Monday, July 7, 2008

UNPACKING AND REPACKING


The Hawaiian outfit


The 'Antarctic explore's outift'


Today was the beginning of our long journey. After 40 hours of traveling, the first researchers from UH Manoa arrived in Punta Arenas, Chile, where the thermometers read 28 o F (– 2o C). The whole city, located in Chilean Patagonia, is covered by a powder of snow. After we unpacked our luggage and moved into our cozy little hostel on shore, we took the first step in transition to Antarctic explorers – we changed our outfits!

You really know you’re going somewhere extreme when you need special clothing to survive. All researchers working in Antarctica are issued a full set of “extreme cold weather” clothing – for the Hawaiian team, this was a dramatic change (see photos). From aloha shirts and board shorts we switched to heavy down parkas, goggles, insulated coveralls and thermal boots. Craig and Fabio posed for a ‘before’ and ‘after’ shot to give you an idea of the change. The heavy clothes will protect us from temperatures below zero F (- 17o C) and wind-chill factors far lower while we work in deck on the research vessel Nathaniel B. Palmer.

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