Vulcan South: South Pole Planet Search |
Friday, January 23, 2004
We spent much of today carrying, organizing, coiling, uncoiling, and figuring out how to lay our cables from the AASTO building to the Gmount. It was slow going that wasn't helped by the wind (10-15 kts), which put the windchill at -55F for much of the day. We did manage to get conduit in place with a string threaded through so that we can pull cables through it tomorrow. It's pretty tight in the little AASTO, especially with four people and eleven 30m coils of cable. It was also slow going over in the Weatherhaven where Mark Jarnyk found some problems with the Gmount. It appears that the servo-amplifiers on both axes are blown. Luckily, the Australians are wise and have spares. Unfortunately, there are only two spares left. We are going to have some more mailed in while we have time, in case these go bad, too. Despite the slow work, it was beautiful today. The Sun was dressed in halos and arcs and flanked by two bright sun dogs. There were two concentric halos today. Yesterday we saw a circum-zenith halo. Very cool; I'm sure my pictures won't do it justice. Speaking of pictures, I finally managed to get the time and satellite window to transport some pictures to the Vulcan South web site, check it out. I'll add some more as soon as I get a chance. cheers, Doug We had a very successful day yesterday out in our Weatherhaven tent. Three of us managed to muscle the Vulcan-South photometer onto the Gmount and it's now bolted securely in place. Four or five people would have been nice, but fortunately there are no strained backs today. Kevin and I also wired up the EES and turned everything on. We tested the CCD camera, the focus motor, and the thermocouple temperature monitors; all are ok. The ice detector wasn't working, but we think it's a software and not hardware issue. We are both very pleased how everything's going. The Australian's have the Gmount cabled and are going to try moving it around today. On the social side, we all went to listen to Fiona Thornewill talk about her trip across Antarctica. She made it sound so easy that Kevin and I are thinking of walking back instead of flying. cheers, Doug Thursday, January 22, 2004
It was almost like Christmas for Kevin and I yesterday, as the morning LC-130 flight brought our missing boxes, and our Austrailian colleagues! Michael Ashley and Mark Jarnyk arrived a day ahead of schedule, so we were suprised to see them in the galley at lunch time. Yesterday also brought another group of skiers at the Pole; they are leaving today on a Twin Otter. Kevin and I managed to upack the photometer and the EES without breaking them or us. They're both now sitting in the Weatherhaven tent. Today we'll check for loose screws (in the equipment, not us) and power up some of the stuff. We did check that the mounting bracket that goes between the photometer and the Gmount fits on both the Gmount and the photometer! (Though we didn't check if it'll do both at once....) Much to our delight, we got "certified" to drive the snowmobiles (certification involves driving around in a circle and not hitting the instructor) so we can haul things between the Weatherhaven and the AASTO, about 1 km or so. We took our first joy ride, I mean cargo run, yesterday afternoon without incident. cheers, Doug Wednesday, January 21, 2004
The altitude kept either of us from doing much today. The air pressure is equivalent to over 10,000ft so it's a shock to fly here from sea level. We did manage to unpack and sort the equipment we had, but spent much of the time eating, playing gin rummy, and sleeping.
We had the honor of talking briefly with Fiona Thornewill, who has just walked 700 miles to the Pole in a record 42 days. She's giving a talk tomorrow night that I can't wait to see. Hopefully we'll accomplish more tomorrow. cheers, Doug We've made it to the South Pole! We left McMurdo at 8am on the "City of Cohoes," the same plane as on our trip in 2001 (brings back memories of New York). We were very comfortable with plenty of room to stroll around and enjoy the views. The flight across the Trans-antarctic mountains is spectacular. It's the closest I can imagine to flying over another planet. The glaciers are enormous and everywhere. Crevasse fields stretch for miles. The mountains are filled to their peaks with ice and snow. You've really got to see this! Sorry, where was I? We landed smoothly at the South Pole and got a 10 minute debrief from Jessica Dempsey, who was on the way to depart on the plane we came in on. They don't shut the engines off while at the Pole, so there is little delay between arrival and departure. We also met Dana Hrubes, who will be our winterover support this year. After checking into our rooms (mine in the nice new station, Kevin's in the Korean War-era tents) we set out to find our cargo, only to learn that two of our three boxes (the telescope and control computer) were still in Christchurch, NZ. With apologies, Raytheon Polar Services assured us the crates would be rushed down, perhaps by FedEx. We took a brief stroll around the station. First out to the "SPIFI dome" (really a heated tent) where the Gmount is being stored, then over to the AASTO and Gtower to check out the new location and the luxury staircase up to AASTO. The round trip walk is a little over 2km, which doesn't sound bad, but with the altitude (equivalent to over 10,000 ft) and cold, we were quite tired. Tuesday, January 20, 2004
Sunday was sunny and calm in McMurdo, so Kevin and I took in the sights. We started the day with a tour of the NSF research vessel Nathanial Palmer. It's getting ready to go on a geophysics cruise for 30 days in the Ross Sea. The ship was very cool with many spacious labs, and the view from the bridge was awesome. Kevin was mildly disappointed not to get to see the engine room. Right in front of the ship, at the edge of the open water created by the recent ice breaking, there was a colony of penguins. We watched them waddle, slide, and swim around. Very cute. As we watched a minke whale surfaced right in the same water way. All the great critter sightings more than make up for our lack of penguins on the last trip. Next on our agenda was a tour of the science lab, where we got to see and touch some of the local fish in the aquarium. The water is very cold (28F). Afterwards, a movie in the coffee house (Finding Nemo), followed up by a science talk on the Earth's magnetic field. We had another weigh-in for Monday mornings flight and went to sleep hoping for good weather. cheers, Doug |
