What months is it dark in antarctica

At the Concordia station, a French-Italian research facility that was built 3,233 metres above sea level at a location called Dome C on the Antarctic Plateau, European Space Agency (ESA) scientists are researching the effects of long space missions. The station is more remote than the International Space Station: the nearest humans are 600 kilometres away.

© Chris Danals, National Science Foundation, via Wikimedia Commons Isolation, confinement, very dry air, no access to supplies, danger, extreme weather conditions, the monotony of everyday life. Except for the lack of gravity, living in Antarctica is the closest thing to a long journey to Mars, for example.

The abnormal day and light cycles cause great impact on humans, and scientists are using Antarctica to study its effects and how to prevent them.

All night/day long

During summer at Antarctica, the sky is never dark. Around the summer solstice, weather conditions permitting, the sun is visible 24 hours a day. In the winter months, the opposite occurs. The lack of darkness and the long night affect human circadian rhythms, which are physical, mental and behavioral changes that follow a roughly 24-hour cycle. Hormones can go haywire without the usual cues to indicate day/night.

Only a small numbers of subjects have been studied intensively in polar regions, there is no native population in Antarctica to be able to conduct a long-term study, but there are many papers which focus on the civilian and military personnel that spend their winters below the Antarctic circle. The research focused first on adaptation to the cold environment, but later scientists found out that the lack of natural sunlight in winter and the excess of natural light in the summer was probably of greater importance.

How to reduce the impact of abnormal light cycles

In the summer days, it is very easy to stay up and alert for 24 hours without remembering to sleep. In the winter, seasonal affective disorder kicks in. In a slow and incremental process, exhaustion will dull the senses and slow reactions. In an extreme place such as Antarctica, you simply cannot afford it.

So, what can people do in order to prevent this?

1. Keep warm: This might seem obvious, but using adequate protective clothing will reduce exposure to extreme cold and prevent sudden changes of temperature.
2. Eat your (frozen) veggies: Meals punctuate the day. It's a time not only to ingest much-needed nutrition but to meet others and socialize. The cook is probably one of the most important persons in a station, without question.
3. Stick to the schedule: On British Antarctic bases, a structured day with set periods of eating, working, and sleeping is mandatory. This is also the case of most bases and research stations, and also on ships. Oceanwide Expeditions vessels might be a bit more relaxed in the sense that the schedule is not mandatory, but doctors and expedition leaders will encourage passengers to stick to the schedule and keep a routine to prevent sleep issues and other health problems. 
4. Time zones: Since in Antarctica there are no set time zones and they can be changed for convenience, you can switch between very, very different time zones in the matter of minutes, which can be very confusing for mind and body. Vessels usually keep the time zone from their departure point on the continent to avoid this.

Below the Antarctic circle, nature takes over and us humans just have to surrender and follow its lead. 

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The long dark period in the Antarctic is considered a gold mine for research as humans prepare for the long duration flights into space.

The Sun rises in Antarctica after six months of darkness on the continent. (Photo: ESA)

By India Today Web Desk: The long night in Antarctica ended with the Sun rising on the horizon as researchers resumed their work conducting several scientific studies in the region. The frozen landscape has research stations from different countries, which will now prepare for summer and the return of scientists that arrive for the warmer months starting in November.

The long night, which extends between four to five months characterised by 24 hours of darkness, confining researchers on a continent known for one of the most extreme environments on the planet. There is no way in or out of the stations during the winter-over period. Scientists from the European Space Agency (ESA) have been living in the most isolated part of the region as they welcomed the arrival of the Sun.

Nick Smith of the ESA has been overseeing experiments in human physiology and biology, atmospheric physics, meteorology, and astronomy, among other disciplines on the fifth-largest continent. Along with the rest of the crew, he is also maintaining the base one of only three to run year-round in the Antarctic.

As the Sun rises again in the region, the bases will be cleaned and machinery serviced, tents are erected and heated, and the runway will be cleared of snow for new crew to arrive.

Space research has been conducted in the polar regions for many years. (Photo: ESA)

A gold mine of research

The long dark period in the Antarctic is considered a gold mine for research as humans prepare for the long duration flights into space with plans underway for manned missions to Moon and Mars. "Four months of complete darkness is quite the challenge and researchers are very interested in studying from a physiological and psychological point of view," ESA said in a statement.

While studies on how the body behaves during the long period of darkness are underway, research is also conducted on social dynamics during the period of darkness.

"Stress brought on by lack of sunlight, changing sleep patterns, fatigue and moodiness can affect the group. The crew are especially encouraged to take on group activities and get creative to combat the isolation of the winter. And not just with their own station crew."

During the Antarctic winter, the crew endures 4 months of complete darkness: the sun disappears from the beginning of May, and is not seen again until late August. (Photo: ESA)

Why is the Antarctic dark for six months?

While the world experiences four major seasons, Antarctica has just two, summers and winters as it remains covered in thick ice. The region has six months of daylight in its summer and six months of darkness in its winter.

Seasons on Earth are caused by the tilt of the planet's axis in relation to the sun and as the Earth orbits the sun, different parts of the planet are exposed to direct sunlight. According to Nasa, During summer, Antarctica is on the side of Earth tilted toward the sun and is in constant sunlight. In the winter, Antarctica is on the side of Earth tilted away from the sun, causing the continent to be dark.

The average temperature in Antarctica in the winter is minus 34.4 degrees Celsius and the lowest temperature ever recorded in the freezing continent was minus 89.4 degrees Celsius.

Edited By:

Sibu Kumar Tripathi

Published On:

Aug 23, 2021