Hello All!
1. Visiting three AWS sites for the price of one...
The big news of the day is is that I had the chance to fly out to not one but three of our Automatic Weather Stations sites - specifically Linda site, Cape Spencer site and Pegasus South site. George, my co-worker, and I flew with the US Coast Guard - they do polar operations while the ice breaker is busy cutting ice in front of the station. We felow on their Dolphin helocopters...or just helos, as we call them. Very nice smooth ride today, as the weather was ideal - light to no winds, sunny skies, hardly any clouds and nice temperatures too.
To see some file photos of these sites check out:
http://amrc.ssec.wisc.edu/aws/gifs/linda91.jpg
http://amrc.ssec.wisc.edu/aws/gifs/pegasuss95.jpg
I took a bunch today, and I'll try to get some of those on the web for folks to look in the future.
Today's work included
taking off the instruments at both Cape Spencer and Linda site, raising
up the station by adding a new tower section, and putting back on the
instruments. At Linda site we had to deploy a new eletronics package.
At Pegasus South site, we worked on checking out a string of
temperature probes we have in the ice there, and checking out its condition.
A long but fun day indeed!
(click to enlarge pictures)
Linda Site
Pegasus South Site
2. Terapods in bloom...
In other news, there
are terapods blooming out in what little water there is near the station....these
little guys are a a butterfly looking creature that that eats plankton
that is in the ocean waters of the Ross Sea and McMurdo Sound. So much
biology going on under the ice and at the ice edge here. It is amazing,
in such a harsh and cold place there is so much life.
Well, that is the news for today. Time for a bit of rest.
Cheers,
Matthew