Antarctic Sun Feb 2001

8/3/2019 Antarctic Sun Feb 2001

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Astrophysicist Albrecht Karle kneelsgingerly beside an ice hole at theSouth Pole twice his width and more

than a mile deep. On the surface it looks likenothing other than what it is a darkeninggape in the ice.

But buried deep inside is a cutting edge ofastronomy. A long chain of orb-like sensors is

Pushing its weight around the sea, iceberg B-15Afloats within miles of Ross Island. Undulating tides com-bined with the Earths rotational force have brought this massive chunk of the ice shelf almost to the edgeof McMurdo Sound. The size of the original berg was estimated to be 480 cubic miles (2,000 cubic kilo-

meters) of ice, which if melted would be more than 528 trillion gallons of water (enough to meet thedomestic and public water needs of the United States for several years). Researchers from the Universityof Chicago and the University of Wisconsin traveled by the Coast Guard Cutter Polar Seaand helicoptersto the middle of B-15A, where they installed weather and GPS instruments. Its the first time an iceberghas been monitored like this, and the data will allow an unprecedented understanding of how giant bergsmake their way through the waters of Antarctica and beyond. Researcher Doug MacAyeal will talk aboutthe project tonight in the galley at 8:15 p.m. Photo by Josh Landis.

Titanic iceberg

Bombs heardaround the worldpage 2

X-ray of LakeVostokpage 6

Whats in anacronym?page 18

I N S I D E

If you want to enda conversation withsomeone, lets saysomeone sittingnext to you on anairplane, you say,astrophysicist.- South Pole astronomer

and astrophysiciston his job title

Quote of the week

see Space on page 10

TheAntarctic SunFebruary 4, 2001

www.polar.org/antsun

Published during the austral summer at McMurdo Station, Antarctica, for the United States Antarctic Program

fishingThe AMANDA

telescope is burieddeep in holes

melted in the ice cap.

By Beth MinneciSun staff

Poleat the

DOUBLE ISSU

E

SEASON FINA

LE


2/20

2 The Antarctic Sun February 4, 2001

On a quiet stretch of snow off the south-ern slope of Ross Island, engineersfrom the University of Alaska are set-

ting up a device that will listen for explo-sions on the other side of the world.

With its tentacles of plastic tubing, theinstrument looks like a space-age Hydra.But this super-sensitive creation will be thenemesis of anyone who tries to test anuclear weapon. Its an infrasound sensor,and its the newest addition to a globalmonitoring network aimed at keeping tabson any new weapons of mass destruction.

The Comprehensive Test Ban TreatyOrganization (CTBTO) is extending itsreach onto the Ice by including Antarcticain its vast network of sensors. CTBTO is aninternational organization with the goal ofmonitoring, and eventually eliminating, thetesting of all nuclear weapons.

Based in Vienna, the treaty has beensigned by 160 countries since it came intoexistence in 1996. President Clinton signedit in 96 but Congress has not yet approvedit. So far, 30 of the 44 key countries thatmust ratify the treaty before it can enter intofull force have done so.

Central in the effort to eliminate large-

scale, nuclear weapons testing is the abilityto detect explosions wherever they mayhappen. To this end, CTBTO monitors hun-dreds of sensors around the world.

In all, there are 170 seismometers tomeasure subsurface explosions, 80radionuclide detectors to sniff minuteamounts of fallout in the air, 11 hydroa-coustic units that can detect underwaterblasts, and 60 infrasound sensors able tosense subtle pressure waves that result fromexplosions on or near the surface of theEarth.

Until recently, the network was lackingin the southernmost reaches.

"Antarctica was a big hole in the globalcoverage," said Brian Stone, NationalScience Foundation representative andCTBTO program manager. "So having(monitoring) stations here is advanta-geous."

Dan Osborne heads the University ofAlaska team thats installing the new infra-sound detector at Windless Bight. Hurryingaround his makeshift office in Bldg. 165,the bearded, brown-haired, bespectacledengineer spliced various computer wires toget his laptop to communicate with a sensoron the floor.

Jagged lines leapt across the screen eachtime a door somewhere in the building wasopened.

"Its just like a barometer," explainedOsborne. "It reacts to changes in atmos-pheric pressure."

The array of infrasound detectors on theice shelf just off Ross Island will be able tosense a one-kiloton blast that goes offabove-ground or just under the surface.

Osborne said the technology is so sensitivethat when Mount St. Helens erupted inWashington in 1980, similar sensors hereon the Ice detected the blast each time itsshock wave encircled the Earth. After awhile, he lost count.

Its that kind of sensitivity the CTBTOrelies upon. In addition to the infrasoundstation at Windless Bight, there is one atPalmer Station. Traditional seismometerswill be listening to the ground at the DryValleys, South Pole and Palmer, where aradionuclide detector will also be on line.

The CTBTO had to make some conces-sions when installing a device in

Antarctica. For starters, sensors on the net-work are normally required to have a near-perfect performance record. The "up-timerequirements" only allow a sensor to be off-line for about three days a year. There is noway to guarantee that kind of reliability inAntarctica. If the system would go down inthe middle of the winter, for example, itcould potentially take more than a day justfor someone to go check it out.

Its not the ideal scenario for CTBTO,but Stone says the organization will mostlylikely accept the Antarctic standards,because thats the only way they will get

the data."There was nobody in that group who

had experience in Antarctica," said Stone"They wanted to make it happen, but therewas a lot of reality-checking. The specifica-tions for station up-time were not writtenwith Antarctica in mind."

The organization also had to allowsomeone else to transmit the data from thesensor site. Normally the link goes through

a satellite uplink CTBTO supplies. Thawasnt feasible here, so they agreed to letRaytheon carry the data back to the Stateswhere it will be redistributed to the rest othe world.

"We convinced them its better to con-solidate things in Denver," said MitchLasky, Raytheon point-of-contact for theproject.

The sensors are all now either in theinstallation or testing phase. If they passmuster they will be officially incorporatedinto the CTBTO monitoring network. Itsan ideal scenario and fits well with theoverriding philosophy of science in

Antarctica: share the data. CTBTO is con-veniently, and efficiently, co-opting thesame instruments that would be used forscientific purposes.

Still, monitoring nuclear weapons testing around the world from Antarctica is anodd twist on the continents position as anarea of peaceful, scientific pursuitAntarctica has drawn researchers andexplorers from the most powerful countriesin the world.

"Now the science really is being used fora peaceful purpose," said Osborne. "Its aperfect fit." I

Dr. Charles "Buck" Wilson, a professor emeritus of geophysics at the University ofAlaska, attaches plastic pipes to an infrasound sensor, which can detect atmosphericpressure changes from a blast on the other side of the world. Photo by Kay Lawson.

Having monitoring

stations here

is very

advantageous.

- Brian Stonerepresentative

National ScienceFoundation

Nuclear test ban sensorsgoing online By Josh LandisSun staff


3/20

the week in weather

around AntarcticaThe Antarctic Sun, part of the United StatesAntarctic Program, is funded by the National

Science Foundation.Opinions and conclusions

expressed in the Sun are notnecessarily those of the Foundation.

Use: Reproduction and distribution are

encouraged with acknowledgment of sourceand author.Publisher: Valerie Carroll,

Communications manager, Raytheon PolarServices

Senior Editor: Josh LandisEditors: Beth Minneci

Kristan Hutchison SabbatiniContributions are welcome. Contact the

Sun at [email protected]. In McMurdo, visitour office in Building 155 or dial 2407.

Web address: www.polar.org/antsun

McMurdo StationHigh: 26F/-3CLow: 7F/-14CAvg. temp: N/AWind: N/A

Palmer Station (Saturday)High: 35F/2CLow: 32F/0CAvg. temp: 37F/3CWind: 30 mph/48 kph

South Pole StationHigh: -17F/-27CLow: -34F/-37CAvg. temp: -24F/-31CWind: 21 mph/34 kph

around the world

Jaipur, India

High: 76F/24C

Low: 44F/7C

Guyang, China

High: 28F/-2C

Low: 6F/-14C

Suva, Fiji

High: 89F/32C

Low: 75F/24C

Bainbridge Island, Wash.

High: 46F/8C

Low: 37F/3C

Harleysville, Pa.

High: 42F/6C

Low: 24F/-4C

Pigeon Falls, Wis.

High: 9F/-13C

Low: 3F/-16C

Saturdays numbers

February 4, 2001 The Antarctic Sun 3

Upon reaching McMurdoStation aboard the Russian ice-breaker Kapitan Khlebnikov on

January 9 this year, little did I real-ize that the decoration of LAL aLiving Antarctic Legend wasabout to be bestowed upon me.

