Last Sunday, John and I went out to Pegasus North to reinstall the instruments that had been removed earlier in the season. This AWS is at the end of the Pegasus runway so it was nice because we got to see a C17 land. You can see the TransAntarctic mountain range behind the station (note - if you click on the picture, you can see it in full screen). We had incredible weather and spectacular views. 
In the picture above you can see the size and significance of Mt. Erebus. The brown section infront of the volcano is the piece of land that McMurdo is on. On the right side of this land you can see Ob Hill. McMurdo is tucked into the small cove in the front. This view shows how small McMurdo is in the grand scheme of Antarctica.
Here is a picture of the C17 that we saw land. I love the mountains in the background. You can see the amount of cargo ready to be loaded onto the plane. The amount of cargo that can fit into these planes is amazing. Later that afternoon, Matthew flew out on this C17 to head back to Christchurch.
Mels,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your story with me. It is great to hear from you. Anyway, I have question for you, is there anything like northern lights down there? Looking forward to hear from you soon,
Kia
Kia,
ReplyDeleteIt is good to hear from you! The aurora australis or the southern polar lights are the equivalent of the northern lights for the southern hemisphere. Currently, it is summer and we have 24 hours of daylight, so I have not been able to see this spectacular phenomenon.
Hope you're doing well!
Melis