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Published: February 26th 2009
Happy Birthday Alaska!
Alaska is 50 years old this year.We spent the whole day in the hotel again. We learned all about uploading photos into the PolarTREC webpage, writing journal entries, and a few more things that I probably won't need after this week - except that it's good to know what Casey is going to be doing. We also got to sit in on a phone call from someone from Raytheon, which is the company that currently takes care of all the logistics for the teachers traveling to and from the Antarctic. It was neat to learn what these people will have to go through in order to get to their locations in Antarctica. The situations that each of the teachers will have (I think there are about 6 going to the Antarctic) varies quite a bit. Everyone will fly into Christ Church in New Zealand, where they will be issued their extreme cold weather (ECW) gear. From there, they wait for good weather conditions to be flown to the McMurdo station in Antarctica, which is like a small town. There are a couple stores and bars there, a cafeteria, and even running water (I think).
Anyway, from McMurdo, there are other places that the teachers will
go. There are also "remote field locations" that some research groups go to - which is where you wouldn't want to be if you don't like being away from the comforts of civilized life. I'm not sure of the specifics of all that goes on there (I will be sure to research this some more), but they did mention that each person would be issued their own pee bottle. Yes, that is exactly what you think it is.
The South Pole station, however, is where Casey will be going with the IceCube project. This place is nice and cushy, and doesn't even require that people who go there participate in survival training. Apparently they consider this place very "safe." I will post more about what the IceCube project is in the future.
We also learned a bit about the technology that the teachers will use on their adventures. Satellite phones will be what they use to communicate for the most part. They'll use the satphones to call people (for needed personal calls or calling in to do live webinars for classrooms), sending emails, sending pictures, sending video, or sending audofiles. You can guess that they will
Spring!
It says "Spring" down at the bottom. I think it's a tree, but I'm not quite sure. I LOVED it. Unfortunately, I hadn't yet figured out I should turn off my flash. probably not be using these to surf the internet, as the connection isn't that great...plus they're expensive to use (anywhere from $0.83 to $1.33 per minute). Teachers are expected to send daily journal entries, including pictures and video if possible, so these satphones will be necessary to the teachers on these trips.
In the evening, we went to the 2009 World Ice Art Championships in Fairbanks. I won't say a lot about it - I'll just put up a bunch of pictures. Needless to say, they were beautiful and amazing! The best part was the ice slide. I went down face first, which was totally fun! I could have stayed there all night, but others weren't in the mood to be as much of a kid as I was. Check out the website: www.icealaksa.com
Side note: It is so freakin' dry here! My throat is dry, my eyes are dry, and I'm constantly thirsty. My hair is even full of static, which I'm not sure has ever happened! The temperature today got up to about 20 or 25 degrees, so it wasn't that bad at all. We were at the festival from about 7:30 pm till 9:30
Man-eating Alligator?
The alligator is very detailed. pm, and I didn't really start feeling cold until we were waiting for the shuttle van to come pick us up (and I had stopped moving).
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Shirley
non-member comment
Ice sculptures are fabulous!! Bring me an ice penquin!!