Those words come from Apsley Cherry-Garrard, from the Introduction to The Worst Journey in the World which I am presently reading. I guess, considering the penguins, I shouldn’t feel too sorry for myself, but…
You can check the temperature at McMurdo Station here and find out that we are COLD. It was a beautiful sunny day when we arrived five days ago, and it has been degrading since. Low’s have been around -30 C (-21 F) and the wind today is cruising at 65 km/hr (40 mph). This combination of temperature and wind velocity translates to a wind chill of -58 F. Tomorrow, when I have Sea Ice training (outside on the sea ice) it is forecast to be -36 F. Brrrr… If the winds are this strong tomorrow the windchill will be dangerously low.
The view looking at my dormitory this morning.
My dorm is the one behind the telephone pole on the left. The large building where we go to eat is Building 155 on the right.
I can honestly say that I have experienced weather like this for a sustained period just once, when I lived in Skagway, Alaska and we had winds that came down through the valley that were so strong we had to cancel school for 4 days. But things are rarely cancelled in Antarctica unless there are safety concerns, and I may just have to be outside tomorrow!
Last night we went to the Sunday evening science presentation by Paul Ponganis entitled "Penguin Ranch Observations: From Emperors to Toothfish”. It was an excellent presentation and many people crowded into the galley to hear it. Emperor penguins are amazing creatures. You would guess they are well-adapted to their life-style, but they are truly physiological marvels!
The Penguin Ranch is a place on the sea ice where they literally create a fenced enclosure around two dive holes in the ice. The Ranch has to be away from any other cracks or ice holes so the penguins can only use the dive holes that lead them up onto the ice in the fenced enclosure. Then they "herd" some penguins into the enclosure and have their ranch so they can study the penguins much more closely.
Take this quiz: 1. Emperor Penguins routinely dive to these depths. a. 100 meters (325 feet) b. 200 meters (650 feet) c. 350 meters (1,137 feet) d. 500 meters (1,625 feet)
Emperor Penguins store most of their oxygen in their a. blood b. muscles c. lungs
Emperor Penguins can handle pressures how much greater than atmospheric pressure? a. 10 times greater b. 50 times greater c. 100 times greater
Emperor Penguins can survive with this much oxygen in their bodies. a. 60 % saturation – this is the threshold for humans to be put on oxygen b. 35% saturation – this is what the climbers at the top of Everest are getting without supplemental oxygen c. 15 % saturation – this is when seals are not happy and come up for air d. 2% saturation – are you crazy?
Answers at the bottom of this post!
One of my jobs today was to go the Science Cargo building, called "SciCo". I first thought it was the "Psycho" building but then I saw it spelled out! I went to pick up food supplies for when we start our diving operations. The divers come out of the water COLD and HUNGRY! One of my jobs as a dive tender will be to help the divers get on and off their dive gear and make them hot soup and beverages for after their dives.
Peggy is the food goddess!
Peggy Malloy is the food room coordinator. She has to keep inventories of all the food going in and out of the food room so there is plenty to feed upcoming field parties. She has a great little store upstairs with all sorts of food you can cook in the field as well as some sweet treats!
The food room was loaded with goodies
Then I went to the BFC (Berg Field Center) and to pick up some other field gear. BFC reminds me of "The BFG”(the Big Friendly Giant) by Roald Dahl. And inside this giant warehouse there is some amazing gear!
The Scott tents are stored hanging up inside the BFC.
They are at least ten feet long.
The good folks in the BFC have created a nice working environment through some creative decorating. Interior design helps keep morale high when the weather gets bad.
Erin keeping track of equipment at the BFC
Kate working in the BFC.
Kate got me a pair of big fur-back mittens to fit over my gloves. These will be helpful for when I go outside tomorrow for Sea Ice training!
Answers to Penguin Questions: 1. d. Emperor Penguins make shallow dives of 100-200 meters, but also routinely do repeated deep dives of 400-500 meters.
b. Emperor Penguins store almost half of their oxygen in their muscle! Myoglobin is a kind of hemoglobin that holds oxygen even better than the hemoglobin in the blood does.
b. 50 atmospheres (that is 50 times the pressure you are feeling right now!) is the pressure at 500 meters depth. This "shrinks” the penguin so he is even more aerodynamic underwater and can swim even faster than near the surface. Emperors can swim 2-3 meters per second.
d. 2 % saturation: This is so amazing that penguins are being studied for potential medical applications like how to maintain healthy tissue in organs for organ donations, or for heart attack and stroke victims where oxygen supply gets limited.
For more information on penguins you can go to www.penguinscience.com and to www.gdargaud.net/Antarctica/Penguins.html You can also read Sarah Anderson’s journal entries on this site as she has been lucky enough to see the gorgeous creatures herself! For my closing photo, here is a present for my FALA students: one of the paintings on the wall at the BFC.