"What, you lived here in1958?!" exclaimed the young ladyin the coffee shop. "Thats all of 43years ago." She appeared to starehard, to make sure I was stillbreathing. "Why, I dont think mymom was born then!"

"And I was here again in 1962,"I added for good measure, attempt-ing a puff-out of my parka-

enclosed chest. "And again in1964.""Unbelievable," she gasped, as

one would on hearing a voice fromthe tomb. And after a respectfulpause, and deciding it was time tohurry away, lest this LAL startedunburdening his life story, she said,"I guess the place has changedsomewhat sir?"

Ah, yes, young American lady, Icould have added, it has changedsomewhat and then a lot some-what more. Approaching the padon a Russian helicopter, a minia-

ture city appeared to reveal itselfthrough the fog. Row upon row of

three-story buildings! A network ofpipelines! Massive fuel tankemplacements! Parking lots

crammed with heavy vehicles!Could this LAL be excused fromasking the pilot, "Are you surewere landing at the right place?"

Where is Burke Boulevard(named after the chief of navaloperations, not me)? Whats hap-pened to Honey Bucket Lane andits unique toilet shack that wasreverse air-conditioned throughholes in the floor? (And it wasntmuch fun staring through thoseholes either.) Who stole our pint-sized PX store? And who turned

around the Chapel of the Snows? Itused to face us at the ObservationHill-end of the little dirt road front-ed by a rather fragile row ofQuonsets and Jamesways thatseemed to have come from a sec-ond-hand lot. The Jamesways wereprone to blizzard battering andwaking up with the sleeping bagencased in snow put a new zip intoones frozen feet to start the day.

Yes, this LAL can honestlyreport: McMurdo has changed!

- David Burke,Burradoo, Australia

LETTERS to the editor

Seeing McMurdo 43 years laterFull marathoners Times

Hiram Henry 2:44:48John Hoppe 2:49:10Thai Verzone 3:40:06

Amy Beyerlein 3:48:11Julie Aurand 3:48:11Stefan Vogel 3:52:00Amy Brennan 4:03:26Jeanelle Parrott 4:19:54Karen Joyce 4:21:37Jennifer Kemper 4:31:48

16 milersWanda Myers (ski) 1:41:03Joe Heil 2:14:03Forrest McCarthy 2:49:27Justin Gibbons 3:02:33Don Bowen 4:32:00

Half marathonersSteffan Freeman 1:06:00

David Koepke 1:24:06Laura Hamilton 1:24:11Ted Dettmar 1:25:27Steve Willey 1:28:15

Full skiersDoug Wing 1:55:49Lisa Ferber 2:33:20Kris Perry 2:33:33Derek Dalrymple 2:37:57Erik Paulsrud 2:44:08Jess Barr 2:55:23Larry Coats 2:56:12Jared Blanton 3:22:43

Full marathon biker

Cary Marger 1:52:59Full marathon walkers

Mary Elizabeth Andrews 8 hrs.Michelle Waknitz 8 hrs.

Antarctica MarathonResults from the Jan. 28 race


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Extreme

Imagine owning an automobile that performslike a Ferrari, but has the gas efficiency of aGeo Metro. Or consider getting by on only

100 calories per day, less than whats packedinto a soda pop or a half of a Hersheys bar.Studying life in the cold reveals organismsthat exhibit such high performance.

About 80 percent of life on Earth exists and

flourishes at temperatures between 35.6 and39.2 degrees F (2 to 4 C), which is the tem-perature inside our refrigerators. Since life onland comprises only a tiny sliver of the bios-phere, we have a lot to learn from life inextreme environments. In the icy cold watersaround Antarctica, organisms have developedintricate adaptations to life in "freezing" water(28.8 degrees F, or 1.8 C) and for survival forlong periods without a food source.

For nearly twenty years, Donal Manahan ofthe University of Southern California hasbeen researching the processes that enable lifeto persist in the extremes. Manahan presentedhis findings at a recent science lecture at CraryLab. By studying the biochemical and physio-logical "tricks" of marine invertebrates, heand his research group stumbled across an ele-gant survival story. The larvae ofSterechinusneumayeri, a rose-pink, spiny sea urchin thatdwells in shallow Antarctic waters, are prov-ing to be a model of metabolic efficiency inthe cold.

Sea urchins have been a classical model forbiologists for hundreds of years. Spawningand fertilizing eggs from a single femaleresults in approximately 50 million offspringthat can be reared for development, comparedto the 1 to 2 eggs hatched by an emperor pen-

guin, for example. This fecundity providesscientists with huge numbers of research spec-imens and facilitates laboratory study.

Manahan chose the urchin as a means toexamine what physiological processes areinvolved in growing up in the cold. In anAntarctic field season, adult urchins areinduced to spawn in the laboratory betweenOctober and December. The larvae are rearedthrough development for days to weeks at atime. At each stage of development, larvae areharvested to analyze synthesis and breakdownof proteins, respiration rates, and energy costsof development.

In most organismsincluding mammals,building and maintain-ing proteins accounts forapproximately one-thirdof caloric expenditure.Proteins are moleculesbuilt from chain links of

amino acids and are theprimary components of muscles. They alsoshuttle nutrients into and out of cells and cat-alyze almost every biochemical process oflife. Manahan thinks that the Antarctic urchinshave a metabolism for building and breakingdown proteins that requires 20 times less ener-gy than anything found before in biology.

The exceptional efficiency of the metabol-ic "engine" discovered in the urchins may helpexplain how organisms survive months at atime in the oftentimes nutrient-deprivedAntarctic waters. The spawning season formost marine invertebrates begins in August,

still months away from the algae blooms thatturn the waters rich with life. To put this intoperspective, imagine arriving during winflyand not eating for the first time untilChristmas.

The incredible adaptations in Antarcticorganisms may hold clues to biological func-tion far beyond life in the extremes.

"We want to start to generalize and learnabout the mechanisms of metabolic efficien-cy," said Manahan.

Now we know that the urchins are extraor-dinarily efficient, but we dont understand thenuts and bolts of how they work. Furtherexploration of such unique systems will help

build an understanding of metabolism in allorganisms.

Learning about how life prevails at theextreme bounds of possibility is inherentlyfascinating. On the flipside, it may even helpshed light on whether "Its not my fault Imfat! Its in my genes." It may be a helpfuldefense the next time you bypass a trip to thegym for a heaping dish full of Mr. Frosty. I

Amanda Leigh Haag is a research technicianwith the University of Southern California, andis with Donal Manahan's biology lab.

In its early developmental stage, an echinoderm larva isthe model of biological efficiency. This stage of growth isexhibited by the type of Antarctic sea urchin discussedhere. Photo by Michael Berger.

Imagine arriving

during winflyand not eating

for the first time

until Christmas.

By Amanda HaagSpecial to the Sunefficiencyefficiency


5/20

Highw yWhats the first thingyoull do when youget off the Ice?

1

oneBeing alone, having time

to myself, going to thebeach. A whole lot of noth-

ingness.Jean Chance

To say the three wordsIve been waiting six

months to say. Excuseme, waiter?

Bill Meyerrecreation

Lie outside andlook at the stars.

Its the last thing Idid before I came

here too.Jeff Inglishousing


Polies in paradise?

E

ach summer, McMurdo Station employees who pick up

winter contracts go to New Zealand for a week of rest andrelaxation. The South Pole winter worker comes to theless crowded beaches of Ross Island.

McMurdoites pity the poor Polies who live summers in subze-ro temperatures then before six months of extreme cold and dark-ness spend a week at McMurdo, a place many locals by now findnauseating.

"Let's go bowling," McMurdoite Brian Barry said, chucklingabout McMurdo Station's simple recreational opportunities."Well, at least it's not an expensive vacation," Barry pointed out.

Field safety instructor Brennen Brunner led a pack of Polies inHappy Camper school, a two-day outdoor survival trainingcourse the vacationers underwent for recreation. What struckBrunner was the pleasure his campers found in the upper 30-degree temperatures.

"They kept commenting on how warm it was," Brunner."Theyd take their gloves off, wave their hands and laugh," saidBrunner, fanning both his hands in the air like Liberace.

Even though McMurdo Station wouldn't make a list of dreamvacation spots, most Polies aren't complaining. While here, theyvisit local boondoggle sites such as the camp, penguin pool and anearby crevasse that is safe to explore.

Some even say that if given the chance, they would not fly far-ther north to New Zealand.

