Double Rainbow Sun Dog (Double Rainbow – What does it mean ?!?!)   RPH: it means great things, Erin. Portents of great heroism and stunning achievement.  Let’s not spoil the moment by getting all optical-physickey.

Today was, hands-down, one of the most beautiful days I have ever had the privilege to see.

We awoke to a pretty intense chill and an almost unnatural quiet. There was barely a hint of wind; the skies were blue with just a hint of cloud cover low on the horizon. However, despite the pristine weather here at camp, hundreds of miles away from the next human being, the forecast was not favourable back at McMurdo. As a result, the “Resupply” flight that we were hoping to receive was delayed for several hours, and then finally cancelled.

While we waited for the final call, we completed some vital tasks around camp. Robert took on the responsibility of re-grooming the ski-way where the plane could land. This involves driving laps along the full 6000 feet of the ski-way on a Skidoo while dragging a massive, heavy comb. The teeth of the comb can be adjusted in height and help break up any big snow drifts of sastrugi that could pose a hazard to a landing aircraft. Jon helped dig out more tent stakes that had become buried in snow so that camp tear-down (next week!) will be more efficient. Minako and Jim cleaned up and organized the science tent. Brian ensured that our critical GPS data was backed up securely, which records the position of all meteorites we have found at centimeter-level precision. Finally, Daniela, Lauren, and myself (Erin) began inventorying all meteorites collected so far. The goal was to ensure that all meteorites were accounted for and had correctly-associated field notes so that they could securely packaged and returned to McMurdo on the outgoing resupply flight. If we can get these meteorites to McMurdo in the next few days, then they can be loaded onto the cargo ship docked at station and begin their journey back to the USA. Any meteorites we collect later in the season will likely need to wait for next year’s boat.

In total, we counted a total of 181 gorgeous space rocks collected this season, all of varying sizes, shape, and weight! In the midst of our count, Brian stopped by to direct our attention to an awesome meteorological phenomenon that had formed above our heads—a huge Sun Dog! Sun Dogs are formed when sunlight reflects of trillions of tiny ice crystals suspended in the high atmosphere, appearing as rings of diffuse light that encircle the Sun. But today’s Sun Dog was unique in that it appeared as two annular rainbows. We each sat in the snow, mesmerized by the simple scale of the light show. The arc of one of the rainbow halos intersected the ground, forming a swatch of glittering, rainbow-hued snow just beyond the edge of camp. Perhaps there is a pot of golden meteorites over there.

However, as has been a consistent theme of this adventure, our photos simply cannot capture the true majesty of these phenomena, try as we might.

In the afternoon we elected to gather the flags that had marked our meteorite finds (this is a backup method used to record our sample locations until we can ensure the GPS data are securely backed up). The ice we drove over was covered in a layer of snow. It was thin, but certainly thick enough to have obscured many of the meteorites we had found on this ice mere days before. We were able to collect five additional meteorites, but we reflected that if our initial searches had taken place in this level of snow, we may have missed the majority of our finds—we were left feeling very lucky about our timing.
On the plus side though, the newly fallen snow seemed to be composed of exceptionally fine crystals. Each one of these refracted the sunlight in a unique direction, creating a shimmering surface of tiny dancing rainbows. I’ve never seen anything like it, and it made the snowmobile commute one of a kind. I’m not sure I have the words to describe how beautiful it was to drive across a seemingly endless ice field of rainbow snow, under an unbroken blue sky. It’s an image I will cherish forever.

– Erin From Davis Ward