“Name the seven countries in Europe that are smaller in land mass than Rhode Island?” I quickly starting naming several until there was only one left. On the tip of my tongue with time about to expire, Malta popped in my head. We hurried and scribbled it down before passing our paper to the next team. The initial round in pub trivia was right up my ally, having to do with geography. I somehow got invited to play with all the astro-physicists from the South Pole Telescope, even though the siding carpenters had their own team. We’re not supposed to hang out together, let alone being wanted for a quiz game of knowledge. Probably had something to do with one of their grad students from a sponsoring university always looking at me like I’m an ice cream sundae on a warm summer’s day. In any case we went on to lose the round by one point and but won the entire game, beating out other scientists, IT nerds and others. For our efforts we all received a thirty dollar gift certificate to an American restaurant in Christchurch. Can’t wait to get off the ice and eat more eggs and pancakes.

As for the ice itself, things are warming up. When I first arrived at the South Pole the temperatures consistently hovered around negative 55 degrees. Now it’s usually about minus 15. It’s still cold but a huge difference, just like the contrast between 40 and 80. When I walk around outside I don’t need a balaclava for extended periods of time. I can shed layers and not feel a sense of panic. In fact, some periods of work I only wear a base layer, fleece and wind breaker. Along with the temperature my actual job location has shifted again too.

I’m no longer working at 10 meter telescope, having sailed for the greener pastures of the Cryogenics Building where several weather related experiments are conducted. I like it a lot because the work is simpler and it’s not as windy. I like the guys I work with too. Not that the others were bad, but I just always felt like the new kid on the block. Our entire work crew is divided into about five various locations. But at the end of a long work week we all get back together for a few beers. Yesterday some guys planned a BBQ outside of the Smokers Lounge. This is the only federal government building that still permits smoking inside. The place isn’t big enough for what they had in mind though, so we piled the briquettes in a huge grill outside the main entrance.

There were about thirty dudes all dressed in warm clothes eating chips and salsa as the smell of huge steaks permeated the cold air. Sizzling hunks got cut into thin bite sized strips for easy pecking. Inside the lounge rock music blared through the cloud of smoke hanging delicately in the rafters. Graffiti filled walls were accented by empty beer cans and half eaten cheese plates as someone passed around a bottle of Jim Bean. Back and forth people went between the freshly cooked steak outside, and warmth and comfortable seating inside. This was a dude BBQ, with no female within fifty feet of the roaring flames heating our dinner.

Things got exciting when a person I will decide to keep unnamed, decided to climb one of the huge snow piles and ride a small homemade wooden toboggan like a snow board. All the drunkies shouted words of encouragement even though such activities are strictly prohibited because of liability concerns. He slowly climbed the mini mountain until he stood at the summit at placed the contraption under his feet. The crowd roared in laughter and amusement as he shot down the hill at high speeds. At the intercept of where the mound rose and the flat ground extended onward, he lost balance and became airborne. Crashing into the hard pack he rolled a couple of times, while the sled continued onward in a cloud of ice particles. The crowd’s vocal intensity increased a decibel as he stood up and brushed the snow off his pants. Soon, a few others would try the same feat. Later, a guy even rode down naked. As that scene mellowed another started forming in the non-smoking lounge where an open mike night, full of talented musicians were about to take the stage.

I walked inside but had to quickly retreat to the vestibule because there were already so many people in there. I watched in amazement as more and more onlookers crowded their way inside. It was like watching a car full of circus clowns, unload unfathomable amounts of humanity from a singular space, only these folks were packing themselves in. Soon I would retire for the evening for the next day was a busy one.

The morning consisted of attending a poetry class given by an award winning writer who quit his job as a university professor to work at the South Pole as a cargo operator. There were only two other people in attendance. I love all the free classes I can take here, especially one that can get my creative juices flowing into better images, thoughts, and ideas.

With lyrical rhythms of iambic pentameters, dactyls, and trochees dancing in my mind I zipped up my parka and boarded a bus for the Ice Cube open house. Ice Cube, if you remember from a previous entry, is literally one of the largest science projects in the world. The goal is to track the paths of neutrinos to discover their point source. As we departed the shuttle van a host took our group to some of the drilling machines used for the experiment. The process is extremely complicated and I didn’t follow everything that was said. What I did gather, they drill holes almost 7,500 feet into the ice using hot water. After the hole is complete they lower a string of digital optical modules that can trace the flight of neutrinos coming from the northern part of Earth, through the center of the Earth, and exiting at the South Pole. I’m sure there is plenty of info online if you’re interested. The whole process seemed immense.

After a string of sixty modules are lowered into the cavity they begin freezing them into the ice. Only this ice must be clear. They take painstaking efforts to remove all air bubbles and other factors that would make the color appear white. If the ice is clear the module will get more accurate readings. I asked what the purpose was of all this. What if they do find these cosmic pathways of neutrinos? Then what? Well it’s simply building blocks of understanding the universe. There is still much we have no clue about and the more knowledge, the more we understand the universe and our own existence. Neutrinos are not affected by magnetic fields and are thought to come from other galaxies. An explanation could help with determining origins of the highest energy cosmic rays. I was still confused as I signed one of the modules that will be lowered into ice within the next couple of days.

I can barely understand why I like the things I do, let alone neutrinos and subatomic particles. Still it makes me happy that I can in some very small way support the progress of human knowledge. Now I just need to read some encyclopedias because I want to help the siding carps beat the scientists at trivia this week.

written by  JCinTheSouthPole on December 13, 2009 from Christchurch, New Zealand
from the travel blog: South Pole
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somehow this posted twice! I check every week and am glad to hear your temps are warming up to what they are about like here! (it was 3 degrees here in Salt Lake the other day...brrrr!)

And glad to hear your team won on the trivia! Woo!

written by  April on December 13, 2009

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