RSS feed for all messages. http://67.199.27.3/antarctican_society/cfmbb-1.23/ We have just posted the Navy logs from McMurdo and South Pole Stations for the first year of Operation Deep Freeze. The logs are more than 540 pages total and make for very interesting insights on the challenges of those early days, particularly for the Navy Seabees who had to build the first permanent U.S. bases on The Ice. These historical documents were submitted by Seabee Patrick "Rediron" McCormick who was a young lad when he participated in Deep Freeze I. Take a look. http://67.199.27.3/antarctican_society/cfmbb-1.23/messages.cfm?messageid=8515F74C-3048-7C5C-1F3F4D0A966D0091&r=1 2010-05-11T01:58:48-07:00 Deep Freeze I Daily Logs Robert Flint's book report in the December newsletter is especially interesting to me. I helped Sir Charles lay out his huge horizontal loop antenna on the ice near Byrd Station during the 60/61 summer at old Byrd. Sir Charles and I had much to talk about since the same summer I was conducting an airborne Very Low Frequency study for Robert Helliwell. Of course Sir Charles was preparing to measure much lower frequency magnetic fields than I did but mine were more interesting whistlers, dawn chorus, and hisses of different frequency bands. It was very difficult keeping the audio tape recorders warm in the unheated tents. RETURN TO ANTARCTICA: The Amazing Adventure of Sir Charles Wright on Robert Scott?s Journey to the South Pole. Adrian Raeside, John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd., 2009, 324 pages hardback, $29.95 US. Reviewed by Rob Flint In a way, Sir Charles was my first employer. When I graduated from a Master?s Degree program in electrical engineering at Stanford University my first job was a research assistant at Byrd Station, Antarctica. One of the programs for which I ran equipment and collected data was the recording of magnetic micropulsations for Pacific Naval Lab of Victoria Canada. This program was under the direction of Sir Charles, who had been the physicist on Scott?s last expedition. http://67.199.27.3/antarctican_society/cfmbb-1.23/messages.cfm?messageid=52C5C6ED-3048-7B4D-A9683E5DD73314CF&r=2 2009-12-03T04:21:50-07:00 Sir Charles Wright at Byrd Station Charles: I was fortunate enough to winterover under the Dome almost 30 years ago. My memories are still strong, and I expect that I am not the only one. I would love to see the Dome find a home back in the States and perhaps shelter an exhibit on the South Pole experience. To that end, I am willing to write letters of support and contribute funds if that is necessary. Count me in. Tom Henderson http://67.199.27.3/antarctican_society/cfmbb-1.23/messages.cfm?messageid=0ED904FF-3048-7B4D-A953315B8768734C&r=3 2009-11-19T23:48:41-07:00 South Pole Dome I am curious as to what members think about efforts to preserve the geodesic dome from South Pole station that is due for demolition this year. Would it be worthwhile for the Antarctican Society to get involved? Would it even be worthwhile to help preserve the dome and reestablish it some place stateside? Anybody have any thoughts on the matter? http://67.199.27.3/antarctican_society/cfmbb-1.23/messages.cfm?messageid=09EE7794-3048-7B4D-A9289B14F67C4C40&r=4 2009-11-19T00:54:00-07:00 South Pole Dome A project that I have on my "to do" list for the future is to collect maps, diagrams, site plans and sketches of Antarctic stations, both past and present. Even things like drawings on bar napkins would be useful as long as I could date them. The idea is to get a good picture of what structures were there and when. Combined with photos, this would allow an accurate reconstruction over time of many of the historic and currently active bases. Eventually, it would all be in Time Trek. If you have information of this type, regardless of how crude or sketchy you think it is, contact me. Thanks. Tom Henderson. http://67.199.27.3/antarctican_society/cfmbb-1.23/messages.cfm?messageid=52F12360-3048-7B4D-A925B402B1085C74&r=5 2009-10-14T12:06:25-07:00 Maps of Antarctic Bases Ann: Was this the ski chalet where the survival school is held? I never thought of it as historic, but my memories go back to 1979. I guess it has been there a long time. http://67.199.27.3/antarctican_society/cfmbb-1.23/messages.cfm?messageid=9E637D34-3048-7B4D-A968223E7F7F1885&r=6 2009-06-02T00:34:28-07:00 Kiwi hut burns down The A-frame Kiwi hut on