Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 12/19/2007 - 03:42
Forums
South Pole Ozone Changes

Hi, Elke and the Ozone Team,

 Greetings from Andover, Massachusetts! We're here at our Environmental Club meeting and we came up with some questions for you. Here they are... 

 How do you get internet?

what is the weather like ?

What do you do for recreation ?

Can you describe what you see ?

What is the coldest temperature you've expirienced

what wildlife do you see ?

How many people are accompanying you

how do you stay warm

what are your conclusions about ozone thinning?

What is your motivation to do this research?

what is the warmest it gets there?

how do you feell your research is benefiting others who are working with ozone depletion?

THank you!

-Melanie Cutler and the AHS Environmental Club

Sun, 12/23/2007 - 22:09

Elke Bergholz

Dear Melanie Cutler and the AHS Environmental Club. Thank you for reading the journals and for the questions. Here are my answers1. How do you get internet?
We have internet via satellite conneciton, however, this connection is limited to 5 hours and changes every week by 1/2 and hour. Right now we have connection from 4 am until about 9:30 am. So working hours that require internet have to be changed. I can not keep up staying up and then work with the research team during the day, so my web comments are now posted with the help of the Polartrec team. I am sending them via small email that are trasferred via a phone connection.
2. What is the weather like ?
The weather has been good. It was colder at the beginning, And we are observing mostly sunny days and temperatures ranging from - 10 to - 20 F with windchill up to - 45 F. Right now we are having a "heat wave". I am also listing the weather and the temperature at the begiining of each journal!
3.What do you do for recreation ? Not much so far, my days are filled with being with my team and enjoying all  parts of the station, including research and talking to peolpe of other deaprtments during meal times.  The rest is filled with wriitng until late at night or early morning. I like to go outside and take all kind of photos. But I will start using the gym.
4. Can you describe what you see ?
Snow and ice, some buildings , the beautiful sky. It is not much here but that is the attraction. If you go to my December 19 journal you can see greta airphotos that I was able to get from a pilot.
5.  What is the coldest temperature you've expirienced.
 
OS far - 48 with windchill. In 1999 - 70 with windchill.
6. What wildlife do you see ?
We are 800 miles from all wildlife since we are that far awy from the coast. Wildlife needs the resources of the water to survive.
7. How many people are accompanying you?
I arrived with 2 team members and one was alreadt at the station. We are 255 at the station.
8. How do you stay warm?
The rooms are comfortably heated inside the station. Outside we wear the the Extram Cold Weather (ECW) Gear with several layers.
9. what are your conclusions about ozone thinning?
We lost about 5 - 10 of all ozone , depending of the  area. Our predictoin is that the ozone hole over Antarctica might be gone bt 2070, if we conitue to protect it.
10. What is your motivation to do this research?
My motivation is to become a better advocate for our environment , including  for the polar regions!
11. What is the warmest it gets there?
Summer has just started and the warmest so fars has been -10 F. I do not think it can get any warmer here. The average temperature for this time of the year is -15 F.
12. how do you feel your research is benefiting others who are working withozone depletion?
All who work on ozone depletion contributed to the discovery of the ozone hole in the 70ties. This led  to the signing of the Montreal protocol. Now we keep track of the changes after the Montreal Protocal signed in 1987. We can predict that ozone hole over Antarctica might be gone by 2070  if we continue to follow regulations and have countires like India and China also follow the protocol.
All the best,
E. Bergholz