Thursday, December 29, 2011
Update
We are having more than our fair share of problems at work and it fairly likely I will not be updating my blog before I leave here early next week. I will probably put up additional posts when I get off the continent.
Monday, December 26, 2011
12-26-11
I hope you all are enjoying or enjoyed your Christmas. Mine was spent working but we've made good progress on what we need to get done and should be on schedule to get out of here in just over a week.
Yesterday we set an all time high temperature at the South Pole of 10 degrees F, the previous record was 7.5. Today it cooled off a bit to about -5 for most of the day, but we did get a fair 22 degree halo around the sun that I was able to get a photo of.
I haven't been able to get a good photo of it, but the folks over at South Pole Telescope removed part of their dish as they believe it was reflecting noise from some of their instruments into the feed, so now the dish looks quite a bit smaller. I'll have to wait and see if they rotate it so I can get a better shot.
Yesterday we set an all time high temperature at the South Pole of 10 degrees F, the previous record was 7.5. Today it cooled off a bit to about -5 for most of the day, but we did get a fair 22 degree halo around the sun that I was able to get a photo of.
I haven't been able to get a good photo of it, but the folks over at South Pole Telescope removed part of their dish as they believe it was reflecting noise from some of their instruments into the feed, so now the dish looks quite a bit smaller. I'll have to wait and see if they rotate it so I can get a better shot.
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Merry Christmas from the South Pole
Last night we had our Christmas dinner at the station, even though today is Christmas here. Along with the traditions of Race Around the World and the last LC-130 flight before Christmas having a "maintenance problem," it is one of the events that make Christmas special here.
Some pupus in the hallway before the meal. There are three meals to accommodate the stations population because the galley cannot seat everyone at once.
The galley all prettied up for the meal.
The menu. Sorry for the poor photo quality, but the lighting was pretty low.
The meal. The cooks really go all out preparing for this meal, which is really impressive given the challenges of providing the usual meals up until the dinner, cooking at altitude with our limited ingredients, and preparing three dinners.
Some pupus in the hallway before the meal. There are three meals to accommodate the stations population because the galley cannot seat everyone at once.
The galley all prettied up for the meal.
The menu. Sorry for the poor photo quality, but the lighting was pretty low.
The meal. The cooks really go all out preparing for this meal, which is really impressive given the challenges of providing the usual meals up until the dinner, cooking at altitude with our limited ingredients, and preparing three dinners.
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Race Around the World
We are celebrating Christmas today at the South Pole even though it is only Christmas Eve here I don't know the reason exactly, but I assume it gives most of the station a two day weekend instead of the usual one day weekend. As part of the festivities, there was a Race Around the World where you can run, walk, ski, ride, or drive your way around a 2.1 mile course that changes every year. I rode in the chariot, as I did last year, which was constructed by a IceCuber years ago and consists of a lot of salvaged parts. This year, we only had four people in the chariot due to the substantially smaller group involved with ARA compared to IceCube and the less favorable weather.
Here you can see the chariot, which may have been in its last Race Around the World as apparently it is slated to be one of the first items to go into the shredder when it arrives next year. I'm hoping Lockheed Martin, who take over the support contract in March, will see it fit to keep the chariot around.
A sled with a float depicting one of the remote field camps that they haven't been able to get people to for a couple weeks now.
The racers gathered together before the race. There are prizes for the top three finishers in each gender with the top male and female finishers getting a free ride to McMurdo for the marathon there.
The start of the 2.1 mile race.
Here you can see the racers as they run behind the back of the station. There are four wings or pods coming off of the station, my pod is the second from the left and the window for my room is the second most right window on the lower level and if you look real carefully you can see me being not in my room.
I believe this is called joggling, but I'm not too sure and I can't imagine doing it in these conditions.
The lone bicyclist. I had figured the rider would do a lot worse in the soft drifts, but he managed to keep up for most of the race.
The visitors' camp, which is only a small fraction of the size of what it once was.
Here you can see the van at the tourist camp. I didn't see any tourists come out to watch the race.
Here you can see the visitors center the station put up to deal with all the tourists this year.
One of the members of our team gave up on the foot race early on and caught a ride in the van. This shot is of him rejoining the race near the finish.
This vehicle from the heavy shop followed us. I couldn't quite figure out what was in the innertube.
