2nd weekend of Apr'13

This  weekend,  I  have  been  heavily  influenced by Anil Ananthswamy, the
science  journal  writer  who  is  the  author of “The Edge of Physics”. He
covers  extensively  the  trails  of  extra-ordinary men and women who have
dedicated  their  lives  to  discovering  the  various facets of science in
general  and  astro  physics  in  particular.  In  the book he captures the
difficulties under which experiments are held and the hazards in conducting
them  be  it  in  underground  mines,  frozen  sheet  of  Lake  Baikal, the
Antarctica, the deserts of Chile or that of Tibet. Interested souls can see
his  video  on  inktalks.com and also try browsing through his book or more
lazily google him out.


Inspired by his talk, I did some googling on 2 things i.e. Mcmardo station
in Antartica and Discovery Hut. This weekend I attach a small peek into
these two entities. Hope you like it.

Mcmardo
The  station  owes  its  designation  to  nearby McMurdo Sound, named after
Lieutenant Archibald McMurdo of H.M.S. Terror, which first charted the area
in 1841 under the command of British explorer James Clark Ross.
McMurdo  Station  is  Antarctica's  largest  community  and  a  functional,
modern-day  science  station, which includes a harbor, three airfields (two
seasonal),  a heliport and more than 100 buildings, including the Albert P.
Crary  Science  and  Engineering  Center.  The  station is also home to the
continent's  only  ATM,  provided by Wells Fargo Bank. The primary focus of
the  work  done  at  McMurdo  Station is science, but most of the residents
(approximately  1,000  in  the summer and fewer than 200 in the winter) are
not  scientists, but station personnel who are there to provide support for
operations,    logistics,   information   technology,   construction,   and
maintenance.


Whats so unique is the temperature. A climatic peek is also attached fo
guesstimating the temperature and what actually is meant by really cold
weather.
|-------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------|
|Climate  data|       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |
|for   McMurdo|       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |
|Station      |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |
|-------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------|
|Month        |Jan    |Feb    |Mar    |Apr    |May    |Jun    |Jul    |Aug    |Sep    |Oct    |Nov    |Dec    |Year   |
|-------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------|
|Average  high|?0.2   |?6.3   |?14    |?17.4  |?19.0  |?19.1  |?21.7  |?22.8  |?20.8  |?15.5  |?6.7   |?0.8   |?13.69 |
|°C (°F)      |(31.6) |(20.7) |(7)    |(0.7)  |(?2.2) |(?2.4) |(?7.1) |(?9)   |(?5.4) |(4.1)  |(19.9) |(30.6) |(7.38) |
|-------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------|
|Daily mean °C|?2.9   |?9.5   |?18.2  |?20.7  |?21.7  |?23.0  |?25.7  |?26.1  |?24.6  |?18.9  |?9.7   |?3.4   |?17.03 |
|(°F)         |(26.8) |(14.9) |(?0.8) |(?5.3) |(?7.1) |(?9.4) |(?14.3)|(?15)  |(?12.3)|(?2)   |(14.5) |(25.9) |(1.33) |
|-------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------|
|Average low °|?5.5   |?11.6  |?21.1  |?24.9  |?27.1  |?27.3  |?30.1  |?31.8  |?29.4  |?23.4  |?12.7  |?6.0   |?20.91 |
|C (°F)       |(22.1) |(11.1) |(?6)   |(?12.8)|(?16.8)|(?17.1)|(?22.2)|(?25.2)|(?20.9)|(?10.1)|(9.1)  |(21.2) |(?5.63)|
|-------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------|
|Precipitation|15.0   |21.2   |24.1   |18.4   |23.7   |24.9   |15.6   |11.3   |11.8   |9.7    |9.5    |15.7   |202.5  |
|mm (inches)  |(0.591)|(0.835)|(0.949)|(0.724)|(0.933)|(0.98) |(0.614)|(0.445)|(0.465)|(0.382)|(0.374)|(0.618)|(7.972)|
|-------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------|

Discovery Hut


British explorer Robert Falcon Scott first established a base close to this
spot in 1902 and built Discovery Hut. This is still standing intact. Whats
unique is that it still has some of the food leftovers of the inhabitants
intact because of the freezing temperature.


(Embedded image moved to file: pic26924.jpg) View of the Discovery Hut
(imagine it dates back to 1902 and the pic is if 2011)


Some pics of the remnants inside the tent

(Embedded image moved to file: pic19072.jpg)(Embedded image moved to file:
pic06270.jpg)
(Embedded image moved to file: pic05829.jpg)
And as I always say, bouquets and brickbats welcome

-Sukhi