October 24-26 - Antarctica

 

Hi Everyone... Weather here is somewhat problematic for photography but I used the time to do research and to interview some of the amazing scientists that are doing research here.

I spent time with Yubecca Bragg who handles the Waste Management plant and got a birds eye view of the Waste management facility. She gave me an in depth tour down to viewing the microscopic bacteria that are added to the waste in order for the waste to be separated into recyclable water and solid waste. The waste will then get shipped back to the US and deposited in a landfill and the water is deposited in the Antarctic sea and then brought back up to the water filtration plant where it is filtered a by reverse osmosis is then used as our drinking water.

 Yesterday, I learned to navigate a website which would allow me to track the angle and elevation of the sun. Our last sunset here was on Oct 21 and the sun will not set again until Feb 20. So the sun right now is very low in the sky. It travels around the horizon in an elliptical shape. I determined that I can figure out how the sun would reflect off the part of the landscape that I wanted to photograph by first figuring out which way the landscape image faced and then the position of the sun at the time.

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Antarctica has an area called the Dry Valleys... No snow or ice… just rock, lakes and glaciers that feed into the valleys. It is quite exquisite, filled with wonders.

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This morning (Oct 26) we revisited the Taylor Glacier, which has an unusual red, orange and yellow coloration. The color of Blood Falls is due to the outflow of iron oxide, which taints the plume of salt water that is between the glacier and the bedrock below. It was 10.30 AM and the sun was only 9.8 degrees above the horizon and 105.22 degrees clockwise from North. Blood Falls faces NE so the sun would be shining on it as long as there was sun. All the things I need to figure out before I proceed to photograph... the only thing I cannot predict is if there will be clouds.

On the way back from the Dry Valleys we watched the clouds resting on the Sea Ice.

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Tomorrow we will be visiting the Weddell Seals and their new Pups.

 
Diane Tuft