 25th
January 1994
From
Michael Burton.....
Well
here I am at the Pole. I haven't been able to check my email
for a couple of days, so if there's anything of importance in
it you should resend on.
Left
Christchurch on Sunday at 11:30 am and arrived at McMurdo
7.5 hours later. Clouds most of the way until we entered McMurdo
Sound, where the view (out of one of the few portholes) was
spectacular. We flew low over the ice pack, and could see
bergs, sea ice, breaking ice, mountains etc etc. But the flight
itself is no picnic. Noisy and you have to wear earplugs and
can't really strike up a conversation unless you shout.
McMurdo
was about 3 or 4 below with a light breeze. The runway is
on the ice about 10km from Base, so you take a bumpy ride
in one of the many oversize transporter-minibuses they have.
Arrived too late for dinner, and then learnt we were heading
to Pole first flight the next day (ie today, Mon). So it was
check your bags in at 10:30pm, sleep with your hand carry
items, get up for a morning briefing on life in McMurdo and
run for the departure bus to get you straight out of McMurdo!
All under military discipline. Miss your briefing or break
that rule, and you can be on the next flight home!
Pole
flight is about 3 hours, again mostly through cloud flying
along the Trans-Antarctic mountains, and only seeing the tops
of a few peaks poking out. We finally must have cleared the
cloud over the Plateau, but to tell the truth I couldn't really
tell the difference between Plateau and cloud by looking out
the window. The Polar Plateau is so vast and featureless,
and of course completely white, that I wasn't sure whether
I was looking at cloud or snow! There certainly is some sort
of transcendental experience standing out on the Plateau and
seeing that endless, featureless horizon under a clear blue
sky. However I'll spare you any attempts at poetry; it is
something that really can't be described, just experienced.
Pole
is sunny, clear blue skies (and has been so for at least 3
weeks) - if it stays like this it will certainly be a great
site. Temperature about -33C now and dropping 1 or 2 degrees
a day, and light wind. Itis in fact quite pleasant standing
outside, as long as you are all wrapped up.
I
did see Jamie, just. He was flying out an hour and a half
after I landed, and he had to push hard to get himself to
stay this long. He has been working hard with John Briggs,
and I must say near to exhaustion. Things are pretty good,
though there are problems which doubtless we will be communicating
on. The most serious is at 5:30am this morning the stepper
motor module for the aperture drive blew again, and is currently
out of order. John Briggs thinks he knows what to do to replace
it - John seems fairly confident about the hardware side of
things. Jamie has some theory, after talking to some of the
hardware people, that its to do with charge building up and
discharging once the motor moves, and thinks it may be fixed
by placing a capacitor in the circuit. He has left a diagram
for John to show him where to add it (once John finds a capacitor!).
I'm not so sure this will prove to be the problem, and wondered
if you might have any comments before John does something?
Currently
I am taking the rest of the day easy to acclimatize, and John
Briggs wants half a day break himself to catch up with rest,
so I wont be going over to look at IRPS till tomorrow midday
(well I have actually been to the CARA building and seen that
IRPS is there; also that's it chaos there with about 4 groups
working simultaneously - I gather Jamie even had people working
above him as he crouched over the PC yesterday!). Jamie has
left instructions as to what to do with the Seagate drive.
IRPS is cool and has been for some time. The inner is cold
(solid) and has been so for 2 days (without pumping). So the
vacuum seems to be holding. IRPS hasn't been outside, but
a mounting has been made on the roof (I haven't checked this
yet) which is apparently stable and solid (apart from the
fact that the whole building shakes badly when someone climbs
up the stairs to get on the roof). Jamie has verified that
the detector sees flux inside, but hasn't got as far as taking
data or getting a CVF scan. One of my tasks is to calibrate
the CVF - but there are plenty of Hg fluorescent lights around.
But Jamie says that the motors are not slipping. I certainly
hope so! The cables to the roof also seem to be in order.
As
for Rodney's expt; well space has been negotiated for it (this
is quite a delicate matter I gather), and the equipment as
been moved to the right building, and John Briggs has checked
that the computer fires up. But nothing else has been done.
It is on the opposite side of the geodesic dome, and probably
10-15 min walk, so you cant just dash between the IRPS and
the microthermals I'm afraid.
