 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| South Pole Diaries 2000/01 |
|
|
|
|
|
Monday 29th
January 2001
From
Andre.....
Hi Guys,
...from 89 59' 39.6", AASTO Country.
We departed MCM early this morning and the flight was pleasant
and uneventful. This afternoon I've been getting myself organised*
and this evening visited the AASTO (*for instance, now all
imported laptops need to be virus sanitized before use). With
the use of butane as new TEG refrigerant, I was perhaps a
little more cautious than usual opening the AASTO door. In
fact there was quite a pong inside but I think this was nothing
more than the good ol' AASTO Pong, amplified somewhat by having
the building shut up for some time. The smell vented off OK.
There is also currently a disconcerting noise coming from
the worn (disintegrating?) bearings of a small fan which Ed
Pernic has set up. Presumably this is the one for which we
brought down a spare.
Things inside the AASTO look good,
but perhaps a little more cramped than usual. The surrounding
snow level has built up to such a degree that it's a safe
bet that the building will bury during this coming winter,
unless it is raised, or the local surface level lowered. I
forecast a ski-ramp will form fore-and-aft of the AASTO, and
the underneath will fill in. Of course this may not matter
if we intend to move it next year, and we have access to heavy
equipment to assist with digging it out. As most of us are
aware, the culprit is the current upwind location of the G-Tower.
The Pole Station has undergone quite
a makeover this year and the new Pole elevated building is
an impressive structure. Likewise the Dome is a pleasantly
quiet place now that the power plant moved out. The weather
is pleasant and flight schedule nominal. There is very slow
LES-9 comms (i.e. via a 33kb modem for the whole station)
from about 7:30-00:00 (NZDST), but from about 00:00-07:00,
Marisat and TDRSS kick in with mind-boggling bit rates.
My new tiny hand-held GPS works surprisingly
well, and indeed its estimate for the position of the South
Pole exactly coincided with the Pole Marker. If one moves
away from the marker by more than a metre of so, the latitude
figure reads something less than 90 00' 00.0". Incidentally
this beaut new Andre Toy also incorporates an accurate barometer,
and right now the ambient pressure measurement reads 691hPa.
So far I haven't had any pressure-related physio concerns,
and hope that tomorrow with be 'business-as-usual'.
Today was the last day for 'Science
Retro' [cargo] so any junk now goes back as Hold Baggage.
One of the disadvantages with coming in so late in the season.
That's the brief goss' for the moment.
I'll now walk back to the Dome and return to the AASTO at
midnight. Last evening MCM's internet link went out for the
whole evening, so you may have just received a slightly dated
MCM email from me.
I can see a squillion little jobs which
need doing, but that's definitely a consideration for tomorrow.
Bob Pernic is scheduled to arrive tomorrow.
Back at midnight.
Andre
 
|
| |
|
|
