Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 01/22/2008 - 09:47
Forums
Antarctic Weather Stations

Hey Mr. B!

Answer to WATIZIT:

close up of the solar panel

 

Questions for you this afternoon:

Why are you camping?  Is it for fun or to work on weather stations?  If you are working on weather stations, why do you stay out in the field instead of traveling to McMurdo each night?

How much weight can be put inside the helo?

Why is George going to West Antarctica with you and not the other researchers?

What is the warmest temp that it has been since you got there and what is the coldest?

How close is Ob Hill to Mt Erebus?

WE would like to see a map of Antarctica with the points labeled where you have visited and no other spots labeled.  Thanks!

3W  Cool

Sat, 01/26/2008 - 19:17

Kirk Beckendorf

Very Good you are correct about the Solar Panel.You can now see more about WAIS in my journals. I could have stayed in one of the large Jamesways and slept on a cot, in fact the first night I did. But I wanted to have an "Antarctic experience" of sleeping outside again. I actually slept much better in the tent than I did in the Jamesway.
The large LC-130s can't land at the remote weather stations, because there are not runways there, so we have to fly to the weather stations in the Twin Otter, a much smaller and slower plane. So it would take too long to get from McMurdo out to the weather stations. So we flew to WAIS in the big LC-130 and then fly on the Twin Otter from there.
I could have gone with one of the other scientists, it just happened to be George. Shelley and JOnathan stayed in McMUrdo and worked on things around here.
I think the warmest it has been was about 37F and the coldest was about 5 below zero.
It is about 15 miles from Ob Hill to Mt Erebus.
I'll have to see what I can do about getting a map which just shows where I have been.  I have been to Cape Bird, Willie Field, Windless Bight, Pegasus, Mary, Scwedrtfeger, Kominko-Slade (that is at WAIS Camp), Theresa, Briana, Byrd, and Swithinbank.
Hope that helps.
Mr. B.