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Questions for Gwynne?

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Come check out what people are wanting to know or are interested in! If you have a question please send email to Gwynne at sgcrowde@midway.uchicago.edu.

Question from Lynn Dugan asks:

Were there any sections of the ice cave that were smooth?

Answered by Gwynne:

Yes. The ground generally was covered with a little snow and crushed ice so it wasn't too slippery. A lot of the walls were very smooth though, like frictionless fissures leading deeper into the glacier.

Question from Michael Ellis, 5th grader at Webster Elementary in St. Paul, Minnesota, asks:

Did you start on the balloon project yet? We did. How far are you on the balloon project?

Answered by Gwynne:

The balloon project is the one lab I did before I got down here. Because supplies are rather limited, I figured it would be much easier to do at home. I had so much fun playing with the balloons, did you? I am excited to hear your answers for the last 2 steps of the lab. Those parts really help put things in perspective for me!

Question from Desiree Nelson, 5th grader at Webster Elementary in St. Paul, Minnesota, asks:

Are there many birds?

Answered by Gwynne:

When I first got here, there were no birds here. Now there are more and more birds showing up, especially since the sea ice has started melting, making open water get closer to McMurdo. All the birds I've seen are skuas though, a rather aggressive gull-like bird. I know a few people have spotted snow petrels. A lot less birds here than the US though.

Question from Anna Germundson, 5th grader at Webster Elementary in St. Paul, Minnesota, asks:

Does the weather affect your work at all?

Answered by Gwynne:

Yes! For the first part of the season, a lot of our equipment was delayed in getting here due to poor weather. If the weather is bad enough, we often can't get out to the lab to work. Other consequences of bad weather: we run out of fuel so we lose power (and heat!), we lose internet connection. This year has been particularly bad for solar storms which means radio communication is unusable. All that is just day to day problems. As for the balloon launch itself, it is highly dependant on the weather. We have to wait for both the winds in the upper and lower atmosphere to set up. The upper atmosphere winds set up in early December. For the lower atmosphere winds, we just have see what they're like every day. Antarctica is a great place for scientific study, but it is impossible to avoid weather related problems.

Question from Mrs. Stroud of Webster Elementary in St. Paul, Minnesota asks:

Do you need to wear any special shoes so that you don't slip around [in the ice caves]?

Answered by Gwynne:

We were all just wearing boots. It was rather slippery, but I was able to manage. In the steeper areas, there were ropes attached to pull yourself around. Generally speaking though, everybody slips a lot whenever they are outside.

Mr. Levy's third grade class of Nassau School in Poughkeepsie, New York asks:

Answered by Gwynne:
1. What are you studying? 1. Generally speaking, we are studying cosmology. Cosmology is the study of the formation and evolution of the universe. Specifically, we are measuring the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (what a mouthful!). This is radiation that is left over from a short time after the explosion that created the universe (the big bang). From our measurements, we will be able to determine the total mass and energy of the universe, the age of our universe, and the fate of our universe (whether it will continue expanding or start contracting). We are doing this by mounting a telescope on top of a really big helium balloon. The telescope collects this certain type of radiation and records it so we can later analyze it. Why use a helium balloon? Well, the atmosphere interferes with and pollutes our data so we just send the balloon above about 99% of it.
2. Where are you staying? 2. I work out at Willy Field, a field camp of McMurdo Base. I am close enough to the base to shuttle back and forth daily. Lots of people in my lab just stay out at Willy though. McMurdo is an American base, in fact, it is the largest base in Antarctica. It lies on Ross Island in the Ross Sea. Willy Field, on the other hand, lies on the Ross Ice Shelf. It's pretty easy to remember the names of different features around here, they all seem to be named after Ross!
3. Why did you go there? 3. There are quite a few reasons why I came down here. At school, I study physics and astronomy so actually getting to be in the real science world is great experience. I get to learn what I like doing, what I don't like doing, what topics I find interesting; basically, this helps me decide what I want to do with my future (not that I have any idea what I want to do yet). Aside from the various educational reasons, I GET TO LIVE IN ANTARCTICA! For anybody with even the slightest sense of adventure, this is an opportunity impossible to pass up. I have always had a special fondness for Antarctica.
4. How do you feel being in a place so cold and far away from home? 4. Well, right now, Antarctica is actually warmer than my home. When I first got here though, that was certainly not true. I am originally from a pretty cold place, so the temperature doesn't bother me that much. As for being far away from home, it has its ups and downs. I miss my friends and family very much, but being a college student means I am away from them a lot anyways. You have to learn to make a home away from home.
5. What kind of clothing do you wear? 5. Everybody is issued Extreme Cold Weather (ECW) gear for the duration of their stay down here. This is a very thorough collection of clothing. Each person's ECW gear depends on what job they will be doing. Just some of the things we are given: boots, 6 pairs wool socks, 2 sets thermal long underwear, fleece pants and jacket, wind pants and jacket, parka, 6 pairs of mittens/gloves, 2 pairs of glove liners, neck gaiter, balaclava, 2 hats, goggles, and a water bottle. There are pictures from Minnesota and Indiana of students trying on some sample clothing. For most of the time though, I just wear the clothing I brought from home and my issued parka.

Question from Susannah Crowder of New York, New York asks:

Have you found it difficult to adjust to the continual sunlight? (ie, sleeping, when to eat, etc.)

