Blue Skies

 Yesterday the sky looked like this:

 Today it cleared up suddenly and we were left with this:

It is incredibly bright outside. I think this is the first time I've seen blue sky since early March. I had to change to my tinted goggles again. As the sun comes up it burns out the Ozone layer so the sun is especially dangerous right now. 

So bright! So clear! So much white!

Oktoberfest

This Saturday we had an Oktoberfest, run by Robert the German ten year veteran winter over. He made giant pretzels, game hens, sausages and sauerkraut. He decorated the galley like a tent and with Bavarian flags all over. There was even "the original sounds of Oktoberfest" playing on the galley speakers.

 I made ice steins which worked nicely until they warmed up enough that they started leaking through small cracks.

A bunch of us dressed up and it was a fun time. I made my Dirndl from fabric/supplies in the craft room. I'm leaving it here for future winter overs to use at Oktoberfest.

Watermelon Party

 I finally had the watermelon party! There was 30+ people in attendance and the picking/cutting of the watermelon attracted a group of paparazzi eight people strong. The melons were delicious and everyone was incredibly happy.

I will update this with more pictures as people post them on the common drive. It was a great start to our last two day weekend of the winter!

Wind Storms and Snow Removal

 

The skies cleared up a bit for a few days but we just got hit by another wind storm. The meteorologist predicts gusts up to 40 knots with this one.

With all of this wind the drifting is going to pile up quickly. The sun has revealed some massive drifts we accumulated over the winter.

With temperatures rising into the -40s this means we can get a lot more equipment outside and clearing snow. Yesterday I learned how to drive a Skid Steer, how to pick up a bucket and how to pick up piles of snow and back drag them flat. I cleared the snow in front of doors to the "Do not freeze" cargo Jamesway that we will be using as a post office to mail our things home. I also cleared some thick ice that had accumulated on the floor of the Vehicle Maintenance Facility (VMF) shop. It was a lot of fun. 

This is from inside the cab of the Skid Steer. I probably should have opened the window.

 

Fun fact: Only two weeks until the first transient planes arrive (that means we just fuel them, they stay the night and move on to other parts of the continent). Three weeks until the first one drops off a few people to stay and help with opening, which is somehow only 30 days away! That crept up so fast!  

SpiceCore in Spring

I visited Spice for the last time of the winter season.

It looks pretty much the same just a lot easier to find. We were able to bee line straight for it instead of having to follow the flag line.

Earlier this week I saw the sun for the first time in just over six months. It wasn't the bells, choirs, and trumpets experience that I thought it would be. It can mostly be summed up by:

"Hey, there is the Sun, man, that is a lot brighter than I remember... I'm hungry. Do you know what is for dinner?"

Mountains and the Moon

 The drift in front of ARO is starting to look like a really majestic mountain.

 I found a really big snow arch, biggest one I've see yet.

 

 

 This grayish blue cloudiness is getting old I hope it clears up soon so we can see the last bit of the sunrise before the sun gets too high and bright and I have to start wearing sunglasses again.

Sunrise Dinner

Saturday was Sunrise dinner. It was luau themed!

 The salad was fantastic and dinner was great (forgot to take a picture because it was delicious and I wanted to eat it, whoops).

The sun sadly didn't attended because it has still been cloudy and very windy. Hopefully we will get a chance to see it in the next few days.

Hey look flowers! I had enough flowers for the clover plant I was able to decorate all of the candle holders for the dinner.

Melons and the Sun!

 The watermelons are getting so big! Three are ready to pick (I think) but I'm waiting about ten days just to be sure.

 It was only clear out one day this past week.

 

 Earth shadow dwarfing the two wee scientists on the way back in from the dark sector.

 I didn't take the following picture because it was around midnight and I was already asleep but it caught the first glimpse of the sun refracting around the horizon!

What to Wear at 90 Below

Here is a video I made of everything I have to put on to stay warm outside. It still amazes me that this is all I need to work outside in temperatures on par with Mars sometimes.

What to Wear at 90 Below from Marissa Goerke on Vimeo.

Ice Sharks

Yesterday I turned some sastrugi into sharks and then went swimming with them!

It was a beautiful day, best weather we have had in a long time. It was -80 F with minimal wind (maybe 3-4 knots). It felt almost tropical or at least warm enough to enjoy some quality ice shark building and rolling around in the snow. The eyes are pieces of flags that the wind ripped off and I found in the snow. We had 23 knots winds this morning so my herd of ice sharks that were guarding SuperDARN are probably gone by now.

The Ice Cubers had an outreach program with some kids in Uruguay today. They were very excited about the watermelons! My watermelons are world famous!

Antarctic Sun and Greenhouse Update

Here is the link to the newest Antarctic Sun Articles I've written. I can't take any credit for the "Down by the Pole, Where the Cantaloupes Grow" title... that's a bit too clever for my winter brain to have dreamed up.

 The South Pole prize watermelon hasn't grown too much in the past couple weeks and it's looking like it might be time to start planning a melon party.

 The entire greenhouse is still absolutely a jungle and I will be harvesting for our sunrise dinner this week.

In other news I have been working on learning how to silk screen. This design was made by a carpenter in 2013/14, I liked it and decided to use it as my first attempt on a shirt I snagged from skua in the summer.

Fun Fact: I haven't showered in three days. It's shower day, yipppee!

More Light and More Snow

The wind storm from the last couple days has finally blown over. It dropped to -101 F yesterday with minimal wind.

The wind brought new drifts of snow (I like to call them pillows) over the entire area. They are just lumps of soft ice crystals that gather together and get really annoying when they happen to settle across the path you have been walking and packing down the whole year. Your nice hard packed path becomes a myriad of knee deep pillows (at least for me) you have to wade through. But they are quite pretty.

 The wind storm brought new sastrugi as well. 

 Now that I can see what I'm walking on again and it doesn't have to compete with the beauty of the sky I find myself looking down a lot more. I forgot how intricate and beautiful the snow could be.

 And how the time of day changes the angle of the light on the snow making it look slightly different every hour or so.

 A huge crevasse opened up!! Just kidding, it's about 6 inches across and maybe an inch deep.

 The low lighting and angle gives the snow a nice softer look then the harsh blue and sparking landscape I remember from summer.

 On the left side of the picture above you can see the remnants of some foot steps from before/during the storm. They might be mine.

With the stars gone the power plant exhaust has acquired more attention. Who knew burning fossil fuels could look so pretty sometimes? It does keep life at the pole fairly comfortable so that's a big plus.

Ten Days Untill Sunrise

 It was clear out yesterday and the temperature is dropping again. We are currently at -96 F with 10 knots of wind.

We are starting to get the deep purple/blue color of the earth shadow opposite the sun. It is bright enough that the horizon is making an appearance again!

Windy Day

 It was -83 with 20 knots of wind yesterday. It felt really cold. We hit -90 again today too! The transitioning of the seasons (winter to summer) brings winds storms. The temperatures will still be cold even though the sun is coming back, the warmth from the sun is a bit delayed.

 Look how bright it is out!

 There was a lot of ground scut and blowing snow, there were new pillows of snow everywhere and drifts grew a lot over the course of the day. It looks like we got about a foot of new snow in some places.

 I found this little sastrugi that was being protected from the wind by this flag. This is about how it looks to the naked eye now. So bright out!!

The tent has a little cornice on it and has created a pretty big drift behind it over the winter.

The pole was looking very wind swept.