McMurdo Day 32: White Island

I tagged along with the Automatic Weather Station (AWS) group to repair their station on White Island!

One of the cool things about being in McMurdo (besides, ya know, being in Antarctica) is having the opportunity to learn about all the science other groups are doing. There are two people down here from the AWS group (event number O-283), and they've been super awesome to me and Avi, inviting us out to the field to their sites. The AWS guys get extra field hands, and Avi and I get off of Ross Island and into the field. Seems like a pretty sweet deal to me.

A view of Ob Hill and the cracking sea ice on the flight out.

AWS is based out of the University of Wisconsin, and manages 63 autonomous stations all over Antarctica. These stations provide real-time data used for weather forecasting. The group has been coming down pretty consistently over the past 40 years to repair the stations (the two guys here now have been down 11 and 8 seasons each).

On Friday, I got to take a trip out to one of their sites on White Island. It was pretty awesome. We took a short helo (McMurdo speak for helicopter) trip across the Ross Ice Shelf to White Island.

Map of area surrounding Ross Island. White island is a ~20min helicopter flight south of McMurdo. Larger version here.

Before the flight, we tried on helmets and double-checked our flight weights (our weight + all our ECW). The Helo Ops (Helicopter Operations) team asks for flight weights and cargo weights 3 days before the flight to make sure the helo has enough fuel and can support that much weight. We just double-checked before boarding.

Shelf of helo helmets.

We loaded up the helicopter with the AWS team's gear, got a short safety briefing, and were on our way! We went in an A-Star. There are 4 total helos operated in McMurdo: 2 A-Stars (which are smaller) and 2 Bell 412s (which are larger and can carry more cargo).

The McMurdo helo pad with cargo waiting to be loaded.

It was about a 20 min flight to White Island. I got to sit up front! This was my second trip in a helicopter -- I also flew in one when I visited a PASSCAL station in Nuugaatsiaq, Greenland in August.

An enthusiastic me!

Oooh aaah helicopter controls!

It's me! Looking at beautiful Antarctica!

 

The helo had to take an indirect path to the site to avoid flying over an ASPA (Antarctic Specially Managed Area). An area on the ice, just north of White Island, is a protected area (meaning you need a special permit to go there) because of a group of seals that got separated from the main colony a few years ago and is now inbred and slowly dying.

White Island, seen as we were flying towards the ASPA. I didn't see any of the seals.

View of Phoenix Airfield (where I landed in the Italian C-130 over a month ago!)

The helo dropped us off and left us there for 2 hours to go take another group to Black Island.

Me + the helicopter at the White Island AWS site.

Goodbye, helicopter! We were left with 2 survival bags in case something went wrong and they couldn't come back to pick us up.

Each AWS station is equipped with a wind bird (measuring wind speed and direction), humidity sensor, pressure sensor, and two temperature senors (one close to the ground and one up high). The data is collected by a datalogger (similar to the ones PASSCAL uses), and telemetered back to the US using a modem and the Iridium satellite network (just like PASSCAL). The stations are powered by a few gel-cell batteries and one solar panel, and charging is managed by a small charge controller.

The instruments are placed on a tower, which ranges from 10-100ft tall, depending on the site. The tower at the White Island site was about 20ft tall. To repair the sensors on top of the tower, the AWS folks put on full-body harnesses so they can clip themselves onto the tower.

The two AWS folks on the tower, Dave (top) and Lee (bottom).

A cool picture Dave took from the top of the tower. You can see me shivering in the top left.

It was SO COLD at the site. This was definitely the coldest I've been. I wore Big Red (the jacket) the entire time, and I was still shivering by the end of the two hours. The air temperature wasn't that cold, but it was super windy. The wind chill made it hard for me to take off my gloves (to take pictures or help at the site) for very long.

Me feeling rather chilly in my Big Red. You can see Black Island (and the battery box) behind me.

The White Island site holds the (unofficial) record for the highest wind speed recorded at an AWS station -- over 60 m/s  (or 134 mi/hr)!!! And I'd totally believe it. It was crazy windy while we were there, and the wind bird on the tower had been completely shattered to pieces by the wind. The AWS folks didn't have a spare with them, but they're hoping to take another trip back this season to install a heavy-duty high speed wind sensor.

On White Island, looking out towards Black Island.

The helo arrived right on time to pick us up (no need to use the survival bags!!).

I sat in the back on the way back to McMurdo. Still saw amazing views!!

Me (center back) and the AWS team!

Flying over White Island.

There are several more AWS stations nearby that the group is hoping to get to this season (and has invited us along as diggers/battery movers). We were going to try to fly to their site at Minna Bluff today, but the weather was too foul this morning. You can see the list of AWS stations near Ross Island here! Hopefully we'll be able to get out later this week!

A final picture of my wind-burnt face excited to be in a helicopter!!