Research, or Why We're In Antarctica


Although many people come to Antarctica for the "adventure", the main reason people (and stations) are here is to do scientific research.  This is a relatively quite time of year for research - after all, it is the end of winter, so still cold and stormy. But if one is studying things that depend on sunlight, as we are, this is the perfect time to watch changes as the amount of sunlight changes.

For reference, on 20 August, when we arrived, the sun rose at about 11: 40 am and set at about 2:15 pm. Two weeks later, on 3 September, the sun rose at 9:05 am and set at 4:45 pm. So, in just two weeks, the amount of sunlight has gone from a little less than 3 hours per day to almost 8 hours per day (and will be 24 hours per day by mid-October!).

My research group (myself and two graduate students - Sean and Lars) is here to study the chemistry of the lowest part of the atmosphere, known as the boundary layer. We are interested in knowing more about how the interactions between air and snow might affect the chemistry of the air. We are also helping a group from the University of Wyoming (Jen, Lou, and Alan)  who are launching balloons to study the Antarctic Ozone Hole.

Both groups do a mixture of work in the laboratory and outside:


On the left are Jen and Lou attaching a radio transmitter to a mast for one of their balloon payloads. On the right is our laboratory space.

Below are some images of the launch of a small balloon carrying an instrument to measure the stratospheric ozone layer (this is the "ozone hole" time of year); photos were taken by Holly Troy, one of our IT support people.


The left photo shows Jen preparing the "dropper", a reel of cord that separates the balloon from the ozonesonde itself. In the middle, Jen is holding the sonde at the bottom of the balloon just before releasing it. On the right is a picture of the inflation step. The balloon is filled with helium which will carry it more than 20 miles up in the atmosphere. This particular launch was at night because the winds were very low and it was easy to launch.

Our experiment is designed to study whether snow has an influence on the chemistry of the lowest part of the atmosphere. We found that McMurdo itself is too polluted for us to make good measurements, so we have set up a field site about 12 miles away at what was the runway where we landed in August (that runway is closed until February because there is a new one being built closer to town - more on that later).

Below are some pictures of our hut, the vehicle we use to get there and the process of getting things set up.



On the left is our hut and vehicle (yes, it's in the middle of nowhere); on the right Lars, Sean, and Linnea attempt to mount a mast to the side of the hut in 25 mph winds (yes, it's cold!, but the red parka is very warm)



This is a picture of our vehicle, called a MatTrack. Basically it is a pickup truck with the tires replaced by tracks. The two bad things about it are that its maximum speed is about 20 mph and that the track assemblies are fragile. Because of the cold, we leave the truck running whenever it isn't plugged into an engine block heater.



On the left, Lars and Linnea are running inlet lines from two of our instruments out through a port in side of the hut. On the right, Lars prepares to transfer fuel from one barrel to the horizontal one that feeds the generator. Chores like refueling and shoveling snow are part of the job.



We find our way to the hut along "roads" on the sea ice. Roads are denoted by flags. On the left is a picture taken out the windshield of the truck showing the flags along the road to the air strip (you may have to enlarge the picture to see them at all). On the right is the flag line we put in to guide ourselves the last distance between the end of the road and our hut. When the weather is bad (which it is often), we rely on the flags to find our way because most landmarks disappear.