Hello everyone!
Sorry for the delay in posting a not to you - its been busy here, as I've jumped into the project work that I'm working on here in Antarctica, while I've got help from the station help.
To fill you in a bit on the trip down from New Zealand - my coworker and I took a Royal New Zealand Air Force C-130 down. This plane does not have skis on it to land on the snow and ice - but can land on the groomed sea ice runway they have here out front of McMurdo Station. The New Zealanders--or Kiwis as they are called--share a lot of the transport and support with the US, especially since the US helps with the Kiwi Antarctic program, and they help with ours.
Since this plane didn't have skis - the trip went faster - only about 7.5 hours down. The flight was very crowded - 4 pallets of cargo and 34 people! (Not to mention a full C-130 crew as well!) We had to come back to Christchurch once since the radar wasn't working, but after that 1 to 2 hour delay, we got into McMurdo Station with no problem that day.
Weather here has been about like the weather in the mid part of the US now - cold with wind chills below zero. It is nice and clear however - sunny and bright all day, and all night - the sun is up all of the time. Odd feeling at 2 am to see it look like 10 in the morning out!
Our weather computer project that we are working on is progressing well - we have installed a new computer successfully, and have started to work on the software as well. Soon we hope to have nice display of the current Antarctic weather for researchers and forecasters to use here at McMurdo Station.
That is all from here, for now.
I'll be in touch more later!
Matthew