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It seems like we will stay for a couple of days here at McMurdo Station on the coast of Antarctica. McMurdo is the largest of three permanent United States stations in Antarctica, with about 1,000 people working at once every summer. There is also Palmer Station in the Antarctic Peninsula—which is

I got up today at 5:15 am with great excitement, knowing that in a few hours I would be boarding my flight for Antarctica. Here is a summary of this exciting day. The day before we had left USAP at around 4:00 pm, and later on went for dinner in Christchurch. I went to bed at about 10:00 pm and woke

Upon arrival at WAIS, our first order of business was to get our tents set up, so we'd have a place to sleep at night. Luckily, the day that we arrived had beautiful weather. The sky was clear and blue, wind was at a minimum, and the sun was out and shining. Despite the fact that it was only 5F

On Sunday, January 4th, the Velvet Ice team woke up, as we had countless other times in the past three weeks, to prepare for Transport at 7:15am. (If you don't know what Transport is, check our blog from December 21 called "Hurry Up and Wait" about the process of flying in Antarctica.) After getting

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a happy holiday season. I spent a lot of time with family and friends but also used the holidays to spread some polar cheer. ### Homeschool Holidays I visited the Aquarium of the Pacific’s Homeschool Holiday and talked to lots of families about the upcoming

Today at 9:00 am I was picked up at the Pavilions hotel by a shuttle bus and taken to the United States Antarctic Program (USAP) offices here in Christchurch, New Zealand. It is a requirement for anyone traveling with the USAP to report here first, in order to attend orientation and also to pick up

Art on the Ice### Every Sunday at McMurdo Base, there is a "Science Lecture" after dinner. I have attended a couple of these lectures, and they have always been pretty interesting. There was one about Meteorites in Antarctica, another about Marine Ecosystems in the McMurdo Sound, and another

Where Science Meets Art in the Antarctic! Merry Christmas, everyone! In honor of the holidays, some of the Velvet Ice team decided to shake things up in our study of ice crystals... namely, Snowflakes! More specifically, Physicist Snowflakes! A Very Scientific Christmas In preparation for