The
Pole ethernet is up and running I'm told though I haven't
spoken to the computer gurus to ascertain details. John B
wasn't sure for instance if the IRPS was on the ethernet yet,
for instance, but you can communicate between Pole geodesic
dome and the CARA building via optical fibres. The real-time
internet access to the world is not up yet. I believe the
COMMS people can do it, but they are not ready to to give
it to the rest of us yet.
However
it is possible to make phone patches using the satellite link.
I think we can do this most days (and at weekends even make
personal calls); we get a direct line to Florida and then
make a reverse charges call from there. We should probably
consider doing this once I've got going. I will check on details
as to how to patch it up (I may not, for instance, be able
to be right by the IRPS while I'm doing it). The times will
likely be between 10pm and 3am here (NZ time; so that's 8pm
to 1am for you, I think). We have the satellite for about
5 hours a day.
26th January
1994
From
Michael Burton.....
Day
3 now at the Pole and I am starting to find my way around,
though things are still a little slow. The weather's holding
at about 33 below with winds from the (grid) NE (ie Dome A)
of 5-10 knots, as it always does. It's clouded up unfortunately;
there had been about three weeks of clear skies before I arrived.
However its all light cloud - cirrus or some of it various
alternates (I'm sure the weather guys could give me the exact
names).
We
haven't done much with the IRPS so far - mainly becuase its
been hard to get too. There have been at least 4 different
teams working in the Astro building, including some builders
who were working directly above the IRPS most of yesterday.
However last night we looked like we tracked down the problem
which has plagued the stepper motor module for the aperture
drive - a broken connection in one of the cables. John Briggs
hopes to rewire a number of connectors today, and then I can
get down to seeing if I can drive anything on the IRPS.
By
the way the gold mirror has been left exposed to the elements
for at least a week so far, with no signs of deterioation.
No-one bothers to put mirro covers on down here!
Communications
are improving - the Pole local ethernet seemed to get established
yesterday - I managed to get a message from one of the SPIREX
macs to the main Pole Vax ('Walnut') yesterday, and I'll see
if I can do the same with the PC today. So we might yet get
MCBA's socket connections going to talk from a Sun to the
IRPS computer. Still not sure about the real time internet
access.
The
Astro building is a warren of activity. 4 SPIREX guys are
working on getting their 60cm telescope going on the roof,
and yesterday after a week of effort finally seem to have
it pointing and tracking. I saw the alpha Crux double (Southern
Cross brightest star) clearly through the eyepiece - high
up near the zenith. It finally convinced me I was at the Pole
(being a doubter and not accepting the Sun remaining at constant
zenith angle as evidence enough!). Then the CMBR has another
4 working on their antennae, lying shielded on the Ice, with
two dewars. The Astro people seem to have left - they dont
have their telescope down here this year, but did have a big
team at work. Then there are some other isolated experiments.
One person has a airglow experiment going, but I haven't been
able to ascertain details yet (its not part of CARA, but is
on the roof right next to where the IRPS is going). And finally
there is an 'amateur' telescope here, courtesey of Bill Alvona,
one of those tinekerer-engineer geniuses who build everything
themselves in their sheds. Its a 15cm Alt-Az telescope which
you operate while sitting in a heated box attached to it.
He built it to keep warm while star gazing in Minnesota, but
its just what John Briggs wants to look at the stars in comfort
during the winter! You could attach a CCD camera to it quite
easily too, and he intends to do this to try and get some
direct seeing measurments. In fact we might be able to fix
the IRPS to it - though the f-ratio is not quite right (f/10).
It's been the biggest hit out here so far!
Living
is comfortable but basic. Sleeping quarters are in 'Jamesways',
miltary style semi-cylindrical buildings, which we each have
a cubicle in. About 5min walk from the Dome. But surprisngly
comfortable and warm. Hardest bit is going to the loo in the
middle of the 'night' (which my body seems to want to do quite
often - I'm feeling the same kind of symptons you experience
on Mauna Kea). You throw on your jacket and dash the 30s to
the washrooms over the ice in the blazing sun-shine. If you
are out for less than 30s you don't notice the cold, but some
people have a longer walk to make and must get fully dressed
each time. Winteroverers live in the dome with attached facilities,
those of you who are contemplating it.....
Well
I should get back to work (or should I say start it). Its
2pm and I've only just had lunch at breakfast - I'm already
out of sync - but them most people here are. Some seem to
go 2-3 days without sleeping, then sleep for 18 hours. Everyone
is different. The only ones who are half sane are the construction
workers.