Even though the temperature was near 0 degrees F, the 20 knot winds and overcast sky made this year's race pretty challenging. The flat lighting was so bad that the lead vehicle lost site of the road and ended up making it's own path through some soft drifts. All the other vehicles followed but the sled on the snowmobile ended up tipping crossing some of the deep tacks left behind by the vehicles in front but the driver was able to get it back onto the sled and make it to the finish.
I didn't manage to get a shot of this float before the race, and by the time they made it near the finish line, I was in the van taking the chariot back to the drill camp. We had to stop because the stairs to the chariot fell down on the back, and when I went out to fix it and take this photo, but my camera had started to fog up from being in the warm van. Basically the float had a good portion of the galley staff dancing.
Here you can see the chariot, which may have been in its last Race Around the World as apparently it is slated to be one of the first items to go into the shredder when it arrives next year. I'm hoping Lockheed Martin, who take over the support contract in March, will see it fit to keep the chariot around.
A sled with a float depicting one of the remote field camps that they haven't been able to get people to for a couple weeks now.
The racers gathered together before the race. There are prizes for the top three finishers in each gender with the top male and female finishers getting a free ride to McMurdo for the marathon there.
The start of the 2.1 mile race.
Here you can see the racers as they run behind the back of the station. There are four wings or pods coming off of the station, my pod is the second from the left and the window for my room is the second most right window on the lower level and if you look real carefully you can see me being not in my room.
I believe this is called joggling, but I'm not too sure and I can't imagine doing it in these conditions.
The lone bicyclist. I had figured the rider would do a lot worse in the soft drifts, but he managed to keep up for most of the race.
The visitors' camp, which is only a small fraction of the size of what it once was.
Here you can see the van at the tourist camp. I didn't see any tourists come out to watch the race.
Here you can see the visitors center the station put up to deal with all the tourists this year.
One of the members of our team gave up on the foot race early on and caught a ride in the van. This shot is of him rejoining the race near the finish.
This vehicle from the heavy shop followed us. I couldn't quite figure out what was in the innertube.
Even though the temperature was near 0 degrees F, the 20 knot winds and overcast sky made this year's race pretty challenging. The flat lighting was so bad that the lead vehicle lost site of the road and ended up making it's own path through some soft drifts. All the other vehicles followed but the sled on the snowmobile ended up tipping crossing some of the deep tacks left behind by the vehicles in front but the driver was able to get it back onto the sled and make it to the finish.
I didn't manage to get a shot of this float before the race, and by the time they made it near the finish line, I was in the van taking the chariot back to the drill camp. We had to stop because the stairs to the chariot fell down on the back, and when I went out to fix it and take this photo, but my camera had started to fog up from being in the warm van. Basically the float had a good portion of the galley staff dancing.
12-23-11
Yesterday was a busy day for most the people working on ARA. The drillers finished drilling the last hole at about 10:30 at night after getting started at around 7:30 in the morning. We also had to go retrieve and repair the chariot that was used in today's Race Around the World. I spent a good chunk of time just shoveling out the snow that had filled the inside of the chariot. I also did some antenna assembly.
Here you can see one side of the lower level of the ICL. We have pretty much taken it over as IceCube is complete.
This is a photo I may have posted a couple days ago, but on the right side of the image there are two smaller black buildings. The one in front of the silver column is the old bathroom and the larger one to the right is the new bathroom which was probably about 80 degrees inside heated only by the sun on a day like the one in the photo below. I've include photos of the bathroom below for those interested.
Here you can see the antenna I finished assembling. Basically we had to run the cable through the antenna before we put the connectors on one end because the connectors are too big to fit through the center of the antenna. I also put some pieces to provide strain relief on the cables at the ends of the antennas.
Here is one antenna before we shipped it from Hawaii. These antennas were designed in Hawaii, but we had our collaborators in Taiwan build them because we simply did not have time.
Here you can see one side of the lower level of the ICL. We have pretty much taken it over as IceCube is complete.
This is a photo I may have posted a couple days ago, but on the right side of the image there are two smaller black buildings. The one in front of the silver column is the old bathroom and the larger one to the right is the new bathroom which was probably about 80 degrees inside heated only by the sun on a day like the one in the photo below. I've include photos of the bathroom below for those interested.