Ross Ice Shelf burned down recently. The hut caught fire during a routine inspection and testing of the diesel tanks used to fuel the hut's heating. It was destroyed. Here is the link to the news article: http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/south-pacific/2436926/Diesel-fire-burns-historic-hut http://67.199.27.3/antarctican_society/cfmbb-1.23/messages.cfm?messageid=781DEAA7-3048-7B4D-A96A4CD6DD42356B&r=7 2009-05-25T14:12:55-07:00 Kiwi hut burns down Here is how I plan to catalog the slide collections: 1. CAT is the designation for the catalog number assigned to each individual slide. It is usually the owner's initials followed by the number sequence. In this case, the CHARLES LAGERBOM COLLECTION is cataloged as CL1 to CL1400. 2. DATE is the date effective on the slide provided by the owner, most often as month and year. Sometimes more specific dates (ie. 12/02/59) were provided. Occasionally, the slide was not dated but had a date imprinted from the processor like 1968 when the slide was processed. In those cases, that date was used. When there was no date written or imprinted, the date category was left blank. 3. TIME TREK dates run from September to August. The slides have been aligned with TIME TREK in that a slide taken in February 1964 will go in the TIME TREK designation as 1963-1964. 4. CATEGORY is the designation given for what general type of activity the slide represents. The following categories were used: Animal - some sort of wildlife pictured Aviation - activities associated with VX6 Equipment - involved transport, science gear, etc Ice - icebergs, ice sheets, ice falls, sastrugi, etc Misc - anything that could not neatly fit in any of the other categories People - where focus was of a person or group Scenic - views of scenes, oftentimes aerial Science - involving geology, glaciology, biology, oceanography, etc Ship - a particular ship, oftentimes named (in CAPITALS) Structure - a particular station, base or camp 5. LOCATION 1 designates most generally where the slide was taken (ie. Antarctica) 6. LOCATION 2 and LOCATION 3 use more specific locations if needed 7. NOTES are any further information that was written on the slide such as people identification, what was happening, etc If submitters did some of this before hand, it will speed conversion time. Thanks, Charles Lagerbom http://67.199.27.3/antarctican_society/cfmbb-1.23/messages.cfm?messageid=C1527268-3048-7B4D-A94E25FD2C69809D&r=8 2009-01-10T16:14:12-07:00 Society to Offer New Service Just received the following e-mail from Gianni in Italy: HI Dale, Good afternoon from Italy. My name is Gianni I1HYW. I have got your adress from Adam K2ARB, who sent me some details of your experience done in Antarctica at the time of Deep Freeze. I did take a liberty to write few lines about it on WAP web site (Worldwide Antarctic Program) www.waponline.it . Now I'm wondering if you have kept some QSLs of KC4USB and KC4USW as I would like to add this missing ones on WAP Antarctic QSL Gallery. Over here we have more than 2000 Antarctic QSLs and for sure this is the largest Antarctic QSL Gallery WW. Also, if you have some pictures of the epic expeditions we'll be pleased to write something more about. Happy New Year to you and yours. Greetings from Italy. Ciao Gianni I1HYW www.waponline.it http://67.199.27.3/antarctican_society/cfmbb-1.23/messages.cfm?messageid=AF35A4CD-3048-7B4D-A96EB4D987A16DDE&r=9 2009-01-07T03:49:35-07:00 Amateur Radio on the ice. Howdy Tom. Spent a lot of time between 57 and 61 running KC4USW and KC4USB sometimes phone patching with a blind ham in Phoenix where my folks lived. And a couple times into Boulder to talk to my secretary at the National Bureau of Standards who I eventually married over 46 years ago. Went on a airborne VLF traverse(tents, etc)my last month or so on the ice so had to learn how to determine where we were so the Marine pilot in his JATO equipped Goony Byrd would know where to pick us up. Used a Kern theodolite and once when learning at Byrd Station I saw the sun spots coming around and warned the Morse Code Navy to get their messages out quickly because the Ionosphere would soon be unusable. Took about three days for it to came back. Good to hear from you Tom. Stretches this Ole Geezer's mind to remember those Good Old Days on the ice a very long time ago. Dale http://67.199.27.3/antarctican_society/cfmbb-1.23/messages.cfm?messageid=2E332B5D-3048-7B4D-A919A9D033598A03&r=10 