Radio Waves
southpole .....
Later: Sunday
Earlier: Settling In
Friday, Jan. 7 2011 6:12 p.m. UTC
Woke up before 0500h to do some work on the detector and get caught up on emails & such. Today’s post is going to be brief since it is almost time for breakfast and the morning meeting.
Last night was the first time I’ve worked (or even gone) outside since arriving the day before. Sebastian and I did some radio noise measurements out in Summer Camp (a collection of Korean-War-era Jamesways, wood-frame-and-canvas buildings, caterpillars rattling to and fro around us). It was fun to be out there but yikes, COLD since I’m not used to it (about -40C/-40F right now with wind chill). Eyes tearing, struggling with 4 different head coverings, multiple glove layers, taking pictures, working with equipment — it’s a matter of reacquiring simple motor skills with new parameters before you can do anything efficiently out there on the snow. I just spoke to our drill manager, who runs 4 miles outside here regularly… I’ll be quite lucky if I can get that far on the treadmill in the gym by the time I leave.
Yesterday afternoon I headed through the lounge to the bathrooms. There was a thing floating in the air, like a soft white spider or some kind of pale insect. I watched it for a second with two other guys, and realized it was a down feather, probably from some pillow somewhere. We all chuckled, and one of the guys said, “I wish it was alive — I’d capture it and put it in my room.” Sort of sums it up. I saw a few baby plants in the greenhouse, but other than that, it’s just us humans down here.
More pictures from the trip out to Pole
To the plane
From the air
Later: Sunday
Earlier: Settling In