"I wouldnt even want to go to Christchurch," said South Polemeteorologist Nathan Tift, who recently took in the sights in andaround MacTown. "I knew I was going to spend a year inAntarctica."

Carpenter Kurt Sarkiaho lives in a South Pole Jamesway

where he can freeze a six-pack of soda just by leaving it on thewooden floor. Three weeks ago he walked into his temporarydorm room in Bldg. 155. His jaw dropped as he let go of his bags.

"The carpet on the dorm floors, telephones in the rooms itsnice," Sarkiaho said. "I walked into that room and I thought, Ifthey had let me go to New Zealand, I might have just gotten on aplane and gone back to the U.S. That would have been a distinctpossibility."

Dont laugh, McMurdoites.Polies take pride in their South Pole community. But visiting

McMurdo its mountain and dark rock-covered surroundings,

free-flowing showers and selection of three bars is a happyreprieve from flat, white scenery and more rustic living.

"Its so much more vast," said Jake Gibbons, a veteran SouthPole worker who recently passed through town on his way to thePole. "You come here and its Whoah! Theres power lines andcars and dust and rocks. I could just sit in a cloud of dust all dayand be happy as a clam."

It's not all love, though.Right away Polies nicknamed McMurdo Station "The Land of

Don't," because they were given a lengthy list of rules to followwhile on vacation.

And McMurdo Station, some Polies say, with its transientpopulation hovering around 800 seems to be the karmic oppositeof the parochial Poles 220-person community. One Polie tried to

peg the McMurdo vibe by comparing it to image-conscious pop-ulations in coastal cities such as Miami or Los Angeles.At least one person wintering at the South Pole spent his vaca-

tion where the stripes are home at the Pole. Carpenter DavidBenson passed over a week at McMurdo to burn CDs, watchmovies and play guitar.

"Ive done exactly what I wanted to do," Benson said, addingthat MacTown wasnt appealing but that Christchurch might be.

"Ive heard people say though, If I went to Christchurch fromhere I wouldnt come back.' I think people come back, but still,why torture yourself?" I

At least its not anexpensive vacation.At least its not anexpensive vacation.- McMurdoite Brian Barry on Polies

who vacation at McMurdo Station

Polies onvacationexplore acrevasse.Photoprovided byAaron Coy.



6/20

At first glance Lake Vostok is just flatand white, but Tom Richter had threeweeks to look at it more closely.

He spent four hours a day flying back andforth over the frozen lake. The best viewswerent out the window of the Twin Otter

plane, but in data from instruments that "see"through the ice sheet, measuring the depthand altitude of the ice, gravitational attrac-tion, and magnetism of the earth.

"You could just look and see there wassomething interesting going on," Richtersaid. "Theres rough, regular, rocky groundand then all of a sudden you could see someflat lake surface."

Richter was at Vostok with the rest of theSOAR team, the Support Office forAerogeophysical Research, to gather data forscientists trying to better understand the hid-den lake, which is the size of Lake Ontario.

"Why the lakes there nobody knows andthats why were there," Richter said. "Idont know if were going to be able to findout either."

Researcher Michael Studinger thinks hewill find an answer in the 30 gigabytes ofdata SOAR collected in 36 flights.

"Its the first detailed image of the lake

itself," Studinger said. "We are most interest-ed in getting the geologic setting of the lakeand also the depth of the lake."

Every second the equipment recorded thegravitational attraction, six radar readingsand 10 measures on the magnetometer. The

altimeter gave the altitude of the ice to with-in 10 to 20 centimeters. Radar showed theterrain below the flat ice changed fromrolling plains on one side of the lake tomountains on the other. The lake itselfappeared to be in a basin, below two miles(three to four km.) of ice.

The findings will help scientists decidebetween two theories for the creation of thelake. One scenario is that the lake was creat-ed by erosion. The second possibility, andthe one Studinger said preliminary data sup-ports, is that changes in the earths crustformed the lake.

The evidence is a huge magnetic anomalyon the east coast of the lakes shoreline. Asthe first SOAR flight crossed over to thelakes east side, the magnetometer dialswung suddenly. The readings changedalmost 1,000 nanotesla from the normal60,000 nanoteslas around Vostok. A tesla is

A


b e lo w V o s to kSOARing

The Twin Otter SOAR uses to flydata collection missions waits out-side their Jamesway. Photo provid-ed by SOAR.

below Vostok

The SOAR team loads equipment into a Twin Otter plane. Theequipment is used to measure changes in magnetism, gravity,altitude and ice depth, which will help scientists map andunderstand Lake Vostok. Photo provided by SOAR.

Why the lakes there nobodyknows and thats why were there.

- Tom Richter, Support Office forAerogeophysical Research

SOARing

By Kristan Hutchison SabbatiniSun staff

see next page


7/20


the standard measure of magnetism.Studinger typically finds anomalies of 500-to-600 nanotesla in places where volcanicmaterial has poured out of the ground

"When we first saw this huge magneticanomaly, that was very exciting,"Studinger said.

Usually magnetic anomalies are muchsmaller and it takes some effort to distin-

guish the anomaly from normal dailychanges in the magnetic field. In this casethere was no confusion.

"This anomaly is so big that it cant becaused by a daily change in the magneticfield," Studinger said.

The anomaly was big in another way,encompassing the entire Southeast cornerof the lake, about (65 b 46 miles) 105 kmby 75 km. The size and extremity of themagnetic anomaly indicated the geologicalstructure changes beneath the lake, andStudinger guessed it might be a regionwhere the earths crust is thinner.

To create the type of topography found

at Lake Vostok, the earths crust was prob-ably stretched, thinning one to three per-cent as it pulled taut, Studinger said.

While the SOAR team flew, charting thelake from above, Studinger set up seismicstations to study the lake through theground. Hell learn more about the crustalstructure under the lake from the way seis-mic waves travel from earthquakes aroundthe world travel through the lake. In 22days the sensors recorded eight earth-quakes, including a 6.9 magnitude quakenear Kodiak, Alaska.

Researchers are also interested in the

interaction between the ice sheet and thewater beneath. The ice sheet moves overthe lake at about four meters a year. As itmoves, it scrapes the ground and carriesparticles into the lake.

"Thats a way to get nutrients into thelake, which would be important for theecosystem," Studinger said.

Insulated beneath the ice, the water is

warmed by the earth itself. The warmwater at the bottom of the lake then risesand melts the bottom of the ice sheet inplaces, so small currents circulate throughthe lake.

"What we observe is there are regionswhere theres melting going on and regionswhere theres refreezing," Studinger said.

But all these observations are donethrough the ice. Nobody has actually sam-pled the lake water itself yet, thoughRussian scientists have drilled to within afew hundred feet.

SOAR was really just scouting out thearea for that next step, touching the wateritself. Studinger and his colleagues atLamont-Doherty Earth Observatory ofColumbia University will spend the nexttwo years analyzing the data SOAR col-lected and writing up the results. Oncefully analyzed, the data will show wherethe sediments are in the lake bottom, howthick they are and where there areupwellings of water.

"One of the important things with thisdata is it will help to make a decision on adrilling location," Studinger said. I

The American camp at Lake Vostok, above, surrounded by flat, white terrain. At right TomRichter plans SOAR flights along a grid to gather data about the landscape beneath theice. Scientists will use data collected during the flights to determine where they should drillinto the lake for samples of the water. Photos provided by SOAR.

from previous page

When we first sawthis huge magneticanomaly, that was

very exciting.- Michael Studinger,

Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

MichaelStudinger,researcher


8/20

R o s s I s l a n d C h r o n i c l e s


B y C h i c O

4

4

Check the bulletinboard outside the

Recreation office foractivities throughout

the winter

our Antarctic week

Climbing wall andbouldering cave

certification, pageKeith at 622 to set

up a time

Science lectureSleeping Giants ofthe Ross Sea, byDoug MacAyeal,8:15 p.m., galley

Antarctic GolfProfessionals

Association drivingtournament, 11 a.m.,

derelict junction

Cold, hard

facts

4Meeting to decidewhere charitable

contributions will bedonated, noon,

Chapel

6Pot Party to glaze

abandoned pottery,sign up on rec board,

7 to 9 p.m.,ceramics room

Total Antarctic population last summer: 3,687 people

Number of acres per person in Antarctica lastsummer: 938,297

Number of ice-free acres per person: 18,765

Ratio of men to women on the Ice this season: 1.8 to 1

Best odds for guys: Palmer station with 13 women to18 men

Best odds for gals: South Pole with 105 men to 44women

Odds at McMurdo: Almost 2 to 1, with 414 men to237 women

Percent of respondents to a McMurdo smokingsurvey who never smoke: 81

Percent who smoke daily: 13

www.polar.org/antsun

Havea greatwinter!

