Dan's Wild Wild Science Journal

Snow covers Northern Wales this morning. Picture courtesy my good friend Alan Williams who just happens to be a professional photographer!

Just last Sunday the UK switched their clocks ahead one hour for “Summer Time”.  North America went to Daylight Time two weeks ago.

So imagine the surprise when heavy snow warnings were issued from the Met. Office and snow began to fall across much of Scotland and Northern England. It’s just been a crazy winter. Unseasonably cold in the UK and the Northeast USA.You can blame El Nino for much of it.

Meantime, the rest of the world  was incredibly warm. (see 5th warmest winter on record)

Now I know they hate it but as far as I am concerned, there is no such thing as too much snow!

Later,

Dan

We continue to get pics and video from viewers after yesterday’s tornado here in the Huntspatch (Huntsville AL).

Viewer Lauryn Draper shot some great video fo it and put it up on YouTube. The video was shot a few blocks from our studios. The tornado WAS on the ground through most of this video I suspect. Tornadoes are wind and not cloud, so just because you could not see the funnel in contact with the ground does not mean it wasn’t.  It began doing damage near the end of this video.

Viewer Cristie Clark sent me the video below from a different angle. You can hear the Tornado Sirens sounding across the city clearly.

Mount Erebus in the background. The match was played on frozen McMurdo Sound. A very warm 0C..

I witnessed a real spectacle today here. Every year the Kiwis over at Scott Base and the Americans at McMurdo base have a Rugby match. Rugby is the national past time in New Zealand and they are VERY good at it. The USA has never scored a goal against them, much less won the match!

So what was the final score??

See the picture!

The Kiwis won again, and the USA remain scoreless! It’s the most southern rugby match in the world of course. Truly and amazing thing to see with Mount Erebus, an active volcano. smoking in the distance while the match was played on the ice of McMurdo sound.

I get up at 6am tomorrow and report to the Pegasus Ice Runway.

3 hours later, I will land in a C130 at the very bottom of the World.

The South Pole.

Current weather there is -20F with a wind chill of -30F.

Off for midnight rats and then to bed! More pics of the rugby match to come. I shot hi res. video of it too.

G’nite from McMurdo station Antarctica where it’s bright and sunny at midnight and 24F.

Dan

Me at the entry sign into McMurdo.

I’ve spent one day and zero nights here at the bottom of the World now. Before bed last night I walked to building 155 to get  midnight rations in the cafeteria. The sun was shining high above the dirt main street that is McMurdo Station.

Midnight rats, as they call it, was delicious. The NSF has kindly given me a distinguished visitor pass so I can eat right at midnight instead of waiting until 12:30 when all of those who are not working an overnight shift can eat. The food is free and plentiful. The cold and hard work means you have a very high metabolism. 4,000 calorie per day diets are the norm for many and at the pole, where it’s MUCH colder and higher, a 6,000 calorie a day diet is common.

Brian Johnson explains putting up a tent in Antarctic conditions. Josh Landis of CBS on right. We were standing on Snow (on top of sea ice) on the McMurdo Ice Shelf..

Today was survival school. It lasted all day. It’s mandatory for anyone going to the inland sites away from the bases at McMurdo or South Pole. Since we are going to the Western Antarctic Ice Shelf drill site, and the Dry Valleys, our group of 8 were required to do the course.

Brian Johnson of the McMurdo staff was our instructor and he was a fountain of fabulous information.  I learned info that may save my life someday, although I hope I never need it.

Memorial at Hut Point to member of the British Antarctic Expedition. Mcmurdo Ice shelf behind me. Pic taken at 1125PM.

Afterwards we drove in the snow bus for an hour to a spot on Ross Island called “room with a view”. I’m not even close to being a good enough writer to describe it- but I took pics!

Let’s just say that I have never seen anything like it, and unless you have been here- you haven’t either!

Everyone here works very hard. Support staff outnumber scientists and researchers by five to one. It takes a lot to survive here. The living quarters are very spartan. I have a tiny bed and a tiny desk. No light in the room. (It’s light all the time so not really needed.) My room mate is one of the survival school instructors.

The main thing you do is sweat.

Really! I kid you not.

Our transport onto the ice shelf. It took about 20 minutes from McMurdo, but we drove another hour out to a spot called "room with a view".

See, you have to keep your ECW (Extreme Weather Clothing) gear nearby when going away from the base. Depending on the weather, you usually get hot and sweaty walking in the heavy bunny boots. The ECW kit is very good. You do stay warm, but it takes awhile to get the right amount of layers. When you exert yourself, the needed layers change!

Warnings are posted everywhere about not getting dehydrated. EVERYWHERE.

You can think of McMurdo as a kind of busy mining town surrounded by nothing. I mean nothing. Empty and quiet and very bright white. Intensely beautiful. Amazingly beautiful and vast.

A Skua flying over us at lunch. They are the scavengers of the Antarctic.

More than any picture can convey.

There are Penguins and Leopard Seals and Skuas (The scavenger bird of Antarctica) The wildlife have no fear of humans at all, but disturbing them in anyway is strictly prohibited. The Antarctic Treaty is followed to the letter and spirit, with the the t’s crossed and the i’s dotted. If it can be recycled it is. Trash that has to be burned is shipped to Port Hueneme California and incinerated. 65% of waste at McMurdo is recycled.

This is the greenest town on Earth bar none. McMurdo sets a fabulous example for the rest of the world.

I saved the biggest news for last!

Tomorrow is Sunday here ( I wrote this at 830pm Saturday night here in Mac Town.) At 2pm Sunday out on the Mcmurdo Ice Shelf is the annual New Zealand (Scott Base) vs USA  (McMurdo Base) Rugby game. They play in the snow on frozen ocean. Wearing bunny boots!

The view from Hut Point. About a 10 minute walk from my room. Robert Falcon Scott's 1902 hut is just a few steps away. I will show pics of that tomorrow!

In case you do not know, Rugby is wildly popular among the Kiwis and they play it very well. The American team has NEVER won. Actually the McMurdo team has never scored a point!

So tomorrow at 2pm I will cover my first sporting event! Pics and video to come!! (Trust me if you are wagering, bet on the Kiwis! (everyone here is!)

Dan

McMurdo Science Base, Antarctica

22:42 Saturday 9 January 2010

and here it is: