Green

Auroras at the South Pole, from the ground (courtesy of Robert Schwarz) and above from the ISS

So, there has been lots of solar activity the last couple of weeks, which means we’ve been getting some pretty amazing light shows down here. And since the sun is slowly making it’s way towards the horizon, we are also starting to get some reds and purples along with the usual green auroras.

The other place we are getting green is of course the green house, which has been our only source of fresh food since station closing back in February. It is also a great place to just hang out. It is warm and bright and humid and has actual smells, unlike the rest of the station, which tends to be a little chilly, a little dark and very dry (relative humidity is usually in the single digits).

Our green house is run by the University of Arizona, which is the same institution that is developing greenhouses for a possible human settlement on the moon. Since the Antarctic Treaty prohibits bringing soil down here, the plants grown in a hydroponics-system, fed by nutrient rich water. The system is closely monitored, from water, minerals, CO2, and light, to temperature, pH, and humidity, and the outputs, like the weights and types of produce harvested are carefully measured.

The rate at which things grow down here is pretty incredible. In their natural habitat plants do fairly well, but they have to make due with what they have. Down here the plants can be given almost exactly what they need so they grow really well. We could probably make them grow even better if we optimized for a single crop, but since variety is the spice of life, and makes meals more interesting, we have to make compromises. So things like strawberries don’t get as much light as they’d like, which means they don’t grow as fast or as big as they could.

Basil sprouts, among others

Seeds are planted in a sponge-like substrate, which is initially placed on a tray with a thin layer of water on the bottom. As the root system develops, they are moved to troughs that line the green house.

The plants are fed through a complex computer-controlled system of hydraulic system of pumps, mixers, tubes and measurement sensors hidden under the troughs.

Our not very big strawberries

The troughs are built on rails so that different plants can be rolled in and out depending on how much light the various plants need.

We've got lots of lettuce down here

Also, a variety of chard. Very colorful, and tasty.

Our tomatoes have not done very well this winter

But the peppers look very pretty, even if I don't like them

What's left?

Auroras above DA

Well, we are down to our last week of full dark down here at the Pole. Next week the moon rises once more, and once it sets we will be in astronomical twilight. The sun will still be ~17 degrees below the horizon, but things will be getting slowly brighter, until sunrise hits in about 70 days.

We’ve also hit our coldest temperatures so far this season, at –104F, and things are expected to get colder before the end of July. Along with the cold temperatures, we’ve also had some very active skies, due to lots of solar activity. Even though it is supposed to be dark out, today when I walked out of the station to go to cryo there was a glow in the sky, and I could see the outline of the buildings out in summer camp. Compare this to yesterday, when I couldn’t see my hand a foot in front of my face and just about missed the stairs to get back up to the station. 

Moon and auroras from moon set last week

So what is still left of the season? Like I said above, we’ve got less than 70 days until sunrise. After that we’ve got station opening on October 27^th, which is in 93 days. That means less than a hundred days until we get freshies (fresh fruits and veggies), which I am looking forward to. I’ve got at most 111 days until I leave the Pole, depending on weather and when Lockhee-Martin gets around to ticketing us. We’ve got 4 emergency drills, 4 safety stand-downs and 4 two-day weekends left before the summer folks show up. We’ve got about 15 soccer and volleyball nights left.

Out at cryo, we’ve got 6,700L of LHe left, and from my projections, we’ll have about 2,500L of LHe left on the 1^st of November. This winter will just beat the record for most efficient in terms of LHe usage. I’ve got no more than 20 LHe deliveries to BICEP left. Once this winter is over, there will be no more LHe used on station, and the summer cryo tech, who will be closing down cryo, will be the last cryo kid at Pole, at least for the foreseeable future. Two of the LHe dewars will get pulled pretty much as soon as possible and be replaced by a brand new experiment.

In terms of life, this week was pretty uneventful. We started out with pretty warm temperatures, which made my Wednesday delivery easy. By Friday, temps were down to the –90’s, and have been below a hundred for most of the weekend. There is a group of us that have been working out together before dinner most days, and thanks to that I can now pretty consistently do a couple of pull ups, so that’s exciting. And in order to keep out of trouble, some of us have been making our own fun, in the form of office slacklining.

Happy 4th!

South Pole Station in the moonlight

Happy 4th of July to everyone. Here at the Pole we didn't actually get to celebrate until yesterday, when most folks had a half day. Those who were awake (a.k.a. not me, or the handful of other people working nights) had a party hosted by the heavy shop. From what I hear, there was horse shoes, and corn hole, a roast pig, and lots of other food. Jared was kind enough to make me up a plate, so I didn't completely miss out on the festivities.

Other than that, it has been a long week in cryo. It looks like our compressor contaminated some of our vented helium that we were pumping into storage tanks, and then recondensing back into liquid helium. So, we ended up with an ice block and a very slow transfer during the weekly delivery. It took 3 hours, instead of the usual 1.5 hrs. We did get the ice block cleared afterwards, but still had work to do on the condensation line, like pump it down to vacuum again to make sure that we got any air and water vapor out of it. That involved draining the cold trap, and then waiting for the line to warm up enough that we could pull it out. Even with waiting for that, we still ended up damaging the line. So, I learned how to install aeroquip fittings on a high pressure line, which was actually kind of fun. After that we got everything put back together. We're waiting on starting to condense into the LHe dewars until we need to, though.

I also started doing maintenance on the compressor, only to find out that the spares we are supposed to have down here don't actually exist. So, no parts, no maintenance.

Good news, I think I have finally figured out the exact right gear to wear during deliveries. Generally when I'm outside I just wear my Carhartts, but deliveries require more gear since I am usually out for longer, and riding around on Buzz can get pretty chilly, especially on the hands.

So here's what I've found works best. Long underwear under regular clothes. Then my long sleeve with thumb holes (so I don't end up with gaps at the wrist). Then the overalls. NEOs on my feet. Liners and ski gloves on my hands. A buff, two hats, another buff, another hat, goggles, and a head lamp with a red light. Then to top it all off, my USAP parka with bear paw mitts. I also put hand warmers in the mitts, one in the main part of the mitt for my fingers, and one stuffed in the thumb. I've been using this combination for the last couple of weeks, and my fingers can get a little cold, as can my face if I have to put the goggles up because of fogging issues, but the rest of me stays warm, and no frostbite on my face or finger tips, like I was getting earlier in the season.

Beyond that, not much has been going on here. We are into the third quarter of our stay down here, which means that people, including me, are starting to feel the effects of the "third quarter phenomenon". This is generally characterized by boredom, fatigue, irritability, and a general low in moral and mood. And I've certainly been feeling a bit bored and run down lately. Other people have been feeling the same way. This is actually a pretty common occurrence for people in any isolated environment, and occurs for pretty much any length contract. For example, here in the winter, we've got "Cry in July" and "Angry August".  In the summer, third quarter is called "Summer Toast". So far, things haven't been too bad, just a matter of keeping myself engaged and not doing anything overly stupid. We'll see what the next couple of months bring though...

The moon through the smoke trail from the power plant.