Around the Continent—Research Station Updates
Catch up with the latest events at the U.S. Antarctic Program's research stations. McMurdo Station Take a look at Antarctica yourself by visiting the McMurdo Station Web camera |
Olympic curling comes to McMurdo StationPosted Aug 27, 2010
McMurdo Station A chili cook-off pitted local chili masters against one another, with the blue ribbon going to Pat Gilmor from the supply department. Dining hall staff provided a bevy of familiar carnival foods, including corn dogs and funnel cakes, and there was even cotton candy provided by the UT Shop from the very first Antarctic cotton candy machine made from old parts. ;)
Photo Credit: Stephen Sun
Curling competition at McMurdo Station.
In yet another tradition, winter-overs donated items and services for an auction to benefit the community. The proceeds go to purchase winter hats and T-shirts designed by local artists, as well as for door prizes and beverages for the end-of-season winter party. In a wonderful act of charity, station manager Jeanne Suchodolski pledged to match all auction profits in a donation to the Red Cross. The evening wrapped up with live music from many of the winter bands, and revelers danced late into the evening. Although fireworks are not allowed on continent, research assistant Jason Bryenton organized a special firing of the Lidar laser into the night sky, as a close second to this great American tradition. Not to be outdone by the Fourth of July, store manager Keri Nelson, along with a group of dedicated volunteers, organized a street fair that was held outside of the store in the station’s main building one Sunday afternoon. The street fair was coordinated with the store’s end-of-season sale and included jugglers and other buskers, appearances by local “celebrities” handing out autographs, a live radio show, and many arts and crafts stalls highlighting the work of local artists. Even though it took place in a hallway, the volunteers managed to capture the feeling of a busy street market, and everyone had a great time. ;)
Photo Credit: Kerri Nelson
Street fair at McMurdo Station.
July also featured the unveiling of the first-ever curling rink in Antarctica. Designed and built by volunteers over the winter, the scaled-down version of a standard curling rink now exists outside next to Gallagher’s pub. Complete with curling stones and brooms, the inaugural match brought out many residents to learn the secrets of this mysterious sport in which players slide stones across a sheet of ice toward a target area. Several McMurdo teams competed for the honors of representing the station in the first-ever international Antarctic curling championship against New Zealand’s Scott Base After an afternoon of raucous play, including a hot cocoa break at the half, McMurdo claimed the right as Ross Island curling champions for this winter season, with a final score of 8 to 4. The month wrapped up with an end-of-winter bash. Held in multiple locations across the station, the party was organized to allow winter-overs to enjoy each other’s company in a relaxed yet festive atmosphere one last time before the influx of new people during the Winfly season. The evening’s festivities included a beer tasting of New Zealand brews, finger foods provided by the kitchen staff and a variety show featuring poetry, stand-up comedy, skits and music. All of this, and we managed to prep the station for an early August arrival of scientists and support crews during that time between summer and winter seasons known as Winfly. Dorms and other buildings that had been winterized all season have been re-heated and opened for business to meet the demands of the 400 new residents who began arriving Aug. 15 when the first flight touched down at Pegasus airfield We have lost the peace and quiet of winter, but the payoff is the arrival of old friends and fresh faces — and all of those delicious fresh fruits and vegetables.  |
July storms pile up the snow at Palmer StationPosted August 20, 2010
For a month in the middle of winter at Palmer Station One of the biggest events was the Fourth of July celebration, which included a barbecue in the station bar. Hamburgers, pasta salad, bratwursts, hotdogs and their vegetarian alternatives made for a meal as standard as any Independence Day celebration stateside, even if there was not a single firework in the sky to go with it. Even without the fireworks, the music-filled, decorated venue made for a great party. July also brought with it the first sightings of polar stratospheric clouds of the winter. ;)
Photo Credit: Sean Bonnette
Nacreous clouds in the sky above Palmer Station.
The clouds, also called nacreous clouds, form when the temperature in the polar stratosphere drops below minus 78 degrees Celsius at altitudes between 15,000 and 25,000 meters. Due to the high altitude of the clouds, they tend to receive and reflect sunlight from below the horizon for several hours before sunrise and several hours after sunset. This results in brightly colored clouds lighting up the dark sky while the sun is nowhere to be seen. Construction for the installation of an interferometer has begun in TerraLab, a triangular science building home to about a dozen ongoing geophysical experiments. In order to install the interferometer, a new room had to be built and a cut made in the roof. The room will be constructed during the winter, with the roofing hole and interferometer installations to follow this summer. Scientists use the interferometer to study airglow in the Earth’s atmosphere. Airglow prevents even the best ground-based observatories from observing the much fainter objects that a space-based observatory like the Hubble Space Telescope can see at visible wavelengths. About mid-July, sea ice started to form in the Palmer area, which makes boating to local islands impossible. This makes the glacier behind station the main area for outdoor recreational activities. ;)
Photo Credit: Sean Bonnette
Strong winds blow snow around a small building behind Palmer Station.
