Good Morning Sunshine

September 23rd marked the spring equinox here in the southern hemisphere, and with it came the rising of the sun. The week and a half prior to the sun marked a steady brightening of the atmosphere. Known in the photography world as the "magic hour", for weeks before and after sunrise we have a happy medium of sunlight, bright enough not to stumble around on the sastrugi, but not yet bright enough to warrant shades. The dark sky eventually shrinks to form a mere shadow of the earth. 

The photo above shows a panorama of the earth's shadow. The sun is behind camera, below the horizon. The Earth's shadow is visible anywhere, but especially so at the South Pole due to the flat ice plain that extends in every direction and the long duration of the sunrise/sunset. The photo was taken 8-10 days before sunrise. The curved earth's surface projects onto the atmosphere, the dark blue shade is lined with purples that brighten as the sun nears the horizon and the shadow shrinks.

Before the sun physically crosses the horizon, you can start to see the refracted image of the sun, depending on the atmospheric conditions.

The above shot shows the refracted image of the sun, you can see the wavy nature of the image created by the layers in the earth's atmosphere. At these times, if you are lucky, you can see the "green flash".

The Green Flash occurs when a layer of the refracted image separates, isolating some greens and blues above the main image of the sun. The picture above, taken through a telescope, shows the separated Green Flash layer. 

Sunrise also brings some other interesting atmospheric effects, such as the Sun Pillar shown above, a result of ice crystals in the atmosphere and some other science taking place while the sun is obscured behind the clouds. 

Unlike sunset, which was mostly obscured by clouds and storms after the sun crossed the horizon, the days leading up to sunrise brought some nice cloud formations like the one shown above. 

Per South Pole tradition, we also had a sunrise dinner. Unlike the sunset dinner and mid-winter dinner, sunrise was more informal - more of a cocktail party. The reason for this is that by this point in winter everyone hates each other too much to sit at the same table for two hours. Most importantly, sunrise dinner marked the reveal of the 2015 South Pole Marker. Each year, the winter machines builds the new South Pole Marker. At new years, they recalculate where the actual South Pole is and put a new marker at the correct position. 

The above shot shows the station machinist with the new marker he made. We voted on the design and his was the winner. The new marker will be installed on New Years 2015. Unfortunately, there is an inexplicable NSF policy not to reveal the new marker before hand, which is why it is pixilated. 

Shortly after sunrise the telescope broke again, here's a photo of the repairs for no particular reason. 

Other rays of sunshine:

• No, just because the sun is up doesn't mean it's warm all of the sudden. The temperatures won't regularly get above -50 F for another month, that's why there aren't planes yet.
• You can also see a green flash by staring directly at the sun for thirty seconds and then looking in any direction

Next Week in Pole: Spitefulness Versus Time in South Pole Winterovers - A Case Study