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Date: 12/23/03
Latitude: 81.65 degrees South
Longitude: 122.60 degrees East
Temperature: −23°C( −9°F)
Wind speed: 10 knots
Wind Chill: −34°C( −29°F)
Wind direction: not given
Elevation: 9,722 feet
Kilometers traveled: 1350

Notes on daily life:
By Dan

First day at TAMCAMP, we all had a bit of a lie-in after our late arrival. After breakfast/lunch I dug a small snow pit for the solar shower tent. Tom and I put up a Scott tent over the pit and then dug out and fired up the two snowmobiles that had been sitting here since last year. We drove around the vicinity (~2 mile radius) of our camp scouting the terrain and digging test pits to determine the condition of the upper firn layers. After scouting all afternoon we determined that the area 2 miles north from our camp would be the best for sampling. Later in the evening Tim, Tom and I went out with bundles of flags to mark the route every 50m in case of bad weather. Andrea spent much of the day melting snow and cooking a delicious meal. Tim downloaded seismic data and dismantled the seismic instrument. John, Matt, James and Lynn spent the day unloading sleds and building pallets ready for the retro flights.

We experienced some unusually warm weather during the early evening; the temperature rose to a toasty −7 degrees centigrade and the wind dropped to almost zero. The weather was so warm that everyone decided to take advantage of the shower tent.

Later, after the rest of the crew had gone to bed, Andrea and I secretly wrapped the Christmas presents that Ann and Debbie (our support staff back in Maine) had provided for us all. We also put up some fairy lights and tinsel in the kitchen.

 

Date: 12/24/03
Latitude: 81.65 degrees South
Longitude: 122.60 degrees East
Temperature: −22°C( −8°F)
Wind speed: 7 knots
Wind Chill: −31°C( −23°F)
Wind direction: not given
Elevation: 9,722 feet
Kilometers traveled: 1350

Notes on daily life:
By Dan

Today was spent much the same as yesterday; Andrea worked extremely hard to prepare a Christmas feast with the help of Tim. Tom and I spent the day digging snow pits and sampling at our chosen site. John, Matt, James and Lynn worked hard around camp to prepare the trains for the upcoming journey to the Megadunes site. What we are doing is taking down TAMCAMP, packing some of it up onto our own sleds ready for transport to Megadunes and stacking the rest securely onto airforce pallets ready for retro. There are other science groups waiting for us to build them a camp at the Megadunes site, this is why we are on such a tight time limit.

Again, we were very lucky to have beautiful weather; I have been assured that having this many days of nice weather is rare on the East Antarctic Plateau.

At ~8pm we sat down to our Christmas meal and festivities. We ate Cornish game hens, stuffing and squash; a nice change from the usual ham or turkey. The socks from Ann and Debbie in Maine were received very well, as was the soap from Andrea. We stayed up into the early hours and much fun was had by all.

MERRY CHRISTMAS