Alex has put together an excellent response to a number of questions sent in recently -- not to be missed! - ED.
Share your midsummer
Concordia photos
Monthly Archives: F Y
Your questions answered
A glow on the horizon
Alex writes: It is -74 Degrees Celsius... Welcome to Planet Concordia
Taken today, this photograph shows a brief glow that appeared on the horizon and predicts the return of the sun in the next few weeks, warming our hearts with a New Hope. It was truly a magnificent feeling, but one that should be taken with caution.
Alexander Kumar in sunlight on 25 July 2012 Credit: ESA/IPEV/ENEA/A. Kumar
Concordia has been alone in the darkness for 3 months.
It kick-started our memories of daylight. Although the sun itself remains below the horizon, it provides a warming glow that broke the silent darkness over Concordia. And like the journey in Lord of the Rings, we were entering a new chapter in this trilogy, experiencing the most extreme transition between seasons that is available anywhere on our planet.
The first streaks of dawn paint the Antarctic sky on 25 July 2012 Credit: ESA/IPEV/ENEA/A. Kumar
Walking home from the outing with French Astronomer Guillaume Bouchez, featured in blue in the photos, one of my eyes froze closed - where the eyelids had frozen together. Typical, just when there is something to see! But we have to be thankful, because at these temperatures your corneas (outer surface of the eye ball) can actually freeze, and that can be very severe indeed.
The glow only lasted for a short time, and soon the Sun retreated and sank further, deeper plunging us back into darkness. The moon swung up high providing a spotlight, behind Concordia, in an otherwise jet black starry polar night sky.
Still lots of night for several more weeks. Credit: ESA/IPEV/ENEA/A. Kumar
Despite our false New Hope in the upcoming return of the Sun by mid August, the temperatures will plummet as we struggle through another difficult period over the coming months, but we will do so as a team. Living down here in the world's most extreme environment, there is no other way.
Here comes the Sun. Another two weeks... maybe three. At last.
Sun's coming to Concordia Credit: ESA/IPEV/ENEA/A. Kumar
Teardrop from Heaven: Aurora Australis
We may have been the last folk to see the Aurora in Antarctica, but when it came, it was unforgettable.
Aurora Australis seen from Concordia Station 18 July 2012 Credit: ESA/IPEV/ENEAA/A. Kumar & E. Bondoux
Incredible displays of coloured light, termed Aurora, are produced by collisions, when electrically charged particles travelling from the sun impact with charged particles in the atmosphere, as they enter the atmosphere. Fluctuations in Sunspot activity create a solar wind - bringing the particle to Earth.
Aurora can be different colours - ranging from pink to red to green to blue. In fact, the different colours are caused by the involvement of different gas particles, and depend on their altitude of impact.
Aurora occur in the Northern (Aurora Borealis) and Southern Hemispheres (Aurora Australis).
Aurora Australis: Over the Southern Lights between Antarctic and Australia seen from the ISS, March 2012. Credit: ESA/NASA/André Kuipers
The reasons why they occur in the polar regions in greater intensity is due to the relative weakness in the magnetic field over the poles. Normally a magnetic field would deflect the particles and so being unable to deflect the particles, more particles enter in the polar regions.
A raw display of one of nature's most incredible sights dazzled our crew. The wind died down and life became still. To me, it was if Heaven had opened its windows and a teardrop had fallen from high above our station, breaking the dark lonely polar night.
We managed to snap a few photos before Heaven realised its mistake and closed its doors.
I was left gasping in awe at the magnificent universe we live in. For behind the trails of green left by the aurora, stood long and stern, the Milky Way Galaxy. It was simply the most wonderful sight I have ever seen and one I will never forget.
Looking at Concordia Station in the photo just makes you realise how small and insignificant we are, against the backdrop of the universe.
I leave you with the words I was reminded of in a poem by William Blake:
Father, O father! what do we here
In this land of unbelief and fear?
The Land of Dreams is better far,
Above the light of the morning star.
WILLIAM BLAKE, The Land of Dreams
Midwinter celebrates a midway point of sorts
In the plane to Concordia. Credits: A. Kumar
Alex writes: I will never forget my journey to Concordia. The flight over Antarctica involves a stop between Dumont Duville and Concordia to refuel. The refuelling stops are known as Midpoint A/B/C. You land in a blanket of white - all around you is a flat white horizon.
You climb out of the hatch of the 'Twin Otter' airplane and stammer around in the relative hypoxia (lack of oxygen). Nothing survives there, it is just featureless ice. In a way it could have been heaven. You know you are half way somewhere, but know you still have a long way to go.
Credits: A. Kumar
Midwinter feels like this. We are half way into our wintering and period of darkness.
The next few months are going to be extremely difficult - our reserves are running low and the effects of the darkness and isolation will take more of a hold on the crew.
Outside Concordia. Credits: A. Kumar
We hit a high crescendo with midwinter celebrations, but the road ahead looks long and icy. The real test is yet to come. We have to remain a team. Only a team can survive in such extreme conditions. Everyone has their crucial role on the base.
To say thank you to the crew for taking part in the ESA research programme I got the Austrian research group 'ISOSTRESS' to send me T-shirts before I came out to Antarctica. The T-shirts bare the famous British motto 'Keep calm and carry on'. In Concordia you feel like you are fighting a battle for oxygen, for sleep, for survival. This is nature at its most extreme. It tests your mind and body.
This has become our crew's motto, endorsing this belief and attitude.
Keep calm and carry on! Concordia team photo.
Now it is back to business as usual. For me that is science. Over the coming weeks I will introduce you to not only my science and work, but also to my fellow crew members and their important, if vital, roles on the base - from the mechanic to the electrician to the plumber to the glaciologist and more! I hope to show you elements of the station and the way it works.
Feel free to add comments and questions. I will be happy to answer them and maybe we can all learn something along the way!
Here is to the next 5 months... if you are ever in doubt... do as we do, KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON!
Midwinter, gone with the wind
Credits: A. Kumar
Alex writes: Midwinter came and went, like a dream. You can't holiday from the Antarctic winter - we are locked in here for 9 months, alone as a crew of just 13. You soon get used to your surroundings and everything becomes very monotonous.
We all wanted to break the 'Great White Silence' that is the winter around us and chose to go on a holiday of sorts. During midwinter week, we created various sets using decorations, music, props and costumes that the crew spent a great of time preparing. (more...)
Midwinter cooking
“Pizzudos di Ovodda” Credits: G. Deidda
Chef Giorgio writes: I was very busy during midwinter. Every day I prepared a different evening meal for the themes we had chosen. They varied from Arabic to Roman flavours. On midwinter day itself we had a gourmet meal themed around polar explorer Ernest Shackleton. I made a specialty from Sardinia where I grew up. Called “Pizzudos di Ovodda” it is a large ravioli, stuffed with melted soft cheese and Pecorino, served with potatoes and a simple basil-tomato sauce and flakes of Parmesan.
Sometimes, if I am lucky, I have time for a siesta where I dream up new recipes. Down here in Concordia our dreams are extremely vivid and they have often been inspirational to my cooking. (more...)
