View from the front of our tent this morning. See the poo tent? Me neither.

Field Team Sparkle (Nina and Morgan) here, reporting from Iggy Ridge. Overnight the winds managed to pick up speed. I went outside to gather weather measurements and was almost immediately blown over once I was away from the protection of the tent. Right now the windspeed is a whopping 61 mph, with a temperature of -3 degrees F. This is a personal record for both me and Morgan, although we’re not quite in the Antarctic century club yet (going out in 100 mph wind). If it gets to that point I might want someone to belay me from the tent, for reals. It seems highly unlikely that the Basler pilots will fly in these conditions, so we’re still separated from the rest of our team (hi guys! Hope Taco Tuesday and Whatever Wednesday were awesome). In the meantime we are amusing ourselves with meal planning. Last night’s coconut curried lentils and chicken was a smashing success, and we’re not sure we can top that with the supplies on hand. We did manage to score some shredded cheese and tater tots from the CTAM coolers, so we’re thinking some cheesy tots for lunch–yum! We are also catching up on our reading. I’m reading “Antarctica: An intimate portrait of a mysterious continent,” by Gabrielle Walker, which I’m enjoying immensely, not least because the author came out to visit the ANSMET team in the field and wrote a lovely brief history of the program, as well as interviewing PI Ralph and Head Mountaineer Johnny. However, today I’m thinking of this quotation she found from an unnamed explorer in 1915, who had this prediction for future explorers 100 years hence: “No doubt the explorers of 2015, if there is anything left to explore, will…carry their pocket wireless telephones…and…of course there will be an aerial daily excursion to both poles then.” I’m impressed that he correctly predicted the rise of the mobile phone, although we don’t yet have the kind of coverage here in Antarctica that we’ve come to expect on the other continents (nor sadly can our Iridium phones fit in most pockets). As for things left to explore and “daily excursions” to both poles, things today still look a lot like they did 100 years ago. Our current experience of sitting in a Scott tent waiting out a storm is likely something that our 1915 explorer could easily relate to. Thinking to our future, is it likely that an explorer in 2115 will have a significantly different experience than ours? Morgan points out that climate change is changing this continent in ways that we can observe on a human timescale. It’s not unreasonable to suggest that in the worst-case scenario future, there will be significantly less ice here in 100 years. And as ocean levels rise and populations are displaced, Antarctica may start to look like a better place for permanent human habitation. But most importantly, what will it be like for the ANSMET team of 2115?? Morgan and I have decided to write a letter to our colleagues of the future–stay tuned for details in a future blog update! Myself, I’m hoping they can read it whilst taking a flying autonomous car to their field site, where they will use giant robot exoskeletons instead of skidoos. Hey, it could happen.

-posted by Field Team Sparkle (Nina and Morgan), reporting from Iggy Ridge.