Hi Everyone!
1. Bad weather...weather condition 1 and 2! (Blizzard, Antarctic Style!)
This morning, we had a fair significant storm hit McMurdo....and 12..make that 16 hours later it is still going on. We have what is known as condition 1 and 2 weather in McMurdo, and at the nearby skiways/runways. What makes up the different weather conditions, I, II, and III here in McMurdo?
- Condition THREE is anything better than condition II
- Condition TWO is when any one of the following are true:
Wind speed is between 48 - 55 knots
Visibility is less than 1/4 mile but greater than 100 feet
The windchill is greater than - 75 degrees F but less than - 100 degrees F- Condition ONE is when any one of the following are true:
Visibility is less than 100 feet
Wind is greater the 55 knots
The windchill is greater than - 100 F
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Pictures
courtesy of Raytheon Polar Services Company's Antarctic
Photo Library
Today the reason for
the condition II and I weather is the visibility...it is hard to see in
blowing snow. The windchills and winds aren't quite as bad as defined
above. Meantime, no flights left or came in...in fact
the runways/skiways are all closed. I figure the the LC-130s are getting
buried in snow. Oh, and the forecast for tomorrow is for more of the same.
As note, I have been
out in it...and it is mild out...20s..but the wind is driving the snow
so hard it hurts as it hits you...these snowflakes are more like broken
snow pellets/ice. Its great for me, I'm enjoying it, but
it isn't for everyone. Everything is slippery...and covered in snow. The
snow is blown to bare ground in some places and drifted to several feet
high in places.
2. The Antarctic Search for Meteorites
Last nights Sunday
lecture was on the Antarctic Search for Meteorites (ANSMET) program. This
year nearly a thousand meteorites were found in Antarctica! It was a good
year. Meteorites, which fall all over the earth, are easier to find in
Antarctic, especially as they fall on top of the snow and ice, and collect
in ice floes behind the TransAntarctic mountains. Thus, in these ice trapped
areas, snow is abladed away or sublimated away, reveling lots of meteorites
that have been collecting for hundreds of thousands of
years. For the past 26 years, the US has been collecting meteorites, including
the famous ALH84001 that was a meteorite from Mars, and some believe it
has signs of life in it. What does ALH84001 mean? All meteorites are labeled
with the location they are found, ALH is for the Allan Hills to the North
and West of McMurdo, 84 is the year it was collected, so 1984, and 001
is the number of the meteorite found that year. Neat eh? I've meet the
woman who found ALH84001...she is now head of all of the US science labs
in the Antarctic, including the one I work in here at McMurdo.
3. Long Duration Balloons
Before the weather
went bad, the folks I have been working closely with on the cut down/landing
of the Long Duration Balloons (LDB) has one balloon on the ground near
Terra Nova Bay (the Italian station North of McMurdo in Victoria Land)...actually
I should save ABOVE Terra Nova Bay. The balloon is on the edge of the
Polar Plateau. Now the trick is to get the payload out...only a part of
that got done so far. The other balloon is now drifting towards Dome Fuji
on the high plateau in East Antarctica.
Picture
courtesy of Raytheon Polar
Services Company's Antarctic
Photo Library
That is the news here. Not much to do on a snowy day (except for in door
weather folks like me!) but curl up and have a hot chocolate and watch
the snow come down.
Cheers,
Matthew