Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 01/18/2008 - 05:09
Forums
Antarctic Weather Stations

Laughing Good morning Kirk and Team.  My 4th graders had come up with a number of questions to ask when we got the chance on the 15th, but our phoe wouldn't work.  I am sending some of them on this morning. 

Is there fog in Antarctica?  Is there ever enough snow to cause avalanches? How cold is the water? How do they put those triangular tracks on for the wheels on th MacTrack? What are the average day and night temperatures at McMurdo Station? How do people stay safe and not get lost in blizzards? To what part of Antarctica are Blue Penguins native? 

If some of these questions were answered during the forum we apologize.  We missed a few minutes while the principal and I were messing with the phone, trying to get it to work.  Our district seems to count on my class to find some of their tech bugs for them! 

Thanks again for a great opportunity to participate.  Be safe and stay warm.

Barney Peterson and 4th grade class at James Monroe Elementary, Everett, WA.

Fri, 01/18/2008 - 10:58

Kirk Beckendorf

Sorry you had phone troubles, that is often an issue. Finding the district tech issues is a sign that you are stepping beyond the norm, a good thing!!! There is definitly fog here. In fact one of the meteorologist with whom I am working (although he is back in Madison) is studying fog in Antarctica for his PhD. I sent him some pictures I had taken the other day of fog in the area. It is an issue that can shut down filghts and other operations.
I have not heard anyone talk about avalanches as being a problem here.  I'll see what I can find out.
If there is a whiteout you need to get into shelter and just stay there. Another PolarTREC teacher was at WAIS field camp a month or so ago during a major storm. One of their group had gone back to her tent when the storm blew in. They tried to get out to her tent to bring her back to where everyone else was, but they couldn't get to her tent. She just stayed in her tent until the storm was over and she was fine. 
This website will give you the average temps throughout the year.
 Gotta run more later

Fri, 01/18/2008 - 21:51

Kirk Beckendorf

Sorry I didn't finish answering your questions in the last message, but we had to go catch a helicopter out to a weather station.I have not talked to the mechanics but it looks to me like the tracks on the Mattrack are mounted onto the axle hub, not onto the wheel.
The Blue Penguins are actually found in New Zealand and Australia, which s where I saw them. They are the smallest penguin. The penguins that I have seen here are Adelies.
Thanks for participating in the webinar!!!
Kirk 

Sun, 01/20/2008 - 10:48

Kirk Beckendorf

Last night I tracked down Danny, the mountaineer who taught Happy Camper school. He said that avalanches aren't much of a concern in this area. Basically for two reasons, one being the amount of snow and the second is that few people are working in areas where avalanches would occur.Mr. B. 

Tue, 01/22/2008 - 14:53

Barney Peterson

Thanks for the time you have put into tracking down answers to our questions.  You provided the perfect reason for students to look at elevation maps of Antarctica and find places where avalanches MIGHT BE a problem.  This class is really into their atlases so this showed them how the new skills can be useful.Several students are wondering what your temperatures (max and min) have been in the last few days.  Our low last night was 23 and our high today...in the sunshine...was 40, (but in the shade was 33).  We know that temperatures in Alaska and Greenland were warmer than ours yesterday so we are wondering how we compare with summer at McMurdo.
Is it fun riding in the helicopter?  Is it hard to tell high and low places on the ground when you look down from the air when everything is covered with snow?  Does anyone ski in Antarctica?  How about snowboarding? 

Sat, 01/26/2008 - 20:05

Kirk Beckendorf

The past few journal reports I have listed weather data from other sites than McMurdo. Since McMurdo is on the coast and at sea level it is warmer than the weather stations that we visited on the WAIS. You can look at current data for the entire continent or you can look at meteorograms for several days for specific stations. Depending on satellites some stations may not show up on the map. So this is a long way around of saying that the temperatures I have experienced lately have varied from  a low of around 5-10 below to around 30, this range is partly due to aving been at different locations.It is very fun riding in a helicopter!!! Yes it can be very difficult to tell how high you are. When we were landing the other day in the Twin Otter we kept getting lower into the clouds, finally I realized that what I was looking at was not clouds but the snow on the ground. Talking to the LC130 pilot and copilot. They explained that during landing one of them is just looking at the instruments, the navigator is looking at radar and one person is actually looking out the window and they are giving each other descriptions of what they are seeing guiding in the pilot. Once they get to a certain point the copilot tells the pilot to look up and start watching the runway.
Sticking out of the front of the helo is an antannae. One of the helo pilots said another pilot stuck the antannae into the snow on the side of a mountain. He didn't realize the mountain/snow was there until the antannae disappeared into the snow!!!
Yes people do ski and snowboard here. It is Sunday and most people are off of work I saw some people headed up the road with skies on their backpacks. I have also seen people with snowboards. You can only go to ceratin areas though because crevasses are a major danger.
Thanks for the great questions.
Kirk