Tomatoes at the South Pole ... and on the moon?

Nope, I'm not kidding. There are tomatoes growing at the South Pole as we speak, surrounded by thousands of miles of ice. Could they also grow on the moon? Scientists are studying the South Pole greenhouse to find out. Here is my latest post on the Earth Gauge in Antarctica blog:

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Broadcast meteorologist Dan Satterfield tours the greenhouse. Photo courtesy of Satterfield.

South Pole Greenhouse Feeds Winter Crew, Simulates Lunar Chamber

At the bottom of the Earth, atop a land mass covered with a two mile-thick slab of ice, sits the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station where 40 to 60 people live and work during each long, dark, bitter-cold winter. On the first floor of the station, near the end of hallway is a small greenhouse. Since 2005, this remotely-operated chamber has provided countless fresh vegetables, light and humidity to over 200 winter-over staff and scientists who have spent Southern Hemisphere winters at the coldest, darkest place on Earth. The growth chamber will feed crew members again this winter.

Lane Patterson manages the South Pole greenhouse from his office at the University of Arizona, with help from a team of horticulturalists and engineers. “Through a computer and camera, I’m able to access the chamber and assist with questions that the operator might have,” he said. The chamber grows edible plants in a soil-less hydroponics system of nutrient-rich water; cantaloupe, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, chives fresh herbs, leafy green vegetables like kale and lettuce, sunflowers, nasturtiums and other edibles thrive here throughout the year. Patterson can control the conditions inside the chamber, including temperature, light and even the hydroponic solution in which the plants grow. He communicates remotely with an assistant who maintains the greenhouse in-person at the Pole, and visits once every year or so to check on it.

The chamber provides other benefits besides nutritious vegetables. “It provides us with bright light in the dark winter. It provides us with high humidity in the dry environment. It provides us with a green environment — something that we miss for the eight months of being isolated as a researcher or someone who supports a researcher here at the South Pole.”

Staff also enjoy going into the chamber to read, relax or hang out with others. Some even reserve the room for dinner dates (there is a small table and couch in the foyer to the chamber). A humid environment, even if in a small chamber, is a welcome relief for chapped lips and dry skin. Relative humidity at the South Pole is in the single digits; in the chamber, it’s 60 percent. In addition, each staff member is allowed only two showers per week, each two minutes long. The Station’s water supply is low and conservation is important: using water requires ice to be melted. But, the benefit of using water for plant growth outweigh the use of energy to melt it.

“The growth chamber is really a big ‘growbot’ — it’s a robot that grow things,” said Patterson. It requires about 140 liters of water, sequesters about one kilogram of carbon dioxide and uses about 281 kilowatt hours of energy (equivalent to eight gallons of gasoline) per day. In turn, it produces about half a kilogram of oxygen and six kilograms of biomass (raw plant matter) each day.

The South Pole greenhouse is similar to another of Patterson’s projects at the University of Arizona’s Controlled Environment Agriculture Center: the lunar greenhouse. The South Pole project analyzes air revitalization in a remote environment that could help future greenhouse projects in space. “We’re looking at using plants to revitalize the air that a person breathes. We’re asking the questions: How many plants do you need? How much photosynthesis do you have to have? What are the resources that are needed to cycle the amount of oxygen a person breathes daily? … How it relates to the South Pole is that a Bioregenerative Life Support System on the moon, say, would be a place that if it used BLSS, it would be isolated, it would be a station with a small crew in a very dangerous environment. And that’s what the South Pole is,” Patterson said.

To learn more about the project and view photos, visit http://ag.arizona.edu/CEAC.

The Strangest Telescope on Earth: Ice Cube

What, exactly, does the South Pole's IceCube project do? The short answer is that it determines the origin of the Universe. The long answer is much more complicated. Dan Satterfield wrote a very good piece last week about the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in about as plain English as possible. Here's Dan's description ("The Strangest Telescope on Earth -- Ice Cube") and the very thorough IceCube Web site from the University of Wisconsin, as well as some photos below, to help you understand this very unique and important study that can happen nowhere else on Earth.

