A Squid on the Ice

September 11, 2009 10:22 PM

A Squid on the Ice
The continuing saga of Science and Adventure with the Squid (that's me) in and around Antarctica's McMurdo Station. Includes cool science, musings on Lovecraft, the logistics of Antarctic life, and lots of pictures. We're hoping to get out to the Dry Valleys sometime soon.

I'm always looking for more ideas to write about--if you have questions about the science we're doing, life at McMurdo, or other Antarctic topics, please don't hesitate to ask them.

posted by fermion (8 comments total)

This project was posted to MetaFilter by ocherdraco on September 13, 2009: A Squid on the Ice

I'm really glad that you posted this--the blog is fascinating and has been added to Google Reader.

Also, since I noticed that no one asked, I'd love to hear more about frost flowers.
posted by MeghanC at 8:00 PM on September 13, 2009

The logistics posts are my favorite.
posted by ocherdraco at 8:24 PM on September 13, 2009

Love those pictures.I would love to read about birds that you might see.
posted by francesca too at 8:27 PM on September 13, 2009

MeghanC--thank you! I was hoping someone would ask.

ocherdraco, thanks. I am thinking of doing one about the various enormous tractors and things and the people who make them run.

francesca too, I may leave before there are any birds here--it's early yet for most of them. This is the only bird I've seen so far.
posted by fermion at 8:39 PM on September 13, 2009

How do you keep your camera batteries from freezing?
posted by Commander Rachek at 9:35 AM on September 14, 2009

Commander Rachek, I keep my camera under my parka and coveralls when I'm not using it and that seems to work pretty well. My colleague Rich, who has a camera too big for that to be feasible, modded his camera battery so it connects to the camera by a long cable; that way he can keep the battery next to his body while he's shooting.
posted by fermion at 3:29 PM on September 14, 2009 [1 favorite]

Great stuff.
posted by exogenous at 7:13 AM on September 17, 2009

francesca too, I would just like to point out that we finally found some penguins. Fifteen Emperors visited our study site, in fact, and took great interest in our work.

I'm told it'll be a while before the skuas show up, though.
posted by fermion at 7:20 PM on September 28, 2009