These are the final batch of student questions and answers for this season. Some questions may have been paraphrased...
1. Why all the costumes for the New Years Party? Isn't that more of a Halloween thing?
Well, folks tend to dress up in costumes for all of the parties at the South Pole. I haven't been there for a Halloween Party yet, but I imagine it'll be similar. Basically folks at Pole work very hard, normal is a six day work week and typically more than eight hours per day in a harsh environment. So when it's time for a party, folks go all out. The bright, anime-like, wigs seem quite particular to Antarctic parties, not sure about their origin, but they were popular the first time I was on the ice, in McMurdo, in 2002 so it's not a new thing.
2. Who gets to go to Antarctic for these experiments?
Within the experimental groups, there are some folks who obviously want to go to Pole, and others who will do anything to avoid it. So you take the former group of people, trying to match skills to tasks that need to be done on the ice. Some people get into the habit of going each year, either their job really is tied to work on the ice, or they enjoy it. Most of the people at the South Pole aren't working on a specific scientific experiment, they're there to work at the station. They're hired by the contractor which runs the station, through this season it had been Raytheon Polar Services Corporation and in the future with be Lockheed Martin. These folks could be cooks, vehicle mechanics, heating repair people, dishwashers, computer network technicians, or a host of other jobs. The job gets them to the Pole.
3. Beards?
They are pretty common on guys in Antarctica, though you have to start off with "academics" and "rock-climbers" as the stereotypical groups of people headed down there, and beards are more common with those groups than with the average person. Then add into it, "keeping your rather delicate cheeks warms" and perhaps some level of "two two-minute showers per week" and beards seem more reasonable.
4. What's up with all of the weird rings and stuff around the sun?
A number of solar phenomena are much more common at the South Pole than they are elsewhere. In the same way in which rainbows, and double rainbows, are common in Hawaii, sundogs, solar pillars, and solar arcs are common at the Pole. These solar lighting phenomena are caused by light scattering from ice crystals that are relatively close to the viewer. At the Pole where "blowing ice crystals" is a common weather description, these light displays are also relatively common, though super-impressive. See Wikipedia (this article and links from this article) for more information.
5. If I wanted to go to Antarctica, what should I do?
There are basically four routes to the ice:
- Science: A few undergraduate students get to go to Antarctica on research projects, but by and large it's graduate students and more senior researchers. So to get there via this route requires dedication to a research topic that happens to involve work in Antarctica.
- Support: This one is easier, there is a job fair each year (Raytheon previously, Lockheed in the future) with jobs ranging from GA (general assistant, typically 18-20 year old with no particular work experience) through the skilled crafts (carpenters, HVAC, mechanics, computer help desk...) and through management (shop foreman, station manager...). A good fraction of people are primarily interested in Antarctica above and beyond the job particulars.
- Tourism: Yes, you can hop on a boat and see the Antarctic Peninsula (the part below South America, it's a lot warmer than the rest of the continent and has more wildlife on it), or book a flight through one of the adventure tourist shops and fly into the Pole. Or fly to sixty miles from the Pole and ski the rest of the way in. Or parachute out over the South Pole. It's not cheap, but plenty of folks are doing it.
- Exploration: You're not going to be first to ski in to the South Pole. But no one has bicycled to the Pole yet (oops, looks like it happened a couple of hours ago). Driving to the Pole (in a Toyota pickup) is a normal thing now, but no one has made it in a hovercraft or driving a 2CV or behind the wheel of an art car. Find a niche, find some sponsors, and don't forget to bring a satellite phone with you in case things go horribly wrong.
Showing posts with label NPX. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NPX. Show all posts
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Out of Antarctica
Well, I've been back in the States for well over a week, need to finish up my Antarctica blog postings a touch off of real-time. I'm going to blame the SOPA protests for the latest of these entries.
To fly away, we first caught a Herc from the South Pole up to McMurdo. The flight was a day late due to mechanical problems with another Herc the day before. In this shot we're just landed in McMurdo, and the plane is being onloaded. The ski-do will take away the pee jar from the plane.
Hours later, our next ride comes into town. A C-17 air force transport bringing people and gear into McMurdo, and will take us north to New Zealand by morning.
