Jeffrey Donenfeld

Tag: Antarctica-summer-12-13

The South Pole’s Fuel Supply

At the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, huge electrical generators power our lives – they create all of the electricity and heat we need to live and work – and they’re powered by AN8 Jet Fuel. Previously I wrote about the power plant, now let’s talk about that AN8 powering the generators.

The supply chain getting AN8 to the South Pole is extremely long – and from what I’ve heard floating around, the end cost to get a gallon of AN8 to the South Pole is around $35-$40. Wow.

There’s no pipeline to get the fuel here – instead, it’s flown here by LC-130 Hercules transport plane – in the plane’s own fuel tanks. Yep, instead of wasting valuable cargo space inside the cargo hold of the herc, the plane’s own fuel tanks are used to ferry AN8 to the station. This is made possible by the fact that both our station, equipment, as well as the planes themselves are powered by the same fuel – so the Hercs can burn the fuel from their tanks in order to fly, and then when they arrive at the pole, the excess they have in their tanks (saving a bit+safety for the flight back to McMurdo) is simply drained out, and into our holding tanks in the fuel arch. Once in tanks at the fuel arch under the snow, fuel is used by the power plant and equipment shops to power almost everythiing.

A few pics of the fuel delivery and storage process:

The LC-130H3 Hercules, on the Skiway at the South Pole. You can see the fuel offloading hose leading from the airplane to our transport tanks. The process of offloading fuel is complicated and dangerous. Our “fuelies” do a solid job of reliably, quickly, and safely transferring the fuel in one of the world’s harshest areas.

The outside of the supply, service, and fuel arches. Buried deep in these bunkers are the tanks of AN8
https://flickr.com/photos/jamfan2/8279018451/lightbox/

Navigating the long, sub-ice service corridors, with a constant ambient temperature of -60F.

The fuel arch. This is where it’s all stored. Of note, since it’s stored at around -60F, there’s almost no vapor pressure in the tanks.

In case of emergency, this is the escape hatch at the back of the fuel arch. This exit isn’t used on a normal basis, but in an emergency evacuation, this is one of the exits.

https://flickr.com/photos/jamfan2/8279027541/lightbox/

2012-12-16
Shooting the South Pole’s Holiday Card

Quick post – at noon today, the entire station population walked out to the ceremonial pole to line up for our annual holiday card photoshoot. Here’s a quick shot from among the ranks, and the official photo will be online soon-ish.

2012-12-15
Landing An LC-130 Hercules

Today just before dinner, I just stood out on the Skiway and gave approach and taxi signals to an Air Force LC-130 Hercules as it slid to it’s loading position after landing here at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. Here I am signaling.. it’s kinda scary having a plane sliding directly towards you, and stopping on your signal. Photo.

2012-12-14
The South Pole Power Plant

Our lives are governed by 600,000 gallons of AN8 jet fuel. That’s what literally everything at the station runs on, and without it, the south pole would be a cold, dead place.

AN8 Jet Fuel is used to power both machinery and equiptment operating on the ice, as well as a huge bank of generators which produce all of the electricity and heat for the station.

The South Pole Power Plant, powered by AN8 Jet Fuel, is buried under the snow in the utility arches. It’s connected to the main station via the utility corridors, and then the “Beer Can” utility lift/stairway. The plant makes both power and heat for the station – power via conventional alternators attached to the giant engines, and heat as waste, extracted from the engines with a heat exchanger, and then pumped to warm the main station via glycol tubes.

A few days ago I was given access to the power plant, and took a few pictures:

A view of the outside of the power plant, covered in snow. It’s directly under and behind the exhaust vents. Next to that are the entrances to the heavy equipment garage, supply and fuel arches.

Checking into the power plant. Everybody signs in, and turns a tag. In the event of an emergency, responders can look at the board to see how many people are in there. Low tech, but effective.

Hearing protection – very important.

The power plant’s main space. Lined up are all of the generators.

UT Charles Letourneau takes a reading on one of the huge primary engines that turn the generators that power the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, and surrounding facilities.

One of the massive engines. This turns an alternator, which is in the process of being swapped out.

