I got an email from Mary, a 2nd grade classroom teacher from my hometown in Iowa last week. She had been in contact with my mom, curious to know if I would take my brother's previous role of answering her classes questions about Antarctica.
When I got the list of questions, I felt so giddy to answer them. These students curiousity is really exciting! So exciting in fact that I decided to share their questions and my answers with you!
Enjoy.
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I feel honored to answer all these great questions:
First let me begin by sharing a photo of myself and telling you where I am in Antartica.
As Mary may have told you, my brother, Tim, has also
been to Antarctica many times, but we both live on stations very far
apart. Tim lived in Palmer Station, a US Research base off the coast
of Chili. Palmer Station is the smallest of the United State's three
stations in Antarctica. Only 35 to 40 people live at Palmer in the
Austral Summer. In order to get to Palmer, Tim would sail on a ship
across very very rough seas for 4 days. Palmer is located on a
peninsula of land which is surround by liquid water year round.
However, I live in McMurdo Station. McMurdo is the US's largest
research station with a population of over 1,000 people in the height
of our Austral Summer.
McMurdo is nearly 2,500 miles from Palmer and
is located off the coast of New Zealand. At the majority of the year
all of the ocean surrounding Antarctica is frozen. In order to get
here, I fly on a huge C-17 Air force Jet that lands out on the frozen
ocean just off station. Our flight is only 5 hours long.
Initially, I came to Antarctica because I wanted an adventure. Very
few people get to come to Antarctica and the photos my brother showed
me were amazing! I am an artist. I studied at the School of the Art
Institute in Chicago. I thought this place would be an artistic
inspiration for me.
But this is my second season here. Last year I came for the
adventure. This year I came for the people here. My community
consists of hundreds of very smart multi-talented adventurers. I can
sit at the dinner table in our galley with a Nobel Peace Prize winner,
a fellow artist who drives fork lifts, a writer who stocks the kitchen shelves and a Harvard scientist studying global warming. All of us have so much fun together.
Another reason that I returned to Antarctica is because my job here pays me very well, and there aren't many places to spent that money. This allows me to save money so that I can travel the world and when I return home to the states I can live and work as an artist for a few months and not have to have a 2nd job. It's a very good situation for me.
Kylie: What do you live in?
I live in a dorm building that looks just like many buildings back in
the states. It is two stories high with white siding and a brown
roof.
In this photo, the row of buildings closest are all dorms.
Inside there a long hallway with blue carpet and many blue
doors. Each blue door is the entry to a bedroom or a bathroom. All
the rooms are very very small with one window, two beds, two
wardrobes, a refrigerator, and a desk. My roommate, Genevieve, and I
also brought lots of decorations for our room. We have a red rug.
Colorful bed covers, photos for our walls, framed pictures of our
families, Christmas lights, and lots of fake plants. Where we live,
no botanical plants can grow. The ground is lava rock and snow. So,
the fake plants remind us of living green things at home! Like Trees!
Her is a (not so great) photo of my room before Genevieve and I hung up poster and put our flowers on our bed stand.
Karissa: What do you eat there?
We eat LOTS of different food here. Most of our food is dried,
frozen, or canned food, like frozen beef, rice and pasta and red
sauce! But the cooks are pretty skilled and can make it tasty.
Sometimes they make Indian food, or Thai curries, or even Mexican.
We also eat some fresh fruits and fresh vegetables which we call
"freshies". Freshies are a cherished food here on the ice and are
shipped to McMurdo from New Zealand. Do you know what kinds of foods
grow in New Zealand. Have you looked at the apple in your
refrigerator. It may have been grown in New Zealand! Lots of fresh
fruits and vegetables that we eat in the states come from New Zealand
and we eat some of those same foods. Personally, I am really excited
when we have fresh papaya. And on Christmas we had MANGOS AND
STRAWBERRIES, those are very very rare down here.
Angelo: How warm does it get there in the summer?
McMurdo is actually very warm here during the summer. When I arrived
in August (that is the end of the winter) it was (with wind chill
included) as cold as -45 below zero! But now, in January, it's often
warmer than it is in IOWA!! Last week it got as warm as 38 degrees!
I love to go for runs outside when the weather is that beautiful.
*grin* And if there is no wind, some folks will go lay outside in
shorts and tee shirts. I think they are crazy, I still need a coat
and hat.
Connor: How thick is the ice?
The frozen ocean ice around McMurdo is very think in certain places.
The thickest part is called the Ross Ice Shelf. It's located 5 miles
off station and remains permanently frozen year round. The Ross Ice
Shelf consists of packed snow and ice that is up to 40 METERS thick!
That is nearly 40 football fields deep and that snow and ice floats on
80 meters of liquid ocean below!
