I'm still in New Zealand waiting for my flight to Antarctica. We are currently on a weather delay which means a storm is brewing, so we have to wait it out in Christchurch until it's safe to land in McMurdo.
This is a good opportunity to tell you about how we actually get to Antarctica. We will be flying on an Air Force jet called a C-17. Below is a picture of the inside of the C-17. We will land on what is called an airfield. There are actually a couple of different airfields in McMurdo, the biggest station on the continent and also my new home for the next six months. I thought as long as I'm waiting I'd send you a link to the live webcam in McMurdo: The USAP Portal: Science and Support in Antarctica - McMurdo Station Webcam
It looks pretty good to me but I'm sure if we could fly safely, we would be on the C17 aircraft right now! When we land today, we will use the airfield called Pegasus on the permanent ice shelf. What, you may be wondering, is the permanent ice shelf? Funny you should ask, I will tell you all about that when I get to McMurdo, whenever that is, it is up to nature so we just have to be patient and wait.
Any questions so far about New Zealand or the C-17?
Hi Aunt Joni! The kids and I are enjoying reading your blog and learning about Antarctica! We read that the largest desert in the world is located there...we thought it was all ice! How does that work? Also, the kids want to know if you have frostbite yet? Thanks for the blog and all the pictures! Looking forward to your next installment!
ReplyDeleteLove Leslie and the Kids
Hi Smith family! I'm so glad you are enjoying the blog, I need to write an update now that I'm in Antarctica! Even though we typically think of deserts as hot places, a desert is actually any land mass that is too dry to support vegetation, so even though Antarctica is freezing cold, it's still a desert! There are some forms of algae that live in the ice in certain places, but the land here is completely void of trees, grasses, flowers, weeds, etc...
ReplyDeleteAs for whether or not I have frostbite YET, the answers is NO and we we all do our best to make sure we never get it. As long as we cover our skin, wear lots of layers, and avoid cotton next to our skin, we can be out side for a long time and never get frostbite. When we are out for long periods of time or go far from McMurdo, we never go alone for safety reasons. We check each other out to make sure we don't see any signs of frost nip, which happens before frost bite, as well as to make sure there are no signs of hypothermia. Frost bite will lead to losing fingers, toes, noses, or anything that gets exposed to the cold for too long, so my plans is to take care and never, ever get frost nip OR frost bite, or hypothermia.
As long as you have the right clothes on, you can actually be pretty comfortable down here.
Thanks for the post!