Measuring Ozone at the South Pole with NOAA’s Andy Clarke

December 18th, 2007 andrea

Yesterday I spent the day at the South Pole (3 hours there and back on a C-17 from McMurdo), and by chance met NOAA ozone measurement specialist Andy Clarke. He just happened to be launching a balloon sounding to measure ozone concentrations in the stratosphere that afternoon, so I was able to videotape the process with Andy’s expert commentary.

Here are some sounds- the first is an excerpt of the sound of blowing up the balloon:

and the balloon data in real time with explanation from Andy:

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Anne Dalvera’s tour of Pressure Ridge

December 15th, 2007 andrea

Today I went on a lovely tour of Pressure Ridge, an area just outside Scott Base where the ice shelf meets the sea ice and creates giant natural ice sculptures where often seals can be found. The tour was led by Anne Dalvera, an amazing field guide who was one of a group of four women who were the first women ever to ski to the South Pole. She cross-country skied over 600 miles over several weeks in the bitter cold.

It was a beautiful clear and quiet day, even more quiet on the ice. We found a group of about ten Weddell seals sunbathing. This recording presents some excepts of our trip, I think it really expresses the stillness of the day. Extremely quiet and at about 15 minutes, this one is only for the most dedicated and patient listeners – seriously.

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Castle Rock Loop

December 15th, 2007 andrea

Today Tia and I hiked the Castle Rock loop. We took our time (about 6 hours!) and shot a lot of footage in almost 30mph winds. Tia made some beautiful, subtle recordings with the boom mic. Here is a binaural (headphones recommended as usual) recording I made of inside one of the shelters. You can hear the winds outside and Tia coming in the shelter door at the end. When I first listened to this, the spatialization at the end is so strong that I was startled, I thought the door sounds were actually happening in the world outside the headphones.

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Observation Hill Hike

December 11th, 2007 andrea

Everything about this binaural recording is wrong: there’s wind noise, sounds of clothing rustling, radically fluctuating audio levels, but somehow when I listen to it (through headphones), I feel like I am right back on that hill:

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Dr. Rick Aster, Geophysics Professor, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology

December 10th, 2007 andrea

I had the great good fortune to catch Dr. Rick Aster before he left McMurdo. In this interview, Dr. Aster explains the science behind the Iceberg B15A recording in the previous post and several other iceberg recordings he and his colleagues have created. He also talks about the complex movement of waves in earth and the benefits of listening:

Here is a link to more sound files, seismic tremors on Mt. Erebus:
http://www.ees.nmt.edu/Geop/mevo/seismic/tremor.html

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