The snow on the glacier finally accumulated enough to make skiing and other winter sports more viable than during previous months this year. After a snowstorm near the end of July, the snow measured 139 inches. The heavy snowfall, combined with high winds, left many snowdrifts around station, some taller than most of the station’s personnel. Some areas are almost impossible to clear out. As soon as the snow is shoveled away, the wind drives it back, almost as deep as it was before. This can make travel between buildings difficult by clogging walkways and keeping doors from opening. During snow dumps like these, the station winter-overs can find themselves shoveling and moving snow almost as much —or more so — than doing their regular jobs. But keeping the station clear of snow is part of the teamwork that makes working at Palmer special. |
South Pole observatory readies for ozone hole formationPosted August 13, 2010
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Every year in mid- to late August, the polar vortex, an isolated area of extremely cold air in the stratosphere, develops over the South Pole, causing the formation of stratospheric clouds. These clouds create the ideal base for manmade chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in the atmosphere to break down ozone. CFCs are chemical compounds that used to be common in products like aerosol sprays. An international treaty called the Montreal Protocol began limiting human use of CFCs in 1987, and completely phased them out by 1996. However, CFCs have an atmospheric life span of more than 50 years, so there are still millions of CFC particles floating around Earth’s atmosphere that were emitted as long ago as 1960. 
Photo Credit: Nick Morgan/Antarctic Photo Library
NOAA Corps officer Nick Morgan fills flasks with air from the South Pole in the Atmospheric Research Observatory. The facility also monitors ozone depletion as part of its atmospheric observations.
Every August, when the polar vortex forms, the conditions are perfect for CFCs to eat away enough ozone to form a hole in the ozone layer. The polar vortex only exists for a short period of time, and disappears once the temperatures begin warming back up in October. But the residual effect of the CFC damage to the ozone during that time causes the hole to remain until late November or December. During this entire time period, NOAA is busy at work at the Atmospheric Research Observatory One method is to launch ozone balloons. These balloons are specially equipped with devices to measure ozone levels in the stratosphere, and are launched two or three times per week to begin their journey 20 to 30 kilometers straight up. The second method is to use a Dobson spectrophotometer, named after the British meteorologist who developed it. This is a device that can measure ozone levels in vertical columns within the stratosphere from the ground In a healthy atmosphere, levels of ozone sharply increase at the lower altitudes of the stratosphere, and sharply decrease back to normal levels at the middle to upper altitudes. NOAA’s studies have shown that when the polar vortex exists, ozone levels begin their same pattern of increasing at the lower altitudes of the stratosphere, but immediately drop to zero where stratospheric clouds have developed, forming the ozone. That allows the sun’s dangerous, cancer-causing, high-frequency ultraviolet rays — about 97 percent of which are absorbed by the ozone layer when it is in tact — an unobstructed path to the Earth’s surface. According to winter-over NOAA Corps representative Nick Morgan You can follow Morgan's work and adventures at the South Pole at his blog Monitoring Earth's Atmosphere on The Exploratorium's Ice Stories Web site. A French-U.S. team will arrive at McMurdo Station ***
In news from the troposphere, the layer of atmosphere below the stratosphere where people live and breathe, the South Pole experienced some extreme weather. The Fourth of July weekend broke two record low temperatures. On July 3, the minimum temperature of -74.3°C/-101.7°F broke the previous record of -72.8°C/-99.0°F set in 1967. The next day, on July 4, the minimum temperature of -75.0°C/-103.0°F broke the previous record of -71.9°C/-97.4°F set in 1972. July was also an extremely windy month, and between July 15 and 22, several peak and average wind speed records were broken or tied. The windiest day occurred on July 16, with a peak wind speed of 42 knots/48 miles per hour, which broke the previous peak wind speed record of 32 knots/37 mph set in 1978. All that weather made for a cloudy month as well, tying the record for most cloudy days in July at the South Pole at 16, set back in 1990. |
About the Sun
and the 
from over the hill.
