A quick update on public research funding. Dust of the post-government shutdown variety — not the aeolian sort about which chemical oceanographers get excited — continues to settle on science in Antarctica. In a statement released this week by the … Continue reading
Monthly Archives: October 2013
By the hard numbers, it’s springtime in Antarctica. Each passing day brings more sun to the sky: Sunrise this morning was at 4:56 a.m. and sunset at 9:03 p.m., giving Peninsula residents over 16 official hours of daylight. Daily high … Continue reading
As the dust begins to settle on the U.S. government shutdown, we’re beginning to hear the first somber stories about scientists whose research plans were irrevocably altered or, in some particularly heartbreaking cases, altogether terminated by the 17-day lapse in … Continue reading
A quick word from Palmer Station, with more to come: Science is (almost) rolling again down here on the ice. After a flurry of true 11th-hour political maneuvering in Washington last night — and, of course, two weeks of anguish, … Continue reading
The government shutdown isn’t affecting just U.S. scientists: The Toronto Star has a story out today on how the NSF move to caretaker status is playing out in Canada. Many researchers from other nations depend on USAP infrastructure to collect … Continue reading
More troubling news today from the Chronicle of Higher Education on the shutdown’s wider effects on research in Antarctica. Down here at Palmer, it now seems almost inevitable that most of us will be returning to the U.S. shortly. … Continue reading
I haven’t written much in this space since the Gould pulled into Palmer Station five days ago. On Oct. 8 — the day we arrived — the National Science Foundation announced that it was effectively cancelling all upcoming U.S. research activities … Continue reading
It felt good to be underway again. After taking in lines late on October 4, we pulled away from the pier in Punta Arenas and began making our way south aboard the Laurence M. Gould. Our four-day transit would first … Continue reading
Images from the journey south; most are from the transit through the Gerlache Strait. See Underway, destination Antarctica for the accompanying blog entry. … Continue reading
Most of the gear had been shipped, and I’d purchased a few extra pairs of long underwear. And after some anticipation, plane tickets in hand, I arrived at the airport in Boston on the morning of October 1. I had … Continue reading