Jump to content

Internet Access Antarctica Cruises


70KToM
 Share

Recommended Posts

No, just someone who believes accuracy is important. Auroras are not visible in Antarctica during the expedition ship season and anyone reading Cruise Critic should not be assured otherwise.

 

Pity about the cloud cover. I will leave it there.

 

 

Yes, accuracy is important. You need to insure your posts are accurate. Navigation crew informed they have seen auroras during the expedition season. If you didn't see it doesn't mean it doesn't occur. Plus, few if anyone visits Antarctica to see auroras as the first objective.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, accuracy is important. You need to insure your posts are accurate.

 

True: *ensure*.

 

 

Navigation crew informed they have seen auroras during the expedition season.

 

 

That is not my experience on over 50 days in Antarctica, on trips spread throughout the season, and not what Captains and First Officers have told me. Note the plurals and the status.

 

I have confidence in them and in my observations.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The aurora circle is extremely offset from the geographic pole. Traveling on the Australian side, you wouldn't even need especially high auroral activity to be able to see it far enough north that you still have reasonable darkness hours during the Antarctic cruise season.

 

On the Argentinian side, it's definitely unlikely, but if the activity is extremely high, it's still possible. It certainly got dark at night along the peninsula on my November sailing, and it's well within viewing range with a particularly high index.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Also, I'm not sure that 50 days is an adequate sample for such an uncommon phenomenon. :) I've lived in Oslo for over 3500 days, and I've never seen the aurora here. It's been naked-eye visible dozens of times. I even know someone who has seen it here in August.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The aurora circle is extremely offset from the geographic pole. Traveling on the Australian side, you wouldn't even need especially high auroral activity to be able to see it far enough north that you still have reasonable darkness hours during the Antarctic cruise season.

 

On the Argentinian side, it's definitely unlikely, but if the activity is extremely high, it's still possible. It certainly got dark at night along the peninsula on my November sailing, and it's well within viewing range with a particularly high index.

 

The forecast image at https://www.spaceweatherlive.com/en/...y/auroral-oval shows how far away the aurora doughnut is from the peninsula and the areas in which expedition ships sail.

 

The charts and animation at http://www.antarctica.gov.au/about-a...sunlight-hours demonstrate that it does not get dark at Casey (66S) until March. Prior to that the darkest it gets is twilight. We have never experienced real darkness on any of our trips throughout the season unless there has been heavy cloud cover.

 

No-one I have spoken to on any of our trips has seen even the slightest suggestion of an aurora.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Also, I'm not sure that 50 days is an adequate sample for such an uncommon phenomenon. :) I've lived in Oslo for over 3500 days, and I've never seen the aurora here. It's been naked-eye visible dozens of times. I even know someone who has seen it here in August.

 

The 50+ days across the season offer a pretty good sample.

 

It's disappointing that you haven't seen the aurora from Oslo. Keep looking! We have seen it from here in the UK at 53N on more than one occasion. And quite strong lights too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting posts of late about the auroras! I'm reading a rather fascinating book called "The Northern Lights" by Lucy Jago, who chronicles the ground magnetic field measurements and other extensive aurora research done by Norwegian explorer and physicist Kristian Birkeland at the Kaafjord and Haldde observatories near the northern end of Norway between 1899-1903. His theories of atmospheric electric currents elucidated the nature of the aurora borealis. (At least at one time he was pictured on 200 kroner notes).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No one that I know who has worked 10 to 20 seasons has ever seen auroras on the Peninsular side.

 

Ross Sea side in summer on the other hand is a different story. I have had both friends and expedition members on 3 different ships in the past 30 days who have been posting outstanding photos of the auroras they all got to experience. And McMurdo and Davis stations have been posting ones from the past 2 weeks on their facebook and twitter pages. They have had some great displays.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No one that I know who has worked 10 to 20 seasons has ever seen auroras on the Peninsular side.

 

Something I have been trying to get across for some time now. But to no avail...

