Kids Questions Answered
Trip Start
Oct 01, 2003
1
21
43
Trip End
Jul 29, 2008
McMurdo Station,
Antarctica
Monday, May 16, 2005
Do you stay inside all the time, or can you go outside?
We go outside for work and sometimes for fun-to see the aurora austrealis (southern lights)...but mostly it's pretty cold, dark and windy out during the winter. In the summer, it's much, much warmer and more comfortable to go hiking, skiing, etc.
What do you do for fun?
There is a recreation department here and they plan fun activities-things like game show night, theme parties, polar plunges and different sports
mcmurdo at night
. There are workout rooms, a library and even a bowling alley that was built in the 60's. When you bowl, you actually have to have someone setting up the pins for you-it's too old to be automatic. Does it snow a lot there?
Actually, Antarctica is very dry-we will see some snow this winter and mostly it will be white, but right now, everything is brown and dirty looking. It's very dusty here too-there's a volcano (Mt. Erebus) that we can see from the station and the volcanic ash is everywhere.
What is the coldest it has been since you have been there?
Last winter, the wind-chill was -90, but if the wind wasn't blowing, it usually doesn't get colder than -40. Out on the ice runway, I've felt it at -50. The South Pole Station has it a lot colder; they get down to -100 without any wind. What was interesting this year is that we left Duluth when it was -20 and it was a lot warmer here in Antarctica than there!
Is there anything interesting you would like us to know?
Just to remember that we basically experience one long day and one long night
south pole picture
. Summer being the day and winter being the night. Right now, it's sort of like dusk-we're moving towards 4 months of complete darkness and the sun will start coming up again in August. Also, the seasons are opposite of that in the U.S. Right now, it's starting to be your springtime and we're just heading into winter.Have you seen any penguins?
This year, only 1 or 2 adelie penguins (the small ones). Last summer, we were lucky enough to see an Emperor out on the ice runway...you can get pretty close to them too. There were lots more adelies too.
Are there any other animals there?
We have seals and skuas. Skuas are like big, grey seagulls and they routinely wait outside the cafeteria for people carrying trays of food-if you don't watch out, they'll swoop down and steal whatever you have.
Different parts (warmer parts) of Antarctica have more wildlife. And McMurdo station only has wildlife during the summer-as soon as it gets too cold and dark, there won't be any animals except us.
