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:

Posted in interviews, news, sounds | Comments Off on Measuring Ozone at the South Pole with NOAA’s Andy Clarke

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.

Posted in news, sounds | Comments Off on Anne Dalvera’s tour of Pressure Ridge

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.

Posted in news, sounds | Comments Off on Castle Rock Loop

Weather and the LDB

December 14th, 2007 andrea

There will be a launch of a giant balloon from Williams Field soon, called the LDB (long-duration balloon) project supporting several scientific payloads http://www.nsbf.nasa.gov/antarctica/ice0708.htm. Weather conditions on both the ground and in the upper atmosphere need to be perfect for the balloon, and this has so far not been the case so the launch has been delayed.

Here’s the latest update from Phil Austin

“Currently, while all three payloads are ready to fly, we have been waiting for the upper atmospheric winds where the balloons float (5 mB, approx 120,000 feet) to become established in the normal austral summer anti-cyclonic pattern. These winds give us the predictable orbit around the continent, one of the major reasons for ballooning in the Antarctic. We had hoped for a first launch of the CREAM payload in the early days of December so they could have the maximum possible number of days aloft. However, similar to last season, the winds seem slow to set up this year, and just in the past few days are showing favorable signs (see wind diagrams for Dec 10 & 15).

Now it’s a waiting game for the local weather out here at the LDB launch pad, which needs to be essentially calm from ground level up through 5,000 feet, and predictable for the launch activity duration (anywhere from 6 to 20 hours). Right now we have around 20 knots at ground level, and 35-40 knots at 500 feet – great for kites, but not so good for balloons. These conditions are expected to last through the weekend. Stay tuned…”

Posted in news | Comments Off on Weather and the LDB

Kevin Yuill at Willie Field

December 14th, 2007 andrea

Today Tia and I visited the weather tower at Williams Field to do a video interview with the totally cool weather observer there, Kevin Yuill (who also happens to be one of the only Bermudians to ever get to Antarctica). Although the day started out beautiful, sunny and warm, while we were there, the winds picked up and blowing snow became a potential hazard to the planes landing there. Rapidly changing weather is a way of life here and weather observation and prediction is a widely practiced and respected skill.

Posted in news | Comments Off on Kevin Yuill at Willie Field