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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.
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Question
from Lynn Dugan asks:
Were
there any sections of the ice cave that were smooth?
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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.
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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?
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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!
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Question
from Desiree Nelson, 5th grader at Webster Elementary
in St. Paul, Minnesota, asks:
Are
there many birds?
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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.
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Question
from Anna Germundson, 5th grader at Webster Elementary
in St. Paul, Minnesota, asks:
Does
the weather affect your work at all?
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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.
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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]?
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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.
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Mr.
Levy's third grade class of Nassau School
in Poughkeepsie, New York asks:
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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. |
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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.)
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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.
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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?
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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.
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Question
from Ingrid Peterson of River Falls, Wisconsin asks:
How
much daylight do you get at this time of year?
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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!
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Question
from Carol Roe of Santa Barbara, California asks:
Can
you get a bagel there?
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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.
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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?
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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.
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Question
from Clay Jones, 6th grader in Carlisle, Indiana
asks:
I
want to know if you came in contact with any animals.
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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.
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Question
from Anthony Hayne, 6th grader in Carlisle, Indiana
asks:
Does
the cold ever bother you?
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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).
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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?
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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.
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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).
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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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