Friday 15th
January - Sodar Problem
From
John Storey.....
Today
we fiddled around with the sodar, and discovered a major problem.
It appears that when the flags (the big US and Australian
ones) are flying the range is dramatically reduced. We tried
tying the flags up, and the sodar once again worked properly.
We'll do a couple more flags on - flags off trials, but it
does look as if the flags will have to go. For some reason
a square metre of fabric flapping around 2 metres from the
sodar appears to create a larger acoustic reflection than
a millikelvin turbulent air cell at 600 metres.
Removing
the two flags will devastate our webcam audience, who average
around 500 per day. Typical emails we get are: "Please
send me information on penguins", "Your thermometer
is too hard to read", "Why don't I ever see
anyone working outside". We are bracing ourselves
for some strident email criticism, but science must come first.
I'm working on an explanation that involves Richard Butler,
US air raids on Iraq and the need for all Australian/US endeavours
to become less conspicuous. Mind you, we could see the first
Iraqi ski-team to cross Antarctica towing a belt-fed mortar
or similar AASTO-destroying device. It would make a change
from bare-foot skiffle-boarding Antarctic-crossing adventurers.
It
turns out that the Toshiba was not actually dead but merely
in a coma. The battery was too flat to allow it to work, but
by leaving it plugged in to the charger overnight it was able
to recover. Unfortunately the DCU is not operating at present,
leaving the Toshiba with little to talk to.
I'd
put myself down to give a Sunday night science talk, but since
I'm leaving tomorrow the task will fall to mgb. I trust he
will resist the temptation to do Elvis impersonations - the
South Pole does strange things to people.
Tonight's
CARA meeting featured *real data* from the Sodar that Daniel
passed around to critical acclaim. To my enormous relief no-one
seems to be irritated by the noise. In fact, the winter-over
crew feel it will be very useful to help them find their way
out to the dark sector at night.
Today
we had a major tidy up and vacuum clean of the AASTO.
We've
packed up everything instrument-specific in the AASTO and
will "retro" it to UNSW. We'll leave the big general
purpose PC down here until Daniel leaves - my inclination
is to then return it to UNSW as it simply takes up too much
space in the AASTO.
Peter
G. has left on this evening's flight, having done a wonderful
job of reconstructing the tip-tilt mirror stage. Al Harper
has arrived, and is acclimatising. I am disappointed to learn
that helicopters are no longer being used to ferry passengers
to the McMurdo airfield. While I am normally a strong supporter
of the use of seatbelts, fitting them to the van to make it
safe enough to render the helicopter unneccesary seems to
me a cheap-skate, short-sighted solution and completely inappropriate.
Webcam
devotees will have noticed a gold ribbon tied just below the
thermometer, and no doubt have been wondering what it's doing
there. There may even be an alt.aasto.webcam.gold_ribbon discussion
group for all I know. Well, today I found out how it got there.
On New year's Day, two South Pole folk got married at the
Ceremonial Pole and tied the ribbon from their wedding cake
onto the webcam for the world to see. Isn't that sweet?
I'll
hand carry the broken PZTs back to Sydney so they can be rebuilt.
As
I suspected, the PC in the AASTO had been set up especially
with a trick version of Windows 95 as part of a fiendish psychological
experiment (which I clearly failed). My suspicions were confirmed
when Daniel walked in and was immediately able to log into
other computers, print files and actually do useful stuff.
I don't know what the psychologists will do with the data
they have collected on me, but I fear it may not be to my
advantage. In future, computers will probably choose the people
they wish to work with (instead of vice versa), and I may
end up simply being left on the shelf.
The
shrinks finally caught up with us at dinner, where Joe was
doing his "two corks" trick and Peter G. was challenging
all comers to his "row of toothpicks" game. After
half an hour or so the two shrinks were so perplexed they
proceeded to certify each other.
CBS
have completed their filming, and headed off to other parts
of Antarctica. I will forward to you the message we received
about screening times.
John
 
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