Snow Day!

In Antarctica, when you have a snow day, you don't get to stay home and go sledding BUT they do cancel flights.  Today is supposed to be the first day of the Mainbody season, the time when almost all of our science occurs and station population can swell to 1200.  Many of the winterovers are scheduled to fly out after 8 months or (in many cases) one year and are giddy with excitement.

On the schedule today are two flights, one a C-17 and the other an Airbus.  The Airbus was slated to bring 70 people to station but now that it has been cancelled due to blowing snow and low visibility, ten priority passengers have been moved to the C-17 which can land in worse conditions than the Airbus.  The C-17 has been delayed and may yet be cancelled, but for now, we're planning on losing 38 people and getting 40.  I can live with that.

Here are some more amazing photos from the science group that is gathering worms on the ocean floor for genetic analysis.