The main switchboard for the plant.
https://flickr.com/photos/jamfan2/8267659371/in/photostream/lightbox/

Looking at power graphs. Each one of those spikes is somebody turning on something big – like moving a telescope.
https://flickr.com/photos/jamfan2/8268730536/in/photostream/lightbox/

2012-12-13
Bouncing Facebook Likes Off The 1978 GOES-3 Weather Satellite

You read my blog. If you’re my friend on Facebook, you probably see my Facebook updates, and photos. But I’m at the South Pole, at one of the most isolated, desolate, harsh spots on the planet. So how do I get internet with which to upload and post all of this content? The answer: Satellites.

Here at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, we use a variety of three different satellite networks to get data and voice connectivity to the rest of the world.

Since we’re at the South Pole, we either don’t have a constant view of a data-relay satellite, or if there is a Satellite in view, there’s not always a continuous allotment of bandwidth for us.

To deal with this, we use three separate satellite networks, to provide intermittent connectivity throughout the day.

During the day, we get our longest continuous block of internet access from the least likely place – the GOES-3 Weather Satellite, originally launched into orbit in 1978. So yep, those facebook posts, and even this blog post are bouncing off a piece of hardware that’s over 30 years old.

From Wikipedia:

GOES 3, known as GOES-C before becoming operational, is an American geostationary weather and communications satellite. It was originally built for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as part of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite system,[3] and was launched in June 1978.[4] It is positioned in geostationary orbit, from where it was initially used for weather forecasting in the United States. Since ceasing to function as a weather satellite in 1989, it has been used as a communications satellite, and having spent over thirty one years in operation, it is one of the oldest functioning satellites in orbit.

Since our GOES link is very very old, the bandwidth it’s able to provide us is low – from what I hear, we get around 1.5megabits up and down, which is shared throughout the entire station – both for voice as well as data. Traffic gets prioritized, so voice goes through smoothly, then higher priority data like scientific payloads, and then finally normal web surfing. The experience is definitely a bit frustrating to use, but considering our spot here at the south pole, it’s incredible that we get anything at all.

Our other two satellite networks in use are the TDRSS Satellite and the Skynet network. More on those later, after I get a bit more interesting factoids from our satellite comms engineers downstairs.

**Update 2012-12-13**

Another great addition from Antarctic veteran Bill Spindler, regarding the comms situation here. Thanks Bill!

Being at Pole in my opinion was a lot more fun back in the old days of 1976-77 when we did NOT have communications satellites, the internet had not yet been invented, all communications went out by Navy HF teletype that had to get signed off by the station manager and got read by NSF and everyone along the way. Oh, yeah, I was the station manager, back then it used to be fun as we were well and truly isolated, I talked to my boss in Anaheim (where the contractor office was then) about once every six weeks on ham radio, and of course you can’t talk business on ham radio!

Okay, we 21 winterovers from 1977 had a reunion in Boulder in June 2000…well, on midwinters day to be exact…and there was 100% attendance…something that has not happened with any other Polie winterover group before or since. (Well, Gary Rosenberger our NOAA tech didn’t have a choice about showing up…he was killed in a motorcycle accident in NZ the week after we left the ice.

The rest of us are still in contact; we had another reunion a few years later that most folks attended. And if you haven’t found it, my 1977 winter documentation is here…
https://www.southpolestation.com/poleindex.html

remember I scanned all of my slides back in 1999 when the internet was dialup so I had to keep the images small…

Back to the satellites…in 1977 there was an ATS-3 satellite–a then-old weather satellite that had quit working except for communications…people could make phone calls on it, one at a time. For science. So our winterover friends at Palmer and Siple could call home…but we at Pole could not. As for current documentation, here’s my satellite coverage–the new Skynet:
https://www.southpolestation.com/news/news.html#skynet

and other satellite trivia:
https://www.southpolestation.com/news/news.html#comm

Update – see more of the Golf Ball, which houses the GOES satellite link hardware here.

