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VIDEO: Researchers take winter solstice polar plunge in Antarctica

Posted at 8:08 PM, Jun 23, 2014
and last updated 2014-06-23 20:08:01-04

SOUTH POLE — Saturday might have been the first day of summer, but it was the winter solstice in Antarctica.

Researchers at the South Pole celebrated by taking a dip in the pool.

The scientists at the Davis Station had to saw through a yard of ice, then they set up some fake palm trees and jumped in.

The water is said to be about 2 degrees, but that’s pretty balmy considering the air temperature was about minus-30.

The polar plunge is a big deal at the station because it marks the halfway point of the scientists’ stay on the continent.