Journal Entry

Mystery Photo

Today the weather is not great. It's 28 degrees F, so not very cold, but winds are 19-20 mph and there are low-lying clouds and poor visibility with a chance of higher winds, so a lot of people that would normally be out in the field are staying here in town today. I saw this really cool item in the Crary Lab, so I took a picture of it. Can you guess what it is? If you think you know, put an answer in "Ask the Team".

Mystery Photo 1The device that is being modeled by Ms. Jean Pennycook, a penguin researcher, will help her in her work to spread information about penguins here in Antarctica. This same device or others like it have been used world-wide. What is that thing!!!!???? Mystery Photo TwoThis is a closeup of the mystery object. Does it help you figure out what it is?

PolarProblem

The next item is a problem to solve. This is something for some of the older students who are in an Earth Science class in high school and involves a question on humidity. Here it is:

Antarctica is known to be the coldest, driest place on Earth. I can prove the dry part just by how dry the skin on my hands is! I've linked in a PDF page with some weather data for McMurdo Station on it. It includes temperature and relative humidity plus some other information. What I want all of you science sleuths to do is use the data to determine the actual moisture content of the air in SI units then find the same data for wherever you live and compare the two results. I want to know if there is more moisture in the air here at McMurdo or where you live. Post your results in "Ask the team". Good Luck!

Your Data: Data for the Humidity Problem