2012-12-12
Happy Chanukah From The World’s Southernmost Game of Dreidel

Happy holidays! For the first night of Chanukah, 10 of us assembles, and we got out the menorah, dreidel, wine and bread for a great candle lighting and game of dreidel. Of note, Physicist Jon Kaufman made our stainless steel dreidel in the south pole’s machine shop using the same lathe that’s used to create the geographic south pole marker. Photos.

2012-12-11
Going Out in South Pole Style

Yes, on weekends here at the south pole, we like to relax a bit, hang out with friends, and party. Often times party spots are at field camps, and to get there, we usually walk. Sparing most of the details, here’s a quick stop at the pole on my way out to the SuperDARN experiment utility barn with a few friends.

2012-12-10
Abandoning Summercamp
Summercamp – at one time, it served as an extension refuge for the aging dome, and when the new station was built, it expanded the housing and service capacity for everyone. Today, Summercamp is still in use, but it’s age is showing. Half of the Korean War-era Jamesways and newer Hypertats that make up most of the structures are vacated, and snow has started to creep in everywhere. Among the still-used buildings are the gym and climbing gym, the slump, and a solar toilet or two.

More Summercamp resources:
- South Pole Steve discusses living at Summercamp
- Inside the summer camp non-smoking lounge (a Jamesway)
A few photos from the aging and soon to be abandoned and demolished area…

Approaching from the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station

Altie Meadows, central Summercamp

Decomissioned Jamesways and Hypertats

(more…)
2012-12-09
Wintershop

Winter at the south pole is brutal. 24/7 darkness, -100F temperatures, and a skeleton crew. Luckily, I’m here at the south pole for summer season, but there are a few people who choose to winter over.

During the winter months, despite the oppressive cold and dark, work must still get done. And this is the shop that facilitates all the heavy lifting – the Wintershop. Photos.

(more…)

2012-12-08
Re-exploring The South Pole Ice Tunnels

A week or two ago, I discovered the frozen, hoth-like wonderland of the South Pole Ice Tunnels. I wrote about it here: Freezing in the South Pole Ice Tunnels

Now, as if one hour in a -60F tunnel of solid ice wasn’t enough, I’ve gone down again to do a bit more exploring. Photos from round 2:

At -60F and solid ice, this is not a place you’d want to get lost in.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jamfan2/8236951914/in/set-72157632163332479

Luckily, there are a couple of escape hatches.

(more…)

2012-12-07
The World’s Southernmost Post Office

Here at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, we do indeed send and receive mail. And to handle all of the mail, we have our very own, albeit tiny, US Post Office. The post office is housed within the general store/gift show, shipping department, and DVD rental room. At the main desk, stamps are bought, and just outside there’s a small maildrop window. In addition to the standard south pole postage cancellation stamp, we also have a large collection of other commemorative and interesting stamps. Photos

Although our post office is open almost every day, actual mail service is very intermittent, and depends heavily on the availability of room on the LC-130 Hercules transport flights. Mail is usually given lower priority for transport, so if there’s other supply or science cargo, that goes first. So far we’ve received two shipments of mail.

If you’re interested in sending me mail here at the South Pole, my mailing address is:

Jeffrey Donenfeld, GSC
South Pole Station
PSC 468 Box 400
APO AP 96598

More details on sending me mail, and getting your own post card from the south pole.

Entrance to the post office. You can see our mail boxes, sorted alphabetically by last name, on the left. Maildrop slot on the right, as well as all of our stamps, including the south pole passport stamp.

Stamping mail – we have both official stamps, as well as fun stamps – penguins, “the pole”, etc.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jamfan2/8246214786/in/set-72157632189264380/lightbox/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jamfan2/8245094837/in/set-72157632189264380/lightbox/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/jamfan2/8245113589/in/set-72157632189264380/lightbox/

Hand-canceling postage. Michael on the right officially runs the post office and store, however everyone chips at some point to help stamp and sort.

Blaise brought his own photo printer, so he can send personalized postcards. Great idea!

2012-12-05
The Southern Pole Of Inaccessibility

Since moving to the south pole, I’ve learned an incredible amount of new terms to describe the area around where I’m living. One such term is “Pole of Inaccessibility”.

