Wednesday, April 30, 2008

..And yet even more...




I know that i've been posting lots of pictures of sunsets, I just feel like each one is different and because of the shades of lights that the sky is illuminated with, makes each one almost more beautiful than the other. Now, with that out the way...
The first picture you see there is not just any mountain, that happens to be Mount Erebus, the only active volcano in Antarctica. On clear days you can actually see the entire mountain as it bellows white smoke from it's crater, but on today, it breathes only a small amount. Mount Erebus (elevation: 12,444 feet, 3,794 m) is on Ross Island in the Ross Sea. Erebus is an active volcano with a convecting lava lake within a summit crater. It has been continuously active since 1972. Most eruptions are small and Strombolian in character, tossing bombs onto the crater rim. The volcano is less than one million years old.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

A few more beautiful sunsets






These are a few of the last remaining sunsets for the season, just thought i'd share them with everyone.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

It's like the sun going down...






These are a few pictures of the sunset the last couple days. I truely do love this time of the year just for the sunsets. I think they make the entire place seems like somewhere out of this world.

Friday, April 25, 2008

Small beam of sun...

This is a small video that i took yesterday to show the small amount of sun that we are still getting before it all goes away. It's safe to say that in about 2 weeks we will have no natural lights and it will officially be 24 hours of darkness.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

For Earth day with love....

I tried to take some videos of the moon today but because there was an over-cast it didn't come out very well, So instead of posting that as my earth day video, i decided to take a small clip of the greenhouse to not only show how far along some of the plants have come but to honor earth day as well. Happy earth day and enjoy.

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Flight to Marbel point from above...






These photos were taken from a helicopter flying into one of the camps before they closed. It's a look into the dry vallies, as well as some emperor penguins at the ice edge hanging out with a leopard seal.
I'm going to take this time to answer a few questions from blog comments from during the week. I'm not going to go in any particular order but i'll do my best to answer most of them.
The auroras we see down here in this part of the world are Australis. They are not something we see every night. Usually we see them on clear nights when the wind is calm and you can look out and see nothing but stars and what looks like a lime green mist floating across the sky.
I've never read the book "Northern Lights".
Jobs down here in antarctica are available to just about everyone, Yes the town is set up like a military base as far as the housing quarters, which means you live with a roommate unless you have a partner. As far as coming down on a tour and visiting, i'm not sure what that entails or what the cost is, but as far as i'm concerned, I would much rather go somewhere and work and get to know the area and people than to pay to visit and then just leave. To me, getting to know people where you travel is the biggest part of the adventure.

Friday, April 18, 2008

More Auroras...

I was going to wait a bit to post this next aurora video which was taken from the same place as the recently posted one but instead of zooming all the way in, the zoom was actually all the way out, which gives a better view of OB hill. enjoy.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Auroras from OB Hill

Here is a short video of some auroras across the sky here in Mcmurdo station, Antarctica. This video was shot from OB-hill (observation hill) because it is definately the best place to be to catch auroras as well as a beautiful view of the town.

On a clear night...



Here are a couple photos that were taken on one of our clear nights.

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

The Accident...





This week, As our SAR team was out conducting a search in condition one weather at night time, the terrain became very unpredictable and varied. As one of the drivers was driving on a snow bank it gave way and collapse under the passenger side causing the Hagglund to fall over on it's side. The driver and the passengers inside the vehicle excaped without injuries or bruises. They then had to set up camp and wait until the next afternoon when the weather cleared for someone to go back out and get them.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

A few Photos of town...





Just wanted to share some photos of town as the sun begins to set and night slowly creeps into town. I must admit that although it's going to be dark soon, on clear days the sky is really colorful and the sunsets are beautiful