Good-sized crowd of folks waiting for the plane out. Including some people who had been expelled from the continent for bad behavior. Long story...
Cargo on our flight included this prop blade assembly for a Herc. There wasn't an obvious problem with it... And in the foreground some biological and water samples marked "do not freeze" and "keep refrigerated." They were...
Partway through the five hour, 35 degree F, airplane flight. Folks hiding and trying to sleep in their parkas. But green, warm, damp New Zealand awaits!
To fly away, we first caught a Herc from the South Pole up to McMurdo. The flight was a day late due to mechanical problems with another Herc the day before. In this shot we're just landed in McMurdo, and the plane is being onloaded. The ski-do will take away the pee jar from the plane.
Hours later, our next ride comes into town. A C-17 air force transport bringing people and gear into McMurdo, and will take us north to New Zealand by morning.
Good-sized crowd of folks waiting for the plane out. Including some people who had been expelled from the continent for bad behavior. Long story...
Cargo on our flight included this prop blade assembly for a Herc. There wasn't an obvious problem with it... And in the foreground some biological and water samples marked "do not freeze" and "keep refrigerated." They were...
Partway through the five hour, 35 degree F, airplane flight. Folks hiding and trying to sleep in their parkas. But green, warm, damp New Zealand awaits!
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
South Pole Departure
Well, our first flight attempt out of here was yesterday. The plane took off from McMurdo heading for Pole, turned around and landed. They had a cracked windshield, possibly caused by a bird strike on takeoff. Penguins don't fly, so that was probably a skua.
This morning the flight was canceled due to bad weather in McMurdo. But there's a new scheduled flight for dinner time tonight that might work!
Once I'm back to the land of reliable internet, will post pictures from the last few days. And answer the last batch of questions I got. Look for that soon!
I did want to link two excellent articles from the New York Times for the Amundsen 100th anniversary of the achievement of the Pole which also highlight the modern Antarctica. Article and editorial.
This morning the flight was canceled due to bad weather in McMurdo. But there's a new scheduled flight for dinner time tonight that might work!
Once I'm back to the land of reliable internet, will post pictures from the last few days. And answer the last batch of questions I got. Look for that soon!
I did want to link two excellent articles from the New York Times for the Amundsen 100th anniversary of the achievement of the Pole which also highlight the modern Antarctica. Article and editorial.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
January 1, 2012 at the South Pole
Every year on New Years there is the official "moving of the Pole." The ice sheet that the South Pole Station sits on moves about an inch per day, so at the end of the year it's about 10m (30ft) different. On New Years the official Pole marker is unveiled. Here the station manager (left, Bill) and NSF representative (right, Vladimir) are about to remove the red cloth...
There it is. The nicely machined brass Pole marker that will remain up for a year, and then go into the cabinet of old Pole markers in station.
Most of the folks on station showed up for the (very brief) ceremony. Basically thirty seconds of speech each by three people. Then photo ops...
Here's last year's Pole marker.
And a close up of this year's marker, making clear the 100th anniversary connection with the iconic image 100 years ago.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Work images from the last few days
Christian doing some antenna testing in the IceCube Lab. That's a bird-cage looking biconical antenna for our downhole vertical polarization measurements.
WiFi propagation testing out in the middle of what will be the ARA37 array. Beautiful solar effects here many days.
Drill camp coming down. Everything needs to be stored for next year, shipped back to the States, or disposed of. We made quite a mess in just a few weeks...
Testing of the downhole receiver strings...
...all of whose parts are sitting out on the IceCube Lab porch to cool off.
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Christma Dinner
Appetizers served in the hallway before the meal, excellent scallops and smoked trout, along with baked brie. Yum!
Festive Christmas cheer with tablecloths, a DVD of a (gas) fireplace, and everyone dressed up as well as they could. Clean Carhartts...
Beef Wellington, Lobster Tail, potatoes, and rolls. Good desserts too.
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Images of drilling
Drill running, this is the "backside" of the drill, snow melter at right, heaters in middle, and power unit and hot water tank (former dairy tank...) at left.
Advanced level winding hardware, a.k.a. chief driller Dennis Duling.
Snapshot of atmospheric phenomena during drilling. Just had a pocket camera with me and could see anything on its LCD display.