From Wikipedia: The old Soviet Pole of Inaccessibility Station, revisited by Team N2i on 19 January 2007

From Wikipedia:

The southern pole of inaccessibility is the point on the Antarctic continent most distant from the Southern Ocean. A variety of coordinate locations have been given for this pole. The discrepancies are due to the question of whether the “coast” is measured to the grounding line or to the edges of ice shelves, the difficulty of determining the location of the “solid” coastline, the movement of ice sheets and improvements in the accuracy of survey data over the years, as well as possible typographical errors. The pole of inaccessibility commonly refers to the site of the Soviet Union research station mentioned below, which lies at 82°06?S 54°58?E[4] (though some sources give 83°06?S 54°58?E[5]). This lies 878 km (545 statute miles) from the South Pole, at an elevation of 3,718 m (12,198 ft). Using different criteria, the Scott Polar Research Institute locates the pole at 85°50?S 65°47?E.[6]

So, it seems like I’m not living at THE most inaccessibly place in Antarctica, but it’s darn close.

From Wikipedia: Map of distance to the nearest coastline[1] (including oceanic islands, but not lakes) with red spots marking the poles of inaccessibility of main landmasses, Great Britain, and the Iberian Peninsula. Thin isolines are 250 km apart; thick lines 1000 km. Mollweide projection.

2012-12-04
Mentioned on the Universal Geek Podcast

My friend Jeff Couturier is a graphic designer, web developer, cartoonist, and geek. He’s a regular host on the Universal Geek podcast, and recently gave me and my Antarctica blog a great mention. Thanks Jeff for the shoutout!

For the part where I’m mentioned, start listening at 1:07:00

(Download)

Universal Geek Podcast – Episode 091 – Eighties Space Bimbos

2012-12-03
Elephant Man – The South Pole Fire Department’s Main Vehicle

Airplanes land almost every day at the South Pole. Most of the time, they’re LC-130’s, however we also have our share of DC-3 and Twin Otters as well. In support of airfield operations, the South Pole Fire Station #3 maintains a constant state of readyness whenever a plane is taking off or landing.

The other day I was shown by a few of our firemen how they monitor the airfield, and stay ready for anything out there. Since the runway is made of ice, they must be able to get to the scene of any incident reliably and with all the equiptment they need. For this, they have Elephant Man.

Once a traverse test vehicle, this burly tractor-transport-hybrid now supports the fire crew, and serves to tow their fire fighting gear out to the Skiway, where the planes land. A few photos:

Elephant Man is the tractor in the front, and the two sleds contain a pressurized firefighting system, as well as other gear. The fire crew uses both a dry chemical and foam.

Walking out from Destination Alpha (the main station entrance) to the skiway (Airfield)

The view from Elephant Man as a LC-130 Hercules lands.

Driving Elephant Man – this thing is a beast!

2012-12-02
Spoolhenge, Antarctica

About a half mile grid north of the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, there’s a strange, frozen monument: Spoolhenge. Originally these giant spools housed the cables and pipelines that now wind their way through, around, and under the south pole station. When the supplies were offloaded from the spools, these empty monsters were stacked up on the ice to create the Spoolhenge monument.

Cable spools, standing frozen on the polar icecap.

On my way out to the reels…it’s about a 10 minute jog out. Starting from DZ, past the Cryogenics Laboratory, past a few berms, and then out to the frozen giants.

Interestingly, it looks like Annie Noble did a whole art expo on Spoolhenge.

2012-12-01
A Climbing Wall In Antarctica

Here at the south pole, we have lots of recreation options – including a small climbing wall. It’s not directly in the station, but if you’re brave enough to venture out to the almost abandoned Summer Camp area, tucked inside an indescript wooden shack is this small, but awesome climbing wall. Just enough for a good pump.

The Climbing wall at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. It’s small, but very steep, and with enough laps, you can get in a decent workout.

The South Pole Climbing Wall is located in a random building about 400 meters away from the elevated station, in a zone called “summer camp”.

