Longren Antarctic Newsletter #07 - 13.02.2023 ------------------------------------------------- Dearest people, Starting off, I want to welcome the people that  have been added to the newsletter recently. I  appreciate the interest and hope you enjoy the  content. As a recap of what I have been up to,  I've been working in cargo since last October at  McMurdo Station, Antarctica, the largest station  on the continent (currently, around a thousand  people live here). My contract ran for the  length of the austral summer and ended this  month, at at which point my plan was originally  to return to Berlin. That was the plan at least. Fast forward to present day, it turns out I'll  be staying for the winter as well, making it a  whole year here. Planes are not flying during  the dark and stormy months between May and  August, therefore Cargo isn't running. As it  happens, I was hired as the wintering Research  Associate, where I will monitor, maintain, and  perform repairs as-needed on the equipment for  over a dozen scientific projects. I'm currently  in the process of transitioning from Cargo  nights to Crary days (the largest lab here is  named after Albert Crary, a geophysicist/ glaciologist who was the first person to set foot  on both the North and South Poles) and start my  first day of the new job tomorrow. The winter  season runs until October, at which point my plan  is to return to Berlin and stay through the rest  of the year and holiday season. The big update aside, I am going to miss your  faces. It was not a light decision to make,  though in the end I came to the conclusion that  I would regret not staying. I very much look  forward to catching up with you when I finally  step off the ice and return to the north. In the  meantime, I want to share with you a recap of my  summer season here in Antarctica. Arriving on the ice was breathtaking, not only  due to the cold, dry air and the scenery, but  instead caused by the whole ordeal becoming real.  The curtain was pulled back, imagination began to  be replaced with experience, and the acute fact  that there was no easy way off this island that  the station sits upon stared all of us newcomers  directly in the eyes. As the weeks being here  became months, the shininess wore off, routine  set in and with it, exhaustion. Making it through  my final days working Cargo was tougher than  expected. Nevertheless, I've made it to my three  days of "fall break" and am excited to begin a  special job supporting Antarctic science.  To end the summer here, I want to share with you  a couple handfuls of photos that will help to  summarize my last few months.  I hope you enjoy them. Weather rolling into town from a nearby hilltop. The drive back to town from the airfield. A  majority of summer days hold lovely weather,  with blue skies and a light draping of snow. Other days, the sky is covered and the winds are  strong, making the view out the window a solid  white mass of snow, fog, or mist. It is a dry place and snow from the sky is rare. I was working my first strong snowfall,  measuring up to the calf, when we took a couple  photos, walked back to town, and had a great  snowball fight with everyone working that night. Much of my work was unloading cargo from planes,  putting them onto a big truck (the Kress), and  driving the cargo into town (or doing everything  in reverse). Here, we are unloading cargo that  was then taken on a sled to the Pole via SPoT. A lot of cargo that shouldn't be frozen is kept  in the bay (top). All the other stuff can be put  in the yard (bottom). At the airfield, we load and unload all the  planes with standardized cargo pallets strapped down with all sorts of stuff. Living is intermixed within the work on the  island. In the background, across the frozen  ocean, the main continent is seen. Last month, we took the entire shift crew and  had a photoshoot out at the airfield. At top,  you can see me posing with an LC-130 and the  nearby volcano in the background. At bottom is  a shift photo with all the people I've worked  alongside in cargo over the summer. Finally, here's me (right) posing with the Long  Duration Balloon (left) that circled Antarctica  for a few weeks imaging space dust. This will be the last newsletter I send for the  foreseeable future. Over the next week, I'll be  adjusting to the new lab job. Over the next  month, I'll see the station population drop to  around 150 people. Then towards May, the sun  will fade away and the darkness will creep in  for a few months. I'm excited for the station to  calm down, to see the southern lights and the  beautiful storms. In the meantime, I hope you stay well. Thanks for reading. Luke ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- If you think that someone would be interested in learning  about the Antarctic and what working there is like, please  do forward this letter to them.  If you would like to be removed from this newsletter, just  email me and I can do so. Lastly, if you have any questions about life, work, or  anything else regarding Antarctica, send me an email and  I can try to answer your question in the next letter.  Thank you!