Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 01/25/2008 - 04:10
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Antarctic Weather Stations

Hey there! I have a few more questions before you leave the land of ice! How in the world do they anchor those weather stations out there? How can you find them if they were buried under a snowstorm? Do you have to dig for them? How is health care down there? What happens if you get sick? And last but not least, what is the longest period of time a person has stayed in Antarctica?

Thanks! leslie

Fri, 01/25/2008 - 18:45

Kirk Beckendorf

It's great to hear from you again.  Sorry Daisy disrupted things at your house. I haven't helped put in a new station, but George said, they start by digging a square hole about 2 feet deep down and about 2 feet on each side into the snow. They get a piece of square plywood and drill holes for each leg of the tower, and bolt the tower to the plywood. Then the plywood and tower go into the hole. On top of the plywood they put the battery boxes, 80 pounds each. Then they fill the hole with snow. 10-15 feet or so from each leg they bury a dead man. No that is not a real person. To make a deadman they use a 1”x2”x?’ board, bury it horizontally in the snow and then tie a rope or chain to it, the other end of the rope or chain is attached to the top of the tower. I hope that makes sense, it may be a bit confusing without me being able to draw you a picture.
How do we find them? If they are completely or almost completely buried they may not find them. So far that has not happened this year but it has in the past. First they have each marked with GPS coordinates. So we can get close using that. However since most are on ice sheets which are moving and they may move a quarter mile or more in a year and it may be several years between visits the GPS will only get us fairly close. So this past week when we flew to 4 stations in the Twin Otter (I’ll post reports and pictures fairly soon) once we were fairly close to where a station was suppose to be Jim, the pilot, brought the plane down close to the ground and we all were looking out the windows looking for the station until somebody spotted them. At one station we actually landed and then “drove” around in the plane looking for it.
If the stations are buried very deep (see the pics and journal entry about Theresa when I get them posted soon, they are in the Gallery now). We have to dig out the electronics. Then we unhook everything, put a new tower section on top and then reattach the electronics and sensors. So some of the older stations that are in areas that accumulate a lot of snow could have quite a few sections of towers stacked on top of each other under the snow.
There is a clinic here with a doctor, there are also paramedics and EMTs with the fire department. I have not been into the clinic yet and I am not sure how severe of a condition they can handle. The flu has been going around and we received an email the other day that some people have been quarateened to their room. I know of some people who had injuries and other conditions, who were sent North. (to New Zealand)
I don’t know the answer to your last question and I have heard different things on how long you are allowed to stay. They (the US stations) generally will not let you stay for more than a year without leaving for awhile. However, some of the early explorers were here for 3 years or so.  Have you ever read the Endurance? It is an amazing story. Another book I would highly recommend is titled “The Worst Journey in The World”, I can loan you my copy of that one. It is a huge book and will take, even you, awhile to read.