17 November 2017 Staying Warm in Antarctica!

Are you curious about how to keep warm in Antarctica, especially when spending all day in the field/out on the ice? Wonder no more. The weather is divine here if you enjoy snow, ice and cold temps. The storm that arrived on Wednesday is still raging. All of the runways are grounded and many are "off" work due to the snowfall. I walk outside and think, this is what Antarctica is about. It is blissful on some level, the snow falling, some of the largest snowflakes I have ever seen, the wind blowing creating drifts of fluff everywhere you turn. The snow here is much like walking through mounds of fake glitter snow, except a whole lot colder. It is dry and as such takes on a quality that makes it float and hover in the air for an instant before settling once again. The crystalline structure is beautiful and gives it a sparkly appearance.

I can and will bring some of this snow home, except it won't be snow anymore. Our group will be able to 'hand-carry' samples of snow and ice back to the states. This requires a permit. In fact, I can't bring home anything natural, not even a tiny rock, without a permit. I guess that means the penguin in the backpack is not going to make it through customs! Yongli was kind enough to package up some of the ice cores and snow samples into vials for me to bring back to the classroom. I think it might be fun to test these samples for salinity/conductivity and perhaps nitrates/phosphates. So, while a penguin would certainly be exciting, if messy, I think I will stick with the water samples as I won't get fined and detained in Christchurch!

Before leaving back in October, my girls' were very concerned I might freeze to death! They honestly didn't know how I would make it on the coldest continent on Earth given that even in mid-fall, back in WI, I was wrapped up in blankets with the fireplace roaring trying to stay warm. I am always cold! Their concern was warranted. So how did I manage? Layers. Lots of them. I have a video below that shows me getting ready to go to the field! No worries, it is school appropriate and a sped up version. It is a lot of clothing to put on and it takes time. I feel like a Goodyear blimp with everything on and it is clumsy and awkward to move, but you get used to it. At times, it does get hot, but generally, all layers are needed when on snowmobiles out here. During the nicer days in the field, I would sometimes peel off big red, my hat and even strip down to a single pair of gloves or no gloves at all, but that would never last too long. The chill settles in quickly and the last thing you want to do is get cold out here. Once you do, it is hard to get warmed back up.

The heater in my room is set high and my bed is right next to it. When I get really cold, I head to the laundry room. With the dryers going nearly non-stop, the room is a sauna. Drinking lots of water and staying fueled is important too. They feed us crazy amounts of calorie and fat laden treats as you burn a lot more calories in cold air than warm and when you are trudging around in six layers of clothing up and down mountains! Before I leave, I will have a journal that shows the food here along with some other aspects of life on station. Hoping not to gain the Antarctic 8(0), while I am down here, but it is tough not to eat a lot when it is open buffet, every meal, every day, and the food is good!

Flat Lorax is hoping for some warmer weather and is for Amelia, a former APBio student and current senior at Nicolet.