For the next week we will be based at McMurdo Station, the largest Antarctic station on the continent, and a place we both know very well having spent the last 10 years working here. Anthony will try and capture as many shots as he can in the general area during this time.

He set up a couple of cameras in the upstairs conference area of the Crary Lab, which has a spectacular view of the sea ice in front of the station and the Transantarctic Mountains across McMurdo Sound. The Crary Lab is a state-of-the-art facility that all the scientists who are studying Antarctica use. As "grantees," we have full access to the facility.





The piece of wool blanket taped to the window keeps reflections out of the photos.

Next, we headed down to the aquariums at the lower level of the lab. Here is where all kinds of species of Antarctic critters that live in the sea are studied. Here are the subjects of another of Anthony's time-lapse sequences.



That yellow blob is a living thing - not a plant but an animal, but much brighter yellow in real life than in this photo. I love the little yellow squishy!

I found these scientists hard at work, studying and recording vital information. After a while, after trying to figure out for myself what they were observing and failing utterly, I finally had to ask. The purpose of this experiment is to use the pole to turn the sea spiders over on their backs and record how long it takes them to put themselves right side up again.





It's tough being a sea spider. Not only at the bottom of the world, but upside-down too.

Anthony set up a camera on a mechanized, rotating tripod on the top of a high building and left it going for two days. This should be a pretty impressive time-lapse sequence as it will show a 360 degree view of the surroundings while the sun remains in the same spot in the frame.