Please remember Ms. Ellwood is working a full "day"
while she is there and will be trying to respond in a timely manner.

There's been so many questions that we are going to try to categorize them here:

 

Updated December 8, 2006

How do you call from the field?

Phone and internet are different lines. From the field - the signal gets transmitted by microwave frequency to McMurdo, then bounced over to Black Island in McMurdo Sound where the satellite dishes are located. The signal then gets bounced by satellite to Denver - then I believe it's regular phone lines from there.

I wanted to know if there's such thing as Antarctica money?

Actually, there is no special "Antarctica" money. Each base uses the currency of their home. So - McMurdo uses US currency because it's a US base. Scott Base uses New Zealand currency because it's a New Zealand base, etc. The funny thing is that you don't actually have to buy anything here. There is a small "store" at each base that sells souvenir items and a few grocery essentials/luxuries - if you buy from the store, you pay. But - all your meals, etc are free. You just go through and take what you want.

We are out at a field camp right now, and we had to place a grocery order for more food. So we filled in the grocery spreadsheet (checked off the items we wanted), emailed the list to the "food room" at McMurdo, and the next day, our order showed up at our doorstep, by helicopter. And we didn't pay a thing for it! Who pays? The costs of living/working in Antarctica are all covered in the grant money that the researchers get. Grant money is provided through donations and tax money. So, I guess in a way.... everyone in the US helped pay for our groceries!

Do you miss home at all and if so what do you miss the most other than your dog?

I miss home a lot! Of course I miss all my animals and my family the most. But, I also miss my comfy bed, a nice shower, green grass, smells (other than dirty socks!!!), and indoor privacy. I can have all the privacy I want if I go to my tent, or somewhere outside, but there is almost always someone else in the huts. This is nice for socializing, but it makes it difficult to get work done. I have a really hard time focusing when there's a lot of noise around me. Plus - it's easy to get sidetracked by all the great conversations!

Are you doing anything for Thanksgiving?

Yes... Today (which is Wednesday for us), we are moving over to Lake Fryxell Camp. It is on the other side of the Canada glacier - helicopters are taking us and all our gear over there. We will set up camp - we hope to do one dive tomorrow night. Then Thursday (Thanksgiving), we are driving the ATV from Fryxell to the farthest edge of the Canada glacier, then we are walking around the front of the glacier (about 1.5 hour walk), then the Lake Hoare ATV will come pick us up. So we will be at Lake Hoare for Thanksgiving! There are 32 people scheduled to be here. It will be jam packed!

UPDATE - Happy Thanksgiving! I was going to walk over to Lake Hoare, where the field camps are getting together for Thanksgiving, but our dive hole here at Lake Fryxell needs some attention and I volunteered to stay back with Ian and work on it. I also have some homework I need to do for a class I'm taking, so it is better for me to stay here. So no turkey for me today, although the option was there! I had a huge Thanksgiving dinner with family and friends right before I left!

What kinds of foods did you eat during Thanksgiving? Did you eat anything that lives down in there?

There is turkey, stuffing, pie, mashed potato, etc. Pretty typical food, just a little more frozen to start with! We will not be eating anything that lives down here. The only thing from here that gets eaten is the Antarctic Cod fish (at least as far as I know) - most things are protected.

Will you have another Thanksgiving when you get home with your family?

Actually, I had Thanksgiving with my family and friends before I left, so I don't expect to have another one.

Are you going to be gone for Christmas? If so, how are going to get presents from you family or even give presents? Once again will you have another Christmas when you get home?

I plan on being home right before Christmas. I should be getting back to NH right about December 22nd. My family already knows that gifts from me will be late. I tried to get my shopping done before I left, but there was just too much going on. They all understand. In fact - they've said all they really want for Christmas is for me to come home safely. Aren't they sweet!

Do you miss school and the students?

I do miss school and all the students! I can't wait to share all the details of the trip with you in person - and show a bunch of the OTHER pictures! I can only post so many - there is so much more to the story!

