Hello All! Time for yet another report from the ice:
1. Weather Balloon!
2. Travel in Antarctica: Ground transportation
3. Sunday Science Lecture: The LTER project
4. Observations from around the station: Scott's Hut, etc.
1. Weather Balloon!
Yesterday, I was allowed to help launch the twice daily weather balloon's that is done by the operational weather forecast group on station (Known affectionately as Mac Weather - its used to be done by the navy, but now it is done by a private company).
This weather balloon system uses the GPS or Global Positioning System of satellites to help the ground track the weather balloon and radio back the temperatures, humidities, etc. I did the actual launch at 0 UTC on Jan 8 - for those of you with access to real-time weather data. The station is McMurdo USA-Base 89664. It was a lot of fun to help do this.
2. Travel in Antarctica: Ground transportation
As promised, the thrid and final installment of traveling around the Antarctic via the ground. There's lots of ways - here's a list:
- Truck \ Van
\ Bus
- All of these
have 4 wheel drive and big bubble tires!
- All of these
have 4 wheel drive and big bubble tires!
- Ivan the Terra
Bus \ The Delta
- Both have REALLY
large tires & move slow.
- Both have REALLY
large tires & move slow.
- Snowmobile \
Sprytes \ Snow Cats \ Truckers
- All of these
are tracked, like a tank.
- All of these
are tracked, like a tank.
So, there are lots
of ways to go...and of course, there's skiing and walking! The trucks
and vans are used close to McMurdo, where the roads are kept up. The Delta
and Terra Bus are used for transportation for
a large group, as from flying in on the LC-130, especially going over
a long stretch of road such as the make shift road to Williams Field on
the iceshelf. The Sprytes, although slow, allow you to get to places that
you just can't using any other means of transportation.
3. Sunday Science Lecture: The LTER project
This Sunday's Science
Lecture was about the LTER project - Long Term Ecological Research project
that is. There are 2 sites in Antarctica that are a part of 21 over all
site that the US had across North America
and Antarctic to learn about how ecosystems change and evolve in the long
term. Thus, this group spends alot of time doing as we do, collecting
and archiving data, learning how the ecosystems change and discovering
some interesting things about how the world works. The LTER project near
McMurdo works in the Dry Valleys. They are called Dry because a good part
of the valleys have no snow at all - just bare ground. There are a few
lakes, and the longest river in Antarctica (really short river! - less
than 10 miles long!), and a few receeding glaciers. These area is home
to a vareity of bacteria and algea mats and very small invertabrate called
a neamtode. What interesting to learn is that they have discovered
viruses
in the lakes there too. Also, they are learning how some of these little
fellas can survive without sunlight for up to 6 months of the year - many
need the sun to get energy. But, they have found that these organisms
can do something called "mixotrophy" - use the sun, and some
other means of getting energy. The Dry Valleys are an interesting place
- the views in the Royal Society Range of the Transantarctic Mountains
are amazing, along with some interesting scientific studies going on.
The US has 3 camps out there this year. By the way, the Dry Valleys's
are center about: 77.5 South and 162 East, for those of you keeping track
at home.
4. Observations from around the station: Scott's Hut, etc.
Yesterday, our Sunday, I did take a moment off to visit Hut Point - a 10 minute walk to the edge of our station. On the way, I passed the ice pier, where the cargo ships will be docking soon, and while I was out, the icebreaker has broken ice now all the way up to the ice pier! There were about 20 penguins way off in the distance last evening too. Once I got to the end of the point, On Sundays, we are able to tour the historic hut that is at the point. The hut was built by Sir Robert Scott, one of the original explorers of the Antarctic about 100 years ago. From this hut, he stage trips to other parts of the Antarctic, including the far side of the island we are on - Ross Island, and later he built other huts on other trips to stage his famous trip to South Pole. Unfortunately, Scott did not survive his trip back from South Pole: his late return, and logistic choices, on top of the fact that it appears that the year he attempted his trip was a bad weather year (due to El Nino, perhaps) We have used our AWS data as Wisconsin with some other scientists to learn more about Scott's trip.
The inside of the hut is impressive - everything is as Scott and his crew left it. Actually, it was also used by Sir E. Shackleton once as well. The inside has the stove, food (frozen!), some of the clothes, supplies, etc. that were left there....all in nearly the same shape they were in nearly 100 years ago. Another great reason for recycling - as down here, nothing goes away..it hangs around a long time.
That the news from
here!
Take care!
Matthew