Tags
Sometimes people can’t believe that we spend a winter in 24-hour-a-day darkness here in Antarctica. The sun is below the horizon for nearly four months during the winter here; this year the sun went down on April 24 and it won’t rise again until August 19. In the weeks following the last sunset, we get days that are basically one big drawn-out dusk, and conversely we get one big drawn-out dawn in the weeks before the first sunrise. But the sun is still below the horizon for four long months, and we spend a lot of time in darkness.
Many people think that the lack of sun might be depressing and hard to deal with. And yes, it can be. Our sleep patterns get disrupted without the usual environmental triggers telling us when we should sleep and when we should be awake; we’re constantly fatigued; the lack of sunlight means that our vitamin D levels are deficient and our energy levels are drained; and we are at incresed risk of seasonal affective disorder. So yes, the dark takes some getting used to and some effort to combat its effects.
But the lack of sunlight lets you see some pretty spectacular things here in Antarctica. No matter how fed up I might get with this program at times, no matter how much I might miss green grass and rain, no matter how much I crave sushi and draught beer… there’s no denying that Antarctica is beautiful. It’s beautiful year round, but I think it’s especially so during the winter months. Cold, dark, isolated, eerie… and amazing.
The Moon over Ob Hill. (photo by D. Su)
You know what I mean?
-Ceds