A peek over the wind break.
Kara the driller. "Why are driller helmets so small?"
Race around the world
For Christmas each year there is a scheduled race, it goes all the way around the world in about 2 miles. You can run it, walk it, ski it, or take a vehicle around, potentially with a float, and costumes are always apropos. The IceCube and ARA group took the IceCube chariot (looks like a Roman chariot) around for the race. It was built by IceCubers a couple of years ago and is darned impressive!
The pirate flag was a nice touch... The large orange flag is a marker flag from IceCube, marks the locations of the 86 IceCube holes, and is sort of a symbol for the project.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Near white-out conditions
On the way to and from the ARA1 site to pick up some equipment, this was the view out the window of the pisten bully. Navigating via one flag at a time and dead reckoning.
Wind gusts ripping through our deployment sled tent. Drifting as well around the buildings.
Went and checked on the wind turbines. All are working as designed.
Christian Miki in his natural environment, snow and ice/
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Ice Tunnels
Deep under the Station grounds, there are the mysterious and sometimes smelly ice tunnels. They're quite cold, being sort of the average year-round temperature down there. About -50 to -60C in fact. Tours are given of the tunnels on occasion. I'm using a mix of photos from last year and this year.
There are escape hatches up to the surface here and there. Only from the surface, seeing these hatches can you figure out how extensive the tunnels are. They reach across a good deal of the station operating area mostly carrying utilities.
Down in the tunnels, there are some shrines carved into the ice. A firefighter shrine.
The famous sturgeon shrine. It's a long story, but the fish came from a Russian team and was traded and ... and no one felt like eating it so it ended up frozen for all time in the tunnel.
It's so cold that bottles of alcohol freeze up as in this shrine.
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Around the station...
Snow machines. A good way of getting around to the ARA stations, drill camp, and out to the IceCube lab.
Power plant. Station runs with about 640kW power generation. Some of the science is electrically hungry. Waste heat from the power plant keeps the station warm.
Storage in one of the (semi-buried) arches.
The IceCube Chariot. Built from leftover bits of the cable reels and pallets. (This photo was from last year. Who knows if the chariot will appear this year...)
Quiet lounge/lending library in the Station.
Questions (and Answers): Part 2
7. What do penguins eat? What other animals do you see?
At McMurdo which is close to the ocean, once the ice breaks up, it is on the ocean, there are multiple types of penguins, primarily Adele Penguins, and Wendell Seals. There are also skuas which are sort of like large seagulls. They are extremely good at stealing food from people. If you are carrying open food, they could swing in and grab it. A popular McMurdo joke is to put some bread in someone else's hood. Hilarity ensues.
Penguins eat at sea, not on land. They eat small fish and crustaceans. One of their fish hunting strategies is to dive deep under floating ice and look for fish silhouetted against the ice above them.
At the South Pole, the only animals are people. Bringing any animal onto the continent is a violation of the Antarctic Treaty.
8. What is your tent like? How do you stay warm?
We stay in the South Pole Elevated Station. It's a large complex of labs, a galley, medical facility, private (very small) berths, and the previously mentioned recreation facilities. It's warm indoors, though my work is often located outside. We stay warm with the heavy gear mentioned in a previous answer. With all of the outdoor, cold activity the body can burn (a very accurate term in this case) a lot of food calories. The galley serves up four hearty meals each day. (In addition to the usual meals there's "midrats," midnight rations, for folks working night shift.
Camping out at the South Pole requires heavy gear, or some knowledge of how to use the snow and ice to your advantage as insulation. A class is taught, both at Pole and McMurdo, known to all as "Happy Camper School" in which you learn to use the long distance (HF) radios, start the cooking stoves to melt snow, cut trenches in the snow in which to sleep, and to build snow-block construction shelters.
9. What are neutrinos and why are they important?
Neutrinos are subatomic particles. Basically the universe is made up of protons, neutrons, and electrons. Nuclear reactions are when a neutron turns to a proton or vice versa. In those reactions, scientists noted about 70 years ago that there had to be something else emitted in order for energy and momentum to be conserved (conservation laws are among the most important handles we have on the universe, e.g., no matter what you do, the total amount of energy, charge, and other properties stay the same) there had to be another particle, not seen at the time, coming out of the reaction. That's the neutrino.
