Ina and Min are driving a quad. Tuesday, 7th of January 2014 

 

Besides all the hard work, there is of course some time to enjoy the nature and some activities. Vova has a nice toy – a 4x4 quad (500ATV-2) that drives 30 km/h over the frozen river (and on snow). We were able to try the quad one day when we had finished our work faster than on other days and when it was still bright outside. We obviously had fun (Photo 1).

Another great experience was watching polar lights (aurora). We were able to see it twice during our stay. Different colors such as red, blue, and green can be observed depending on different gases and their interaction with solar radiation and other atoms in the upper atmosphere.

 

We saw only green polar lights, which occurs when charged oxygen (with high energy condition) by solar wind emits its energy to return to ground state in less than one second.

 

We saw beautiful polar light we can die now. (Photo: Min Jung Kwon)If this same phenomenon occurs for a few minutes (when the gas stays in the excited state for longer), the color of the polar light changes to red, but this is very rare because activated oxygen interacts with other atoms in the atmosphere very dynamically.

We also observed tons of stars in the sky. Sometimes we also saw the milky way (if we are correct) but unfortunately could not capture it with our camera.

 

Neither the air is (rarely) polluted nor are there many lights in this area, we can always see many stars in this area if it is not cloudy. There are always two sides – staying convenient in a city without beautiful nature or experience the great joy of nature but in a remote or rural area with little comfort.

Anyway today is the last day at the station. The sun rises at 11 in the morning and slowly goes down at 1 in the afternoon although it is still bright from 10 am to 3 pm when it is sunny. Now we are ready to come out of this dark and cold 'cave' to Germany. We hope to be back in Cherskii again soon!

 

Written by Min