PALMER STATION SCIENCE SITREP July 2002 NEWS FROM THE LAB Cherie M. Wilson, Winter Assistant Supervisor, Laboratory Operations All of the major infrastructure (plumbing, electrical conduit, insulation, outlets) that needed to be installed inside walls was completed. This resulted in a dramatic transformation of the labs by the end of the month as the walls were drywalled and painting began. Most of the labs now also have overhead lighting installed and some also have new floors. Some of the lab furniture was unpacked and a mock-up of the island in Lab 5/6 was set up to make sure everything was accounted for before installation. The R/V LAURENCE M. GOULD arrived on July 10 and stayed until July 18. Ironworkers lived on board and commuted to work at the SATCOM Earth Station. The construction, hazardous waste removal, ship off-load, and station refueling was completed during some of the worst weather the station has had all winter. Temperatures dropped to –21C and winds peaking at 69 knots caused equipment failures and made moving milvans a challenging undertaking. Specialists also arrived to run the fiber optics and phone lines to the SATCOM installation and pull the LAN cabling for the lab remodel. Station personnel rallied for a challenging snowball fight as the ship pulled away from station, with departing personnel gaining the advantage from the upper decks. Very little wildlife was observed this month, with the exception of the Sheathbills. A single Elephant Seal, Crabeater Seal, and possibly a Leopard Seal were spotted during the whole month, while Giant Petrels and Kelp Gulls continued to surf the wind currents. Arthur Harbor and Hero Inlet finally developed fast ice, which immobilized several large icebergs. At the end of the month, another storm with high winds blew out all of the fast ice that had accumulated between the entrance to Arthur Harbor and Torgersen Island and caused the fast ice in Arthur Harbor to break up. Precipitation was the highest ever recorded, and was about twice the average for July. Snowfall was also the highest ever recorded and about twice the average for July. The following projects conducted research at Palmer Station this month: AO-106-P: GLOBAL THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY AND ITS EFFECTS ON THE RADIATION BELTS AND THE LOWER IONOSPHERE Umran Inan, Principal Investigator, Stanford University The Science Technician operates and maintains on-site equipment for the project. The Stanford equipment receives and records Very Low Frequency (VLF) radio waves in order to study natural ionospheric and magnetospheric phenomena, as well as to study the distribution of the lightning strikes that are a principle source of natural VLF signals. GO-052-P: GPS CONTINUOUSLY OPERATING REFERENCE STATION Jerry Mullins, Principal Investigator, U.S. Geological Survey The Science Technician operates and maintains on-site equipment for the project. Throughout the month, 15second epoch GPS transmissions were collected continually at station PALM. Each day, the previous day’s data file was examined for completeness, compressed, and transmitted to the USGS in Reston, VA. The data acquisition system was upgraded by replacing the PC with a new one running Windows 2000. A newer version of the acquisition software was also installed. GO-090-P: GLOBAL SEISMOGRAPH NETWORK (GSN) SITE AT PALMER STATION Rhett Butler, Principal Investigator, Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) The Science Technician operates and maintains on-site equipment for the project. Station PMSA is one of more than 130 sites in the GSN, monitoring seismic waves produced by events worldwide. Data files are recorded to tape and also sent to the USGS in near real time, as the local Internet connection allows. OO-204-O: A STUDY OF ATMOSPHERIC OXYGEN VARIABILITY IN RELATION TO ANNUAL TO DECADAL VARIATIONS IN TERRESTRIAL AND MARINE ECOSYSTEMS Ralph Keeling, Principal Investigator, Scripps Institution of Oceanography Air samples are collected on a semi-weekly basis by the station physician. The goal of this project is to resolve seasonal and interannual variations in atmospheric O2 (detected through changes in O2/N2 ratio), which can aid in determining rates of marine biological productivity and ocean mixing. The results are also used to help determine the terrestrial and oceanic distribution of the global anthropogenic CO2 sink. The program involves air sampling at a network of sites in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Palmer Station is especially well situated for resolving signals of carbon cycling in the Southern Ocean. Samples taken from the station are return-shipped to Scripps where the analysis of O2 and CO2 content takes place OO-264-O: COLLECTION OF ATMOSPHERIC AIR FOR THE NOAA\CMDL WORLDWIDE FLASK SAMPLING NETWORK David Hofmann, Principal Investigator, Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Air samples are collected on a weekly basis by the station physician. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory continues its long term measurements of carbon dioxide and other climate relevant atmospheric gases. The Palmer Station air samples are returned to the NOAA laboratory for analysis as part of NOAA's effort to determine and assess the long term buildup of global pollutants in the atmosphere. Data from this experiment will be used in modeling studies to determine how the rate of change of these parameters affects climate. OO-275-O: DOE-EML REMOTE ATMOSPHERIC MEASUREMENTS PROGRAM (RAMP) Colin Sanderson, Principal Investigator, Department of Energy, Environmental Measurements Laboratory The Science Technician operates and maintains on-site equipment for the project. The RAMP system is part of a global network seeking to characterize the quantity and distribution of radionuclide particles occurring both naturally and artificially in the atmosphere. One sample filter was exposed for the duration of each week, and a weekly schedule of calibration, background, and sample counts was maintained. OO-283-P: ANTARCTIC AUTOMATIC WEATHER STATIONS (AWS) Charles Stearns, Principal Investigator, University of Wisconsin The Science Technician monitors data transmissions for the project. AWS transmissions from Bonaparte Point, Hugo Island, and RACER Rock were monitored using the TeraScan system. The Hugo Island and RACER Rock AWS sites are not currently transmitting. TO-312-O: TERASCAN SATELLITE IMAGING SYSTEM Dan Lubin, Principal Investigator, Scripps Institution of Oceanography The Science Technician operates and maintains on-site equipment for the project. Throughout the month, the TeraScan system collected, archived, and processed DMSP and NOAA satellite telemetry, maintaining a schedule of 20-25 passes per day. Infrared and microwave images were provided to the R/V LAURENCE M. GOULD and to the POC of the GLOBEC IV cruise in support of cruise planning. An 85GHz SSM/I “ice concentration” image was produced and transferred to UCSB for BP-032-P (Smith) on a weekly basis. TeraScan’s configuration was changed to utilize a UPS monitor program that will shut the system down cleanly if the UPS battery becomes drained during an extended power outage. TO-513-O: ULTRAVIOLET SPECTRORADIOMETER NETWORK Charles Booth, Principal Investigator, Biospherical Instruments, Inc. The Science Technician operates and maintains on-site equipment for the project. The BSI UV monitor produces full sky irradiance spectra ranging from the atmospheric UV cutoff near 290nm up to 605nm, four times per hour, while the sun is above the horizon. Multiple Absolute Scans were performed on 10 July in preparation for the annual site visit by BSI personnel. Another Absolute Scan was performed on 29 July. An engineer from BSI was on site 10 July to 19 July to perform the annual checks and calibrations. A new four channel radiometer (GUV) was installed and the supporting software installed on the PC. The continuous data from this new instrument will supplement the UV monitor data. The GUV data will be available in real time for local researchers to view graphically. TIDE GAGE Tony Amos, Point of Contact, The University of Texas Marine Science Institute The Science Technician operates and maintains on-site equipment for the project. Tide height, sea water temperature and salinity are monitored on a continual basis by a gage mounted at the Palmer Station pier. SYNOPTIC WEATHER OBSERVATIONS Daily weather observations were collected and sent to Rothera Research Station via HF radio. At the end of the month, a summary report was prepared and sent to interested parties.