Since that time the neutrino has been observed, it reacts very rarely, meaning that detectors need to be large in order to have a good chance of seeing the particle. That makes it hard to do neutrino astronomy, but it also means that neutrinos get to us from anywhere in the universe. Light or other particles only reach us from relatively close by, farther away and the universe turns black, turns opaque, to the particles. But not to neutrinos, so we can look farther, and at higher energies at the whole universe with neutrinos. That's why they're important.
10. How many people are at the South Pole? What do they all do?
It's summertime now, the warmest time of the year, there are between 200 and 250 people at the US South Pole Station. There are flights in and out every few days and the population changes depending on what projects are ongoing. For the Amundsen Centennial, there were almost 100 visitors to the South Pole. There's no other permanent base here. During the winter, about 50 people stay at the South Pole Station. After the last flight in February those 50 people are stuck here until October. Six months of that in the dark! Not something I'd opt to do.
At McMurdo, during the summer there are up to 1100-1200 people there, and in the winter about 200 folks.
There are all sorts of work going on both at Pole and McMurdo, people work on the fuel systems (fuelies), haul, sort and manage cargo, cook the food, clean the dishes ("dining assistants"), drive the vehicles, staff the fire house and medical, do science, keep the heating working, shovel snow, etc. The vast majority of people in the Antarctic Program are in support roles, keeping the science going.
11. What are the differences between Icecube and ARA?
IceCube is fully built, completed last Antarctic Summer, uses the light emitted from neutrino interactions in the very clear, cold ice to observe the neutrinos. The science goals are focused on neutrinos from supernovae, from active galactic nuclei, and cosmic ray anisotropy. ARA is a new project, we're just starting construction, and will take advantage of the radio (rather than optical) emission from neutrino-induced showers (cascades) in the radio-transparent cold ice. The science focus is at higher energies than IceCube and looking at the close connection between very high energy cosmic rays and the neutrinos.
IceCube is an instrumented kilometer-cubed of ice with modules spaced 17m (60ft) apart vertically and strings spaced 125m (400ft) apart. ARA will cover an area of over 100 square kilometers and observe interactions down to the bottom of the 3000m (10,000ft) thick ice sheet.
12. What other projects and experiments are at the Pole?
There is a large microwave band telescope (SPT, South Pole Telescope) here that takes advantage of the lack of water vapor in the atmosphere above the Pole. Other telescopes at the Pole are a couple of different efforts to look at the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB); experiments called SPUD, BICEP, and VIPER. In different fields, there's a clean air lab that looks at some of the most pristine air on earth. (You can visit them and get a little jar of the cleanest air anywhere that you could use as a gift.) There's also a seismic sensor (SPRESSO) a few miles from the station, magnetometers monitoring the Earth's field, neutron monitors looking at charged particles from the Sun and the changing solar cycles, aurora cameras (for the winter dark sky), a meteorological observatory, and ice-coring and meteorite-hunting expeditions out in the field away from Pole.
At McMurdo which is close to the ocean, once the ice breaks up, it is on the ocean, there are multiple types of penguins, primarily Adele Penguins, and Wendell Seals. There are also skuas which are sort of like large seagulls. They are extremely good at stealing food from people. If you are carrying open food, they could swing in and grab it. A popular McMurdo joke is to put some bread in someone else's hood. Hilarity ensues.
Penguins eat at sea, not on land. They eat small fish and crustaceans. One of their fish hunting strategies is to dive deep under floating ice and look for fish silhouetted against the ice above them.
At the South Pole, the only animals are people. Bringing any animal onto the continent is a violation of the Antarctic Treaty.
8. What is your tent like? How do you stay warm?
We stay in the South Pole Elevated Station. It's a large complex of labs, a galley, medical facility, private (very small) berths, and the previously mentioned recreation facilities. It's warm indoors, though my work is often located outside. We stay warm with the heavy gear mentioned in a previous answer. With all of the outdoor, cold activity the body can burn (a very accurate term in this case) a lot of food calories. The galley serves up four hearty meals each day. (In addition to the usual meals there's "midrats," midnight rations, for folks working night shift.
