April 14th – Day 105 on Ice

Weather: The temperatures have been all over the place. It warmed up to nearly -40C with clear skies and low winds which was unusual and very welcome! Then last night it dropped back down to -60C and the winds today have picked up to nearly 20mph. With the increased winds, warmer air from further up in the atmosphere (there is a temperature inversion here at Pole) gets mixed down, so we’re back up to -53C and climbing.

It is definitely getting dark. There is still some sunlight refracting enough through the atmosphere to get here, but my phone isn’t quite capable of showing that. In the panorama above, you can see the Moon, and the red lights from MAPO, the Station and the Ice Cube Lab (ICL) in order from left to right… but that’s it.

Another wonderful surprise came with the clear, still weather…. AURORAS!!! Which decided to show up for 20 minutes or so right as I was walking out to the Climbing Gym!

Having spent 2 months here with only the winter crew, and after a week or so of closed-windows and semi-darkness outside I think I’m coming to find the South Pole a really nice place. It’s weird to think that when I deployed, my friends and family thought that I would be going to the most socially isolated place in the world, with death constantly outside my doors…. and in some sense that view has completely flipped. I’m now in the safest place on Earth (as far as the COVID pandemic is concerned) and am one of the least socially isolated people I know (with daily interactions with most of the 42 people on station).

Lucky for us, the 42 here at South Pole get along remarkably well… so far (we’ll see in 6 months!). But everyone is appreciative of the station, and its amenities; the Galley staff that cooks us 3 meals a day, 6 days a week; the weight room with treadmills and other cardio equipment make staying active easy; the climbing gym which provides me an extra challenge; the gymnasium which allows for social sports such as basketball, volleyball, soccer and even roller hockey (in my case, since I brought equipment to play)… There is nothing here to complain about. Even the telescope I’m in charge of operating is working smoothly with remarkably few hiccups in the past few months!

I write this not only because I think the South Pole is severely misunderstood by people who have never been here, but also because it will be interesting to compare my feelings of being isolated here as the year continues. Sure I can’t leave until November… but why would I want to? (OK, so I have a fiance, and friends and family that I miss… but perhaps having low empathy helps? Certainly I can keep myself busy enough to suppress the longing feelings of home.) Doing only things that I want to do on a daily basis is spoiling. I never have to worry about other peoples’ schedules. I can work as long as I want, or go to the gym or play sports or climb for 4 hours in the afternoon if I want. I can stay up late and sauna, or go to bed early and read. I can sleep in and miss breakfast… though I love breakfast, so I hate doing that…

It will be interesting to see what time does to my South Pole utopia.. and how returning to real-life feels after the ignorance I can feign while here.