27th January
1994
From
Michael Burton.....
A
miserable day at the Pole. The weather has been steadily deteriorating
over the past couple of days. Now the mist is down, and we
have one of those dreaded ice-drizzles where the lowest part
of the atmosphere has a constant rain of ice particles. Visibility
about half a km. And its blowing a bit, 20 knots. However
this all causes the temperature to rise and its up to -27C.,
the warmest since I've been here. Makes for a wind chill of
-55C however, and you certainly notice that if you expose
your skin. I was trying to shoot some video film as I walked
to base this morning from summer camp (where I sleep), and
if you ever see the clip I think you'll notice that the cameraman
was shaking!
Some
other reflective comments; I haven't noticed static buildup
to be a major concern and can only remember a discharge once.
Certainly you don't get anywhere near as many static shocks
as on Mauna Kea. And you can touch bare metal with your hands
without burning. OK, I wouldn't want to hold on for long,
but quick operations liking opening a door, or picking up
a bolt are OK. I think because its so dry there is no moisture
to stick and burn to the metal.
Yesterday
John Briggs made some progress on repairing the wires to the
stepper motor module for the aperture drive, while I looked
into Rodney's microthermal experiment. That latter one has
half a desk in the Clean Air building in a room conveniently
built with some small holes punched in the walls! (So I can
stick cables out.) It looks towards the 20m mast we intend
to install the sensors on. There are stairs up the mast so
climbing it is not going to be so much of a Polar adventure
as I first thought! I guess I can describe the situation as
nominal to coin NASA jargon; we have some problems to sort
out but it all looks to be in hand. I hope to try driving
the IRPS motors todays from the computer once John has everything
back in place.
The
roof to the ASTRO building is now very crowded with four experiments
up there. SPIREX, an airglow monitor, Bill Volna's 15cm (with
cosy operating cabin), plus the IRPS. I'm hoping our views
are not going to be impeded! Its a good thing the ASTRO people
aren't actually running their experiment this year - there
is no room in their building for them. CMBR is also using
the building, though their antenna is next door, and the AMANDA
people (the neutrino detectors) seem to be using the half
complete CARA building plus some tents as they drill holes
deep into the ice to drop their detectors into. The GASP telescope
(gamma rays) sits near to the Dome, but is covered up right
now, and SPASE (the cosmic ray air shower array) (plus Union
Jack) sits in little boxes near to the Clean Air building.
It certainly shows there's a lot of activity going on in astronomy
in Antarctica right now!
28th January
1994
From
Michael Burton.....
Weather
continues to be miserable, indeed worse. I guess there is
no site in the world which is always perfect. The ice-drizzle,
blowing-snow is worse, and visibility can't be more than 300m
at present. It does bring warmer weather with it though; we've
reached -26 right now. Wind is a steady 15 knots at the moment,
and always coming from the same quadrant, towards Dome A.
The old-timers, however, say that late Jan - Feb is the worst
time of the year for weather, as winter time starts to approach
and the temp steadily drops.
Flights
only just got in yesterday, and I'm not sure whether they
will today. Yesterday we were heading out to the Astro building
in the Cat at about the time of the first flight (there seem
to be two a day) - Astro is set across the runway, when the
flashing light came on telling us not to proceed - ie a plane
was coming. We got out to watch, sheltering in the lee of
the Cat, when suddenly a plane appeared out of the mist. It
circled once and disappeared. A few minutes later it reappeared
this time on the right approach to the iceway, but about 50m
above it. A practice approach to see if they'd got the line
right. Finally on the third time they came in and landed.
This flight was cargo-only; I think with people in the back
they would have turned around and headed back to Mactown.
I'm
close to having adjusted to the conditions; I am sleeping
reasonably now and not having to get up in the middle of the
'night' anymore. I seem to have established some kind of inner
body schedule which is close to having a 24 hour period, but
I get to sleep 2am is and wake in time for lunch. I will probably
never see breakfast here! However I can report that the meals
are indeed good at Pole.