Here you can see the antenna I finished assembling. Basically we had to run the cable through the antenna before we put the connectors on one end because the connectors are too big to fit through the center of the antenna. I also put some pieces to provide strain relief on the cables at the ends of the antennas.
Here is one antenna before we shipped it from Hawaii. These antennas were designed in Hawaii, but we had our collaborators in Taiwan build them because we simply did not have time.
12-22-11
So today we are celebrating Christmas at the South Pole station, but because I'm a couple days behind in my blog and I'm trying to keep it in chronological order, I may not get photos up today.
Here is a quick stitch I did of the sky at the South Pole from the roof of the ICL. I thought it was neat how you could see the curvature of the earth and the fact that the edge of the storm was visible. The remainder of the sky was gray. As usual a photo doesn't really capture it, and the quick and dirty stitching isn't helping.
Here's a view of the drill camp from the roof of the ICL.
Here you can see the deployment sled. All that it still needs is some panels on the sides for operator comfort.
Here you can see some drifting from the storm the previous day. We have a few new drifts a couple feet high that can be difficult to negotiate in flat lighting.
Here's a shot of the station that I took after walking back from the ICL. It's the first time I've noticed the marker at the top of the flag pole with the US flag on it.
Here is a quick stitch I did of the sky at the South Pole from the roof of the ICL. I thought it was neat how you could see the curvature of the earth and the fact that the edge of the storm was visible. The remainder of the sky was gray. As usual a photo doesn't really capture it, and the quick and dirty stitching isn't helping.
Here's a view of the drill camp from the roof of the ICL.
Here you can see the deployment sled. All that it still needs is some panels on the sides for operator comfort.
Here you can see some drifting from the storm the previous day. We have a few new drifts a couple feet high that can be difficult to negotiate in flat lighting.
Here's a shot of the station that I took after walking back from the ICL. It's the first time I've noticed the marker at the top of the flag pole with the US flag on it.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
12-21-11
Today however, was the worst weather I've seen at Pole. Apparently they found some of our packing material blowing across the skiway at midnight and people didn't get out to the drill camp until about 8 this morning so things had quite some time to blow around. However, by mid afternoon it was nothing but blue skies. I missed an opportunity to take a photo of some sun dogs and the 22 degree halo, but that's the way it goes.
We had a little bit of work left to do on our part of the sled, which wasn't much fun in the wind. We also spent some time looking for paperwork and parts that had blown around and/or had snow drift over them.
So part of our project is to supply power to our experimental stations without having to lay cable from the South Pole Station itself. Our current plan is to use solar panels to provide power during the summer and windmills to provide power during the winter. The weather at the South Pole is actually quite mild, and so it could be weeks or months without having sufficient winds to generate electricity for our stations. One challenge that comes with all this is the batteries have to be kept warm to hold their charge, which means using some electricity to keep the batteries warm, but it could be weeks without any power generation which is a long time to keep batteries warm. We are currently experimenting with different windmill types to see how they perform and hold up in these conditions. All of our wind turbines are dumping all the electricity generated on big resistors mounted on their stands. I thought this windmill got busted in the wind, but apparently it's part of the furling mechanism to tilt the wind turbine up at an angle to reduce the wind loading on it during high winds.
This is another wind turbine we are testing, and it uses an electric brake as a furling mechanism.
And here is what the ICL looked like from that wind turbine site.
This is another wind turbine we are testing, and it was actually designed to run in higher winds. It was on the verge of using it's furling mechanism which is to turn the tail 90 degrees so the blades are facing sideways into the wind rather than face on.
And this is looking back towards the ICL from that wind turbine site. If you zoom in, you can make out the buildings in the middle of the photo.
We also went out to the drill site today, but the drillers were taking the day off because they have been working long hours for a long time now and the weather made it quite difficult to get the generator started.
The drill site does have a break room which is a sea container where both sides fold out like a camping trailer. The break room is heated and has power and apparently there will be a toilet towed out later this week or early next week.
The microwave in the break room.
We went out there to check the hole that the drillers made yesterday. They went down about 100 meters, but we were only able to lower down a 6 inch diamter circle 280 feet. Here you can see a camera being placed in the drill hole. The circle with the red wires sticking off is used to keep the camera, which is inside of the bottle, centered in the hole. We use the footage to get feedback on how the drilling was going as well as to look for any voids or anything that could cause a problem when we lower our equipment down the hole.