Answered by Gwynne:

Yes and no. It is definitely very odd to never see dark. Sometimes in the evenings, I go and hang out at a place called Coffee House which has a very night-like atmosphere. I get sleepy and start to head home for bed, but the second I walk out the door, I am jolted awake with the light. So that's no good. When I first got here, I had a big time difference to adjust to (with no visual indicators to help me adjust). However, I was so tired from all the traveling that I could pretty much sleep on command. I often wake up in the middle of the night and have to look at my watch because I have no idea how long it is until I have to get up. I have started to pick up on some subtle differences between day and night though. At night, the sun crosses the southern half of the sky. This is when we are furthest away from the sun so the temperature is generally about 10 degrees cooler. Also, the strength of the sun's rays is less. The town itself actually quiets down at night. As for when to eat, I find myself continually hungry and arrange my day around the mealtimes.

There are definitely nice parts about no night- mainly that I can go out and take a walk or admire the scenery at any time. It's a very interesting experience though.

Question from Irene Present of Saint Paul, Minnesota asks:

Can you see the moon? If so, how high is it in the sky? What is its path across the sky?

Answered by Gwynne:

It is possible to see the moon from down here even though I haven't seen it yet. It travels in a similar path to the sun just like the northern hemisphere; it circles around in the sky (not quite centered around the top of the dome because we are not quite centered at the south pole). As for how high it is in the sky, it depends on the phase of the moon. Of course, it's very hard to see the moon when it's sunny all the time, especially because it's so much brighter here.

Question from Ingrid Peterson of River Falls, Wisconsin asks:

How much daylight do you get at this time of year?

Answered by Gwynne:

Continual daylight. The darkest it gets is when it's cloudy (and even that requires sunglasses!). The last sunset we had here was October 21 and the last sunrise was October 22. The sun won't dip beneath the horizon again until February 20!

Question from Carol Roe of Santa Barbara, California asks:

Can you get a bagel there?

Answered by Gwynne:

Occasionally. I actually had a bagel and lox (smoked salmon) for breakfast yesterday, but that was a special occasion. It was Sunday brunch and the lox was leftover from Thanksgiving.

Question from D'aphid Sklar of Boston, Massachusetts asks:

In addition to the beloved penguin, what other animals, plants, and insects are native to Antarctica?

Answered by Gwynne:

There are 2 places to find plants and animals here: in the water or on land. There is very little life on land and most of it is along the coast. By contrast, there is lots of marine life. I will be doing a Native Animals lab with students in about a month so I will just list the kinds now. Once the results of the lab are posted, you will be able to find information about these animals.

Marine Animals: seals (weddell, ross, leopard, crabeater), whales (killer, sperm, dolphin, southern bottlenose, blue, fin, southern right, sei, minke, humpback), birds (penguin, petrel, cormorant, gull, tern, skua), fish (200 kinds, but mostly icefish and Antarctic cod. I have eaten the cod!), krill, sponges, jellyfish, sea worms, starfish, shrimp, anemones, soft coral, bivalves, octopus, urchins, sea cucumbers, sea spiders, plus many more.

Marine Plants: phytoplankton, sea ice algae, giant kelp.

Land Animals: Only insects and 1 type of spider. Mites, biting and sucking lice, springtails, nematode worms, wing-less flies (my favorite).

Land Plants: non-marine algae, moss, lichen, fungi, liverwort.

Question from Clay Jones, 6th grader in Carlisle, Indiana asks:

I want to know if you came in contact with any animals.

Answered by Gwynne:

Not very many. Most animals don't show up until later in the season. This is because they are waiting for the sea ice to melt, which will allow them to swim much much closer to where we are. I have been seeing a lot of skuas, a bird similar to a sea gull except much more aggressive. These birds will actually swoop down and grab food out of your hand if you are unfortunate enough to bring snacks outside. I have seen from afar a couple of seals sunning themselves, but I wasn't close enough to see any detail.

Question from Anthony Hayne, 6th grader in Carlisle, Indiana asks:

Does the cold ever bother you?

Answered by Gwynne:

Yes, the cold sometimes bothers me. Worse than the actual temperature is the wind though. Very easy to develop frostbite. What's most difficult about the weather here is its inconsistency. One day, I was working outside and it was a really beautiful day, so I didn't wear my warmest clothes. Within 2 or 3 minutes, a storm blew in and brrr was I cold. We dress here by layering, this keeps you warm when it's cold and allows you to easily shed layers when it's warm (overheating is just as much a concern because being hot makes you sweat and sweat can freeze).

Question from Brad Phegley, 6th grader in Carlisle, Indiana asks:

I want to know how cold it gets down there. And how is it going?

Answered by Gwynne:

Well, keeping in mind that it's summer here, I'll give you the weather for November 30.

Highest temperature: 34 Fahrenheit
Lowest temperature: 18 Fahrenheit
Peak wind: 24 knots
Peak wind chill: -17 Fahrenheit

This day in the southern hemisphere corresponds to early June in the northern hemisphere. So, if you think about the temperature then and compare it to the current temperature here, you can see how cold it usually is here. In McMurdo, some of the snow is melting making it VERY muddy. As for your other question, things are going really well. I like it down here a whole lot, people are very friendly. The one thing I might complain about (even though it's my own fault) is that I never get enough sleep.

Question from Scott Johnson of Goddard Space Flight Center asks:

Could you tell me what the round sort of ball like structure on top of the hill looking out of your room view is? (the picture he refers to is linked here).

Answered by Gwynne:

It is a giant golfball. No not really, but it looks like it, doesn't it? I called the NASA Ground Station and they told me it is a 10 meter satellite dish. With this dish, they track Low Earth Orbitting satellites (satellites that orbit 600-700 miles above the ground). These satellites have a 90 minute orbit. The hill on which the dish sits is called Arrival Heights.

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