The anonymous writer behind the brr.fyi blog has been writing about their experience living and working at an Antarctic research station.
On May 12th, the sun passed below the horizon. It will be dark for the next eight months. From now until August, there will be no visitors and no resupply trips—during the long arctic winter the environment is too harsh for safe air travel. Everyone is truly isolated.
Oh, and when you decide to venture outside, everything is red:
There are a number of science projects that can only happen during the winter here, because of the unique environmental characteristics of the South Pole (darkness, elevation, weather, air quality, etc). A few of these are extremely sensitive to broad-spectrum visible light.
[…]
To protect the science experiments, we work hard to avoid any stray broad-spectrum light outside. This means all our station windows are covered, all our exterior navigation lights are tinted red, and we’re only permitted to use red headlamps and flashlights while walking outside.
Once it becomes closer to fully dark, these lights take on a surreal quality.
Make sure you check out the photos and videos the author shared. Surreal doesn’t even begin to describe it.