Saturday, October 1, 2016

The Clean Air Sector


Get out your sunglasses, it's really bright out there! Today is a very nice sunny day with very low winds. A great day for a stroll at the South Pole! Yeah, it's still -75F, but cold is cold. This week we began getting the ski-way ready and started setting up the flight line ahead of the first flights of the season that will be passing through in about a week. Those flights will be leaving Punta Arenas Chile and head across the Drake passage to Union glacier and then making a stop at Pole for fuel, food and rest before continuing to McMurdo station on Ross island


Yesterday some of us volunteered to raise the new flags at the Ceremonial South Pole, a yearly tradition. Flags are removed after the last outbound summer flight and replaced with new ones at the beginning of the following summer season. The flags represent the original signatory nations of the Antarctic Treaty. I raised the Argentinian flag (far right).



The Clean Air Sector:

ARO ( The Atmospheric Research Observatory) is located in what is called The Clean Air Sector. An area of the South Pole station complex that has no air pollutants running through it from the man made emissions that are emanated by the station, its operation and surroundings. The cleanest air on earth!

ARO is run by two winter-overs with NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), one of which is on his 12th winter here! And we have another on his 12th winter, he is running one of the telescopes in the Dark Sector. The two longest running residents of the South Pole and a record.

 At the ARO long term measurements of ultra violet (UV) radiation and trace gases that influence climate and the ozone layer are taken along with measurements of carbon dioxide, methane, carbon monoxide, aerosols, water vapor, surface and stratospheric ozone, chlorofluorocarbons, and the ozone layer. These measurements are used for analysis of data records that focus on stratospheric ozone depletion, trans Antarctic transport and deposition, interplay of the trace gases and aerosols with solar and terrestrial radiation fluxes on the polar plateau, the magnitude of seasonal and temporal variations in greenhouse gases and the development of polar stratospheric clouds over Antarctica. A lot of science!



Next Post? The Aurora Cam

4 comments:

  1. Balmy weather! What an incredible adventure! Greenridge here we come!

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    1. Greenridge sounds really nice right about now Rich! Looking forward to it.

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  2. Question: What is the difference between the ceremonial south pole and the geographic south pole and why are they separate?

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    1. Hi Brian,

      The ceremonial pole marker is centered on the station and "moves" with the station. The 2 mile thick sheet of ice that the station sits on is moving away from the geographic south pole at about a rate of 30 feet a year. Every year the geographic marker is moved to reflect the actual south pole.

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