Camping out at the South Pole requires heavy gear, or some knowledge of how to use the snow and ice to your advantage as insulation. A class is taught, both at Pole and McMurdo, known to all as "Happy Camper School" in which you learn to use the long distance (HF) radios, start the cooking stoves to melt snow, cut trenches in the snow in which to sleep, and to build snow-block construction shelters.
9. What are neutrinos and why are they important?
Neutrinos are subatomic particles. Basically the universe is made up of protons, neutrons, and electrons. Nuclear reactions are when a neutron turns to a proton or vice versa. In those reactions, scientists noted about 70 years ago that there had to be something else emitted in order for energy and momentum to be conserved (conservation laws are among the most important handles we have on the universe, e.g., no matter what you do, the total amount of energy, charge, and other properties stay the same) there had to be another particle, not seen at the time, coming out of the reaction. That's the neutrino.
Since that time the neutrino has been observed, it reacts very rarely, meaning that detectors need to be large in order to have a good chance of seeing the particle. That makes it hard to do neutrino astronomy, but it also means that neutrinos get to us from anywhere in the universe. Light or other particles only reach us from relatively close by, farther away and the universe turns black, turns opaque, to the particles. But not to neutrinos, so we can look farther, and at higher energies at the whole universe with neutrinos. That's why they're important.
10. How many people are at the South Pole? What do they all do?
It's summertime now, the warmest time of the year, there are between 200 and 250 people at the US South Pole Station. There are flights in and out every few days and the population changes depending on what projects are ongoing. For the Amundsen Centennial, there were almost 100 visitors to the South Pole. There's no other permanent base here. During the winter, about 50 people stay at the South Pole Station. After the last flight in February those 50 people are stuck here until October. Six months of that in the dark! Not something I'd opt to do.
At McMurdo, during the summer there are up to 1100-1200 people there, and in the winter about 200 folks.
There are all sorts of work going on both at Pole and McMurdo, people work on the fuel systems (fuelies), haul, sort and manage cargo, cook the food, clean the dishes ("dining assistants"), drive the vehicles, staff the fire house and medical, do science, keep the heating working, shovel snow, etc. The vast majority of people in the Antarctic Program are in support roles, keeping the science going.
11. What are the differences between Icecube and ARA?
IceCube is fully built, completed last Antarctic Summer, uses the light emitted from neutrino interactions in the very clear, cold ice to observe the neutrinos. The science goals are focused on neutrinos from supernovae, from active galactic nuclei, and cosmic ray anisotropy. ARA is a new project, we're just starting construction, and will take advantage of the radio (rather than optical) emission from neutrino-induced showers (cascades) in the radio-transparent cold ice. The science focus is at higher energies than IceCube and looking at the close connection between very high energy cosmic rays and the neutrinos.
IceCube is an instrumented kilometer-cubed of ice with modules spaced 17m (60ft) apart vertically and strings spaced 125m (400ft) apart. ARA will cover an area of over 100 square kilometers and observe interactions down to the bottom of the 3000m (10,000ft) thick ice sheet.
12. What other projects and experiments are at the Pole?
There is a large microwave band telescope (SPT, South Pole Telescope) here that takes advantage of the lack of water vapor in the atmosphere above the Pole. Other telescopes at the Pole are a couple of different efforts to look at the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB); experiments called SPUD, BICEP, and VIPER. In different fields, there's a clean air lab that looks at some of the most pristine air on earth. (You can visit them and get a little jar of the cleanest air anywhere that you could use as a gift.) There's also a seismic sensor (SPRESSO) a few miles from the station, magnetometers monitoring the Earth's field, neutron monitors looking at charged particles from the Sun and the changing solar cycles, aurora cameras (for the winter dark sky), a meteorological observatory, and ice-coring and meteorite-hunting expeditions out in the field away from Pole.
Friday, December 16, 2011
Questions (and Answers): Part 1
Here are answers to some of the questions I've received from back in the States. More forthcoming soon...
1. I know there are no polar bears in Antarctica. Why not though?
There are no large, land-based predators in Antarctica at all. I'm not an expert, but believe that it's basically because there are no land-based animals at all. The penguins do nest on shore, but must go into the water to feed, and there there are seals and killer whales (orcas) that fill the top level predator niche that the polar bear fills in northern lands. The Antarctic waters (Southern Ocean) are filled with sea life.
