Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 12/25/2008 - 08:09
Forums
Oden Antarctic Expedition 08

Merry Christmas Jeff!

I want to thank you for sharing your fantastic trip with all of us. Alexis, Darcy and I are loving those seal and penguin videos! Keep them coming.

I was thinking of you in "balmy" summer Antarctica while I was snowblowing my driveway for the third day in a row (first day of our winter) with the wind howling and the temp. in the teens (degrees F).

 We miss you at the Annex,

Tom Dunn

LHSA Earth Science

Fri, 12/26/2008 - 12:02

Jeff Peneston

Tom,
Merry Christmas.   Just think of all the folks out there that are not having a beautiful white Christmas this year like we are.  
You are right.  I do feel a little guilty about all the snow and cold you folks have had to deal with.  We have had very light flurries for part of most days but the total accumulation in the last 2 weeks has been less than 1 inch.  Mostly, we have to deal with going out onto the sea ice floes and working in up to 3 feet of snow from last year.  With 24-hour daylight and the maritime location, we see very little daily change in temperature.  I don’t think it has been outside the range of -4?C to +2?C since we entered the sea ice over 2 weeks ago.  Oddly enough, the air temp has rarely been above freezing but the floes are breaking up because the seawater has risen above the -1.8?C needed for seawater to freeze.  This means that the ice is rotting from below but the snow on top of the floes is still cold and dry.   Back home our lake ice thaws out because the air temp has risen above freezing and turned the snow on top to slush.  
I hope you and your family have a great holiday.
Remember to keep reading my journals over the break.  There are new videos coming!
Take care,
Jeff