to the retaining wall and disappeared. This experience will go down as another highlight of my trip. It was another of the top five reasons for me to be here - That is two of the top five reasons in one week!

I have now fulfilled three of my top five reasons for coming down here - I have stepped foot on the great southern continent of Antarctica (1), I have seen the Aurora Australis (2), and I have seen an Adelie penguin (3). All that remains of my top five are experiencing a storm of the proportions that this continent is famous for (4) and seeing an emperor penguin (5). The storm is important to me, because one of the first images I saw of this continent was of a person, bundled up, laying on the ice, holding the shaft of an ice-axe that was planted in the snow, while a strong wind-storm blew over him - I loved that picture and have always wanted to experience it. Of course, I know I will be forced to stay inside, without an ice axe, and watch the storm through the window, but I still want to see it! I also know that, barring a miracle, I will not fulfill the fifth reason for wanting to come down here, because the nearest colony of emperor penguins is about 50 miles away, at Cape Crosier, and they rarely come to this part of the island - I will remain hopeful though! Since I am staying until the end of October, I still may have an opportunity to see more Adelies and with some luck I may get to go to Cape Evans or Cape Royds to see more of the historic buildings that make Ross Island so cool - Only time will tell. In the mean time, I will enjoy my newly organized dorm room, I will read some great books, I will enjoy the company of my many new friends and I will gladly take in all of the new experiences and knowledge that this winter still has to offer - Who knows what else this great continent has in store for us!

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Photos

The Penguin Visitor
Here is the picture of our surprise visitor. It is and Adelie penguin and they are rarely seen this far south during the winter. It was a treat.

Full Moon Over Mt. Discovery
This picture was taken a few days after sunset. Sights like this were common for a week or so after the sun went down.

The Anti-Lighthouse
This was the sight at noon for a few days after the sun went down. It is the bulk of Mt. Erebus blocking the rays from the sun causing a large shadow across the otherwise colorful clouds - It was very cool!

The Aurora Australis
This is not a great picture of an aurora, but the grayish green looking cloud in the sky is it. I will try to get some better pictures next time.

Full Moon Over Ob Hill
Another full moon shot from in town. This was taken a few hours after the Mt. Discovery picture.

The Weddell Seal
This animal was hanging out in town for several days. It took a tour of most of the town and then made its way over to Scott base a mile and a half away - An impressive journey without the assistance of legs!

Another Picture of the Seal
The seal had some amazing snot-cycles going, but still seemed comfortable.

A Normal Day on the Jobsite.
It isn't the best picture, but it shows a typical day at the job site. I have great respect for the people working on site at the water plant. I only spend and hour or so per day down there, but they are out in the conditions all day without any complaining.

Condition 2 at the Jobsite
This was a fairly strong condition 2 storm that blew through town one night. I stayed out enjoying the wind and snow for a few hours - It was a lot of fun!

The View From My Bedroom
This is a view of an aurora that I took through the glass from the warmth of my bedroom. This was the third time I have woken up in the middle of the night to see auroras outside of my window.

Comments

[anonymous]

Amazing again!
Keith, This is so cool! I get to visit Antarctica vicariously through your Blogs. Great Pix and writing! Hope an Emperor shows up! Thanks for the views. Da Case - Jeff Casey