2. What do you wear outside? What did Amundsen wear?
If I'm only going to be outside for a short time, I wear wool socks, hiking boots, pants that are somewhat windproof, shirt, fleece jacket, gloves, sunglasses, and hat. Not too different from what I might wear outside in the winter back in the States. If I'm going to be outside longer, then one starts to think about three layers: an inner layer that allows moisture to escape (important if I'm working hard and sweating), insulation layer, and an outer, windproof, layer. So for a full day working outside, I wear polypropylene sock liners, wool socks, extreme cold weather (ECW) boots, polypropylene underwear, insulated & windproof overalls, fleece jacket, fleece neck gaiter, fleece hat, googles, two layers of gloves, and a big, heavy down coat. And we take little chemical heat packets to put in our gloves and boots if needed.
Amundsen studied what the Inuits, the folks who live in the far northern Arctic regions, wore. He went with reindeer skins as an outer layer, and then multiple woolen inner layers. He had felt boots that were stuffed with straw to absorb moisture. He understood those same three layers from outside to inside: windproof, insulation, and water-repelling.
3. How does your drill work?
We drill by using hot water to melt a column of the Antarctic ice down to the depth we're interested in. We have a large, insulated hot water tank, a snow melter, and a series of six diesel-fired water heaters to heat water. There's a long hose on a hose reel that feeds down the hole as it melts and at the end of the hose there is a set of nozzles that spray the hot water.
4. What do you do for fun at the Pole?
Well, in the station there is a gym with popular volleyball and basketball games. There is also a weight room, exercise room, musical practice room, arts and crafts room, movie room, game room, and some limited outdoor running and skiing. I brought a guitar with me, but I haven't had much time to practice or play with others. Been keeping busy with work. The work week here is six days per week, maybe nine or ten hours per day. At the moment our drillers are working twelve hour days with no days off.
There's an arts and crafts fair tomorrow, also I'm giving a science talk to everyone on the station tomorrow, and maybe people are keeping blogs or photo journals while they're here. Also, there are lots of interesting people to chat with here...
5. What is the military plane like? How did you get in the cockpit?
Loud. Earplugs are required or hearing damage could take place. I take big earmuffs so that I can slide my earphone from my mp3 player in under the earmuffs during the flight. The plane can also be cold, especially the smaller LC-130 (ski-equiped) Hercules planes we fly between McMurdo and the Pole. It's a cargo plane, so a lot of the space is taken up with pallets of cargo. That cargo could be food, vehicles, scientific equipment, or most anything else that is needed on Antarctica. I flew one time on a plane with a helicopter in the back. There are rows of paratrooper jump seats along the walls of the plane, you sit on strapping, and stick your carry-on bag under your seat. Sometimes on the larger C-17 (and the older C-141 and C-5 transport planes) they load pallets with old airline seats on them.
Often the pilots will announce that at some point in the flight, anyone can come up and take a look, but just a couple of people at a time. It used to be that commercial airliners would do that too, especially for children to let them take a look at the cockpit and out the windows. That isn't done any longer due to security concerns. On the military flights it's especially nice because the windows in back are few and pretty small. (See previous post for some photos.)
6. Why do you travel through New Zealand?
The main US base in Antarctica is McMurdo Base on Ross Island and that's more or less straight south of New Zealand. So it makes sense to fly (commercial airlines) down to Christchurch on the southern island of New Zealand, and then take the military flights south. All of the cargo and people (who often feel like they're treated as cargo also) for the US Antarctic Program travels that way for McMurdo and South Pole. There's also a US station called Palmer Base which is on the opposite side of the continent and there the logistics are done through Chile instead.
South Pole Station runs on New Zealand time while Palmer, and the tourists down here, run on Chilean time since that's where they came from back in the "civilized" world. At the South Pole, it doesn't matter much which time zone you pick, just need to be consistent.