How do you find time in your busy day to answer all of these questions and write all of these journals? It must take a while to come up with creative comments and to remember everything to write about!

It is a challenge to keep up with everything, but I enjoy hearing from everyone and I enjoy talking about what I'm doing! I am having some late nights and early mornings in order to keep up! Another issue is that the internet is REALLY slow from here; I shouldn't complain though - it's amazing we have it at all!

What kind of camera are you using to take these pictures? Is it waterproof?

I have 3 cameras here with me. Most of the ones being posted have been taken by 2 of the cameras. The underwater shots are taken with a Sony Cybershot 9 in an underwater housing. The land photos are taken with a Sony Cybershot- the new one (10 megapixels!). I'm glad you are enjoying the photos!

When you are down in Antarctica, is it hard to step out of your comfort zone or is it easier since you are with people you get along with?

It's always easier for me to step out of my comfort zone when I am with people that I get along with and are supportive. This group of people fits the bill! I have definitely stepped out of my comfort zone several times on this trip; the pay off has been fantastic! These people are great!

How come all the things in the pictures look out of perspective?

I believe perspective is so challenging here because the distances are so great and there is nothing nearby to offer any sense of scale. It is VERY deceiving. It is easy to think ... sure we can hike over there in about an hour ... meanwhile the destination is actually 20 miles away!

What do you have to do to go to Antarctica? Are there ways to go down other than working with a team of scientists? Did you look into visiting Antarctica when you went the first time, or did you get recognized by the people coordinating it?

Lots of people go to Antarctica for lots of different reasons. Most of the folks where I am are either doing science research, or are here to help support the scientists doing their research. The support people include just about everything you can think of! Computer specialists, pilots, mountaineers, chefs, carpenters, welders, writers, artists, photographers, film crews, doctors, fire fighters, even a hairdresser! You name it, they are here! People also come as tourists. I have mixed feelings about this. It's fine for people to come see it. It may help people want to protect Antarctica, but many of the tourists don't understand their impact on the environment and are not as careful as the scientists who have been through special training to take extra care to protect the area. The tourists can, and have, done a lot of unintentional damage to some area, just because they didn't realize what they were doing.

I came down originally through a program called Teachers Experiencing Antarctica and the Arctic. This program hooked me up with Peter Doran. Peter likes the work I do, so he keeps inviting me back!

Can you please talk about yourself and let me know what you like to do? PLEASE. Thank you. Also, is it colder in the Dry Valleys than in McMurdo? (8th grader)

It is actually a few degrees warmer in the Dry Valleys than in McMurdo Station - probably between 3-5 degrees warmer.

Let's see ... what do I like to do? I like to do just about anything outside! I love hiking, biking, kayaking, scuba diving, walking my dog, skiing, camping, etc. I also love to read good stories and try to play the guitar (I'm pretty bad at the guitar!). I love any/all animals. I love the environment and think we all need to work hard to protect it! I love to learn and try new things. I like to challenge myself.

Dear Ms. Ellwood,
I have been regularly reading your journal and looking at all the pictures you posted. In the underwater pictures, it seems as if everything is really big! Is there a reason for this? You said some of the anemones you saw were two feet tall! Does the water temperature affect the size of underwater life in Antarctica? (from a 7th grader)

What a great question and an astute observation! Yes - things here grow quite large! I'm not entirely sure of the explanation, but I do know that the cold temperatures have an impact on how things grow. It seems as though things are big, but slow! (the anemones were about 10 inches, the soft corals and barrel sponges were about 2 feet tall). I believe one of the researchers was explaining that the critters metabolize things quite slowly. I will look into this further and get more specific and detailed information for you!

I'm so glad you have been checking in on the journals! Hope you continue to enjoy them.

 

Ms. Ellwood, is there any chance of you seeing a Leaped Seal since you are diving in the ocean? How fat and how long is the puffy sea star in the picture you sent?

