Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 12/10/2007 - 11:57

Hello Brandon!

Liam is in our class and your mom told us about your adventure! We have a couple of questions for you.

1. How cold is it?

 2. Where do you sleep?

3. How do you keep warm?

4. How do you get your food?

5. Do you have a camp that you stay at?

6. Where do you go to the bathroom at?

7. Is it just wide open space there?

8. What kind of animals are there?

9. Has anyone got frostbite yet?

10. Have you disovered anything out of the ordinary?

11.HAve you fallen through the ice?

12. What are some of the thing that you have learned?

13. Have you discovered any new animals?

14.Is it really preety there? We have seen some of your pictures but we want to know first hand?

 15.Is the sky clear or does it have lots of clouds?

 16. Has there been any storms there lately?

17. Have you experienced global warming there?

18. Have you meet anyone who lives there?

Sorry there are alot of questions, we are just eager to learn.

From,: Ms. Wagner's Class 

Brandon Gillette

Lots of questions, I'll see what I can do to answer them. Things have changed a bit as we have just arrived at a field camp, so some of the answers will be different from those similar questions answered while we were in McMurdo. So . . . here goes.We are currently as WAIS Divide, 700 miles from the South Pole and nearly 900 miles from McMurdo.
1. Temperature today was -19 C.
2. Starting tonight we will be sleeping in Scott tents. Check the photo gallery for pictures.
3. We keep warm with lots of layers of clothes, and big sleep bags and blankets while we sleep.
4. There is a kitchen staff here at the field camp so we eat very well. Dinner tonight was fresh veggies, mac and cheese and ham.
5. Yes, there are heated buildings as well, but most of us all sleep in tents because there isn't enough room.
6. Bathrooms are outhouses and pee flags.
7. Very very wide open spaces! The closest permanent buildings to us are at the South Pole, 700 miles away!
8. No animals. We are a long way from sea ice and water.
9. No frostbite yet, and we're hoping not to get any!
10. Nothing new just yet. We haven't really started our research yet, and are still waiting on another flight to come in with the rest of our science equipment and cargo.
11. Nobody has fallen through the ice and at this point, we're not anticipating that happening. We are on top of more than 3,000 meters of ice here.
12. I have learned way more than I can write about in this email. Check the journals and ask Liam for stories after I return!
13. No on the animals again. We haven't seen anything! :(
14. GORGEOUS! And nothing in site! You're looking into an ocean of ice! AMAZINGLY peaceful!
15. Just like weather in Kansas, it changes all the time. Today was partly cloudy, but it can be clear, and cloudy all the same.
16. No storms, but we just got here today. There were a couple days of snow back in McMurdo last week. Helped to delay flights for a couple days.
17. No signs of global warming since we've been here, but that is a very long process. I also wouldn't have anything to compare it too at this point.
18. There are no permanent residents on Antarctica, though there are people that come down here for work or research year after year, some for 20+ seasons!
I appreciate the questions. I hope you are able to follow along for the rest of the trip and make sure to check out the pictures!
~Brandon