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Ambassador Snowflake
Kia ora koutou,
I'm Snowflake and I am lucky enough to be representing my school down in Antarctica. I can't wait to visit some of my relatives on the ice and I'm hoping I can make lots of new friends. I'll also find out more about ice and climate change.
It is going to be a pretty cool trip. Lucky I'm good with cold temperatures eh!
See you there,
Snowflake
Tuesday 27 October
Talofa lava,
I could hardly wait to step on to the plane to head down to Antarctica. I have lots of relatives that live in Antarctica and I’m hoping to catch up with some of them this week! It took five hours to fly down here and luckily we had great views of the sea ice and then the mountains as we approached Ross Island.
It is hard to believe that such a huge heavy plane can land on sea ice and it was an amazingly smooth landing. Once we had settled in at Scott Base we had to complete our field training. At least I don’t feel the cold like the other ambassadors.
Tomorrow we will be riding skidoos out over the sea ice.
See you then,
Snowflake.
Wednesday 28 October
Hi there,
I had a fantastic day today travelling out to the K131 field camp on skidoo. I think I’ve become quite good at driving skidoos now!
We met the science team and looked at what they have been up to out on the sea ice. They have made a hole through the two metre thick sea ice so they can find out more about the temperature and saltiness of the sea water below. This should help them to understand more about how sea ice forms and why it is increasing in parts of Antarctica.
Well, it has been a busy day so I’m off to bed.
See you in the morning,
Snowflake.
Thursday 29 October
Kia ora,
I slept in today because last night I stayed up late to watch the colour of the ice change from a blue to an orange as the sun sank lower in the sky. The sun won’t set again until February but it was cool to see how the light still changes.
After catching up with some of the K131 team we headed up Crater Hill to have a look around. I didn’t realise that Antarctica has volcanoes until we came down here. Erebus is a huge volcano that you can see from miles away and it is always erupting and smoking away.
Tomorrow we are back in the field so I’ll catch up with you later.
Bye for now,
Snowflake.
Friday 30 October
Hi everyone,
I saw an emperor penguin in the distance today but sadly he did not see me so I wasn't able to meet him. Usually emperors travel in groups across the sea ice so I’m not sure where he was heading. Hopefully we might see some more penguins next week.
We went to a new site today out on the sea ice and helped melt the ice to recover the temperature probe. After a successful recovery we headed to the K131 camp where we will stay overnight. It is so cool to be camping out on sea ice!
See you tomorrow,
Snowflake.
Monday 2 November
Kia ora,
We have had a busy time since I last spoke to you. We spent the night out at the field camp. We stayed in the warm, comfortable shipping containers rather than in tents so I had a great night’s sleep. Some people saw some emperor penguins out at Cape Evans yesterday but I still haven’t had any close encounters. I guess we are a long way away from the nearest colony.
I learnt more about why sea ice is growing in Antarctica. It is strange how the melting underneath ice shelves can actually cause more sea ice to grow in winter.
We are going to head back out to the field camp tomorrow.
See you out there,
Snowflake.
Tuesday 3 November
Hi there,
We made the most of one last day here in Antarctica. We zoomed back across the sea ice on skidoo to catch up with the K131 field camp team. They have been working hard on monitoring equipment, and collecting data.
I was amazed at the photos that Gabby the artist has been taking of the platelet ice, they were stunning! She shines blue light on the platelets and they look really beautiful.
I am a little disappointed about not seeing any penguins down here – I guess I’ll just have to come back next year!
I fly back to Christchurch tomorrow so I’ll see you all soon.
Snowflake.
Snowflake from Kenakena School can't wait to head down to Antarctica. Image: LEARNZ.
Snowflake explores an area of sea ice near Scott Base. Image: LEARNZ.
Snowflake checks out the hole that the scientists have made through the sea ice to take their measurements. Image: LEARNZ.
Snowflake climbs to the top of Crater Hill. Image: LEARNZ.
Snowflake walks on two metre thick sea ice in McMurdo Sound. Image: LEARNZ.
Snowflake checks out the photos that Gabby has been taking of the platelet ice. Image: LEARNZ.
Snowflake tastes the sea ice core to see how much salt is in it. Image: LEARNZ.
Snowflake says goodbye to Scott Base. Image: LEARNZ.