July 4, 2008 – Friday – 4th of July!
HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!
I am sure that most of you are out enjoying the sunshine and eating freshly cut vegetables with barbequed meat and watching fireworks light up the night sky. Here at Summit, we are working hard because the weather is finally cooperating (plus, we have no night sky to light up with fireworks). Don’t get too worried though, we have a full day of celebration planned for tomorrow (July 5th). Our parade will kick off around 4:00 in the afternoon, and it will be followed by a BIG barbeque with all the fixins. Myself, Christine (University of Houston) and Neil (British Antarctic Survey) have volunteered to run the barbeque to give the staff a little time to relax!
Although we worked through the day, this has still been a glorious Independence Day. Today…I got to climb the Swiss Tower (named because it was put up by the Swiss science community). The tower is a meteorological tower, similar to the radio towers you see in the states, only there is no radio being broadcast here. Instead, atmospheric instruments can be attached to it at different heights to give information like temperature, ozone concentration, wind direction/speed, etc. At the beginning of June, when we arrived here, Craig Clements attached several temperature sensors all the way to the top of the tower. This information tells how the temperature is changing with height.
We have decided to leave the sensors attached to the tower for a few more months, so they needed to be properly attached to withstand the continued winds. So, today, I climbed to the top of the 165 foot tower (50 meters) and was treated with some AMAZING views. What a FANTASTIC way to spend the 4th of July!!!
...Without further adieu…I will let you gaze upon camp from the top of the "SWISS TOWER”…
The Swiss Tower is a 165 ft (50 m) all aluminum meteorological tower and is a prominent structure at Summit Camp. Instruments are attached at various heights to give continuous atmospheric data.
Sporting the proper safety equipment, I work my way to the top!
The Swiss design everything to precision and this tower is no exception. Its triangle design and lattice structure made climbing a breeze!
Whenever somebody climbs the tower, they must have observers on the ground to alert camp if something goes wrong. Here, Christine, Katrine, and Steve watch intently as I pull myself to the top of the tower.
Way off in the distance is where we spend most of our days, at Sat Camp. If you look closely, you can see Nemo, the tethersonde, waiting to for the next launch. In the foreground is the top of the Swiss Tower and hanging out on the wooden dowel is a thermocouple, the temperature sensors that we have put on the tower to collect data. The building on the right is TAWO, NOAA's weather observatory.
![This is the view of Summit Camp from atop the Swiss Tower.](/files/members/craig-beals/images/summitfromswisstower.jpg "The sun shines bright in the sky even at 9pm, when this photo was taken. On the left, in the distance is Tent City. The large blue building with the satellite dome is the Big House. The dark building to the right of Tent City is the Recreation Port. The two dark lines to the right of the Big House are two Cargo Burmes where equipment is parked. Buildings on the right include the Green House and the Machine Shop (among several smaller ones), and the windmill. The area in the middle with the torn up snow is the Snow Mine where snow for our drinking water is scooped from. The powerlines in the foreground go to various science structures located around camp. The shiny "glare" in the photo is actually "diamond dust" falling from the sky and reflecting the sunlight.")
The sun shines bright in the sky even at 9pm, when this photo was taken. On the left, in the distance is Tent City. The large blue building with the satellite dome is the Big House. The dark building to the right of Tent City is the Recreation Port. The two dark lines to the right of the Big House are two Cargo Burmes where equipment is parked. Buildings on the right include the Green House and the Machine Shop (among several smaller ones), and the windmill. The area in the middle with the torn up snow is the Snow Mine where snow for our drinking water is scooped from. The powerlines in the foreground go to various science structures located around camp. The shiny "glare" in the photo is actually "diamond dust" falling from the sky and reflecting the sunlight.
Food Update:
Lunch: Chicken strips, tater tots, salad.
Dinner: Grilled steak, grilled yams, Veggie Shepherd’s pie, Pineapple, Tossed Salad, Sautéed Leeks, and Cookies with Whole Milk
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Stay Warm!!
PS. I completed two "student developed” experiments today. You can check them out by clicking on the experiment name below.
Period 2: "Air Pressure and Temperature Differences using a Football”
Period 5: "Average Wind Speed of Summit, Greenland” ****