Oh, I w ou ldn t say t ha t ! ! !

I t s k ind o f ear l y tobe hav ing the las t

issue, b ut I supp osenot h ing muchhappens around here

th is t ime o f year .

Hey, w hat s go ing on?

I m reading the

Ant ar ct ic Sun. It s t helast issue f or t h is summer .

People


9/20

usage down here," said Richter, the power and water plantsupervisor. "You can see when everybody gets up, when thelaundry starts up, when the heavy shop starts up."

Keeping the dials a little lower is one of the goals of a newlyformalized energy conservation program Raytheon PolarServices Company developed at the request of the NationalScience Foundation. The goal is to "burn less fuel, drive fewermiles, put fewer people in the Antarctic, but still get the same

amount of science," said Richard Boehne, Director ofOperations for Raytheon.

In the past, the U.S. Antarctic Program conducted a numberof studies and implemented several facility projects to reduce theuse of fuels for heating and electricity. Not as much was done,though, to emphasize the human factors and operational aspectsthat can contribute to energy conservation, until now.

As part of a more deliberate approach to energy managementand conservation, a plan is being developed that will includegoals for conserving fuel and water, reducing the greenhouse gasemissions, and expanding the use of solar, wind and other renew-able energy sources in the U.S. Antarctic Program.

"No matter what we do we have to conserve any resources webring down here, because any dollar we use on that is less we canuse on science," said NSF representative Erick Chiang said. "Its

just really one component of streamlining the program."Raytheon is trying to enlist everyones help to meet those

goals. An energy management committee will gather sugges-tions on ways to save energy and guide the implementation ofconservation measures.

"Were going to put more emphasis into soliciting ideas fromindividuals within the Antarctic," Boehne said, "and not justindividual people, but getting ideas from work centers."

Some of the conservation has to be done on a personal level,Richter said. Doing laundry and taking long showers drain mostof the water, while forgetting to turn off space heaters, lights andother equipment uses up electricity.

"Its the small things like that," Richter said. "It doesnt seemlike much, but when you collectively take it across 1,000 people

it adds up a bit."The overall goal is to reduce energy consumption by 20 to 30percent from what it was in 1990. Comparing Jan. 12, 1991 tothe same day this year, there has already been a drop in the peakusage, from 216 amps ten years ago to 202 amps now. Thosenumbers dont reflect the 18-month-old heat recovery system,which is saving fuel by heating several dorms and the Crary Labwith excess heat created in the power plant, Richter said.

Waste heat is also used to preheat water before it goes throughthe reverse osmosis system, saving about 1,600 gallons of fuel aweek, Richter said. More buildings will be added to the heatrecovery system in coming years.

"That is just saving a tremendous amount of fuel," Richtersaid.

More fuel will be saved when the 20-year-old generators inthe power plant are replaced with newer, more efficient genera-tors in two years, Richter said. The power plant burns about25,000 gallons of fuel a week in three generators.

Specific changes like tracking and reducing vehicle idle timeswill also save fuel, and engine wear and tear, said operationsmanager Bill Haals. When Haals first came to the Ice in 1988most vehicles ran all day, idling when they werent in use. Nowthe policy is to warm vehicles up if its cold, but always turn

them off when stopped."Those little things add up into big things," Boehne said.The Antarctic program already depends on wind and sun

power for many field camps and the communications network.Most of the radio repeaters are solar-powered and the seismicmonitoring station at Mt. Newall runs off wind, sun and backupgenerators.

Mt. Newall is just a mini-version of the much larger setup atBlack Island, said communications supervisor Bill Nesbit. OnBlack Island, four windmills and an array of solar panels feed awall of batteries 30 feet long and seven feet tall.

The Black Island satellite relay station was set up with wind-mills in 1984. In 1990 solar power was added. Without the alter-native energy, the 20,000-gallon fuel tank running the backup

generator would run out of fuel mid-year, when there is no wayto get to Black Island. As it is, Black Island is only refueled oncea year in October or November, and even then there are usuallyabout 8,000 gallons of fuel left in the tank.

Antarctica has an abundance of wind and sun in the summerto power everything. The challenge is that often there is toomuch. Winds at Black Island sometimes whip by at 200 mph.The 600-pound windmills are built to withstand gale forces andhave broken down in windstorms only twice in 13 years.

"This is perhaps the most pristine environment left on theplanet. It is our duty to preserve it," said Tracy Dahl, alternativeenergy specialist for the U.S. Antarctic Program. "Alternativeenergy does not pollute nor alter the environment. It harnessesthe energy that is already there." I


Gearing up to power

Two wind generators and a solar panel array charge batteriesnear Arrival Heights. Photo by Kristan Hutchison Sabbatini.

By Kristan Hutchison SabbatiniSun staff

Just by watching dials at the power plant, supervisor AlRichter knows what McMurdo residents are doing."You can almost set your wristwatch by watching my power

DOWN

UP


10/20


catching the faint flashes of light produced byhigh-energy subatomic particles travelingthrough Earth and colliding in the ice.

The neutrino-seeking telescope is calledAMANDA, an acronym for what ScientificAmerican magazine called one of "seven won-

ders of modern astronomy," and described as"the weirdest telescope in the world," said Karle.He laughs out loud about the distinction.

The telescope is a $10-million dollar, interna-tional project that scientists are hoping will teachthem about violent events such as black hole col-lapses and supernova explosions. It's trackinghigh-energy particles that are one million timesmore energetic than anything coming from thesun.

"Were trying to see things far away," said co-spokesperson for the project Steve Barwick. "Wehope to find out why theyre so powerful.Theres too many guesses and not enough

answers."What's unique about AMANDA is that it is atelescope tracking neutrinos rather than photons,which are light particles.

Unlike optical telescopes, in which lighttransmits a picture to the viewer, AMANDAfocuses on the paths of neutrinos the residueleft by decaying radioactive elements and parti-cles which can draw a picture of the early uni-verse.

"We know everything about every energyrange of photons but no one ever used neutrinosto monitor the sky," said Marcus Hellwig, a grad-uate student from the University of Mainz inGermany working with AMANDA.

Monumental is the potential to trace cosmichistory back to the big bang 15 billion years ago.

"This comes down to understanding the fun-damental processes of how the universe works,where these particles come from," Karle said.

Neutrinos are abundant and can pierce theEarth but are hard to detect because they areinvisible, have no electric charge, virtually nointeraction with matter and either no mass or arenearly without mass.

"We call them poltergeist particles becausethey are so ethereal," Barwick said.

At the South Pole station, in the field of iceholes is a two-story blue building about a half-

mile from the Pole's silver dome. Inside, a teamof astrophysicists watches busy computerscreens for neutrino hits in the ice.

At any time around the globe, at certain uni-versities and research stations, scientists withAMANDA are analyzing mounds of data andplanning upgrades to the system.

The project employs about 70 people from 16institutions in Germany, Belgium, Sweden and

the United States."There are lots and lots of computers

involved," said physicist Jodi Lamoureux. "It's alot of work to actually do these measurements,but it will pay off."

The project is labor intensive because the sci-

entists must analyze each hit to separate neutri-nos from the millions of other cosmic rays hit-ting the sensors each day.

For one million particles that light up ascreen, only about four are neutrinos, Karle said.

Barwick described AMANDA as being fourfootball fields deep, two wide. "It's bigger thanthe World Trade Center."

And AMANDA, 640 sensors in 19 holes, isjust the prototype to a project with 10 times thenumber of sensors and, at $250 million dollars,25 times its price. As sort of a practice run,AMANDA has been tracing atmospheric neutri-nos. The next step, the much larger project calledIce Cube, will also detect neutrinos, but willfocus on finding them from the farthest places inthe universe. Its size at a half-mile by a halfmile will boost the numbers of neutrinos beingcaught, scientists are hoping.

"We're hoping to see the neutrino sky the waywe see the photons," Barwick said. "The main goalof AMANDA was to establish this technique." I

Scientific American magazinecalled AMANDA the weirdest

telescope in the world.

Steve Barwick

holds a neutrinodetector. About 640of these are buried

in the two-milethick ice cap at the

South Pole.

Space from page 1


11/20

For decades astronomers struggled to prove thegeometric of the universe. So when imagescaptured from a balloon over Antarctica last

year confirmed that the cosmos was flat, the news

provided splashy headlines around the world.In the United States, "Science Snags Front-RowSeat to Infant Universe," read The Washington Post."Baby pictures of universe show its flat," said theBaltimore Sun.

