Snowflakes & Mini-Balloon Launch

Yesterday the LDB team launched a pathfinder balloon to map out the air currents above Antarctica. The weather guys say a good anti-cyclone is moving over the continent, so a launch window should be opening soon. This is good news! The pathfinder balloon is similar to the balloons used to launch the science experiments, but about 1/1000th the scale, and carry only some GPS, weather monitoring, and communications equipment. We all went out to watch the launch, it was . . . somewhat exciting.

12.5.06 - Pathfinder Launch

Later that day the temperature dropped about 15 degrees, and the creating some "diamond dust", basically crysalizing the mositure in the air. It looked like dancing lights when the sun reflected off of them, unfortunately these lights were too small for the camera to capture well, but its something cool that I have not seen before untill I came down here.

We got a light dusting of snow as well later on, Pietro has a really good macro feature on his digital camera, and so we grabbed a few snowflake photos. I think these turned out really nicely:

12.4.06 - Snowflake Photos

Thats about it. They moved the ice runway and "airport" from the sea ice to Pegasses, which is right next to use. So we get to listen to C-17s and Herculese transport planes flying overhead all the time now. I'll try to grab some pictures later.

The Adventures of Penkie

So far, I'm sure you have noticed that despite this blogs title, I don't have any penguin photos yet. Therefore, in response to this, as well as the request for some photos of where I live, I have created a series called "The Adventures of Penkie".


Penkie is a small 6 in. tall plush penguin stuffed animal I bought at the McMurdo gift shop*. He is going to be your guide to "a day in the life of a research scientist at McMurdo, Antarctica", taking my place because he is (a) cuter (b) fluffier (c) a penguin. Plus he has a really cool scarf to keep him warm.

This is one of the sillier things I think I have ever done, walking around all day with a small stuffed penguin under my arm, setting him up for poses and taking photos. But it was fun, and I like the results.

12.3.06 - The Adventures of Penkie

I'll finish the adventure when I get a chance.

*See previous Gift Shop post

A few more photos

On the way to work over the weekend I caught the registration for the McMurdo Cyclocross race/event. The Cyclocross is basically a short bike race around the base, its more fun than competition, and costumes are encouraged. I don't know how they managed to round up enough bikes (I had previously only ever seen 2 bikes), but it appearts McMurdo has a stash of ~20 silver Giant hardtail mountain bikes. I'm going to see if I can use one to get to work, I think it would be faster than the Terra Bus! On a random note, a few seasons ago, the road to Willy Field go so bad that even the Delta's were having touble, and so for the last 3 days the teams had to be lifted by helicopter to work. Now that is a cool (and $$) commute!

The SBI project moves along well! We tested all of our colar panels, the only components we cannot replace, and have 100% success! I grabbed a few shots of the LBD guys moving the telescope & gondola back into our hangar.

12.4.06 - Gondola Moving

Heading home it was finally clear enough to see the mountains again, so I shot a few photos to remind myself when if gets cloudy & foggy again.

12.2.06 - Mountains & Cyclocross