The
experiments are progressing as well as expected - though Michael
Ashley and Rodney Marks are being subjected to continuous
streams of questions. I often have just worked out the answer
24 hours later when the reply comes back, but by then have
sent another stream of Qs. I think we have fixed the problem
of stepper modules blowing up from short-circuits with John
having scrounged some fuses and and fitting them in series
with each module. I hope we are going to turn some motors
with the computer today! I've also found out most of the info
I think I need to set up the ethernet connections, so we may
yet be able to control the IRPS via email. The South Pole
ethernet is in a state of flux, and it has only been in the
past couple of days that it has been even possible to connect
to the Dome from any outlying buildings. No further news on
the real-time internet access yet, though. I took my first
data too yesterday, noise measurements with the microthermal
experiment. So not desperately exciting, but it is the first
data we've obtained in Antarctica. I'm waiting for Rodney
to tell me if the numbers are OK!
29th January
1994
From
Michael Burton.....
Well
the weather's kept up its show, apart from a brief interlude
where it all cleared up and the sun shined in a blue sky for
a couple of hours. Visibility got down to 300-400m at times,
the the trek across to the Astro building felt a bit like
a real Antarctic expedition. But I think it does us good to
have to wander out in these conditions at times - reminds
us of exactly where we are. You can really be a bystander
to the environment here if you work in the Dome and always
take the Cats when out on the ice. To tell the truth the gear
we've got is so good that you really only feel the chill around
the mouth and nose. No planes arrived today. This weather
would be no problem however for our balloon-borne telescope.............
A
good day work-wise though; the IRPS was put back together
and the motors turned! Some minor panics when I couldn't initially
calibrate one wheel, and with the other slipping. But a simple
offset in the software fixed one, and tightening a screw the
other. Our major concern is of things overheating! The heaters
that Michael's installed really do their job, and in the lab
we seemed to be getting into danger of melting the solder!
We pumped on the vacuum for the first time in over two weeks,
but its held really well, and we are hopeful we might not
need to pump all winter. The molecular sieve (the 'getter'
as the Yanks call it) is really doing its job. I played around
with the detector in the lab, and it seems to work, and I
took some CVF spectra. The most frustrating thing is that
there is a minor software bug that is preventing me from graphing
the results properly, so I haven't seen what I've got so far,
just imagined it from the numbers!
We
have now to pump the inner to solid N2, adjust the Fet Balance
and flash the detector - and then it can go outside on the
roof. I'm hopeful we'll get around to that either today or
tomorrow.
Incidentally
the gold mirror we're using to reflect radiation into the
dewar has now been outside on the roof, unprotected, for about
3 weeks, with absolutely no sign of deteriation or contamination.
Even in the ice-drizzle we've had the past couple of days,
nothing sticks to the surface of the mirror; it's simply too
dry here. CARA have done some expts leaving out mirrors all
winter and found the same, so that will make life easier in
some respects.
The
weekend is the time we can make personal telephone calls,
for the 5 hours or so when the GOES satellite is visible.
It's imperative to be in the line to sign up early when the
list goes up, otherwise you get stuck with the most undesirable
times. I didn't know this vital bit of information, and am
stuck with the 4am slot for my calls! You're expected to have
an AT&T card to charge to as well, so my family is going
to be paying for reverse charge calls from the States!
Michael
Addendum from Michael Ashley:
The heaters I installed regulate the temperature to +5C, unless
the dewar is inside in a cosy +20C environment, in which case
the stepper motor power is sufficient to raise the temperature
to +60C, which is about 100 degrees too cold to melt solder
:-)
30th January
1994
From
Michael Burton.....
Its
Sunday in Antarctica, a rest day around here. Well for all
except us beaker-types who never find an excuse to stop work!
Though I didn't wake up till 2pm myself today.......
Even
the cooks take the day off on Sunday and we will have volunteer-chefs
for tonights meal. Who knows what that will bring? Saturday
brought traditional American fare - burger and chips for lunch
and pizza for dinner; that seems to be a South Pole tradition
too.
Managed
my phone patch home this morning - a highly orchestrated business
whereby the computer telephones the operator in Florida via
the satellite - radio link, and then connects you up. It confused
my parents to be asked if they'd take a reverse charges call
from Miami when they were expecting me elsewhere! A regulated
10 min then the computer cuts you off and the next person
in the queue gets their turn. The other way of communicating
is via ham-patch through the radio network - at the right
time of day and in the right bands you can make connections
around the world, and it appears there are hams back in the
States who live for nothing more than making contact with
the Pole, then making a reverse-charge call to whoever you
want talk to!