"Just last year there was no consensus with geom-etry of the universe," said astronomer Erik Leitch."Now we know with good certainty that it is flat."

The balloon project, called BOOMERanG, was thefirst experiment to provide evidence of the universe'sgeometry with high-resolution maps of the big bang'safterglow. The radiation is called the cosmicmicrowave background, and it is the closestastronomers have come to a visual image of cosmichistory.

Technological developments in the last few yearsindicate that history and news will be made again,soon.

The cosmic microwave background is radiationthat scientists use to trace the universe's history to300,000 years after the big bang, which is believed tohave happened 15 billion years ago. Just after the bigbang, particles in the universe were scattered throughthe cosmos like snow in a blizzard that light could notpenetrate. But about 300,000 years later, scientistsbelieve, the universe cooled. Its particles had alteredto a state that allowed light, or radiation, to passbetween them. The particles left an imprint on theradiation that scientists are able to detect in finerdetail than ever before.

"Its like a fossil of an earlier universe," saidLeitch, who works with the South Pole station radia-tion telescope project Degree Angular ScaleInterferometer, or DASI. "Its the oldest fossilaround."

The cosmic microwave background's potential as alearning tool is far-reaching for astronomers seekinganswers to fundamental questions: Is the universeexpanding? If so, how fast? What is it made of? And

Top: Erik Leitch and the DASI telescope. Above: JohnRuhl approaches ACBAR. Both telescopesare surrounded by radiation reflectors.

On the cusp



"We'll have answers to the big questions in,I would say, five years."

-Erik LeitchAstronomer

see DASI on page 13

Ben Reddall testsone of DASIs

radio telescopereceivers.


12/20


Left: Mike Town gets the balloon ready for a launch. Top right: Steve Warren inspectsinstruments the balloon will carry into the clouds. Right: Steve Hudson prepares comput-ers that will show pictures of cloud particles the instruments beam down to the lab whilein the air.

Atorpedo-shaped orange balloon looms over whatappears to be a houseboat resting on a frozen,white sea.

Stairs lead to the roof that is roped off around the perime-

ter. Two Styrofoam Os painted with the letters SS SPAR-CLE, an acronym for South Pole Atmospheric Radiationand Cloud Lidar Experiment, hang out front like life pre-servers on a ship.

The wooden building is actually a South Pole climatol-ogy lab. The carpenters made it this way just for kicks.

"This ought to last through the winter," said lead scientistSteve Warren, scanning the walls inside.

Warren won't be here during the six months of darkness.Graduate students Mike Town and Steve Hudson will steerthe lab's dark season of experiments in the clouds, studyingsnow and analyzing greenhouse gases.

see next page

UP

in the sky


Were tryingto explain why the

climate is like it is.- Steve Warren

University of Washington


13/20


most recently, is the universe's geometry flat, in which twoparallel lines will never meet? Or does it curve in on itselflike a sphere, or expand outward, like a saddle?

Since the 1960s scientists have known that the cosmicmicrowave background existed.

In 1991 they were first able to see temperature fluctua-tions in it. They say this is key because the distribution and

sizes of hot and cold spots tell of the early universe's densityof matter. Their new telescopes make maps that show thevariations. As astronomer Kim Coble put it: "The distributionof the spot sizes tells you everything you want to know aboutthe universe."

As evidenced by the balloon's message, prodding past ourgalaxy into the microwave background is a way to churn outrelatively quick answers to long-standing questions about theuniverse's origin and fate.

But there is a side effect.The more precise technology has fueled a race among aca-

demics to make the most efficient telescopes and radioreceivers and to come up with earth-shattering conclusions.The scientists are exhilarated to quickly synthesize their data

and publish their findings. But theyre also feeling pressurefrom the scientific community to rush to conclusions."We are working on questions that are so fundamental

they really want to know the answers," Leitch said. "Theyrejust beating down your door."

Impressions from the cosmic microwave background arewidely accepted as reliable paths for tracing cosmic history.But astronomer John Ruhl takes the race in stride: "If youlook at the history of science, there's always people on theforefront of knowledge, and there are times when the rate ofknowledge accelerates until a standard is turned over. This isa fantastic time to be doing cosmic background work. The1970s weren't."

In Europe and Russia scientists are pursing the answers toastrophysical questions via the cosmic microwave back-ground.

In Antarctica, at the South Pole, new multi-million dollartelescopes and radio frequency receivers are cropping up.

The DASI project is actually 13 telescopes aimed to detecttemperature fluctuations in the early universe. DASI is

designed to record high-resolution images of the cosmicmicrowave background.

A NASA satellite MAP, Microwave Anisotropy Probe, isscheduled to be deployed this year. The long duration balloonTOPHAT launched from Williams Field early in January cir-

cled Antarctica recording radiation and recently returnedhome.At the South Pole this season, a high-frequency radio

receiver was deployed with the Viper telescope. Ruhl andCoble work on the receiver, called ACBAR, an acronym forArcminute Cosmology Bolometer Array Receiver, whichextends Viper's observations to higher frequencies.

Together the telescopes, balloons and satellite are huntingfor answers to the origin and fate of the universe.

"We'll have answers to the big questions in, I would say,five years," Leitch said.

But Ruhl is more cautious: "I'm more of a wait-and-seetype." I

The greenhouse gases ozone, carbondioxide and water vapor act as a blanketwarming the Earth. Some scientists say thegases are insulating the planet to the pointof causing unnatural climate warming.Even changes in climate by a few degreescould have a long-term effect.

Warren's group isn't trying to save theworld from extreme weather events. But itis investigating the climate of the Antarcticplateau in an effort to improve climatemodels.

"Were trying to explain why the cli-mate is like it is," Warren said.

Clouds may be just as important asgreenhouse gases, he said.

"In winter here, it's always warmerunder a cloudy sky than under a clear sky,"said Warren.

On the roof what looks like a green util-ity box is packed with instruments thatmeasure radiation emitted by snow and

greenhouse gases.In March the box will be brought inside

for the winter to be used as a telescope.From a circular hole cut in the labs side

it will transmit a beam out to an array ofmirrors to determine the absorption ofradiation by water vapor.

The measurements are an expansion ofan experiment Warren conducted in 1992,the year he spent a winter at the Pole.

Together with water vapor and air tem-perature measurements recorded duringthe balloon launches, the researchers willmake conclusions.

"That will tell us what were lookingfor," said Hudson, "how water vaporabsorbs the infrared radiation and how thatchanges with different temperatures."

The roof is where the climate measur-ing instruments are launched as a danglingappendage to the balloon. Cloud proper-ties such as height and crystal sizes are

also explored during the launching of theballoon. To take a look at ice crystals acamera is sent into the clouds where thecrystals are caught on film, literally. Thefilm is leader film with no emulsion a supplier in Hollywood sold to one of the pro-

ject's participants.

"They were quite amused when theyfound out what he was going to use it for,"Warren said.

Ice crystals are sucked into the top ofthe camera and land on a sticky coatingThe image is beamed to a screen inside thelab.

On the ground, under microscopes, theresearchers examine the shapes and sizesof the crystals.

"It tells us something about the conditions in which they were formed," Hudsonsaid. "By knowing what's up there we canbetter interpret the radiation data we'rereceiving." I

Technology has fueled a race to come

up with earth-shattering conclusions.

from previous page

DASIfrom page 11


14/20


of

speaking

science...

Our radio handle, it wasdecided, would be the "firn-suckers." It was an attempt,

I think, by the scientists in ourgroup to let people know what wewere about, since everyone atSouth Pole Station with a radiowould hear us checking in twice aday. Wed be tenting it outside thestation, splitting up and workingaround the clock.

Our goal was to collect old airfrom the snow at various depthsthat would be sampled later forvarious constituents. The SouthPole was chosen because thesnow is cold and the accumula-tion is low, thus allowing for adeep "firn/ice transition" andtherefore older air. Firn is porous,i.e. breathable, snow. Its transi-tion to ice is at the depth wherethe pressure causes the pores toclose off into bubbles which atfirst look like tiny peanuts that,

with depth, turn into spheres.Heres how it works. Wewould drill to a certain depth withan ice coring drill (saving thecore for other scientists for otherstudies), then remove the drillfrom the cable and attach in itsplace a cylindrical bladder. Thiswe would lower to the bottom ofthe hole and inflate, sealing offthe hole from surface air. Then airwould be drawn from below thebladder and collected in flasks.