More on my work in Antarctica, at South Pole, WAIS Divide, and McMurdo

2012-11-30
The Highest Spot at the South Pole: The Roof

Today, a quick exploration of the rooftop of the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. Photos.

Getting up to the roof involves going out on one of the decks, and then climbing a narrow ladder.

On the roof, there are safety lines strung up all over the place – in strong storms, it’s required to clip in. These lines were installed by Flexible Lifeline Systems.

The view from the top. From left to right, you can see: The Beercan leading to the underground service corridors, vent towers from the power plant, spoolhenge, summercamp (blue tents), “the golfball” – our satellite uplink, a DHC Twin Otter operated by Ken Borek Air, the ice runway, triangular comms antennas from the emergency comms office in the station lifeboat, an emergency Iridium data uplink antenna also part of the lifeboat.

Also on this exploration, I found the south pole’s Campbell–Stokes Sunshine Recorder, which I previously blogged about.

2012-11-29
Getting To The Heart Of The Keck Array Microwave Telescope: Cryostat Disassembly
This week, I was fortunate to be given unprecedented access to the Keck Array Microwave Telescope in the MAPO Observatory at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station by the Keck Array Science Team, in order to witness the disassembly of two of the five cryostats that form the telscope array. Photos.

The Keck array is a microwave telescope, just like Bicep2 and the South Pole Telescope (SPT). However, Keck (or SPUD, as some call it, depending on which side of the funding table the person you’re asking is sitting) is special. Keck, in an effort to up sensitivity and resolution, has taken the best of all worlds, and combined them into one super-telescope. They’ve taken the extremely successful and proven focal plane design from Bicep2, as well as the extremely efficient and self contained pulse-tube cooled cryostat from SPT, and made it into their own super telescope. And then multiplied it by five.

The Keck has not one, but five identical cryostats, each housing its own focal plane. Having five instead of one gives the team an incredible amount of sensing options and flexibility. One distinct advantage that I was able to see up close and personal is that individual parts can be serviced and worked on without bringing the entire telescope to a halt.

More info on the Keck Array:
This past week, the Keck Array science team removed two of the five cryostats, and left three in place and operational.

Here are a few photos of the disassembly of the cryostats, stripping away all of their shielding and refrigeration to get to the heart – the focal plane.

Photos from the disassembly…

Keck Array is housed in the MAPO Observatory, a 15 minute walk from the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. Although it’s only a short ways away, in -40 degree F temperatures, full sunlight, driving wind, and an active ice runway to cross, full gear and extreme caution must be used on the walk across the ice. It feels a bit like walking to class – although much colder. And at one of the most remote spots on the planet. That big plywood cone in the background in the groundshield of the telescope.

Looking straight up inside the telescope, as Scientist Colin Bischoff explains the inner workings.

https://flickr.com/photos/jamfan2/8229064838/in/set-72157632128663490/lightbox/

Before disassembly, the cryostats are inspected for defects or light leaks.

Disassembly begins – very slowly and carefully – each cryostat is custom built and unique, the result of thousands of hours of R&D.

The team mid-project. I even got to help out a bit!

The inner core is revealed. This is the core refrigerator that’s responsible for cooling the focal plane down to an incredible 250 millikelvin. That’s just barely above absolute zero. The refrigerator uses both commonplace Helium-4, as well as exotic Helium-3, which is contained within the smaller titanium pressure vessel in the close-up shot.

And finally, the heart of the beast – the focal plane. These four panels sense polarization of focused microwave radiation using chips filled with TES Bolometers. More info on Bicep2 and Keck’s TES Bolometers from NASA JPL:

Transition edge sensor (TES) bolometers sense small temperature changes that occur when photons are absorbed and converted to heat. The use of TESs enables arrays with a much larger number of pixels than is practical with spider-web bolometers. Sustaining its leading role in superconducting TES array technology, MDL developed and continues to improve a process to create arrays of thousands of TESs with high yield (>90 percent). These arrays are being employed on three major astro physics projects, all with the same goal: generating detailed maps of the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB).

