Time is such an odd concept out here. The sun is long gone; now we have at most only a sliver of lighter skies on the far horizon framing extensive darkness in all directions. No real reference for daily time….. the food schedule onboard providing the only framework. And the days themselves blur together. Same schedule: Wake as late as possible to still get breakfast, short planning meeting, head out to the ice for work, back for lunch, then head out for round two on the ice, returning in time for dinner. Group meeting, planning meeting, leadership meeting. Look at the day’s data and deal with other details for the next day’s work. Possibly a bit of social time or exercise. Then hit the bed. Rinse, repeat. Nearly the same every day, and hard to distinguish the day of the week. (We want to maintain a consistent, continuous data set and the earth system here doesn’t seem to care what day of the week it is!) We are also on the other side of the clock from people back home, such that communications take some time. All of these aspects lead to a strange relationship with time. We determined that we are now about at the midpoint of our adventure out here for leg 1. Already? It seems so fast, and we have so much more to do….. but also so slow as the days blur together. When was it that we set the met tower?

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