Record-breaking weather: Washington D.C. and Mount Washington

While this post will not be about Antarctica, it is about the reasons I haven't written about Antarctica in many days. They both have to do with weather records. First, there is somewhere close to TWO FEET of snow sitting outside of my window in Washington, D.C. right now. After two smaller snowstorms last week, the so-called Snowmageddon storm yesterday and today brought record-breaking accumulations to the region. Since I write for Capital Weather Gang, The Washington Post's weather blog, things have been a little, well, nuts this week. In an exciting way though! Luckily, there was a lot of hype about this storm, so many people were prepared and stayed safe. Unfortunately, there were also many accidents and power outages. The city will no doubt be digging out for days. This is our second double-digit snowstorm in the past 7 weeks, which is a lot for this city.

Next, other alumni of the Mount Washington Observatory and I found out last week that the mountain's world record wind speed was replaced (how on Earth can you replace something as special and long-lived as that, you wonder? Well, in our hearts it can't be replaced. But read on to find out how it can be with science...). Fourteen years ago -- yes, as in over a decade ago -- a very strong typhoon (same as a hurricane in the Atlantic) passed over Australia, and a ground wind speed of 253 mph was recorded by an automatic weather station on Barrows Island. Meteorologists who observed this knew that it could be a record-breaker, but the paperwork went unnoticed by the World Meteorological Organization until a few years ago. Only last week did they confirm that this, indeed, beat Mount Washington's 231 mph record recorded back in 1934 and that the instrument that recorded it was valid. Although we were skeptical at first, Andrew Freedman and I said farewell to the world record wind on Capital Weather in the proper way.

So, no new Antarctica materials. However, I'll have something posted again soon. Thanks for your patience!

*Whew, what a winter.*

Video: "Best of" Adélie Penguins

Back after popular demand ... the Adélies! Featured on their home "stage" of sea ice near Cape Royds colony, Ross Island, Antarctica.



(Turn up the sound near the end to hear thousands of penguins chatting with each other at the colony. Oh, and you can ignore the clicks of the "penguin paparazzi" - aka, my fellow journalists in red parkas with cameras in their hands.)

Adélie penguins are quite social creatures (you may have noticed they are always wearing tuxedos). They have no natural land predators, so they get quite curious about humans. It is illegal for people to approach, touch, harm or remove any wildlife from Antarctica, but that did not stop the stars themselves from coming up close to check us out!

Happy the Cactus: Why my desert mascot did not survive in Antarctica

Arizona is a desert. Antarctica is the world's largest desert. So why wasn't Happy the saguaro cactus, my desert mascot, able to survive in Antarctica?


(Disclaimer: For those of you worried about invasive species, as the U.S. Antarctic Program is -- and rightfully should be -- don't worry, Happy was not real.)

The saguaro (pronounced sah-WAR-o) cactus is the largest cactus species in the Unites States, and it is endemic to the Sonoran desert of the Southwest U.S. and northern Mexico, living nowhere else in the world. Like other desert plants, it is very well-adapted to dry conditions. Saguaros live to be very old, and only begin growing 'arms' after they are 50 or so. They flower once per year in May or June. Here is my first picture of Happy, with a younger saguaro in my father's front yard outside of Phoenix.

Though it is covered with a 1 to 2 mile-thick ice sheet, Antarctica is technically a desert. Ecologically speaking, a desert receives an average of less than 10 inches of precipitation per year. While McMurdo Sound on the Antarctic coast receive 6 or 7 inches of snowfall each year, interior parts receive far less. The South Pole, for example, gets less than 2 inches of measurable snowfall annually. Most of the time, it is just too cold to snow; any ice/snow crystals that fall end up sublimating, or changing directly to water vapor, before hitting the ground. The Pole also experiences a lot of blowing snow, which is very difficult to measure since it does not fall straight down.

So, as far as precipitation goes, Antarctica is definitely a desert. However, there is a major (and obvious) temperature difference between Antarctica and the deserts we are more familiar with, like Arizona. Antarctica is considered a cold (or polar) desert and can reach -120F; Arizona is a hot desert and can reach +120F. This, my friends, is why Happy did not survive more than 24 hours once reaching Antarctica. While Happy was used to dry climates, he was not used to sub-zero temperatures.

There are no flowering plants in Antarctica, with the exception of two species found the Antarctic Peninsula, the warmest part of the continent, close to South America. However, I brought him even further south. Perhaps I should have gone to the Peninsula instead?

Here are some other photos of our journey together:

Getting ready to fly over the Pacific.

At the top of the Christchurch Gondola in New Zealand, overlooking Lyttleton Harbor. Shackleton and Scott sailed out of this port during their Antarctic expeditions in the early 1900s.