https://flickr.com/photos/jamfan2/8229070600/in/set-72157632128663490/lightbox/

That’s it. Thanks very much to the entire Keck Array Science Team for generously inviting me into their lab.
2012-11-28
Refilling the Liquid Helium of Bicep2

A week or two ago, Physicist Jon Kaufman gave me a brief tour of the Bicep2 Microwave Telescope, operating here at the South Pole. Aa I reported earlier, the telescope operates at a very very low temperature – only a few millikelvin above absolute zero. In this particular telescope, to get down to that temperature, liquid helium is used in a series of nested cryostats – each reducing the temperature further. In order to maintain the cold temperature needed, liquid helium must periodically be added from an outside source. A few photos of Jon performing a recent refill of liquid helium:

Here’s what the master control console looks like.

Jon taking a few notes before beginning the fill

That grey puff coming out of the tip of the filling hose is actually liquid helium. Strangely, as we were working around the telescope as it was off-gassing lots and lots of helium, we could breathe in deeply near the vent hose (warmer, gaseous helium) and our voices would get high – just like sucking on a party balloon.

The exhaust hose gets so cold that it actually condenses gas from the air into liquid. That’s liquid nitrogen and oxygen (and a blend of others) dripping off the hose.

A quick trip up to the roof just to check things out on a nice day. This is a look inside the groundshield, at the moveable top of the telescope.

2012-11-27
Happy Thanksgiving!

Yes, we have Thanksgiving even at the South Pole. In honor of the holiday, the station got together and prepared a tasty traditional meal. Afterwards, we went down to “lolo” – an underground maintenance bunker, to celebrate and dance. A few pics from the festivities…

https://flickr.com/photos/jamfan2/8227748625/in/set-72157632123803165/lightbox/

2012-11-26
The South Pole’s Campbell–Stokes Sunshine Recorder

High up on the roof of the incredibly sophisticated Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, there exists an extremely low-tech piece of equipment: The Campbell-Stokes Sunshine Recorder. Photos.

From Wikipedia:

The Campbell–Stokes recorder (sometimes called a Stokes sphere) is a kind of sunshine recorder. It was invented by John Francis Campbell in 1853 and modified in 1879 by Sir George Gabriel Stokes. The original design by Campbell consisted of a glass sphere set into a wooden bowl with the sun burning a trace on the bowl. Stokes’s refinement was to make the housing out of metal and to have a card holder set behind the sphere.

The unit is designed to record the hours of bright sunshine which will burn a hole through the card.

This basic unit is still in use today with very little change. It is widely used outside the United States, where the Marvin sunshine recorder is generally the instrument used by the National Weather Service.

A few photos of the unit currently recording sunshine at the South Pole:

https://flickr.com/photos/jamfan2/8229074686/in/set-72157632128663488/lightbox/

2012-11-25
Freezing in the South Pole Ice Tunnels

Snaking under the warm and inviting Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station lies a labrynth of subterranian ice tunnels – carved out of the Antarctic Polar Ice Cap, housing the stations utility and supply lines, and frozen at a constant -60 degrees F. The other day, Utility Technician Charles “Chuckles” Letourneau took me on a brief tour of this frozen other world.

The entrance to the ice tunnels is through the “Beer Can”, the large silver cylinder that connects the above ground main station to the below ground utility corridors and arches. The Beer Can houses a flight of stairs, an elevator, and all of the supply lines for the station. It’s un-heated, so there’s always a thick crust of ice on the inside. Here’s a pic of the bottom of the beer can, leading into the service corridors, just before the ice tunnels..

The Ice Tunnels are literally just that – tunnels made out of solid polar ice. They were carved by huge machines deep under the station, and act as utility corridors for sewage, water, power, and heat. The tunnels are somewhat spacious, and next to the water and sewage pipes, it’s possible to walk. Every few feet there’s an LED light bulb, as well as switches and emergency exits. Additionally, about halfway through the main tunnel, there’s an emergency warming hut, just in case the -60 degree temperature is too much. Red lights along the water lines indicate that the electric heaters which prevent the pipes from freezing are working.

