ONN's Meteorologist Harrison Hove is on his way to Antarctica.
Harrison applied for and received a grant from the National Science Foundation to travel to Antarctica to report on the several Ohioans doing research near the South Pole. Each day Hove will share his travels and projects that he and other Buckeyes are working on to ONN.
Here's the latest from Harrison:
What a wild ride! I was nervous.
I had done this before, checked in with customs at the Antarctic Terminal, went through security, rode out on the tarmac, but this time was different. We suited up in big red, boarded the plane, and this time—we took off!
Those who know me know I am not an easy flier. I don’t like getting jostled, but that is exactly what happened on takeoff. There are no windows on the C-17 so you are just left to stare straight ahead and anticipate and turbulence. It is like riding a real life space mountain. Unfortunately, there was quite a bit of bouncing around at first. One of the gentlemen on the Air Force flight crew brought me two air sickness bags just in case. I did manage to hold it all down.
Our flight was full, 54 people on board ranging from journalists to Australian and New Zealand military to researchers and contractors. Our flight was on the “fast plane” taking just about 5 hours on the C-17. The crew invited me into the cock pit with my camera toward the end of the flight. What a sight to see!
Once we landed, I could not believe it when I walked out of the plane into a bright, open land of emptiness. It was gorgeous and so pristine. It is white are far as you can see. We actually landed on a glacier. We boarded a bus and road about 40 minutes to McMurdo Station.
Once we made it to our base camp, I soon saw dirt! The ground is not all frozen. In fact some people were walking around in shorts when I arrived at 5am. The winds were light and it was about 35 degrees. We were advised to go to breakfast and then sleep for a couple hours because it was going to be a long day ahead!
