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‘Tour of the Time Zones’; Living the Polar Dream 26/7
When we left the South Pole we were operating on New Zealand time, which is 12 hours ahead of Norway and 20 ahead of US Mountain Standard time. Moving towards Troll Station, which operates on Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) during the summer, we’ve had to decide on how to adjust our local traverse time.
Location: Recovery Lake “B”, 82° 48’ S, 18° 54’ E
Weather: All clear, -22 C, wind 12 kts
Lou:
I was never sure what the reason was for changing the clock. I just know that kid friends that lived two hours away changed their clocks twice a year – folks from Indiana did not – and I always thought it curious.
When we left South Pole on December 23 we were living and working on New Zealand time. We had been on that time since our arrival into Christchurch in mid October. The US Antarctic Program – both South Pole (NPX) and McMurdo (MCM) stations – maintain NZ time zone. For the first three weeks of our journey we have been checking in daily with NPX, but as we’re getting more distant from the Pole and closer to Troll Station, in the GMT zone 13 hours behind NZ time, we will start checking in that way instead. The consensus was at 10 PM (2200) every evening we would turn the clocks back 2 hours giving us the ultimate polar dream… 26 hour days!!!
Ted:
South Pole time is tied to McMurdo time because of flights, which in turn is tied to New Zealand time, again because of flights and logistics. But now, as we travel towards Troll Station, our logistical support, and search and rescue resources will come from that direction. We must pick a spot to shift to GMT time. There are many other considerations – as we move away from 90°S, there is day-night temperature cycle, and it makes sense for us to work during the warmer hours of the day. But since most of our driving is northward, with our time at GMT, we will be driving towards the glare of the sun all day. Still, in Antarctica, temperature and logistics trumps all other considerations.
To do the shift, we are moving the clock back 2 hours per day (and 1 hour on the last day) until we reach GMT – 26-hour days for 6 days in a row. Some days ago we were on Shanghai time – the day after, it was Peshawar; and then Baghdad. The days are long, but it gives us a lot of evening time in camp to prepare, and still get enough sleep.
Lou:
Today we have completed the change.. we are now officially on Troll time (GMT) and no worse for the wear… looking forward to our gained time!!
Ted takes advantage of a gained hour to go surfing. Photo: Stein Tronstad/NPI