In addition to utilities in the ice tunnels, there are also a number of “shrines” commemorating various groups and events here at the south pole. With the temperature always at -60, nothing rots or changes down here – including the weird things people leave as shrines.

Finally, in the ice caves, there are a couple strange blocked off areas. Nobody i’ve talked to has ever been behind this door, and based on discussions about it, seems to be a bit of a taboo topic. When I happened upon this door, I was also surprised I didn’t find the numbers etched anywhere, or a hatch…

Me holding the thermometer – It’s cold!

The bottom of the “beer can”

Access hatch to one of the rodwells.

An emergency hatch, leading to the surface.

The South Pole Gravity Station

Power indicator light for heat trace, which keeps the pipes from freezing

Ice crystals growing on a pipe. Any moisture in the air, including that exhaled from people, instantly freezes to whatever it touches first.

Continue Reading PART 2

2012-11-24
Touring the Bicep2 Microwave Telescope with Physicist Jonathan Kaufman

South Pole is home to many, many world-class science experiments, laboratories, and telescopes. One such telescope is the Bicep2 Microwave Telescope. On the ice this year working on the hardware and software is Physicist Jonathan Kaufman. Yesterday, Jon was nice enough to give me a quick tour of the telescope and lab, as well as an opportunity to see them send the liquid helium dewier off to the Cryogenics Lab for a refill. Here’s video of Jon giving a tour, and photos of the dewier.

About Bicep2, from Caltech:

The primary goal of BICEP2 is to measure the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). The CMB is a nearly perfect, uniform black body at 2.7 K, with degree-scale temperature anisotropy of about 0.1 mK and polarization on the order of microkelvin. This radiation was emitted 380,000 years after the Big Bang, at the time of recombination, when the Universe first became transparent to light. The temperature anisotropy and polarization of the CMB are some of the most powerful ways of understanding the early Universe. Cosmologists believe the Universe experienced a rapid period of cosmic inflation during its first fraction of a second, exponentially expanding from a dense, hot subatomic volume. Many models of inflation predict that this rapid acceleration would have generated gravitational waves that would remain energetic enough 380,000 years later to leave an imprint on the CMB. BICEP2 is searching for this imprint by measuring the pure-curl component of the CMB polarization on degree angular scales, which is largely free of contamination from sources other than primordial gravitational waves.

More on Bicep, Bicep2, and Keck from Christopher Sheehy. (PDF Link)

Snowmobiling out to the Bicep2 Telescope’s Lab, which also shares space with the South Pole Telescope.

Liquid Helium dewier, and Jon

Looking off the roof of the Bicep2 across to the SPT

Lowering the dewier
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jamfan2/8205021288/lightbox/

Bicep2

2012-11-23
My First Sundog

This past week, while I was hanging out with Utility Technician Charles “Chuckles” Letourneau, I saw my first Antarctic Sundog, or “Parhelion”.

A quick description of this spectacularly beautiful atmospheric phenomenon from Wikipedia:

Sundogs are made commonly of plate-shaped hexagonal ice crystals in high and cold cirrus clouds or, during very cold weather, by ice crystals called diamond dust drifting in the air at low levels. These crystals act as prisms, bending the light rays passing through them with a minimum deflection of 22°. If the crystals are randomly oriented, a complete ring around the sun is seen — a halo. But often, as the crystals sink through the air they become vertically aligned, so sunlight is refracted horizontally — in this case, sundogs are seen.

As the sun rises higher, the rays passing through the crystals are increasingly skewed from the horizontal plane. Their angle of deviation increases and the sundogs move further from the sun.[4] However, they always stay at the same elevation as the sun.

Sundogs are red-colored at the side nearest the sun. Farther out the colors grade through oranges to blue. However, the colors overlap considerably and so are muted, never pure or saturated. The colors of the sundog finally merge into the white of the parhelic circle (if the latter is visible).

It is theoretically possible to predict the forms of sundogs as would be seen on other planets and moons. Mars might have sundogs formed by both water-ice and CO2-ice. On the giant gas planets — Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune — other crystals form the clouds of ammonia, methane, and other substances that can produce halos with four or more sundogs.[5]

2012-11-22