On the C-17 flight from Christchurch to McMurdo Station. This was the last photo I took of him before he disappeared.

Unfortunately, Happy went missing within a day of us reaching the ice. I guess he simply could not survive the cold. I was happy to have him accompany me on my journey there. I quickly learned that you can take a cactus out of the (hot) desert, but you can't transplant him to a polar desert and expect him to last.

Ironically, I am not the only one who has thought about a saguaro cactus while in Antarctica. Here is a painted saguaro I stumbled upon during my last morning at McMurdo.

Farewell, Happy!

(P.S. - If you are reading this from McMurdo or South Pole Stations, please keep your eyes out for Happy -- I seriously lost him! He would most likely be huddled under blankets or in the pockets of Big Red, trying to keep warm.)

'Icy hunt for old air' article

Quick announcement: Check out this article in Nature by fellow Antarctic journalist Chaz Firestone, who visited the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide ice core drilling project last week ... a well-written piece about a very, very important scientific study.

South Pole air video and a personal tour of the Pole

During our 24 hours at the South Pole two weeks ago, we toured most of the science projects going on there. I posted a new video interview and blog post for Earth Gauge today, Monitoring the Air at the South Pole, which includes highlights from my conversation with Nick Morgan, station chief at the South Pole Atmospheric Research Observatory (Update, 1/27: Also posted a Q&A on Capital Weather Gang). Check out Dan's new post, Science South of 60: Things About Antarctica That May Surprise You.

I will gradually upload more science content, but I also wanted to give you a personal account of what it was like to land at, stand at and sleep overnight at the Pole. In one word: exciting!

Adélie penguins: education resources, sea ice, photos, videos

Here is a sampling of what will go up on the National Environmental Education Foundation and Capital Weather Gang websites over the next week:

Jean Pennycook manages penguin education and outreach for the National Science Foundation, including a great website: www.penguinscience.com (check out the cool time-lapse video on the homepage). Hear what she had to say to say about her work during my visit to the Cape Royds rookery last week:



Adélie habitat has changed over time, especially in recent years. They build their nests on small stretches of land along parts of the Antarctic coast that are not ice-covered. The health and location of their colonies are directly related to the amount of sea ice (frozen seawater) nearby, as well as air and water temperatures and the presence of large marine predators, such as Minke whales, that compete for food. Adélies feed on krill and small fish in the ocean at the edge of the sea ice. If there is too much sea ice, the penguins have to walk too far to get food for their chicks, and the colony begins to decline.

In recent years, environmental changes have been occurring at a more rapid rate. A strong air pressure difference in the South Atlantic, warming air temperatures and the ozone 'hole' have changed the air and ocean circulations around Antarctica, and thus how heat is distributed in the Southern Ocean and the air above the Antarctic.

According to David Ainley, a marine biologist who has been studying Antarctic penguins for over 20 years, the Antarctic peninsula -- the area closest to South America -- now has less sea ice and warmer temperatures than it did in the 1960s, when he first started studying Adélie colonies. While less sea ice makes it easier for Adélies to get food, they are adapted to life in the cold and cannot survive well in warmer temperatures. So, populations there have been declining. On the contrary, the winds have broken up the sea ice in the more southern Ross Sea where temperatures are still cold, so populations there have been increasing. One exception is at the Cape Royds colony, where an iceberg grounded at the edge of the McMurdo Sound in 2000, locking the sea ice in the Sound and preventing penguins from being able to get to open water to feed -- an effect that lasted six seasons. Over the past two years, the colonies have again begun to grow.

Emperor penguins are even more attached to sea ice: they breed on it! Learn more about the effects of climate change on Antarctic penguins from Jean and David.

Here are some Adélie photos from Cape Royds colony, in addition to my favorite video that I took and a shot of four emperors hanging out near Pegasus ice field, the icy jet runway we landed on. I'll post a "best of" video from my trip to the Cape Royds rookery (nesting colony) in the next few days.

They're so cute!

ECW: What we wore in Antarctica

Since I got back to Washington, D.C., earlier this week, I have already lost 24 pounds ... of clothing. While South Pole residents do tend to lose 10-15 pounds in body mass because they are constantly fighting cold temperatures, there are much more dangerous dangers than this -- hypothermia and frostbite, for example. I've mentioned "ECW" (Extreme Cold Weather) gear throughout my travels in Antarctica, so I wanted to show you exactly what this consists of and how U.S. Antarctic Program participants prevent cold weather-related injuries.

