Sun Dogs and Englishmen Go Out in the Midday Sun
Sun Rise Against Stratocumulus Clouds
Time runs away; now back from my winter trip and with the last trip due to return at any moment, the sun is disappearing rapidly. At the moment we are losing an hour of daylight every three days. That though, has not stopped the appearance of some spectacular atmospheric phenomena. The first are Sun Dogs or parhelia, which though they can be seen anywhere in the world, are more prevalent here at the moment as the sun runs a low arc across the horizon.
Sun Dogs
The shot above was taken at midday (note how low the sun is), over our satellite dome and HF (High Frequency) radio masts, which form our channel of communication with the outside world. There are a variety of phenomena related to the refraction of light through ice crystals (in this case fine crystals called 'diamond dust'), the photo below illustrates those we could identify on this occasion, though the nature of the lateral arcs, despite consulting all our textbooks is unclear. The parhelia given that they refract light have a similar appearance to a rainbow. For more information see Atmospheric Optics.
Halo, Arcs and Parhelia
Though, fortunately, there are significant periods of time when there is little for me to do medically, there is always plenty of need for an extra hand around base. The platforms (Laws, Simpson and Piggott) themselves need continual monitoring, due mainly not to the movement of the ice sheet as such, but the accumulation of snow around each of the legs.
Out Surveying With Jim
The responsibility for the surveying and maintenance falls on the base Carpenter, Jim, who celebrated his 21st birthday on the voyage South from Signy and is the youngest person on base. He, like everybody else, has had to learn new skills to cover all the jobs around base, so along with building shelves and refitting offices as accommodation for the increased number of people expected for the building work in the summer, has to learn the skills of a steel erector. This has meant a couple of cold afternoons hanging off the building in a harness, raising part of the platform, admittedly by fractions of millimetres at a time, to keep the whole thing level.
Jacking the Laws Platform
Jim and I raise the platform on one of its legs
A further expectation is that the base doctor bears some responsibility for baking birthday cakes, at least the previous two docs convinced me of this and so with Ant- our chef- away I had a go at my first one of the season, having found good reasons not to make any others to date.
Tom's Birthday Cake
Tom, our German UAV pilot and meteorologist, ended up with a frog due to a German connection between weather forecasting and frogs. Birthdays acquire a special significance here as they from a suitable focus to throw a party. Dave (one of the meteorologists), chose an 80's theme for his a fortnight or so ago resulting in attendees from striking miners, through Miami Vice and Button Moon characters to Crocodile Dundee and a Wall Street yuppie.
Dave's 80s Party
The Easter Bank Holiday weekend started with the first winter barbecue of the season. Though it took a good couple of hours to get going in the -30°C weather, Ant's (Z-Chef) skill with everything food related, meant that all was edible, rather than reverting to its previously frozen state that has thwarted barbecues in the past.
The Barbie Gets Going
Ant modeling a BAS-issue warm Canada Goose jacket
The greatest danger at these barbies is of a can of beer freezing to your tongue, for at this temperature metal conducts any heat away from exposed skin, so rapidly that they freeze solid together, to the point where pulling the metal away will simultaneously remove a large chunk of the dermis. Admittedly, it is usually more of a problem when climbing and fiddling with kit without gloves on but fortunately it did not claim any lingual casualties on this occasion, as the recommended remedy when climbing is for a partner to urinate on the affected metal to warm it up.
No Burnt Sausages Here
The concept of a Bank Holiday seems incongruous when the only banking required in this cash poor economy, is for buying beer and wine at the bar, even at that time the transaction is reduced to an honesty tick sheet which produces a (usually) small bill at the end of the month, particularly given that the British Antarctic Territory does not charge duty on alcohol! There can be few other jobs that provide all lodging, toiletries, clothes and food with someone even to cook it. However, a couple of extra days off and some good weather has meant plenty of time outdoors, kiting and cross-country ski-ing.