The
weather has relented and the Sun is out again. Still a few
cirrus clouds, but its nice to see blue sky. Temperature has
dropped to -32 though, but the winds are light and it really
is quite pleasant going for a walk in these conditions. You
don't notice the cold at all! However there are no more flights
into the Pole until Thursday. Then we have 4 flights a day
for 5 days! Re-stocking for the winter; the supply ship is
now in McMurdo and frantic activity is going on unloading.
Apparently it takes a week to do so, and then Mactown send
the supplies out to wherever there are winter-overers.
An
unfortunate piece of news I heard was relating the Vostok.
After much effort funds were found to keep the base going,
but alas the supply train that was re-stocking the base (its
done by overland traverse) had so many break down this year
that not enough goods arrived at Vostok to keep it open for
the winter. So its being closed down, presumably the Americans
are helping evacuating it, and they hope to re-open next summer.
But that will be one hell of a job.
Good
progress continues with our expts; though we probably could
be further forward than we are. But it pays to do things slowly
down here. Though we haven't actually optimised the noise
on the detector we are getting nice spectra in the lab, looking
essentially like what we saw at SSO. We intend to put a new
disk drive in today with mcba's latest fancy software, and
then I hope we're ready to go out on the roof. The Spirex
team have now placed Grim (their version of IRIS) on the telescope,
and are now chasing down sources of noise. It'll be a race
to see who get the first IR spectrum! Spirex really is a pretty
complex beast, and if it works it will be great, though somehow
I expect that will be hard to achieve without the support
crew here this winter. But a lot is being learnt, and it is
clearly only a matter of time before success will be achieved.
I haven't been spending too much time with the microthermals
so far; the tyranny of distance between the Clean Air and
Astro buildings. But the noise readings I am getting so far
are all to specs. Rodney now hopes to get his kite experiment
to us, so were rushing around trying to order a kite from
a Christchurch supplier so that John Briggs can fly it during
the long winter night! There is a supplier in Christchurch
who specialises in sending kites to Antarctica - apparently
its a popular activity at Mactown!
1st February
1994
From
Michael Burton.....
It's
been a few days since my last report. Time has flown and I
have lost track of it as well. Certainly my body clock isn't
on a 24 hour day; it must be closer to a 26 hour schedule,
and its a bit hazy thinking back on what has actually happened.
Such confusion is quite normal down here! So what has happened?
Firstly
the weather has behaved again; that means deep blue skies
and no clouds, accompanied by a drop in temperature. We're
down to -37 degrees now, and you do notice the difference.
A couple of days ago I was working outside at around -30 in
the lee of the Clean Air building for about half an hour.
I had the sun shining on me and idn't even bother wearing
hat, coat or gloves. Last night I was standing out on top
of the Astro building for 5 min, fully clad apart from my
right hand which I was using to take piccies. I damm near
got frost bite and the fingers still tingle now. Its the wind
that is the killer. When its blowing you really can feel cold!
The
momentuous news is that we now have a working instrument and
have our first data of the IR sky above the Pole in summer!
All the bits to IRPS finally went together, and we took the
instrument out onto the roof yesterday and connected it all
up, and lo and behold our first data came in! Of course we
are dominated by scattered sunlight at the moment, but you
can certainly see the drop in the thermal emission at the
long wavelength end of K, even on top of the sunlight. In
contrast at SSO a daylight spectrum shows the flux to being
up at the long end of K; our spectrum at the Pole is still
falling. It is well and truly cold here! We even seem to have
got the computer communications going and can run IRPS via
email, sending special messages to an IRPS account we have
set up on the Vax. We even hope we may be able to get data
back this way, but there are a few hurdles to overcome there.
There are of course a few worries, and Michael Ashley continues
to get long emails of questions, and I am still not entirely
happy with the way the instrument noise is behaving, but we
certainly seem to have some nice spectra at the moment. I
hope to try catching the moon later today, at around 4am and
seeing if we can see a blip in the signal above the sky level.
The
other big news is that Spirex has taken first light; ie the
first IR image to be taken at the South Pole. Of alpha Crux
- that nice double in the Southern Cross. The Spirex team
are still working extremely hard and have a number of bugs
to iron out, but they certainly are able to take data. Indeed
the raw images look very similar to IRIS ones. Perhaps not
too surprising since the instrument is very similar and has
the same kind of array. They are keeping the instrument warm
by placing it in a box and surrounding by heating tape to
avoid worrying about winterising the instrument.
So
it's all action at the Pole!
2nd February
1994
From
Michael Burton.....
