Hello all!
Today, I got to visit the aquarium and greenhouse here at McMurdo Station. It was interesting to visit the locals to see what lives under the ice in McMurdo Sound. There's starfish, sea spiders, even an octopus, a few items I didn't recognize, but the big LARGE fish weren't hard to miss. These fish are studied for the anti-freeze glycopeptides that keep them from freezing up in the icy water here. The fish were as large as I! Very impressive.
The greenhouse is an oasis of familiar plants, growing under full-spectrum light with little soil, and most in winter via hydrophonic methods. They had tomatoes, watermelon, lots of lettuce, adn even some herbs. In Antarctica you can not bring plants here to grow, unless you do it for food, and here it is indoors only. Actually it is so cold, not much would grow here anyways.
This may be my last report to you all from McMurdo although I'll try to send a note tomorrow night. Tonight, I'm heading over to a lecture on the ice in the sea ice - namely green algae. I'll try to keep you posted on my return trip, and I hope to be back in Wisconsin by the end of this week, and back to wrok at SSEC for sure by Monday the 18th. I have "brag drag" (you have to walk up the hill to check in the day before to check in your bags for the plane) tomorrow.
Talk to you all soon!
Matthew