1. I know there are no polar bears in Antarctica. Why not though?
There are no large, land-based predators in Antarctica at all. I'm not an expert, but believe that it's basically because there are no land-based animals at all. The penguins do nest on shore, but must go into the water to feed, and there there are seals and killer whales (orcas) that fill the top level predator niche that the polar bear fills in northern lands. The Antarctic waters (Southern Ocean) are filled with sea life.
2. What do you wear outside? What did Amundsen wear?
If I'm only going to be outside for a short time, I wear wool socks, hiking boots, pants that are somewhat windproof, shirt, fleece jacket, gloves, sunglasses, and hat. Not too different from what I might wear outside in the winter back in the States. If I'm going to be outside longer, then one starts to think about three layers: an inner layer that allows moisture to escape (important if I'm working hard and sweating), insulation layer, and an outer, windproof, layer. So for a full day working outside, I wear polypropylene sock liners, wool socks, extreme cold weather (ECW) boots, polypropylene underwear, insulated & windproof overalls, fleece jacket, fleece neck gaiter, fleece hat, googles, two layers of gloves, and a big, heavy down coat. And we take little chemical heat packets to put in our gloves and boots if needed.
Amundsen studied what the Inuits, the folks who live in the far northern Arctic regions, wore. He went with reindeer skins as an outer layer, and then multiple woolen inner layers. He had felt boots that were stuffed with straw to absorb moisture. He understood those same three layers from outside to inside: windproof, insulation, and water-repelling.
3. How does your drill work?
We drill by using hot water to melt a column of the Antarctic ice down to the depth we're interested in. We have a large, insulated hot water tank, a snow melter, and a series of six diesel-fired water heaters to heat water. There's a long hose on a hose reel that feeds down the hole as it melts and at the end of the hose there is a set of nozzles that spray the hot water.
4. What do you do for fun at the Pole?
Well, in the station there is a gym with popular volleyball and basketball games. There is also a weight room, exercise room, musical practice room, arts and crafts room, movie room, game room, and some limited outdoor running and skiing. I brought a guitar with me, but I haven't had much time to practice or play with others. Been keeping busy with work. The work week here is six days per week, maybe nine or ten hours per day. At the moment our drillers are working twelve hour days with no days off.
There's an arts and crafts fair tomorrow, also I'm giving a science talk to everyone on the station tomorrow, and maybe people are keeping blogs or photo journals while they're here. Also, there are lots of interesting people to chat with here...
5. What is the military plane like? How did you get in the cockpit?
Loud. Earplugs are required or hearing damage could take place. I take big earmuffs so that I can slide my earphone from my mp3 player in under the earmuffs during the flight. The plane can also be cold, especially the smaller LC-130 (ski-equiped) Hercules planes we fly between McMurdo and the Pole. It's a cargo plane, so a lot of the space is taken up with pallets of cargo. That cargo could be food, vehicles, scientific equipment, or most anything else that is needed on Antarctica. I flew one time on a plane with a helicopter in the back. There are rows of paratrooper jump seats along the walls of the plane, you sit on strapping, and stick your carry-on bag under your seat. Sometimes on the larger C-17 (and the older C-141 and C-5 transport planes) they load pallets with old airline seats on them.
Often the pilots will announce that at some point in the flight, anyone can come up and take a look, but just a couple of people at a time. It used to be that commercial airliners would do that too, especially for children to let them take a look at the cockpit and out the windows. That isn't done any longer due to security concerns. On the military flights it's especially nice because the windows in back are few and pretty small. (See previous post for some photos.)
6. Why do you travel through New Zealand?
The main US base in Antarctica is McMurdo Base on Ross Island and that's more or less straight south of New Zealand. So it makes sense to fly (commercial airlines) down to Christchurch on the southern island of New Zealand, and then take the military flights south. All of the cargo and people (who often feel like they're treated as cargo also) for the US Antarctic Program travels that way for McMurdo and South Pole. There's also a US station called Palmer Base which is on the opposite side of the continent and there the logistics are done through Chile instead.
South Pole Station runs on New Zealand time while Palmer, and the tourists down here, run on Chilean time since that's where they came from back in the "civilized" world. At the South Pole, it doesn't matter much which time zone you pick, just need to be consistent.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
The varied fortunes of drilling
Hot water drilling in Antarctica is a tricky business. First, let's start with the obvious, we need to use a liquid that will freeze immediately if exposed to the environment. If the heaters stop, the plumbing freezes and breaks. If you need to walk away from the drill, it needs to have the water all pumped out and replaced with glycol. Glycol is our antifreeze friend in the drill, but not to be spilled and violate the Antarctic Treaty.
