Saturday, July 9, 2011

Winfly 2010 and the auroras

This is what made me want to winter!

After my first summer on the Ice I kept telling myself that I would never want to spend a winter on the continent, the idea of being in the cold darkness of Antarctica for that long didn't appeal to me whatsoever... and then I got here for my second summer arriving at Winfly ( austral winter flights ) which marks the beginning of the summer season. During this time the McMurdo is prepped for the upcoming Mainbody flights where most of the personnel will arrive either to stay and work or travel on to other stations and field camps. The cold was amazing, so crisp it reminded me so much of the winters back in Michigan ( or how they used to be ) and the darkness and the stars were so beautiful.. I hadn't seen the night sky so vivid since spending time at me parents vacation property in Northern Michigan when I was a teenager.

These aurora pictures, while not that great are the best my little camera could muster in the cold and in my shaking hands :-)



The green streaks lit up the sky...






Did yo uknow they can actually pulsate.. so so very amazing








These were only a small sample of the gorgeous night sky happenings I was able to witness.








Blurry view of the town ( McMurdo Station ) from Observation Hill ( OB Hill ) , again due largely to my shaking hands.












My first Polar Stratospheric Clouds more commonly called nacreous clouds, this is a small example but there were many times over the course of the season where they were massive and quite beautiful.













More Nacreous clouds















The Station early in summer as the sun is starting too peek above the horizon.. it's so much like dawn but will last for hours before it heads below the horizon again.















My send off cake!


My freinds back home are so awesome! even when they mock me with Costco cake



















No comments:

Post a Comment