The thinner ice is the ice just off station. During the early months
of our summer (October and November) this ice is only 6 meters thick
but is very strong. Strong enough that a HUGE C17 can land on it.
Amazing huh?
But then in early December this ice quickly starts to
melt and when it does we start to see seals and penguins from the
land.
Then a big Russian Ice Breaker, which will should be arriving
at McMurdo any day now, will break away all the ice and it will be
liquid water with whales. This is a very exciting time of year here.
The ship has not yet arrived on station but here are some photos from last season with the ships in the pier. Last season, the United States Coast Guard also took us out on a ride down the channel. It was amazing. Here are some photos from that too!
Hannah: How cold does it get there?
Well, in the winter it can get very very cold. I just called our
McMurdo Weather observer and they told me that the coldest temperature
in the winter (NOT including wind chill) is -47 degrees F. That cold.
And it's completely dark for a few months too. My room mate is
staying for the winter. I don't know if that appeals to me!
Jessie: Do people ever die on the ships from South America to Antarctica?
You know Jessie, I have to be honest, I don't know. From what my
brother tells me the ships are very very safe and everyone has to take
great per-caution. However, I am sure that accidents do happen and
people get hurt.
Jaycie: What did you have to pack to take with you to go to Antarctica?
When I come to Antarctic I pack many many things. I usually take a
lot of very warm sweaters and long sleeve shirts, long underwear,
jeans, carharts (carharts are part of the wardrobe down here) and a
couple warm hats and scarfs. Oh, and LOTS of socks. I have many many
pairs of warm wool socks. Some with stripes and other with poka dots.
I like socks. And then a couple of nice outfits to wear for holiday
dinners.
I also bring lots of things that you would never expect that I bring
down here. For example, as an artist I make videos and sound pieces
and LOTS of jewelry which I sell at our holiday art sale. So I bring
rolls of sterling wire, pliers, good scissors, nice water colors and
drawing pencils, fancy paper, my computer, a video camera, and a
digital camera. Then I make sure to have good books to read during my
free time. AND, I also like to pack my favorite foods. We only have
one store here and it has very very limited things to buy. They don't
have much dark chocolate which is my favorite, and crystallized
ginger. I like that too!
Then in addition to all of those things, when I reach Christchurch, NZ
the company I work for issues us "Emergency Cold Weather Gear" which I
wear all the time when the weather is really cold.
Here is a photo of me when it's -35 degrees outside. I am geared UP!
Our Emergency Cold Weather gear includes a HUGE big red down jacket, snow pants, big bear claw mittens that go all the way up to my elbows, really heavy big blue boots (they
look like boots you wear on the moon!) and more long underwear and
socks. We come very well prepared and our luggage is HEAVY.
In this photo my friend Susan is sporting our big fury BIG RED hood. It's so cold that her breath is building up as frost on her eye lashes!
Kyra: What do you do for fun in Antarctica?
Well Kyra, we do sooooo many things for fun that I don't even know
where to start. In fact, at McMurdo we have a whole team of 6 people
whose only job is to plan recreational activities.
There are many outdoor hiking trails all around station. All of them
are on very established marked roots and due to safety concerns you
always have to go with a friend. The longest one, Castle Rock Loop, takes 7 hours to
complete.
These are my two friends Jean and Betsy who went with me on one of my recent trips to castle rock.
I like to run some of the shorter trails. The scenery is beautiful! These photos are from two of my favorite trails: Hut Ridge Loop and the Ob Hill Loop.
We also sometimes get very very lucky and get chosen to take snow machines far off flagged routes. On this trip we followed GPS coordinates to get out to a seal research camp. It was sooo much fun.
There are also lots of sports leagues like bowling, volleyball, dodge ball,
basketball, ultimate frisbee and a dart tournament.
We also have classes: ballroom dancing class, swing dancing class,
belly dancing, yoga classes, karate, tai chi, and jewelry making
class.
Then there are annual races: we host a off road bike race, and four
big running events including a 26 mile marathon out on the frozen
ocean.
As an artist my favorite events are the artsy ones: we have an annual
art fair, a contemporary art gathering called the MAAG (McMurdo
Alternative Art Gallery) which I'll be organizing for next weekend.
This season I'm also helping put on the first ever McMurdo Sound Art
Event called Sonic Antarctica: A concert celebrating the diverse
sounds of this lovely place called "the Ice".
And, if that weren't enough activities to choose from we also have
LOTS of music events and parties. We seem to celebrate every event
possible with a costume party with live music. The bands cover a wide
array of genres: bluegrass, rock, folk, blues, Reggie, and even funk.
They are soo much fun.
On New Years eve we have our biggest music event an OUTDOOR music
festival with a chili cook off and 8-10 live bands. This year the
event happen during a big snow storm but that didn't stop people from
dancing. I included some photos for you.
