Open Water

November 21, 2008

I awoke this morning to an unfamiliar sound, and it took a minute to realize the walls of my tent were flapping. Wind! It was wind! After a calm week, the breeze kicked up today.

Michelle, Kirsten and I sat around our digital weather station display by the breakfast table and watched the wind speed number rise and fall. Do we go out today or not? Usually, if the wind is less than 20mph, it’s no problem. If it’s more than 20mph, you stay inside… a storm could be coming. Around 60mph you might have to crawl to make progress into the wind, and at 80mph you can’t really stand up. Much more than 100mph, and the air can actually pick you up and blow you away. A couple seasons ago, this hut withstood an average windspeed of more than 100mph for an entire day, and took one reading of 147mph. Rocks embedded in the south wall of the hut prove it.

This morning, though, the wind sustained right around 20mph, and we hemmed and hawed, and stayed inside. I read a book about penguins, and kept eyeing the weather station display – that thing is addicting, like watching TV. But, if I wanted a storm to materialize, I was disappointed; the gusts died out mid-afternoon, and our highest reading was 43mph: no more than a breath of fresh air. At 6:30pm, Michelle and I finally layered up and hiked down to do a couple hours of work in the penguin colony, while Kirsten cooked dinner to be ready when we got back in.

I was a bit surprised at the view from our kitchen window this afternoon. The frozen Ross Sea is no longer frozen! A couple miles out, the ice ends, and dark blue open water extends to the horizon. This morning, our little south breeze blew the pack ice out to sea. It is summer in Antarctica.