This procedure would be repeatedwith greater frequency as depthof the hole increased until nomore air could be drawn. AtSouth Pole Station, that depth isaround 394 feet (120 meters)which is, of course, the depth ofthe firn/ice transition. At thatdepth, the air is about 100 yearsold and the ice is about 1,000years old.

The six people in our grouprepresent two different sciencegroups. Mark Battle (Once I saw

him being introduced to someoneas Dr. Battle; he extended hishand and said, "Hi, Im Mark")and his undergrad associate, JesseBastide (paid only in experienceand knowledge) are collectingsamples for one set of studies.Mark has done his research at avariety of schools but is presentlyat Bowdoin College inBrunswick, Maine, as is Jesse.

Then theres the NOAA,National Oceanic & Atmospheric

Administration, group. JimButler is an atmospheric chemist(Jim brought a good selection ofCDs to play at minus 30 C abunch of blues, a couple of TheEagles and a great BuffaloSpringfield). He and Andy Clarke(Andy is just out of his secondconsecutive South Pole winter-over for NOAA, a snow boarderwho once told me that betweenhimself and his roommates, theirgarage contained 16 pairs of skis,9 bikes and whatever else) workin the Climate Monitoring andDiagnostics Lab (CMDL) inBoulder. They study greenhousegases and ozone depleting gases.Their lab maintains a year-roundair sampling site at the South PoleStation, as well as three otherremote sites around the globe.

Finally, there are the drillers,Tony Wendricks and myself, ofthe Ice Core Drilling Services,ICDS. ICDS recently won theNational Science Foundationdrilling contract and is part of theSpace, Science and Engineering

Center of the University ofWisconsin. (Tony is new to thiskind of work, but apparentlydecided to jump in with both feet.He is a true Cheesehead adiehard Packers fan whose annu-al deer hunting trips he describesas a "pilgrimage." I think he andhis buddies and their sons haveall but forgotten about the deerpart). Ive been a driller for much

WesuckThe firnsuckersscience groupgoofs off withtheir giantvacuum hose.Photo courtesyof Jay Kyne.

ancient air, that is

see next page

The pressure causesthe pores to closeoff into bubbles

which at first looklike tiny peanuts

that, with depth, turninto spheres.

By Jay KyneSpecial to the Sun


15/20


longer than I care to admit. Suffice it to say thatthis is my fourth firn air sampling project.

The history of firn gas sampling isnt veryold at all. Let me go back briefly to its begin-nings. The first paper on this subject came out

in 1989, written by Jacob Schwander whobelieved that the air found in the firn would beof great value in the study of atmospheric his-tory. His results, however, didnt add up. EnterMichael Bender, principal investigator for thisproject and the scientist under whom Markbegan his study as a post doc. Bender recog-nized that the air sample containers were react-ing with the air, yielding skewed results, andthat indeed Schwanders hypothesis was true.Bender recruited disciples and the science offirn air study blossomed.

So how do scientists actually know how oldthe air really is? Well, first of all, atmospheric

carbon dioxide has been sampled since the1960s, so we have that record. Then, one goesto a location where the ice is warmer than SouthPole and the accumulation is much more. At thislocation, the firn/ice transition is much shallow-er and the air is much younger at the transition.

Now, realize that beyond the firn/ice transi-tion, the air is trapped in bubbles and thereforeas the ice gets a year older, the air trapped with-in its bubbles also get a year older. They agetogether from that point on. Then realize that atsuch a location, the annual layers of ice arereadily distinguished. The location is chosen sothat the time the air is first trapped was beforethe 1960s, when the carbon dioxide levels of

the atmosphere are known. Then one samplesthe air from the bubbles, stating the year of theice and recording the levels of carbon dioxide .Voila! the carbon dioxide record for our planethas been extended back many years beforeactual atmospheric sampling began.

The person who was able to do this wasDavid Etheridge and the place was Law Dome,Antarctica just a few seasons ago. Ice bubbleair sampling has extended our carbon dioxiderecords vastly: The Vostok core, for example,has given us data extending back hundreds ofthousands of years, beautifully mimicking theice temperature records throughout four ice

ages.But what about the last hundred years? Jimtells me about his work and the ozone depletermethyl bromide. It is used in agriculture forsoil preparation. It also exists naturally. Once itwas recognized as potentially harmful to ouratmosphere, it was measured. That measure-ment only began in the 1990s and the use ofmethyl bromide as an agricultural chemicalbegan in 1960s. With the air we are samplingfrom the South Pole firn, Jim and Andys labcan put together the history of methyl bromidefrom 1900 to now, and possibly reveal whatpart agricultural use plays in the destruction of

the ozone layer.The same applies to nitrous oxide, an agri-

cultural tool, and chlorofluorocarbons, thosenasty refrigerants. Atmospheric monitoring oftheir levels began in the 1970s. Soon, Jim and

Andy will have established a record of theseozone depleters extending back many yearsbefore people began introducing them into theatmosphere.

Marks object of study is quite different. Bystudying oxygen levels of the past one hundredyears, Mark is able to put a value to a couple ofvery illusive global questions: How much car-bon dioxide is absorbed by the oceans and howmuch is absorbed by the land plants? Hereshow that works.

The change of the earths oxygen levels canbe accounted for by two things: The amountgiven off by land plants and the amount con-

sumed by the burning of fossil fuels. Well, weknow how much fossil fuel is consumedbecause we monitor oil production. What wedont know is how much oxygen plants give

off. What we do know is the ratio of oxygengiven off by plants to carbon dioxide absorbed.Plus, we also know the ratio of oxygen con-sumed by fossil fuel burning to carbon dioxidegiven off. That leads to the next equality. Thechange of the earths carbon dioxide levels canbe accounted for by three things: the amountabsorbed by land plants, the amount given offby the burning of fossil fuels and the amountabsorbed by oceans. So, by studying thechange of oxygen in the South Pole firn air,Mark plugs in the numbers to these equalities

and gets the most reliable measurement yet inscience.Jim and Andy are also collecting volumes to

return for use as archives. Since we are con-stantly learning about our atmosphere and itsmany chemical occurrences and how theyeffect our lives, someone is going to figure outsomething else for which they want to piecetogether a history. So, onward science goes.For now, all six of us are present and account-ed for firnsuckers clear. I

Jay Kyne is a driller with Ice Core DrillingServices.

Mark is able to put a value to a coupleof very illusive global questions:

How much carbon dioxide is absorbedby the oceans and how much is

absorbed by the land plants?

from previous page


16/20


ofspeaking

science...

Some of nature's most beautiful dis-plays are best seen at the South Pole- halos, sun dogs, sunsets and stars.

The most spectacular is the aurora, a danc-ing light show of colorful bands in the nightskies at high northern and southern lati-tudes. Auroral displays are the icebergs ofthe thermosphere, sculpted by solar wind,floating in waves of atomic oxygen,bestowing their alluring and ethereal bril-liance. Robert Scott said, "It is impossibleto witness such a beautiful phenomenonwithout a sense of awe, and yet this senti-ment is not inspired by its brilliancy butrather by its delicacy in light and color, itstransparency, and above all its tremulousevanescence of form."

This season will be an excellent one for

the aurora because we are near the peak of the11-year solar cycle. The best place to observethe aurora is under the auroral ovals, thedonut shapes of the aurora around the northand south magnetic poles. These rings sur-round the north and south magnetic poles andmay be easily seen from space. The auroraloval nearly goes over the South Pole, andalso is near McMurdo Station. In the northernhemisphere, the auroral oval goes overAlaska and northern Canada. So if you arewintering, or heading back to Alaska as manypeople on the Ice are, you are very lucky.

Although auroral displays most fre-

quently occur in northern latitudes of 65 to70 degrees, they sometimes occur at lowerlatitudes. I've seen many excellent displaysat 44 degrees north latitude.

People have always been curious aboutthe aurora, citing it in folklore and mythol-ogy throughout the ages. For example, afamous display was seen in India and Egyptduring 1872. Very low-latitude auroras areusually red. In 1938 such a display waschased by a fire brigade sent out to extin-guish a fire at Windsor Castle in London.Scientific studies of the aurora also date along way back, specifically to 1621 and a

French scientist named Gassendi. He docu-mented his observations in a physics bookin which he referred to what he saw as the

aurora borealis, meaning northern dawn.In 1773 the corresponding phenomenonin the Southern Hemisphere, aurora aus-tralis (southern dawn), was first reported byCaptain Cook. He observed it when hesailed the Indian Ocean. The aurora is pop-ularly known as northern or southern lights.By 1873 the northern auroral zone wasmapped and was found to be a ring aroundthe north magnetic pole. Spectral measure-ments, that is, measurements of the compo-nent colors, were initially made in the early1900s. An international campaign during1957-58 was organized to study the aurora.This led to our current general understand-

ing of the aurora, but there are still manyunanswered questions.

