Feb 21 – Day 53 on Ice

Weather: Temperatures still hovering around -50F, winds have picked up and windchill is down near -80F. Mostly clear skies. Sun around 11 degrees elevation.

As the sun drops lower and lower in the sky, the shadows grow longer. The surrounding landscape begins to change, to appear almost alien. On clear days you can see contrast of ridges and troughs in the snow. What used to be flat white now has form. Looking out from the galley reminds me of an image of the surface of he moon (without the craters, of course). The shadow of the station almost reaches the ceremonial pole in the morning, and with the low winds we’ve been having the exhaust from the power plant looms over the berms like a fog lays over a lake on a cool morning. Shadows from thin cloud layers now cast noticeable shadows which make it feel like dusk, though we are still a month away from sundown. Even the light entering windows seems to make late-afternoon patterns in the rooms. We’re definitely getting there. Enjoy the sun while it lasts. I get irked when blinds are closed in the galley.

Hard to believe it has only been 1 week since station close. We still have 2 DC-10 airplanes here, waiting for better weather to head towards Rothera station and then on up to South America. Hopefully they’ll be gone before next week.

Also hard to believe I’ve been in Antarctica for 53 days. It doesn’t seem that long. Time moves weirdly here. It’s always been way longer, or way shorter than I recall. Then again, that seems to be true always, at least for me. My memory isn’t too good. Except for the random ones that won’t go away when I try to get to bed… why is it that my brain feels the need to keep memories of things like driving home from late-night hockey practice in Baltimore, or listening to a certain song at 6:30am in the highschool parking lot before school. The time range of recalled memories seems to be mostly from 6-10 years ago.. not sure why. I wonder if the time frame shifts or if it stays there… I don’t remember what I thought about back then haha.

Anyway, the telescope is still telescoping nicely, and the weather is nice for now. Triple crown challenge and climbing and playing sports is taking it’s toll. I’m thinking about sleeping in tomorrow, but don’t want to make it a habit. It’s already hard enough making it to breakfast (which ends at 8am).

No new pictures today, but if you have specific questions, or want certain photos/videos let me know! — I am going to try to get some time-lapses of the sun sometime before it goes down… we’ll see how that goes.

Cheers