It all starts at the Clothing Distribution Centre in Christchurch, where each participant receives two duffel bags full of clothing. Fashion is not important, as everyone will look the same once they don their "Big Red" parkas and their 10 pound "bunny boots":





Here's all the gear I was given:



The first few layers are base layers that wick moisture (sweat) away from your skin: polypropylene long underwear, wool socks and a light-weight fleece jacket and pants.



The next layers are windproof overalls or "bibs" and the infamous "bunny boots," which have extra room for air and felt liners (great insulators):



Then a windproof fleece jacket:



The big, red parka fluffed with goose down ...



A balaclava (fleece head-and-face warmer) or neck gaiter/hat combination:



And finally, ski goggles, glove liners and thick leather gloves or fleece/down mittens.



When visiting the South Pole and field sites or while traveling in airplanes and helicopters, participants are required to wear the essential ECW gear (long underwear, wool socks, fleece pants and jacket, bunny boots, a hat, gloves/mittens and "Big Red") and hand-carry the other items, in addition to extra socks, gloves and a toothbrush -- just in case you're stuck overnight. At these cold locations, it is not a good idea to have skin exposed, as frostbite can happen very quickly.

Some locations, such as McMurdo and the Dry Valleys, experience above-freezing temperatures. In this case, one can shed a few layers. But, it is still important to wear polarized, 100% UV protective sunglasses to prevent snow blindness (85% of sunlight that hits the ice is reflected) and high spf sunscreen on any exposed skin (the atmosphere -- and thus the ozone layer that blocks UV light -- is thinner at the Poles).

Ok, I must admit, even though it is above freezing in Washington right now, it feels colder with all the moisture in the air. I wish I had "Big Red" to throw on for my evening commute! What a fashion statement that would make on the Metro ...

Safe Return, Reflecting on the Ice, New materials

Here's a riddle that I'm trying to figure out right now: if I left Christchurch, NZ at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, January 19 and arrived in Washington, D.C. at 11 p.m. on Tuesday, January 19, how long did it take me to get here? How many breakfasts have I eaten? How many dinners? Was I supposed to sleep 8 hours somewhere in there? I guess the answer is that it's 2:30 am Eastern Standard Time, no matter what time my biological clock is telling me it is. I should go to sleep! As those of you who read Capital Weather Gang regularly might remember, for me, Sleeping Through Sunlight is Not a Success, especially when it never gets dark during Antarctic summer! At least it will be dark when I finally fall asleep tonight, even if at 3 in the morning.

It is a strange thing to be carried in flying machines from the eastern United States, to the bottom of the world and back again. After this trip, I am more impressed with the many aircraft we have seen and the pilots that fly them than ever before -- and perhaps more trusting, too. As I gazed out of my window seat on my third and final flight today (or yesterday?), I reflected on just how many sunsets and clouds I have seen from an airplane window over the past 3+ weeks ... too many to count, but all beautiful and stilling in their own way.

Since I left Antarctica, I have been full of an overwhelming sense of gratitude for having had the chance to go on this trip. Thanks again to National Science Foundation and Raytheon Polar Services, to the team of journalists who were great company and whom I learned a lot from, to Dan and Tim for answering my million-and-one Antarctic meteorology questions, to NEEF for supporting this trip and offering many outlets for the information, and to family, friends, and kind strangers who helped to make it happen! We did it -- we went to the South Pole, and learned a LOT in the process!

New materials:

--Check out my video of Happy Camp (field and safety training our second day in Antarctica) snippets posted yesterday on Capital Weather Gang
--Earth Gauge Kids: Antarctica (January theme, geared toward kids in grades 5-8)
--Earth Gauge in Antarctica resources distributed so far from myself and the team
--Dan has a new video up on his Wild Wild Weather blog

Headed home to D.C.

Hello all,

Thanks for following me. I had a few days on the South Island of New Zealand before traveling back to D.C. I'm about to board my first of many flights to get home, but I wanted to share photos of the first two sunsets I saw after no sunsets for a week in Antarctica: one taken on the jet back to Christchurch from McMurdo, and the second from the West Coast of New Zealand.

I have so many photos and videos and so much information to share with you after I get back. Thanks again for following along, and check back soon!