Wednesday October 5, 2011

Wednesday was a very relaxing day for all of us. We had some training sessions to become acquainted with our laboratory space but for the most part, it was essentially a free day. It was something that we all really needed! However, we still managed to fit some fun things into our day of "relaxation."

Here is Isaac showing me the "Touch Aquarium." This small aquarium has many of the organisms that live in the sound including sea anemones, sea spiders, starfish, and of course...fish! The person whose hand is in the water is touching a sea spider.

There is also a fifth member of our field team who had been working at McMurdo for six weeks before we arrived. We call her Sandwich. She took Marissa and I on a little tour of the rest of McMurdo station and we took this picture next to one of the "shuttles." As you can see, all of the vehicles have been modified to handle the harsh conditions that this continent produces.

Behind me is Observation Hill, also known as Ob Hill. It is a great hike and I plan to get up there as soon as the trails are safe.

All of the waste that we create must be shipped off of Antarctica and back to the United States. In order to do this, we have many different recycling stations and at most places, you won't just see garbage or recycling. Some places have food waste, aluminum, mixed paper, paper towels, plastic, non-recyclable etc and some places like the one in this picture, have even more ways to sort out our waste.

Today provided another clear and fantastic "sunset" and like I said before, I need to take advantage of these while I can. I feel like the clouds over the Royal Society Mountain Range make the colors even more dramatic and since there is still some light, you can see how the wind affects the snow on the sea ice.

I turned around and got a very clear view of the NASA observatory and the Moon which was quite a surprise to see :)

The rest are more of the sunset.