The
days are starting to become a blur here now. It's hard to
remember even what I was doing today, let alone a couple of
days ago. Partly a result of days indeed having no meaning
down here, but also of being totally wrapped up in getting
your experiments going. A strange existence, and I'm only
doing it for a couple of weeks. What must it be like for the
winter-overers?!
We
have had some problems balancing the detector for the IRPS
at low or zero flux levels, but I think its really just a
matter of patience when you run the program up. Other than
that the IRPS seems to be behaving as predicted and can take
data. John Briggs spent some time playing with it yesterday
getting the feel of how the software works. We missed the
Moon though - a matter of not having got our geography right!
We will try again tonight and start a bit earlier. It was
quite noticeable, however, seeing how the flux changes from
zenith to horizon. I was working at 3.8um (L) to minimise
the sunlight, but for instance going from zenith to 60 degrees
the flux increases by a factor of about 70%, then from 60
degrees to the horizon by a factor of 5 times. The trouble
for us is that the Moon is only 10 degrees above the horizon
so we have a strong varying background problem to deal with.
However our measurements did seem repeatable on short timescales
as we scanned from zenith to horizon.
I
spent some time messing with the microthermal experiments
and confusing myself. Doubtless Rodney will come to my rescue,
but the time delay of around 48 hours between indentifying
problem, sending off help cry and receiving answer is making
things a bit slow. O for the real time internet. This will
be available soon, we're promised, for around 5 hours a day.
It may even be possible to get an aging NOAA satellite for
another 7-8 hours at hundred-K baud rates soon, if NOAA can
be persuaded to turn off a weather fax line on it which no-one
now uses. These satellites can be picked up virtually as they
cross the horizon, so its looking promising for the future
of Antarctic communication, wherever we might want to end
up. And the Pole is certainly the hardest place to reach!
The
weather (thought you'd never ask!): 38 below, beautiful clear
blue skies, pressure 686mb (this never seems to change) and
winds from the E (grid!) at 8 knots.
3rd February
1994
From
Michael Burton.....
Another
day of astronomy action at the Pole. The IRPS saw its first
astronomical source, the Moon! We scanned up and down from
zenith to horizon while waiting for the Moon to transit our
scan, and sure enough a strong signal appeared for about 15
minutes in the 4 degrees around declination -13 (ie 13 degrees
above the horizon). We had to observe at L because there is
simply to much scattered sunlight at shorter wavelengths -
we saturate the detector. Even at L there is a 10 fold increase
in sky brightness from zenith to horizon, so there is a strongly
varying background to contend with, but the Moon came in at
about 4 times the local background, so there was no doubting
it. A few panics occurred while doing the scans; as the Sun
moved round we would get occasional reflections off pieces
of metal onto our mirror, and the signal would shoot up. But
only when we were pointing near the zenith! I guess we haven't
really though about baffling our dewar against sunlight; astronomers
aren't usually accustomed to thinking about such considerations!
The
most confusing thing about our observations was trying to
predict the time. On the vax here there is a program which
gives you the Moon's declination and azimuth, but when trying
to convert this into a time to observe I'm convinced the program
not only has grid north and south the wrong way around, but
measures angles north through west rather than east! Maybe
the programmer thought they were at the North Pole!?
We
also tried hitting Jupiter, about 45 min later than the Moon,
but no luck. However that really isn't surprising given that
we have a 2mm aperture looking out into perhaps the brightest
background you will find on the Planet right now! Incidentally
realising this last point has solved our last major problem,
the fet-balancing of the detector. We were worried we were
still getting excess and variable noise levels on the detector.
In one experiment I noticed that the noise seemed to be dependent
on the elevation angle of our mirror, something which is clearly
impossible! We are getting flux into the dewar, and there
is so much radiation if you are pointing to the horizon (as
we often did as its easier to check on positions of filter
wheels etc). So the secret is to point to zenith, put in the
CVF to the long end of the K window and the noise drops to
the right levels! It won't be a problem in the winter, but
I guess the designers of the IRPS didn't envisage it being
used in our current conditions!
Time
is starting to run out for me now, and I'm having to get going
with the microthermal experiment in earnest. I seem to have
got the calibrations done for that, and now come the fun part
of tying all the cables up the mast! There are still things
to do with the IRPS and mcba keeps sending new software patches
and coming up with ideas of how to improve things, but I'll
probably have to put them on low priority if I'm to get things
finished!