The aurora appears in many differentforms: arcs with rays, bands, pulsating sur-faces, and draperies. One of the most com-mon forms is a blue-green flickering drap-ery moving across the northern sky.Narrow, vertical, luminous columns withrapid fluctuations in intensity are common.The lower border is often intense and some-times red. Typically, a display lasts a fewminutes and occurs a few times per night.Strangely enough, there have been numer-ous reports of people hearing the aurora,

although there is yet no scientific explana-tion or confirmation.To understand the aurora, we must start

at the Sun. Above the surface of the Sun, acomplex interaction of radiation and con-vection maintains the gaseous region calledthe corona. At temperatures over a milliondegrees Celsius, the corona continuouslygives off particles collectively forming thesolar wind. When the solar wind reachesEarth, it interacts with Earth's magneticfield, causing electric currents to travelalong the magnetic field lines. Much like amagnet, these field lines converge at the

season for

AurorasHighBy John BirdSpecial to the Sun

polar regions, directing the electric currentsto the ionosphere in the polar regions.

The electrical power is converted to light

in the ionosphere rather like a neon sign byexciting atomic oxygen and nitrogen intohigher energy metastable states. When theelectrons return to the ground state, the pho-tons are emitted. The colors are characteris-tic of the components of the atmosphere andthe altitude. Most auroras are from a form ofatomic oxygen called singlet S, whichdescribes the shape of the electron shell giv-ing off the characteristic green color. A high-er energy state of oxygen, singlet D, givesoff red. Other colors are from nitrogen. Thelowest part of the aurora is usually at about62 miles (100 kilometers) in altitude.

The most spectacular auroral displays are

caused by bursts of solar wind particlesoriginating from magnetic storms on theSun. These particles reach Earth directlyfrom the Sun and from the far regions of themagnetosphere which streams beyond theEarth, away from the Sun, forming the mag-netotail. Earth's magnetic and electric fieldsin space guide and accelerate particlestoward the auroral regions. The power cre-ated by a magnetic storm hitting the ionos-phere is about half due to particles and abouthalf due to electric currents.

Here at the Atmosphere ResearchObservatory at the South Pole, the Aurora

All Sky Imager experiment will operate anintensified optical, all-sky imager, operatingin several wavelengths. The imager allowsus to study waves in the atmosphere, to lookat various altitudes, and to discriminatebetween types of electron precipitation. Theprincipal investigator for the experimentGary Swenson of the University of Illinoisis a veteran of many auroral investigationsaround the world. I

John Bird, B.Sc, M.A.Sc., Ph.D., P. Eng.,FBIS, is wintering at South Pole Station tostudy the southern auroras.

Aurora ovals showingthe extent of the auro-ras over the northernand southern poles.


17/20

AA t 66.5 degrees South latitude, alongthe Antarctic Peninsula, King andQueen Neptune were observedmaking a visitation aboard the USAP icehardened vessel,Lawrence M Gould. Theysat on the aft deck in regal finery and reada list of crimes to those who had nevercrossed the Antarctic Circle before. To do

penance for their sins, the indicted wereforced to entertain the regal visitors, weresmeared with a pate of sauerkraut, eggs,and assorted sea creatures, and finallyreceived a baptism by freezing cold seawa-ter.

Such was a brief moment of fun in athree-week science cruise of the Gould.For 20 hours a day, seven days a week,researchers from University of Hawaii,Scripps Institute of Oceanography, U.C.Santa Barbara, and Montana StateUniversity supported this years LongTerm Ecological Research (LTER) sum-mer cruise. The goal of this program is toobserve the Antarctic environment overmultiple seasons.

As Robin Ross, a LTER principal inves-tigator describes it, "we must think aboutprocesses which occur over decades.Scientists need long-term data sets to pro-vide a context for their experiments and tolet them know where they are in the bigpicture. Scientists performing short-termobservations operate in an invisible pre-sent; they may think they understand causeand effect, but their year may just be ananomaly. The real present can be invisibleto your understanding without an under-

standing of the past."The result of this desire to observe the

big picture is the Long Term EcologicalResearch program. At McMurdo Station,LTER research is performed in the DryValleys. On the Antarctic peninsula, it isperformed by the LM Gouldalong fivetransects, 62 miles (100 km) apart, fromAnvers Island to Margarite Bay. Alongeach transect, theLM Gouldplies patient-ly along from shallow coastal waters toocean depths exceeding 1.8 miles (3 km),stopping to perform a series of experi-ments every 12 miles (20 km).

At each site, scientists perform a censusof sea birds above the surface and lowerinstruments overboard to understand thebiology below the surface. The instrumentinclude sensors to measure the intensity ofsunlight underwater, bottles to capture thetiny phytoplankton that form the bottom ofthe food chain for life in Antarctica, nets tocapture the shrimp-like krill, and anacoustic Biofish (towed fish finder) thatlets scientists "see" the distribution of lifebelow it. In describing her robotic fish,Robin Ross says it gives clues about thebiodensity and distribution of krill. "If youwere a predator, how would you hunt? Wecan learn by understanding the aggregationof the prey."

Her prey, of course, is knowledge ofthe krill. The biofish sees them acoustical-ly and her tow nets capture them, or at

least tries to capture them. Net avoidanceis a fancy way to say that krill are fastenough and wily enough to avoid the townets. The little crustaceans, which cangrow to 2 inches (6 cm) in their 5-7 yearlifespan, can "popcorn," whereby theymove at 24 inches a second (60 cm/sec) toavoid capture.

Perhaps philosophically, Robin saysthat she is "after quality, not quantity.Each trawl might yield between 250-500krill. The result is a collection of krill andother invertebrates, which must be careful-ly sorted by hand to understand "commu-

nity composition." Unfortunate by-prod-ucts of the catch are salps. These gelati-nous little invertebrates "slime up yournets and smother the krill."

This painstaking search for the modestkrill has big ramifications for the ecologi-cal health of Antarctica. The reason is thatthey are a principal food for most of themarine vertebrates. Whales, seals, seabirds, and penguins all eat the little animalseither as the mainstay or an important partof their diet. Among the seals, the so-calledcrab-eater seals are in reality "krill special-ists" and the little Adelie Penguins gorgethemselves on krill in order to feed theirgrowing chicks. So using krill as an indi-cator species enables scientists to forecastthe long-term health of the continent.

The success of LTER is dependent upondedicated scientists, willing to come back

to the ice, year after year, in both winterand summer. One such LTER researcher,returning for her seventh season, is WendyKozlowski, a staff research associate fromScripps. Besides her interest in the science,she returns because Antarctica is "beauti-ful, quiet, and full of interesting charac-ters." When asked if she will return nextyear, she just smiles and says "Sure, Im alifer." I

Don Atwood is Science Suppor Director for Raytheon Polar ServicesCompany on board the research vesselLaurence M. Gould.


of

speaking

science...Cruising scientists take measures for the future

If you were a predator, howwould you hunt?"

- Robin Ross,principal investigator

By Don AtwoodSpecial to the Sun

Crew aboard the Lawrence M. Gould, above,lower a Biofish, an acoustic fish finder which willbe towed behind the ship. King and QueenNeptune, at right, hold court aboard the Gouldasit crossed the Antarctic Circle.

Looking long-termLooking long-term


18/20



Stamp ofHOBART

project

Climate scientist Pat Zmarzly's decision tochange the name of his RIDEX experiment wasprobably a good one.

"RIDEX is what gets rid of lice," Zmarzlysaid, referring to RID lice extermination prod-ucts.

Fearing repercussions, he created a new titleand acronym so that RIDEX, Remote Icing

Detection Experiment, became AIRS,

the Alliance Icing Regional Studies."But you could call that 'errors' if

you became unhappy with the pro-ject," said Zmarzly, who fretted a bitbut kept the revised title.

Acronyms might sound cute or whimsicalbut scientists put a lot of thought into them.They are a marketing strategy as well as a con-venient way to summarize a project's descrip-tion. A good one gets a project noticed andremembered.

"It's political," said Erik Leitch of DASI,Degree Angular Scale Interferometer, a groupthat traces invisible radiation to learn more

about the universe. "The more memorable yourproject, the more likely it is to get funded."Acronyms should describe a project and

evoke an image, Steve Warren said. For exam-ple, his coworker Von P. Walden at first calledtheir South Pole climatology project IRASP,Infrared Radiation at South Pole.

