There has been a lot of hype around out last sunset and the sun rising 38 days later! A couple of days before this spectacular I went out to capture what would be our second last sunrise and sun set that we'd see as it was a relatively clear night/day. My time lapse started at 10am and continued through until 7pm. Sun rise was at 1:07pm and sunset at 2:24pm just 1 hour and 17 minutes of sunlight. Was wonderful to have an aurora show before the light from the sun took over the skies.
Three days later on the 2nd June, the sun would rise and set for the last time. We would then not see the sun for 38 days! The majority of the expeditioners gathered for a BBQ lunch followed by a viewing on the heli-hut platform. The sun did rise at 1:34pm but unfortunately the cloud cover was too thick to see the sun, however illuminating them from below. Twenty four minutes later at 1:58pm the sun set for the last time and darkness descended across the land. Over the 38 days we will see some light, but the sun will be below the horizon the whole time.
15 of the 16 expeditioners await to see the last glimpse of the sun.
As the darkness has descended our aurora sighting potential has sky rocketed! I'll le the photos do the talking, but lets just say that 3 days non stop aurora activity as pretty cool. This was due to a equatorial coronal hole on the sun interacting with the earths atmosphere.
There has been a lot of activity going on here the last few weeks now that the sea ice is open for vehicle travel. We'd been allowed to travel by foot, the sea ice had to be at least 200mm thick. For quads the sea ice must be at least 400mm thick. And for our hugglands the sea ice must be atl least 600mm thick. At the moment we are measuring anywhere around 780mm to over 1m thick!
Some people have been going out on trips to the huts in the field, others have been doing some day trips.
Ladge our winter scientist has been installing some equipment in the sea ice just off station. I was lucky to be asked to go out and help him during the week. This would be my first time on the sea ice in a Huggland. It was only a few months ago that there were boats in the water and you could hears the sounds of waves crashing onto the beach. To think that we were now driving a heavy piece of machinery out on the sea ice was weird yet amazing. Approximately 1km off station we stopped and Ladge downloaded some data and did some sea ice drilling.
When one of the holes was drilled and we removed the drill I saw a little Krill come up and onto the sea ice. I snapped a quick photo before returning it to the sea.
View of the station out on the sea ice. Almost hard to imagine a few months ago it was all open water!
The other day Goldie and I went out on the sea ice on the quad bikes to capture the sun setting amongst the ice bergs. I had also seen that the moon was due to set 15 minutes after the sun so would also provide an excellent opportunity for photos. This would my first time on the sea ice with the quads and what a fun experience it was. Following the predetermined marked drilled route we set off for the ice bergs in Prydz bay.
Sunset amongst the icebergs. Original photo 4.1m x 1m
Moon skimming along the top of the ice bergs. Original photo 4.7m x 1m
Moon setting between the ice bergs. Original photo 3.7m x 0.9m
We had a very special visitor to the station this week. Well there were 3 Emperor penguins just next to the pier on the sea ice. The call came through on the radio just as a meeting was about to begin..... as I ran out of the meeting the station leader was yelling at me to return, but there was no stopping me from seeing my first Emperor penguin! After a brief look out the window we spotted the three Emperor penguins. Unfortunately the meeting took priority and after the meeting I ran back to the window to only spot one left. So off it was to retrieve my camera and borrow someone's camera battery as both of mine were not readily accessible. A group of three of us ran down the road leading to the pier to be greeted with this majestic animal.
Remember to check out "This week at Davis" to keep up to date on all the station activities. Updated every Friday.
Also check out Absolute Antarctica a blog by Goldie one of our wintering expeditioners.