I
even took time out to write a few postcards! Its important
to get a South Pole postmark, rather than a McMurdo one! The
weather is still holding up, and the temperature keeps dropping.
-39 right now. Soon it will be that magical number -40 and
I'll stop having to always tell my American colleagues the
units I'm using when discussing the weather!
4th February
1994
From
Michael Burton.....
It's
minus 39.6 as I type and we're heading towards that magic
figure of 40 below where life starts to become uncomfortable.
I'm told you can make instant snow at 40 below by going outside
with a cup of hot water and throwing it into the air; as the
water comes down it condenses into snow flakes! Something
I will now try!
It
is definitely getting towards end of season here now; a fleet
re-supply planes are coming in over the few days, and PAX
(Antarctic jargon for passengers) are being allowed to leave.
I'm due out myself on Monday, which by my calcs is the 7th
(though maybe one of you could confirm that for me!).
JB
and I spent the day on the microthermals now that the IRPS
is basically working, deferring mcba's long list of questions
and tests. I had made a few errors in the setting up of the
microthermals but fortunately Rodney's rescue message came
just in the nick of time to set us on the right path. The
calibrations are now done and we are starting on the fun task
of assembling the supports on the Clean Air tower. The tower
is a little rickety to climb and I must admit to feeling a
little queazy when on top and looking down, but JB seemed
to love it! He put the first support in right at the top just
for kicks! We should finish it all today, assumed no hitches
develop. Some good photo opportunities await for 'hero shots'.
News
just in - the CMBR people have just confirmed the anisotropy
they measured here in the background last year, and are now
set to build on that results this winter. Science starts to
unfold around us......
5th February
1994
From
Michael Burton.....
What
a night! What a night! Todays activities for JB and myself
were dominated by one thing; connecting the sensors and cables
for the microthermal experiment to the Met. mast outside the
Clean Air building, an activity which occupied us for 6 hours
from midnight to 6am. Every trip has its little adventure
to recant, and for me this was it.
The
temp dropped to -41C as we began. Really it wasn't a difficult
task we had; just run 16 cable the 100 metres from the Clean
Air building and 25m up the mast, connect them to the supports
we had bolted on, and then connect the sensors which were
going to make the air turbulence measurements. But it was
a labour intensive task, and as you quickly find if you work
here, physical activity is exhausting. Even after two weeks,
I find that running 100m leaves me completely breathless.
And as most of you know, I do a little running in my spare
time!
JB
did most of the real-hero bits, hanging off the tower, catching
cables as I swung them by, and bolting things together with
his bare hands. I mostly hearded cables around and climbed
up and down the mast fastening things down. The view from
the top of the bottom of the world is simply sublime, if you
don't worry too much about the swaying and don't look down.
An endless, featureless horizon in all directions, with a
panoramic view on the miniscule portion of the Plateau where
Man's presence has been felt. It must be the ultimate in etherial
experiences, at least for Earth-bound travellers.
I
think the expt is now working, at least the sensors seem to
be giving sensible looking readings, though since neither
JB or myself really know how to interpret the voltages (that's
a black art which only Rodney and our French collaborators
back in Nice have fathomed) we can't give instant science.
It was, however, a calm day (for which we were fortunate),
and as I left for breakest the lower two levels of sensors
where giving readings of a few tenths of a volt, and the upper
sensors about half that amount. In my naive interpretation
that means (a) both good seeing (levels of 1-2 V are more
normally expected) and (b) at 25m height you do better! But
we will see; the real action for this experiment is in the
winter.
The
IRPS got a rest today, apart from a refill of the outer. But
it seems to be holding well, and easilys last one day without
replenishment of LN2. Today after tidying up around the microthermals
we will go back for a final test out and trouble shoot, and
then I hope we can start observing!
7th February
1994
From
Michael Burton.....
Well
all being well this should be my last South Pole report for
this summer; I'm due to fly out of here at 1pm today, and
its 9:30am right now. It's been a memorable two weeks, and
to tell the truth civilisation seems like a dream to me right
now. The snow and ice and cold is reality! It's been remarkably
successful time, not just for our experiments, but for all
CARA's experiments and team. There will undoubtedly be problems
over winter, of technical, physical and psychological nature,
but Antarctic astronomy has made a major step forward this
summer and spirits are high. The practical demonstration of
the concept is virtually upon us!
