25 October 2008 [Video] Weather, weather, everywhere and not a flight to catch!

Journal

The weather is just not cooperating! We were on another "weather hold" all day today; conditions fluctuated back and forth. We almost made it out of town, but once again.... Denied! The difficulty, however, is that we are now stuck in McMurdo until Tuesday! There are no flights out on Sundays (tomorrow - don't forget we are a day ahead!), there are no available flights on Monday, so our first flight out possibility is Tuesday. Yikes! This will put us behind a bit and cause long "catch-up" days once we do get into the field. But, that's part of field experience; one must roll with the punches. McMurdo Weather Information:

There are three general weather conditions in McMurdo; Condition 1, 2, and 3. Condition 3 is the "best" weather; Condition 1 is the "worst" weather. Check out the "normal" acceptable weather conditions - condition 3 - that's still pretty harsh weather! Here is how the categories are separated:

In order to be Condition 1 or 2, only ONE of the requirements need to be met. If conditions meet any one of the three, it goes to that condition!

Condition 3: Wind speeds: < 48 knots (55 mph) Wind Chill: > -75°F Visibility: > ¼ mile Travel restrictions: None

Condition 2: Wind speeds: 48-55 knots (55-63 mph) Wind Chill: -75°F - - 100°F Visibility: < ¼ mile Travel restrictions: Check in and out with firehouse in vehicle. No non- foot travel.

Condition 1: Wind speeds: > 55 knots (63 mph) Wind Chill: < -100°F Visibility: < 100 feet Travel restrictions: No travel permitted without approval - critical only!

At first, it looked like there may be a chance we would get out!

Then it got a little bit worse!

And then.... well..... it wasn't looking so good! Stuck in town again!

Can you find McMurdo ("you are here") and can you see the trough of weather coming our way?

Here is a short video clip showing Condition 3 - this is Normal Operating Conditions in McMurdo!

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So....

I took advantage of some of the time I had today and visited with my friend Jean Pennycook! I first met Jean on my first trip to Antarctica back in 2003; it is always fun to catch up with what she is doing. She currently works with Dr. David Ainley and the Penguin Science research team. You can check out their research at: http://www.penguinscience.com.

One question the research team is trying to answer is what types of things are these Adelie penguins eating? They are particularly interested in what type of fish the penguins are eating. The researchers can use fish skeletons found in the penguin excrement (poop!) to determine what was eaten. So, each season, they put a mesh screen on the ground before the penguins build their nests. The Adelies make their nests from stones. They are very loyal to their nests and will stay on them until the chicks have hatched. This means that penguin poop piles will build around the nests. The mesh screens that were laid out catch the poop! At the end of the season, the researchers collect the poop piles and investigate what's in them!

Today Jean, and I, rummaged through the penguin poop piles! It's a bit stinky! First, Jean removed the bag of poop that has been stored in the freezer. Then she took a sample and put it in a Petri dish. The Petri dish was placed under a dissecting microscope and then sorted for its contents. Check out some of the things we found!