 

Aurora australis can be seen year around. Depends on two things: darkness and sunspot activity. The moon's phase is a major determinant. This year we will be in Antarctica while the moon is waining from full to 3rd quarter - so unlikely we will see any "southern lights."

 

Their strength is linked to the sunspot cycle, not their visibility. That depends on how dark the sky is. In the austral summer, when we visit Antarctica, the sky is not dark enough to see the aurora.

 

They can be seen all year around. Period. Try Tasmania next time - the "lights" are famously visible all year. The duration of visibility all very much depends on the time of year. Visiting at or below 66 degrees and 33 minutes South in mid-February, the middle of the period when the Earth's tilt "moves" between Summer and Winter solstice, provides about 5 hours of total darkness on 21 February, a date included on both the 2017 and 2018 Hurtigruten excursions south of the Antarctic Circle.

 

The Tasmania link: https://www.australiantraveller.com/tas/seeing-the-southern-lights-the-where-the-when-the-what/

 

The "aurora-service" link depicts the aurora as closer to Tasmania at this moment, as well, and not visible from Antarctic Peninsula. Intensity of the solar wind is very low at the moment.

 

We will be there in mid-February and hope to get a look. Have sailed (US Navy) in Arctic waters and fully understand the dusk/total darkness issue.

 

The US Naval Observatory provides a link for both the duration of daylight and darkness based on latitude and longitude and generates an annual by-day table using your specific Lat/Long: http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/Dur_OneYear.php

 

 

(Note: my emboldings)

 

No-one visiting the peninsula during the season should imagine they will see aurora.

 

Sigh.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
Dear Antarctica cruisers,

 

A friend and I have been wanting to do an Antarctica cruise for a while, but I have some concerns about internet access. I could perhaps plan the cruise to be between Christmas and New Year's, so things are quieter at work. However, due to the nature of my work, I am required to be available to respond within 24 hours throughout the entire year (I need to write about ten emails a day during quiet periods, and access some pages on our system).

 

I can travel and reduce my work load for vacation, but I will still need to be online a minimum of once every 24 hours. Most of my work can be done offline and then submitted after connecting. None of it will require a large amount of data. As long as Outlook works and I can load relatively low-bandwidth web pages, I'm fine, as long as I do some prep beforehand.

 

The cruise we're thinking about doing would be National Geographic Orion Dec 26, 2016 - Jan 8, 2017, but we're very open to looking at other cruises. I hear Quark is great?

 

So my question is:

- What was internet access like on your ship?

- Was it reliably available at least once a day, even if it's out for a few hours?

- What was the bandwidth like?

- Were you able to use a VPN?

- Were there stops along your route where there was WiFi available?

- Is there a particular route that would give me more days in an area with more reliable WiFi (like adding the Falklands)? I'm looking for a 14 day trip.

 

Thank you in advance for any advice you might have! I'd love to do the cruise, but I'm quite anxious about being able to manage it with my job.

 

What would you do if you were ill and in the hospital and were not allowed to use the internet. What would you if even worse you were in some sort of a medically induced or real coma? Would your business die. Would your business fall apart?

 

If you are so indispensable that your business will not survive without your presence, you have a really bad management structure and a really bad succession plan.

 

Nobody is indispensible. Not even you.

 

DON

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What would you do if you were ill and in the hospital and were not allowed to use the internet. What would you if even worse you were in some sort of a medically induced or real coma? Would your business die. Would your business fall apart?

 

If you are so indispensable that your business will not survive without your presence, you have a really bad management structure and a really bad succession plan.

 

Nobody is indispensible. Not even you.

 

DON

Hi DON,

Since the original poster was considering a cruise with sailing dates that passed months ago, I'm afraid that your business management insight is likely falling on deaf ears.

Instead, perhaps you'd like to weigh in on the scientific and statistical likelihood of observing the aurora australis from the peninsula side of the continent?

:)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...