No, there is not really any chance of me running into any leopard seals in the places that I am diving. McMurdo sound is quite large and the "open crack" or "ice leads" are fairly far into the sound area. Weddell seals can swim great distances from crack to crack, and they dive to great depths to eat the fish in the sound (they also eat lots of the shallower stuff!). Leopard seals can't swim for quite such great distances .. or perhaps I should say they choose not to - I suppose they COULD if push came to shove! The leopard seal's favorite foods are penguins and types of fish that live out near the ice edge. The ice edge is much farther out to sea than where I am. So, luckily, there is not much chance of seeing leopard seals here! PHEW!

That fat and puffy sea star is about 1 foot across and about 6 inches "thick"! It looked like a pillsbury dough boy sea star! Cute though, isn't it?

Thanks for writing - so nice to hear from you!

 

Were you scared to dive? (From a 3rd grader)

I'm not scared to dive - it's really exciting! I do get a little nervous about being/getting cold. There is so much to see and do though that I tend to forget about the cold (at least for a while!). In the ocean dives - in which we are wearing regular diving masks (face is in the water) rather than the helmets (face doesn't get wet), it's a little shocking when I first get in. I have to focus on slowing down my breathing. After a minute or so, my face goes numb and it doesn't bother me any more! Kind of weird to think about that isn't it??!!

Are you going to swim with penguins? (From a 3rd grader)

Nice to hear from you! I most likely will not get a chance to swim with penguins. I sure will be looking for them though!

I had a question about global warming. I heard one of the reasons you were going to Antarctica was to research the similarities between Mar's polar ice caps and the ones on Earth? Because we have global warming on Earth and the melting ice caps does that mean that on Mars the ice caps are melting? Does the global warming on Earth effect the data you receive and will you be able to compare the data to that of Mars?

One last question - I heard that if you stay out in the snow for a really long time, like you are doing, you could go blind. If you can, do you wear sun -glasses all day, every day? (From a 7th grader)

Nice to hear from you! Let me try to answer some of your questions and clarify some of what we are doing here. You are correct in that we are studying climate change - that's one part of our research. And you are correct that we are relating some of our research to Mars. But, the Mars research is sort of different than climate change.

Dr. Doran has three primary research interests with this project in the Dry Valleys. 1) To look for signals of climate change that are occurring here in the Dry Valleys. This area is extremely sensitive, so if there are effects of climate change, they will most likely show up in the Dry Valleys early. So, if we can get accurate records of how the climate is behaving in general, then we will be able to recognize climate changes as they occur.
2) Dr. Doran is also investigating how nutrients and energy flow through this limited ecosystem. There are comparably few species of "critters" living here, so chemicals and energy are a bit easier to trace. If Dr. Doran can accurately map out energy and nutrient flow through this system, then it can be correlated to more complex ecosystems and be used to assist with sustaining, or improving the health of all kinds of ecosystems. 3) The Dry Valley surface features are strikingly similar to those seen on Mars. So, Dr. Doran, and NASA, are using the Dry Valleys to compare likely place where they may be, or have once been, microbial life forms. For instance, if Dr. Doran finds evidence of current or past signs of life in a particular area in the Dry Valleys, he can match it up with similar looking features on Mars and direct NASA to search for life forms there. Dr. Doran is looking more at "life" features on Mars rather than melting of the ice caps. He is comparing data from the Dry Valleys, in terms of microbial life, to the data from Mars. Pretty cool huh?!

Now for your sunglass question. The sun is incredibly bright here; we wear sunglasses all the time whenever we are outside. We can remove the glasses in our tents and any of the buildings. We can be out without sunglasses for short periods of time, but it isn't really good for your eyes. We take them off sometimes for "photo-op's," but that's about it. The blindness you refer to is actually snow blindness. My understanding (and you may want to research this a bit for more detail/accuracy) is that snow blindness is sort of like getting a sunburn on your retina. OUCH! I hear it feels like you have gritty sand in your eyes and it hurts to open them. Mild snow-blindness can heal over time; I'm not sure about severe snow blindness. I will look into it and get back to you!

These questions are from the 7th grade:

How long was the flight?

What can you bring for supplies?