This picture of people in the snow at Palmer Station was taken on 2 November from a NASA plane on a flyover that was part of Operation Ice Bridge. Stacie Murray, who is the Chef at Palmer this season, describes the situation:
“We knew that the plane was going to be in the area and that they might fly over us. The weather has been so bad, in Chile and here, that it’s been a bit of a delay for our station’s fly by, a week or so. It was just a normal work day when they radioed us and said they would be over us in 8 min. So we did an “all-call” [a public announcement to all station personnel over loudspeakers] and told everyone to head to the pier. We were just waiting there for the plane, so we said we should do something… what can we do? Let’s lay down and write HI with our bodies. Then we realized that there were not enough of us, so we all ran to the storage room and grabbed all of the bright orange float coats that we have to wear whenever we are on the water. As we heard the plane coming, we quickly lined them up in the snow. The plane did a pass over us and we radioed them whether they saw our sign? They said no, we will go lower. They passed over again and that is when they took this picture. They did a little “wave” with the plane and went on their way. A little excitement in our day at Palmer Station for sure!"
That’s cute :)
Funny how strong is the urge to communicate…
@Stephen: funny a blogger should say that ;)
Hi! Stopped by because of Stephen’s comment in the Recent Comments list, and I certainly agree with your assessment, steffi.
Thanks for your pointer to Operation Ice Bridge. I hope that when the results go public, they will meet a more objective reception and perhaps, better publicity, than a few years ago.
I love it. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy, in a distinctly non-Antarctic kinda way.
Actually, Richard, sounds like you would fit right in with the Antarctic crowd :)
…because he looks like a penguin?
Love it!
Steffi – despite being Canadian, I hate being cold… so I think I’ll leave the Antarctic to the experts. ;)
@RPG – not really, but I did see some rather spiffy Pelicans recently.