Time runs away; now back from my winter trip and with the last trip due to return at any moment, the sun is disappearing rapidly. At the moment we are losing an hour of daylight every three days. That though, has not stopped the appearance of some spectacular atmospheric phenomena. The first are Sun Dogs or parhelia, which though they can be seen anywhere in the world, are more prevalent here at the moment as the sun runs a low arc across the horizon.
Sun Dogs
The shot above was taken at midday (note how low the sun is), over our satellite dome and HF (High Frequency) radio masts, which form our channel of communication with the outside world. There are a variety of phenomena related to the refraction of light through ice crystals (in this case fine crystals called 'diamond dust'), the photo below illustrates those we could identify on this occasion, though the nature of the lateral arcs, despite consulting all our textbooks is unclear. The parhelia given that they refract light have a similar appearance to a rainbow. For more information see Atmospheric Optics.
Halo, Arcs and Parhelia
Though, fortunately, there are significant periods of time when there is little for me to do medically, there is always plenty of need for an extra hand around base. The platforms (Laws, Simpson and Piggott) themselves need continual monitoring, due mainly not to the movement of the ice sheet as such, but the accumulation of snow around each of the legs.
Out Surveying With Jim
The responsibility for the surveying and maintenance falls on the base Carpenter, Jim, who celebrated his 21st birthday on the voyage South from Signy and is the youngest person on base. He, like everybody else, has had to learn new skills to cover all the jobs around base, so along with building shelves and refitting offices as accommodation for the increased number of people expected for the building work in the summer, has to learn the skills of a steel erector. This has meant a couple of cold afternoons hanging off the building in a harness, raising part of the platform, admittedly by fractions of millimetres at a time, to keep the whole thing level.
Jacking the Laws Platform
Jim and I raise the platform on one of its legs
A further expectation is that the base doctor bears some responsibility for baking birthday cakes, at least the previous two docs convinced me of this and so with Ant- our chef- away I had a go at my first one of the season, having found good reasons not to make any others to date.
Tom's Birthday Cake
Tom, our German UAV pilot and meteorologist, ended up with a frog due to a German connection between weather forecasting and frogs. Birthdays acquire a special significance here as they from a suitable focus to throw a party. Dave (one of the meteorologists), chose an 80's theme for his a fortnight or so ago resulting in attendees from striking miners, through Miami Vice and Button Moon characters to Crocodile Dundee and a Wall Street yuppie.
Dave's 80s Party
The Easter Bank Holiday weekend started with the first winter barbecue of the season. Though it took a good couple of hours to get going in the -30°C weather, Ant's (Z-Chef) skill with everything food related, meant that all was edible, rather than reverting to its previously frozen state that has thwarted barbecues in the past.
The Barbie Gets Going
Ant modeling a BAS-issue warm Canada Goose jacket
The greatest danger at these barbies is of a can of beer freezing to your tongue, for at this temperature metal conducts any heat away from exposed skin, so rapidly that they freeze solid together, to the point where pulling the metal away will simultaneously remove a large chunk of the dermis. Admittedly, it is usually more of a problem when climbing and fiddling with kit without gloves on but fortunately it did not claim any lingual casualties on this occasion, as the recommended remedy when climbing is for a partner to urinate on the affected metal to warm it up.
No Burnt Sausages Here
The concept of a Bank Holiday seems incongruous when the only banking required in this cash poor economy, is for buying beer and wine at the bar, even at that time the transaction is reduced to an honesty tick sheet which produces a (usually) small bill at the end of the month, particularly given that the British Antarctic Territory does not charge duty on alcohol! There can be few other jobs that provide all lodging, toiletries, clothes and food with someone even to cook it. However, a couple of extra days off and some good weather has meant plenty of time outdoors, kiting and cross-country ski-ing.
Kiting By Moonlight
Dean returns home from a kite-boarding session
Dean returns home from a kite-boarding session
