What do people experience in the Arctic where 'time' has no meaning?
Local time is determined by longitude in most places on Earth, but longitudes have little meaning around the North Pole, so visitors to the North Pole can use any time zone. The peculiarity of the Arctic is not limited to this, and there are no day breaks because of the
Time Has No Meaning at the North Pole-Scientific American Blog Network
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/time-has-no-meaning-at-the-north-pole/
Antarctica is in the same situation as the Arctic, but in the case of the South Pole, there are multiple research facilities and a resident population, so each facility uses a time zone such as the home country. However, the number of research activities conducted in the Arctic is small, and ships are only occasionally visited.Therefore, if the master of the research ship uses the time zone of the neighboring country or decides the time zone in accordance with the activity of the ship That.
Polarstern, owned by the German Ministry of Education and Research, is another ship that conducts research and research in the Arctic. In the fall of 2019 Polar Schulten was also conducting an investigation in the Arctic, but at this time the captain of Polar Stern was working to rewind the clock hands once an hour for six weeks once a week . This is because the successor Russian ship was operating at Moscow time.
In the Arctic, days and nights last for months, so the Arctic Circle in October 2019 was dark for three weeks after sunset. There is no morning, day or night for people living in Polarstern, including Weeman. At 8 o'clock in the morning, a wake-up call flows on board and people get up. After breakfast, the outside researchers land on ice to check instruments and meet in the lab according to the schedule. Time can be felt in various places on the earth, but for people living in Polarstern, time is just a rule set to create an illusion of 'order'. Seafarers can also send messages via satellite to family, friends, and colleagues in their home countries, but they must always be careful about the transmission time.
After spending several months in the Arctic, where there is no television, no news, no passers-by, it seems that the common concept of 'December' can be felt as an artifact. As the rituals spend their days of no change, sailors will feel as if they are repeating the same day.
The only thing that reminds scientists of the concept of time is data collection. Instruments for the survey are placed on the ice around the ship and collect information from the ice, sea, and sky in accordance with Coordinated Universal Time. Weeman said that the only moment when the crew feels `` time is moving forward '' is when they continue to monitor ongoing data, and when the mustaches grow, and when the smell of bread that is baked only on Sundays spreads. States.
Especially when sailing away from Polarstern, the concept of time disappears for sailors. You may have to use a helicopter to get to the instrument, but even if you look out of the helicopter window, you can't tell how far away you are from the ship because the area is covered in darkness. After the crew descends, the helicopter will fly off again, but once the sound of the flight has gone away, the true tranquility will come. Only the headlights worn by the close researchers are the only lights, and only the sound of the researchers' hearts trembling in the cold indicates the passage of time.
Weeman held a press conference to help connect seafarers with journalists who are far away in real time. An attempt to connect the people living in the five continents and the researchers on the ship while deciding the `` time '' of the ship that can be in any time zone is `` as if darts are moving blindfolded It was like throwing, 'says Weeman.
After finishing the project, Weeman returned to his home country and home, and felt that time was everywhere, very strange. While spending his time at the Arctic, feeding his dog at home `` a favorite time, '' Weeman said, `` Time is not determined by numbers, time zones, or the number of times the earth has turned, It is determined by '.'
Related Posts:
in Science, Posted by darkhorse_log