In this photo you might be able to see a little better how the camera fits inside of the bottle, but then again you might not.
This is looking back towards the drill camp. If you look carefully enough to the left of the green flag or in the center of the photo, you may be able to make out the tower from the previous wind turbine.
We also drove out to the test bed site, which is where we installed all the equipment last year. Here you can see the flags marking the site, but everything has been buried under the drifting snow.
In the background of this shot is the drill camp at the new site.
They also moved a wind turbine out to right near the test bed site to see how it impacts our experiment. We would like to have the wind turbines as close to each site as possible as it reduces the amount of trenching and cable involved. Our concern though is that the RF noise generated by the wind turbine itself, the charging equipment, and the sporadic static discharge caused by the blowing snow on the guy-wires will create too much background noise for our radio antennas. We'll leave this setup out there for a year and see how it impacts our data.
We had a little bit of work left to do on our part of the sled, which wasn't much fun in the wind. We also spent some time looking for paperwork and parts that had blown around and/or had snow drift over them.
So part of our project is to supply power to our experimental stations without having to lay cable from the South Pole Station itself. Our current plan is to use solar panels to provide power during the summer and windmills to provide power during the winter. The weather at the South Pole is actually quite mild, and so it could be weeks or months without having sufficient winds to generate electricity for our stations. One challenge that comes with all this is the batteries have to be kept warm to hold their charge, which means using some electricity to keep the batteries warm, but it could be weeks without any power generation which is a long time to keep batteries warm. We are currently experimenting with different windmill types to see how they perform and hold up in these conditions. All of our wind turbines are dumping all the electricity generated on big resistors mounted on their stands. I thought this windmill got busted in the wind, but apparently it's part of the furling mechanism to tilt the wind turbine up at an angle to reduce the wind loading on it during high winds.
This is another wind turbine we are testing, and it uses an electric brake as a furling mechanism.
And here is what the ICL looked like from that wind turbine site.
This is another wind turbine we are testing, and it was actually designed to run in higher winds. It was on the verge of using it's furling mechanism which is to turn the tail 90 degrees so the blades are facing sideways into the wind rather than face on.
And this is looking back towards the ICL from that wind turbine site. If you zoom in, you can make out the buildings in the middle of the photo.
We also went out to the drill site today, but the drillers were taking the day off because they have been working long hours for a long time now and the weather made it quite difficult to get the generator started.
The drill site does have a break room which is a sea container where both sides fold out like a camping trailer. The break room is heated and has power and apparently there will be a toilet towed out later this week or early next week.
The microwave in the break room.
We went out there to check the hole that the drillers made yesterday. They went down about 100 meters, but we were only able to lower down a 6 inch diamter circle 280 feet. Here you can see a camera being placed in the drill hole. The circle with the red wires sticking off is used to keep the camera, which is inside of the bottle, centered in the hole. We use the footage to get feedback on how the drilling was going as well as to look for any voids or anything that could cause a problem when we lower our equipment down the hole.
In this photo you might be able to see a little better how the camera fits inside of the bottle, but then again you might not.
This is looking back towards the drill camp. If you look carefully enough to the left of the green flag or in the center of the photo, you may be able to make out the tower from the previous wind turbine.
We also drove out to the test bed site, which is where we installed all the equipment last year. Here you can see the flags marking the site, but everything has been buried under the drifting snow.
In the background of this shot is the drill camp at the new site.
They also moved a wind turbine out to right near the test bed site to see how it impacts our experiment. We would like to have the wind turbines as close to each site as possible as it reduces the amount of trenching and cable involved. Our concern though is that the RF noise generated by the wind turbine itself, the charging equipment, and the sporadic static discharge caused by the blowing snow on the guy-wires will create too much background noise for our radio antennas. We'll leave this setup out there for a year and see how it impacts our data.
12-20-11
So I will probably be a day behind in most of my posts now as the satellite coverage gets earlier each day and usually drops out before I get back from work.
