10 November, 1999

Wednesday November 10, 1999

Got up at 0510 hours. Hallway very busy, either people going to a bag drag or off to field camps I guess. I am not feeling parcticularly well today. I feel feverish. I think it is the stress of these computer problems. I have a lot of people relying on me and my hands are basically tied. Plus today we must get down to work in earnest on our project. I worked for an hour on downloading pictures to this machine. Hope this works. I feel real punky an so am going back to bed, no meetings until 1000 hours. Good night.

So much for sleeping. I tossed and turned for about 40 minutes got dressed and went to the Crarey computer center. I immediately checked my email to see if what Robbi thought was the problem, really was the problem. It evidently worked and Robbi must have been correct. Now all I have to do in the address book is added the letters SMTP to each contact under the "type of email category. That's only 273 or so to correct. God I hate doing the same thing twice or in some cases even more. I had gotten a lot of email from my children and Darcy. It was great to read them, I miss them all very much; but even more important to know was that what I am sending out, is in fact going out.

Worked with Barbara on the project. We have decided to hold one large group meeting next Monday, this will be in stead of two first lesson classes. This is due to lack of availability of the Crarey lab other then that first night. We will then run classes on a Thursday/Friday and Monday/Tuesday. We will offer six separate classes with each being repeated twice. These classes will be offered in the new computer training lab. It will be tight, for we will have theoretically 12 in a group that gives us two at each computer. Not the ideal situation, but one cannot loose site of the fact that we are in Antarctica. We discussed what we had to do and how we planned to do it. All the parts are in place now, we just need the people.

We had a meeting with Robbie Score, who really had some concerns about our project; but, I think she is more comfortable with it now. After the meeting went to dinner then returned to the computer room. I had several emails indicating to me all was OK. I sent out three journals to the TEA site with pictures and all was OK. I then tried to send journals to my 273 collaborators and none were sent. I am serious time bumming. I have to get help again tomorrow.

I sent some personal mail and then returned to the Mammoth Mountain Inn, my home away from home. The weather had worsened all day so I walked home in a snow storm, rare for McMurdo for his time of year, and winds probably blowing 40 knots. (Who knows what a knot is?)

I was talking with a fellow who is working on a research project whose title is "GPS (global postioning system) Measurement of Isostatic Rebound and Tectonic Deformation in Marie Byrd Land, West Antarctica". The PI (principal investigator is Dr. Bruce Luyendyk. As I understand it, the goal of this project is to try and determine the movement of part of the tectonic plate system found here in Antarctica known as the Antarctic rift system, specifically between West and East Antarctica. They will be looking at, the belief held by many scientists that this region is undergoing active deformation and that the rate and causes of this are still basically unknown. The task will be to try and measure the earth's crust movement by using GPS, a satellite based piece of equipment that basically uses triangulation of several satellites to determine the position (longitude, latitude and altitude) of any parcticular spot on the planet earth. This array of GPS sensors is able; it is believed, to show movement to accuracy on the horizontal as little as 1 mm/year and vertical movement of 2mm/year. (How many inches is that per year?) That is unbelievable.

Measurements are taken automatically and continuously at 30 second intervals by these permanent sensors that were placed in different spots on the continent: the Rockefeller Mountains, the Phillips Mountains and the Clark Mountains, during the 1998 field season. (See if you can find a map the shows these locations and try to determine what the their longitude, latitude and altitudes are.) I'll give you a hint: these are not places one would take a Sunday drive to. From McMurdo one takes an LC-130 ski equipped aircraft, to Seiple Dome; from here you take at a Twin Otter, a much smaller plane to the Ford Range Camp in Marie Byrd Land. Once at the camp you would fly out, using the twin otter again, too each of the three site. These GPS units will remain in place for four years, but annually must be maintained and the data downloaded.

While at the Crarey lab computer room Dr. Norbert Wu presented a multimedia presentation. He is an artist whose project involves photography. His video of under the ice was totally awesome. I can't imagine how he got such pictures; but he did hint that if he destroyed a regular camera he'd be out a few thousand dollars; whereas if he destroys this camera he'd be probably put into jail. OK, enough said. Time to turn in. I hope tommor is the day my computer problem gets resolved.

Ciao,

Penguin Pete the Polar Man

This is a view from the Crarey lab. I am looking out toward the blue ice runway. The time of day is 2330 hours. I know the quality is lacking , but just wanted to show how high the sun is at 11:30 PM. <<1930 hours at Crarey.JPG>>

This a picture is of a display case at the Crarey lab. Contained in this case are artifacts from previous expeditions and geological and biological specimens. <>

This is the skull of a leopard seal, one of the primary carnivores living in the Antarctic waters. It is on display in the Crarey lab, McMurdo Station, Antarctica. <>