But another coworker insisted on somethingjazzier. "SPARCLE is nice because you can thinkabout sparkling ice crystals," Warren said abouthis South Pole Atmospheric Radiation and CloudLidar Experiment.

Warren once came up with an acronym for aproject that was featured on an Australianpostage stamp.

In HOBART, Helicopter Operated BlueAntarctic Radiometer Thruster, Warren andRich Brandt were pictured in a basket hangingfrom a ship's crane while they measure the sun'sreflection off sea ice.

For some reason, scientists researchingastronomy and the atmosphere are more likelythan others to make a word out of the first let-ters of a string of words.

But acronyms havent always identified sci-ence projects, scientists say. Only in the last 20years or so have the catchy capital-lettered titles

become the norm. Good ones generate financialsupport and camaraderie, said astrophysicistGiles Novak.

"In any astronomy project the importantthing is to have group solidarity," Novak said."You build a group where the goals are reallydefined and excellence is recognized, but it hasto have a nice name to rally around."

Novak works for CARA, a woman's nameand an acronym for Center for AstrophysicalResearch in Antarctica.

One of Novak's favorite acronyms soundslike another woman's name. The StratosphericObservatory for Infrared Astronomy, or SOFIA.

"Isnt that great?" Novak said.Whats so great about it?"Oh. Its a male-dominated field, I guess,"

said Novak. "When women take over scienceprojects theyll be named DICAPRIO."

"I met an atmospheric researcher whose ownname was an acronym," Warren said.

Koruwage Oswald Lakshman FernandoJayaweera eventually changed his first namelegally at an Alaska courthouse to Kolf afteryears of being called that.

In another instance, a much talked-about T-shirt illustrated two women in bikinis named

CARA and AMANDA near the ceremonialpole. AMANDA is an acronym for AntarcticMuon and Neutrino Detector Array, a neutrino-hunting telescope.Some physicists love it. Butfor Novak, the shirt is a bit too "FortLauderdale."

"I know people who hate that shirt," he said.A group of South Pole astrophysicists were

talking at dinner recently about Alta ComaLarge Meleneta Array. Initially, the scientistssaid, the project was called the SouthernHemisphere Interferometer Telescope. I

Its political. The morememorable your project, the

more likely it is to get funded."

- Erik Leitch, of DASIDegree Angular Scale Interferometer

Ac

rony

ms

SOAR

AMANDA

PICO

DASI

Whats your name?

ITASE

SOFIA


19/20


Its true that the Arctic and Antarcticare poles apart. But the chasmbetween Ultimate Thule and Terra

Incognita is more profound than theeasy-to-spot difference between polarbears and penguins.

For you Antarcticans whove neverlived above the tree-line, what followsis a primer on the glaring disparitiesbetween the Great White North and theDeep, Deep South.

FoodAntarcticans are pretty prissifiedwhen it comes to food, fawning overfreshies and kvetching when the soft-serve machine breaks down.

But up here, after a dizzying day ofliving on top of the world, nothing hitsthe spot like seal-nose alfresco. Eat thechunks by holding the whiskers like atoothpick. If desired, garnish with thegastric juices of a freshly slaughteredwalrus. Serves four. If youre still peck-ish, boil caribou hooves into broth anddrink it like a bracing tonic.

And if youre really starving youboil your boots. After that, you resort toqimmeq (dog). In the Arctic, meat isconsidered a vegetable.

In the summer, Northerners donteat. We get all our nutrients from thesquadrons of mosquitoes that acciden-tally fly down our throats.

DrinkHeres a category where the Ice def-

initely has the Arctic beat. InAntarctica, theres an entire office the recreation department dedicated

to getting you knackered.In most places in the North, booze is

banned. Which means its everywhere,in flavors ranging from rot-gut moon-shine to party-kegs of anti-freeze.Bootlegging is a bull-market up here,where a plastic flask of vodka pullsdown $150.

More than a few people are missingfingers from having passed out in thepolar night on the way home fromsome homebrew-laced hoe-down. And

some are missing life entirely, havingchugged whisky super-cooled to 60below.

PetsAntarctica is a thin-lipped landlord.

It blacklists Bowser and puts thekibosh on Kitty, even if you promise toclean up after them. Smuggle your ani-mal-companion into your ECW bagand you risk being evicted from thecontinent.

The last pet most of you saw was thecop-dog that ratted out your stash atBag Drag in ChCh. You rifle throughthe freshies, looking for a tick to callyour friend. You loiter at the aquarium,patting a cod and trying to make it purr.You call home, asking your little broth-er to put Buddy on the line, and grin-ning beatifically at the sound of him(Buddy, not your brother) licking thereceiver.

In the Arctic we live in a delicatebalance-of-terror with our pets.Shackled by log-chains to every shat-tered Ski-Doo in the North is a slaver-ing Cerberus, a wolf-dog just waiting

for tykes to toddle into range. Thesecurs work for us, occasionally pullingloads or scaring polar bears back ontothe sea-ice. In exchange, every fewweeks well feed them to one anoth-er.

ChildrenAntarctica has no children. I never

thought Id miss bobbling a fresh-facedbambino on my knee, or cooing at anapple-cheeked infant. And I didnt.

The Arctic, on the other hand, is sothick with kids you can barely seewhere youre going. Around every cor-ner theres a gas-huffing hellion tryingto steal your snow machine or shootingholes in your honey bucket.

The average age above the tree-lineis about 15. Babies abound. If the pre-sent growth-rate continues the emptyArctic will be more crowded thanCalcutta in about 6,000 years.

Men and WomenAt Thanksgiving in the Galley last

year I shared a table with a dozen guysand a sole femme fatale. We suggestedshe make a toast. "Lets raise a glass,"she said ebulliently, "to ratios!"

As everyone knows, there arealmost no women in Antarctica. Thesame is true up here. Some things,dammit, are the same all over. I

Honorary Sun staffer-for-life AaronSpitzer summered in McMurdo last

year. He now lives at another bad lati-tude: Iqaluit, Baffin Island, in theCanadian Arctic.

WHO SAYS IT'S

better

bottom

onthe

Pe Pe

?Aaron Spitzer

By Aaron SpitzerSpecial to the Sun


20/20


Bill HaalsGlenn GordonGreg Roes

Darrell KimmesJames RossJim ScottDave BresnahanBrian StoneLiz ConnellDena HeadleePeter WestBill NoxonEric Sturm

Robin LovatoRobbie ScoreRalph Horak

Jason GraySal ConsalviTorre KnowerSteve KottmeierElaine Hood

Jean MattherAlana Jones

Rhonda RodriguezAtlas CraigDrew LoganRobbie Score

Ernie MastroianniJerry MartyAlex Brown

Tracy SheeleyKaren Joyce

Steve WheelerApril Brown

Bill MeyerJulie AurandLynn SprowlesJoe Harrigan

Richard PeralesKarl Erb

Erick ChiangMark Buckley

Guy Guthridge

To the many people who helped... From the staff of the Sun, published onthe highest, driest, coldest, windiest, andemptiest continent on Earth.

There are many that helped in multiple ways,

including the guys that installed a heat vent in ouroffice, the folks that helped us skua everything from ahard drive to extra staples, the folks around the world

that printed and distributed copies, the media andpublic for hundreds of comments and the NationalScience Foundation for supporting this publication.

Seeyou

nextsea

son!

Left: A South Pole tunnelerconnects two halves of a2,000-foot corridor. Photo byKaty Jensen. Right: Construction

crews finished the exterior of thefirst two pods of the new station.This winter theyll complete theinside.

On Friday morning, South Pole tunnel foreman John Wright and his crew complet-ed the seasons work of connecting two parts of a 2,000-foot water and waste utilitytunnel under Amundsen-Scott Station.

This summer the crew bored through 940 feet of hard, packed snow, creating atunnel that will transport melted snow up and waste water down for disposal.

The U.S. Antarctic Program has met its construction goals this year despite severeweather that delayed flights to the South Pole. The National Science Foundation andAir National Guard made up many of the flights that had been cancelled.

However, 800,000 pounds of cargo and supplies still needs to be moved from theGreenwave to the South Pole.

Milestones this year included the installation of a satellite receiver to increase com-munication with the station; the activation of a new power plant; and the completionof the exterior of the first sections of the new, elevated station.

Thanks

Building and burrowing

Antarctic Sun Feb 2001

Documents

Transcript of Antarctic Sun Feb 2001