Blogger In Antarctica Contest Getting Interesting : Greg Laden's Blog

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Blogger In Antarctica Contest Getting Interesting

Posted on: August 12, 2009 10:45 PM, by Greg Laden

Have a look at this. Two of my favorite bloggers re in the top ten: Devorah, who is in third, and Danielle who is in eigth. The rest of these people are obviously interlopers, especially this guy Luis who is in first place. Please go and help fix that. Thank you very much...

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I wondered whether the fabled "green flash" at sundown could last a long time -- minutes? -- in Antarctica, around the equinox. I found somebody there to e-mail and ask about it. He hadn't seen it happen, but said somebody else he knew who spent a lot of time out on the ice had.

Posted by: Nathan Myers | August 13, 2009 12:33 AM

intereting uninterloping internetting intersecting underwearing antarcticating bloggers unite!

Posted by: DD | August 13, 2009 2:16 AM

@Nathan Myers: According to Marcel Minnaert (~1928):

"During Byrd's expedition to the South Pole, the green ray was observed for 35 minutes, while the sun, rising for the first time at the close of a long polar night, was moving exactly along the horizon."

So there you go - as long as the atmospheric conditions are right for the green flash and the sun is in the correct position just below the horizon, you may see a prolonged flash at the poles. However, I'd like to point out that the planned expedition will arrive around the middle of the summer when the sun is above the horizon all day. If the sun at least dips low enough around midnight there may be a chance of observing the ray if conditions are good and you can duck behind a nearby object such as a rock (which a number of people have testified to, although such testimony remains rare). Minnaert himself wrote that he could observe the flash for longer if he could run up the incline on a dyke. Anecdotally, the best conditions are at times with very low aerosol loading; I wonder if the flash is observed less frequently in the northern hemisphere now that aerosols are so plentiful that the sky turns whitish rather than simply blue.

Posted by: MadScientist | August 13, 2009 5:02 AM

Do a bit of googling about the guy in second place, Don Osmond. He's the son of Donny Osmond (and a mormon to boot).

To be fair, I do have slightly more interest than most in Grrlscientist winning: she'll be taking my camera if she wins.

Posted by: Bob O'H | August 13, 2009 8:55 AM

I'll have to ask my good friend who has been in Antarctica for months (is still there now) and will be returning about the time all these whimps who go down during the southern summer arrive.

Bob, are you serious?

Posted by: Greg Laden | August 13, 2009 9:48 AM

I was at The South Pole at sunrise last year....witnessed a prolonged "green flash".

I haven't read too deeply about Quark's expedition, but it will likely be a typical cruise route....which means it will spend quite a bit of time north of the Antarctic Circle - even if it does go south of the circle, the furthest south navigable waters are at about 77 degrees - long way from The South Pole

Posted by: Will | August 17, 2009 2:27 PM

(Oops, shjould have followed this...)