I've
left the IRPS in good shape; there are some teething difficulties
but they are easily monitored and fixed by spinning various
wheels one more time. There are some minor software bugs,
but these are amenable to mcba sending patches over the network.
(Actually the first test of the real time internet is being
made at this minute - which should give us an extra 9600 baud
for 3 hours a day, compared to the 1200 baud we have for 5
hours right now. And there is the potential promise of a NOAA
weather satellite with considerably greater rates). I've taken
a little data, but there is limited science to be obtained
in daylight observing, and I have had to be content with daylight
scans of the CVF. Even at M small changes in the thermal flux
as the Sun moves around dominate over any sky fluctuation
noise.
The
microthermals are not in quite so good shape. The experiment
is up and running, but we have discovered an interesting phenomenon;
growth of ice crystals on the filaments. The higher up the
mast you go the more prevalent is this growth; a sensor left
of the roof of the Clean Air building shows moderate growth
and those 85ft are absolutely covered. There clearly is some
kind of critical size of filament or fibre on which crystals
grow, as if there is a nucleation size. The larger cables
and even the supports for the filaments don't show any ice
growth for instance. And there is no ice growth on the roof
of the Astro building. Some more experiments needs to be done,
and it's possible that by sending a current through the sensors
directly we may be able to melt the crystals for time periods
long enough to take sensible data. But we need to do some
consulting with the experts first!
So
I'm going to sign off for what is probably the last time before
I get to Australia. Unless my flight is turned back - the
weather is deteriorating a little at the moment, or I get
stuck in Mactown waiting for a flight out. Then you may get
to here what life in an Antarctic coastal town is like. So
at 40 below for the last time, cheers!
And
wish John Briggs luck over the winter. Our data depends on
him! (Good wishes to be emailed to jbriggs at the Pole.)
8th February
1994
From
Michael Burton.....
This
will be my final report (I hope) as I'm due to fly out of
McMurdo at lunchtime tomorrow. Just some quick impressions
of an Antarctic coastal town to let you know why life is better
on the high Plateau!
Arrival
at McMurdo actually feels rather similar in many ways to coming
down off Mauna Kea into Hilo; the air is warm, there's plenty
of it to breath, and there is that hustle and bustle of activity
that makes you wish you were in a quiter place. And you can
contact the real world once more, which is a mixed blessing
when you see how many emails are waiting you!
McMurdo
itself is a real industrial little town; an ugly place which
is utilitarian but functions. It does have some impressive
facilities though, none more so than the Crary science centre,
a huge research laboratory built to plush government standards
with an apparant surplus of all the latest equipment for the
biological, geological and chemical sciences. In a balloon
lab I saw 9 IR dewars from IR Labs, all making the IRPS pale
into insignificance; and these are basically disposable! Much
of the reject equipment here (eg IBM 386s, 5 year old furntiture
etc) is given to Pole for their use. The next step for us
Antarctic astronomers is to convince NSF that Pole infrastructure
needs to be built up in the same way! (And I think they know;
there are big paper plans for the Pole in the next 5 years
or so.).
An
historic event occured just after we landed; the first touchdown
of a (wheeled) C141 on the new ice-runway ('Pegasus'); this
is a third runway they've just opened to allow wheeled aircraft
to land late in the season (ie now), and it will make a tremendous
difference to capabilites. C141s can take about twice as many
people and at least that much more payload, and should extend
the season here available for science. Moreover there are
a lot more C141's in the world than ski- equipped LC-130's
. The next thing we need is for a way to be found to bring
these beasts to the Pole!
McMurdo
does have its history; Scott's Hut where the initial explorations
of the Antarctic interior were made, for instance, with many
tragic results (and not just the famous Pole conquest story).
There's also Scott Base (NZ) where you can see Hillary's hut
where they launched the first trans-antarctic crossing in
the IGY. And there are some spectacular mountains in the distance;
though unfortunately they are covered in cloud right now.
I can only see the lower slopes of Erebus, though I find it
hard to believe its 50km away. I've seen my first non-human
life; countless skuas, a grand total of 4 Adalie penguins
near Scott's Hut, and some seals out on the sea-ice. There
was also a Russian cruise liner in when I arrived and a luxury
French yacht. You can go for walks, and there are places to
go to. But it can be cold, not so much from the temperature
(I think its only a few below zero right now) but becuase
od the wind. I was much more comfortable working at Pole;
there you know what to wear and the weather's fixed!
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