Aurora Australis

January 12

I was working on getting data off my atmospheric sensors, when someone yelled "aurora". I went outside and here it was - a magnificent green alien light. It was changing fast. I went downstairs to the lab and a few cabins to tell more people. Soon about twenty of us gathered up to share the experience. It wasn't the brightest aurora I saw, but it was quite spectacular. Mostly green, although an occasional weak white and weak red beam made guest appearances. We stayed observing for about half an hour as the sky was getting more and more obscured by clouds. Many members of our expedition saw an aurora for the first time - it was really nice to share that experience with them. 
I did not even attempt to take pictures, but here are a couple taken by Florian, the EPFL photographer on board.

It is easy to forget how lucky I am

January 11

It was a really busy day for me today, we did a deep 1.5 km cast to calibrate the SOCCOM floats we launched in the afternoon. The oceanography work took old day and we all were really tired.
After that I spent half the night sorting our samples to prepare for future shipment. As our legs come to the final week, we are planning for the next leg, getting organized and reorganized. I am also hoping to do all cargo reshuffling while still at sea, so that I will enjoy my two days in Hobart with my friends, rather than working on the ship.
In any case, there have been only a few occasions I was able to go outside and enjoy being at sea. Fully comprehend how unique my experience is and how I should cherish these moments as they will pass by really fast.
So since I am up at night and I was able to sent a few pictures back home - you can enjoy with me:

Here's a picture of me on main deck passing by. We have a few journalists/photographers on board and I asked one of them to take a picture of me. I have to say this is my favorite picture from this cruise to day.

We are changing clocks rather frequently on this journey to keep up with the current time zone. In the next week we will advance forward one hour every second day. But this also means that we are somewhat in tune with the solar day. So every night after dinner (if not working, haha) you can go on helo deck and enjoy the sunset.

I also end up staying up through the night on more occasions than I probably should. So this is a picture of the rising sun I captured a few days ago.
Having little to no clouds have been such a bliss of the last couple of days! Amazing!