Antarctica, 6 months later
It has been six months since I last wrote. I wasn't joking when I said I'd continue this newsletter, albeit less frequently. The contour of my weeks and...
Antarctica, Day 56
After my first expedition to Antarctica, when I landed back in New Zealand after a eight hour flight from the snow runway near McMurdo Station, my first...
Antarctica, Day 49
Time is warped here in non-obvious ways. It hadn’t felt like I had been here that long until I passed a researcher in the hallway that I had first met when...
Antarctica, Day 41
It’s one of those sunny, low-wind days we pray for each night when we go to sleep in our tents before a long day in the field. I’ve just been dropped off by...
Antarctica, Day 35
I’m sitting on the surface of Mars, awkwardly balanced on a red-tinged dolerite rock in the middle of an endless boulder field, tired, fingers freezing,...
Antarctica, Day 28
I am freshly back from the field and already preparing to go back out again for a few days tomorrow. The last field trip was a two-day stay at Lake Hoare,...
Antarctica, Day 19
In my lab there are rows of beige bench tables and all the science equipment you’d expect – microscopes, beakers, refrigerators, tubes, sieves, tape, and...
Antarctica, Day 12
Each morning I wake up to a game of find-my-phone inside the depths of my sleeping bag within my mountain tent. Inside its bulky folds is a fleece liner I...
Antarctica, Day 8
Me a couple hours ago with my tent and the Commonwealth glacier behind me. It's a bright, sunny Tuesday evening here in the Dry Valleys. The sun is glinting...
Antarctica, Day 5
It's a sunny Saturday afternoon here at McMurdo Station – 32F today, which is considered tropical weather here. Getting by with a single layer of pants and...
Antarctica, we are go for launch
No one goes to Antarctica twice. That's what I was told by a long-timer on my first deployment to Antarctica. People either go once, have their fill, and...
Antarctica, 7 days out
One of my favorite one-season shows on Netflix is 7 Days Out. Each episode follows a big event – everything from grand openings to fashions shows and space...
This is a first test of the newsletter!
Before I get this all setup to send dispatches from Antarctica, I'm writing a test email to see how it goes. ❤️😊 Ariel