A new month. A new vibe

Sorry for being slack, but September has brought a massive change to life down south. For a start, we now have proper days and nights again - I may be repeating myself, but waking up to natural light is something I really missed. The other big difference is that the inside of buildings are a lot darker than outside. They're little differences, but very significant.


Bright snow. Blue sky. About time too!

The brightness at midday is once again blinding, and with the ozone hole open above I've had to dig out tinted goggles and suncream again. Not that it's warm enough to expose the face very often as the Austral spring is one of the coldest times of year, being breezy with clear skies. Glancing at the monitor now, it's -44C with 16knts wind, giving a wind-chill equivalent of -64C!


Chris flies past the Law

Around the site, it feels like everyone's had new batteries fitted. One third of Team Met is on nights leaving Tamsin and I flat out with Blimp flights, Ozone monitoring and a very tempremental weather balloon GPS system. But science doesn't stop at night - Kirsty grabbed some willing helpers for a 2am blimp flight over the weekend.

Last weekend was fantastic for leisure as well as science. Our Saturday night webcam darts match with Rothera was interrupted by a fantastic Aurora, possibly the last we'll see with the fast returning 24hour light. This was R's second defeat, forcing us to the enlightened conclusion that base moral at Halley is approximately 68% higher than on the peninsular!