Shandra Cordovana, our pen pal from McMurdo Station on the Ross Ice Shelf, sent us this incredible photo of a frozen lake she visited in Antarctica. Shandra has been writing to our students about life "on the Ice" and has encouraged especially two of our students -- Jennie Gorden and Sharon Kenney to do more witing. That's really great! Both Jennie and Sharon are very good students and want to improve their writing skills and learn more about other places in the world outside of New Orleans. Antarctica is about as far outside of New Orleans as it gets while remaining on planet Earth. Thanks again to Shandra for sending the photos and being a pen pal.
We will hear more from Shandra when we discuss later the differences between South Pole Station and McMurdo.
To say briefly, the United States has three bases in Antarctica for scientific research -- McMurdo Station, Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, and Palmer. Five of our regular pen pals come from South Pole Station: John Miller, Jason McDonald, Weeks Heist, Leah Webster, and Calee Allen. Shandra writes to us from McMurdo. We are not at present in contact with Palmer. McMurdo is the U.S. sea base in Antarctica about 2000 miles from Christchurch, New Zealand which is a U.S. supply center. Inland from McMurdo, 700 miles away, is South Pole Station at the geographic South Pole. Palmer is on the Antarctic Peninsula not too far from the tip of Argentina. All of these bases are operated by the USAP -- United States Antarctic Program which is a part of the National Science Foundation (NSF). Supporting the USAP is Raytheon Polar. Yes, it's a lot to learn, but we in New Orleans are thrilled to learn all about it!
-- Adrian
No comments:
Post a Comment