Walkers possibly sighted in Antarctica

January in the Antarctica is when one sees the sun nearly all "day" long. For human sojourners, one can take selfies throwing snowballs in T-shirts, and other symbolic poses.


Nothing like short sleeve weather at the U.K. Rothera station when you can compare it to bad weather back in London. Photo from 2013 at the http://www.dailymail.co.uk


The Halley Station on the Antarctic continent is one of four year-round stations operated by the U.K. on the continent. One can also see why the Falkland Islands and the South Georgia Islands are part of the bigger picture of U.K. presence in the region. Map from thewe.cc

At Halley Station itself, though, researchers are enjoying and reminiscing over the first full year of living in new facilities. A unique station design is one which has captured everyone's attention.


The Halley VI Research station - a series of modules, built on "skis" so they can be moved as needed. No, they don't walk by themselves ... Photo from www.building.co.uk

The units were built, tested, and put together over a four-year period finishing in 2013. (Apparently workers can only link the modules during a 9 week outside working window each year...) Last June-August was the first "winter" test. And at one point the power did go off for 19 hours, and researchers had to move into an emergency module that had its own generator. But with brutal winter conditions, these things happen, and apparently the design is proving itself.


The big red center module is for everyone - it has a dining room, bar and a gym (and library one hopes ...)
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Still, as with sasquatch in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, one hears stories, of moving, somewhat angry modules that roam the loneliest continent ...


Yes, this was found on the internet, so it must be true. At www.dailymail.co.uk


A couple pictures of the brief Antarctic summer, complete with tourists and sunshine. Photo from www.thehindu.com


There may be sunshine, but its always pretty low on the horizon ... Photo from www.antarcticstation.org

A Blue Recovery

Taking a break from humanity's woes, let's celebrate the news this week that the Blue whale population has apparently stepped back from the brink of 40 years ago, and is now in healthy territory in one of the three major groups - in this case, those living between the North Pacific and the California Coast.

The Blue Whale - (Balaenoptera musculus)- belonging to the baleen whales family. Nearly 100 feet long and weighing 190 tons or more, it is the largest existing animal on the planet. Yet,as with the baleen family, its diet mainly consists of tiny krill. Photo from The Guardian

From 1905 to 1971, the Blue whale population plummeted from whale harvesting. When the Blue whale was given protected status in the early 70's, its population was still at risk from increasing ocean traffic.

Blue whales and other species remain at risk from ocean shipping, though increasingly shipping lanes are being modified to avoid known migration routes and seasonal concentrations. Photo from www.hln.be

Blues, along with other species have identified migration routes between their summer and winter homes. Graphic from rofl-lol.com

The largest Blue concentration is that found in the Northern Pacific, with a population over 2000. An equally sized concentration, though much less understood or counted is found in around Antarctica and between India and Australia. A third, but much smaller concentration of 500 (clearly plus or minus) is found in the North Atlantic - between Greenland and Iceland.

Tracking and monitoring of Blue whales has been much stronger among the North Pacific population. Graphic from comlmaps.org

Blue off Greenland ... actually this is a photoshopped picture to be used for wallpaper on one's computer desktop, but WHY NOT?? We're celebrating! from walpix.net