• Question: What is meant by an Antarctic winter? And what happens during one?

    Asked by Sheldon Cooper to Beth on 16 Oct 2015. This question was also asked by Barry_Mubarack.
    • Photo: Beth Healey

      Beth Healey answered on 16 Oct 2015:

      Hi Sheldon!

      We are currently coming to the end of the Antarctic winter. We are in the southern hemisphere so the timings are the opposite to the UK. Winter here runs from February to November.

      I guess one of the most notable features is that you don’t see the sun for a large part of that. Here at Concordia it was over 105 days!! So you experience what is called the long polar night. You don’t see the sun as it doesn’t rise above the horizon because of our position.

      Another thing is the really really cold temperatures. Here at Concordia the coldest we experienced was -81.4C! It regularly remained around -80C and less than -100C if you consider the windchill.

      Have you ever thought about visiting Antarctica?

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