This past week has been a roller coaster ride following the drill progress. First things were moving slowly, the heaters weren't behaving themselves, sensors were clogging, and pumps were stalling. Then things began to look up, full speed ahead for drilling a 200m (660ft) full hole like we need for the science instrumentation. Right near 200m on Wednesday, a large leak took place on the hose reel, as that was being dealt with, the drill head froze into the hole and could not be extracted even with silly huge applications of force. The hose was finally cut and the drill head left in the ice for possible extraction at a future date.
Thursday morning and the drill was repaired, and a new drill head installed. In the afternoon the drilling gentlemen went down to 70m (230ft), decided that was deep enough for a long day, and then pumped the hole dry. In the course of pumping they discovered that the pump control console needed to be completely rewired. So it was, and the pumping continued.
Friday morning the drill, all mounted on a series of sleds, was pulled away from the test area and delivered to the ARA1 site where the actual drilling is to be done. When I was last there (updates tomorrow) they were at 110m (360ft) heading downwards at 2/3 m/minute (2ft per minute) with a plan to pump it dry later in the day. The drillers are in 24 hour operation, so that means 12 hours on, outside working hard at -32C (-25F, easy to remember -40C = -40F), on their feet, with some food delivered in the middle of the day. Then the next shift takes over.
This past week has been a roller coaster ride following the drill progress. First things were moving slowly, the heaters weren't behaving themselves, sensors were clogging, and pumps were stalling. Then things began to look up, full speed ahead for drilling a 200m (660ft) full hole like we need for the science instrumentation. Right near 200m on Wednesday, a large leak took place on the hose reel, as that was being dealt with, the drill head froze into the hole and could not be extracted even with silly huge applications of force. The hose was finally cut and the drill head left in the ice for possible extraction at a future date.
Thursday morning and the drill was repaired, and a new drill head installed. In the afternoon the drilling gentlemen went down to 70m (230ft), decided that was deep enough for a long day, and then pumped the hole dry. In the course of pumping they discovered that the pump control console needed to be completely rewired. So it was, and the pumping continued.
Friday morning the drill, all mounted on a series of sleds, was pulled away from the test area and delivered to the ARA1 site where the actual drilling is to be done. When I was last there (updates tomorrow) they were at 110m (360ft) heading downwards at 2/3 m/minute (2ft per minute) with a plan to pump it dry later in the day. The drillers are in 24 hour operation, so that means 12 hours on, outside working hard at -32C (-25F, easy to remember -40C = -40F), on their feet, with some food delivered in the middle of the day. Then the next shift takes over.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Busy Amundsen Day at the South Pole
Skiers are coming in, and there are 93 tourists staying out at the tent camps north and south of the station. Later today, at 4PM local time, there will be the unveiling of an ice Amundsen bust and some words by the Norwegian Prime Minister (who toured the science experiments at Pole yesterday on skis). After dinner I've been invited to a reception for the PM.
The actual anniversary is at 4AM tomorrow morning. Not sure what will happen then, but I do plan to check it out. Only happens every 100 years...
Right now I have to get on my warm layers (my ECW, extreme cold weather, gear) and go out and supervise some trenching for the ARA experiment. Hope to make it back for the ceremony!
The actual anniversary is at 4AM tomorrow morning. Not sure what will happen then, but I do plan to check it out. Only happens every 100 years...
Right now I have to get on my warm layers (my ECW, extreme cold weather, gear) and go out and supervise some trenching for the ARA experiment. Hope to make it back for the ceremony!
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Some drill photos for your amusement
Drill hose in the foreground, heaters in the middle, and the insulated water storage tank in the background.
Diesel heaters being worked on. Air temperature is -30C or so.
Water tank plumbing. Think about how to keep water plumbing from freezing at these temperatures. Warm glycol or warm water only to keep it from freezing.
The heaters with their exhaust stacks.
Heater firing up, smoke and flames everywhere.
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