Depending on the weather, Ms. Ellwood will leave "the ice" today and fly to New Zealand. She will return her ECW (Extreme Cold Weather) gear at the CDC (Clothing Distribution Center) in Christchurch.
Three years ago, Ms. Ellwood's trip was delayed due to weather, but not Earth's weather. It was a perfect day at McMurdo, . . . for Antarctica! What happened? The Sun had emitted a solar blast of energy called a CME(Coronal Mass Ejection) which was the cause of the delay. The Earth is protected from CME's by the magnetic field, but the magnetic field touches the Earth at the poles. This excess energy was enough to disrupt navigational and radio systems at the poles. The planes were grounded until the geomagnetic storm subsided. (Read about it in her journal entry.)
Today, Dec. 13th, (remember we are a day behind), a sunspot on the Sun emitted a large solar blast towards the Earth. Where we live in the mid-latitudes, the magnetic field will protect us. The energy will reach Earth, near the poles, later tomorrow, Dec.14th (US time). If the conditions are right, we may see the Northern Lights (auroras). To learn more about space weather and the latest updates, go to http://www.spaceweather.com.
Antarctica 2006 
Antarctica 2006 homepage.