What a wonderful way to start my day - talking to folks back home and from around the country! Thanks to everyone for taking the time to say hello and participate in the LIVE From IPY event! You all had great questions! It was so nice to hear familiar voices; I must admit, it made me a bit homesick! But I'll be home soon enough! We spent the day cleaning up and packing the rest of our gear. The first sling load picked up most of our gear at about 1:30 this afternoon. We are scheduled for the 9 pm flight back to Scott Base, and then I will catch a ride back over to McMurdo Station. We are all a bit anxious about the katabatic winds which are blowing. We waited until late in the day before we took down our tents - just in case flights are cancelled due to wind.... which could still happen!
Katabatic winds are basically down-slope winds. The polar plateau is quite high, over 10,000 feet! Sitting atop a massive ice sheet causes cold air to build up in the atmosphere. It eventually reaches a critical amount and because cold air is denser than warm air, it starts to sink, and at times sinks rapidly! This triggers the katabatic winds! Yesterday and today we have experienced them. I woke up yesterday to my tent blowing like crazy - check out the video! The odd thing about katabatics is that they come on quickly and end quickly! In the dry valleys, they also tend to bring in warmer air. As the air rushes off the plateau, high pressure builds. As the wind flows over the dry valleys, where suddenly the air that was just above the ground has a huge valley beneath it, the pressure drops and warms. Although the winds in the valley are comparatively warm to plateau winds, they are still cold! Not as bad as they could be though!
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Tomorrow I hope to be going to Cape Royds to visit the Adelie penguin colony, so check back in! Thanks again to everyone who chatted with me this morning (for me anyway - it was afternoon for many of you!) - that was fun! - Megan, it must have been about 11:30 in Arizona??!! ☺
Parting picture from Lake Hoare
Tents on the glacial moraine!
You can also check out my journals and pictures from previous seasons at: http://www.ryejrhigh.org/ellwood
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