Yesterday was one of the nicest days at the South Pole that I can remember as far as weather is concerned. I guess the major news was that our crate arrived yesterday evening, which is good except that it didn't get delivered until after the shuttle service stopped running so I had to walk back to the station. The drillers also completed a hole yesterday, but not until after they repaired the hose which sprung a leak.
Here is a view from what you could call the drill camp, which is right in front of the ICL, looking back towards the station. The wind was actually blowing the opposite direction of the normal, but it was pretty calm. The station is designed like an upside down wing so that the wind speeds up under the station to help clear out the snow drift that would normally build up in front of and under the station, however in this shot you can see the exhaust from the generator is getting blown over the top of the station. The other thing I'll point out in this shot is all the cargo that sits behind the station. A good aerial shot would show it best, but it reminds me of the ending scene in the Raiders of the Lost Arc. It basically extends from the station all the way out to the Golf Ball. Apparently next year NSF is bringing in an automobile shredder to help get rid of a lot of the stuff in the cargo berms which I think is a good idea.
This is a photo of the deployment sled that I have been working on with a few other people to put together. It will be used to lower the strings down the holes. I've been working on it because our equipment hadn't come in yet and the drillers were dealing with all of their problems with the drill. I don't have a before shot, but basically it was an aluminum frame and we've been putting on panels, shims, the two center skis, winch, etc.
Here's a shot looking back towards the ICL with the drill camp shop on the left. The two black buildings on the right are our toilets. The one in front of the column is our old toilet, which was rather drafty, and the one on the right is the new toilet because the old toilet was deemed unacceptable this year.
Here's a photo of the shop, which is two sea containers joined together. I'm always impressed by the tools the drillers have and I propped up a pipe wrench in front of the chop saw. Behind me would be the tent with the deployment sled in it.
Here's a shot inside of the shop. You can see the drill hose looped around inside and that is because they needed to thaw out the hose because the water inside froze. One of the big challenges with the drilling operation is the limited amount of time you have to fix things before the water starts freezing. At the end of the day they run glycol through the lines to purge the water out, but that itself is a bit of a hassle.
Here's the other side of the shop. As with most things here, it's hard to capture on camera, but the shop is quite well equipped.
Yesterday was one of the nicest days at the South Pole that I can remember as far as weather is concerned. I guess the major news was that our crate arrived yesterday evening, which is good except that it didn't get delivered until after the shuttle service stopped running so I had to walk back to the station. The drillers also completed a hole yesterday, but not until after they repaired the hose which sprung a leak.
Here is a view from what you could call the drill camp, which is right in front of the ICL, looking back towards the station. The wind was actually blowing the opposite direction of the normal, but it was pretty calm. The station is designed like an upside down wing so that the wind speeds up under the station to help clear out the snow drift that would normally build up in front of and under the station, however in this shot you can see the exhaust from the generator is getting blown over the top of the station. The other thing I'll point out in this shot is all the cargo that sits behind the station. A good aerial shot would show it best, but it reminds me of the ending scene in the Raiders of the Lost Arc. It basically extends from the station all the way out to the Golf Ball. Apparently next year NSF is bringing in an automobile shredder to help get rid of a lot of the stuff in the cargo berms which I think is a good idea.
This is a photo of the deployment sled that I have been working on with a few other people to put together. It will be used to lower the strings down the holes. I've been working on it because our equipment hadn't come in yet and the drillers were dealing with all of their problems with the drill. I don't have a before shot, but basically it was an aluminum frame and we've been putting on panels, shims, the two center skis, winch, etc.
Here's a shot looking back towards the ICL with the drill camp shop on the left. The two black buildings on the right are our toilets. The one in front of the column is our old toilet, which was rather drafty, and the one on the right is the new toilet because the old toilet was deemed unacceptable this year.
Here's a photo of the shop, which is two sea containers joined together. I'm always impressed by the tools the drillers have and I propped up a pipe wrench in front of the chop saw. Behind me would be the tent with the deployment sled in it.
Here's a shot inside of the shop. You can see the drill hose looped around inside and that is because they needed to thaw out the hose because the water inside froze. One of the big challenges with the drilling operation is the limited amount of time you have to fix things before the water starts freezing. At the end of the day they run glycol through the lines to purge the water out, but that itself is a bit of a hassle.
Here's the other side of the shop. As with most things here, it's hard to capture on camera, but the shop is quite well equipped.
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