2008-12-13T02:35:52-07:00 Amateur Radio on the ice. Dale: What a difference 26 years makes! When I wintered at Pole in 1981-82, amateur radio operators were our only link to the rest of the world from April to October. Even then, there was a six-week period in July-August when radio transmissions were disrupted by gamma ray activity in the upper atmosphere. Our most reliable operators were Big John Stagnaro in San Diego and Ken McLean in Tucson. They could always be counted on to be on the air at the designated times. My parents live in Tucson, and I always tried to go through Ken when calling home. The reason? The stateside caller only paid for the call between them and the radio operator. So a call from me at South Pole to my parents in Tucson was a local call! Amateur radio operators have definitely provided a great service to Antarcticans over the years. Tom Henderson http://67.199.27.3/antarctican_society/cfmbb-1.23/messages.cfm?messageid=2D7A57EF-3048-7B4D-A9735589A954868A&r=11 2008-12-12T23:13:59-07:00 Amateur Radio on the ice. http://www.k2arb.blogspot.com/ Interesting article in the January QST published by the arrl.org. Dale KB7VEJ http://67.199.27.3/antarctican_society/cfmbb-1.23/messages.cfm?messageid=29660FA7-3048-7B4D-A982EBF147D91507&r=12 2008-12-12T04:13:21-07:00 Amateur Radio on the ice. The Antarctican Society is launching a new service to its members. Beginning in January, 2009, members may submit their Antarctica-related photographic film slides to the Society for conversion to high-resolution digital images. The images will be produced entirely by the Society using a recently purchased high-quality scanner. This free service is available only to members as a benefit of membership. In exchange, the Society will be granted the non-exclusive right to use the images on the Society website, specifically Time Trek. Watch for details on the website soon. http://67.199.27.3/antarctican_society/cfmbb-1.23/messages.cfm?messageid=2388DBE3-3048-7B4D-A9B98BFFEA55A730&r=13 2008-12-11T00:53:38-07:00 Society to Offer New Service There is some good news today. Google has finally released their new version of the GE plugin for MacIntosh computers. Now it works on both Windows and Mac machines. While the new plugin is still listed by Google as a "beta" version, this is a big step. Now the Time Trek development team can move to integrate the new version of the plugin into the Time Trek application and be assured that it will work for more than 95% of our users. Look for that early next year. http://67.199.27.3/antarctican_society/cfmbb-1.23/messages.cfm?messageid=0314392C-3048-7B4D-A9096CBD846E9752&r=14 2008-12-04T17:38:23-07:00 Google Earth for Mac As of today, members are no longer required to login separately to the Forums. If you login to the main site, you automatically are logged into the Forums. It should now be much easier to post messages and reply to postings. So there are no more excuses! These Forums are for our members' use .... so let's use them! As always, if you have problems in using the Forums, contact me (the webmaster) at webmaster@antarctican.org http://67.199.27.3/antarctican_society/cfmbb-1.23/messages.cfm?messageid=A208B889-3048-7B4D-A91309EF7CF3484F&r=15 2008-11-15T21:22:39-07:00 Let the postings begin! REMEMBERANCES, WSJ, November 14, 2008 Martin A. Pomerantz [1916-2008] Astrophysicist Turned Antarctica Into Hot Spot for Astronomy Research By STEPHEN MILLER By bringing astrophysical research to Antarctica, Martin A. Pomerantz fostered what he called "astronomy on ice." "Almost single-handedly, he recognized the value of one of the world's most remote and inhospitable places as an ideal place to study the physical origin of the universe and other complex astrophysical phenomena," says Karl A. Erb, director of the National Science Foundation's Office of Polar Programs, which supports U.S. scientific efforts on the Earth's southernmost continent. Today, Antarctica supports a thriving international community of scientists who watch stars, study cosmic rays and dark energy, and capture elusive neutrinos with tubes drilled more than a kilometer into the ice. The continent offers astronomers the clearest skies on Earth. A permanent hole in its magnetic field allows exotic particles from space to reach terrestrial detectors. Dr. Pomerantz, who died Oct. 25 at age 91, used the 24 hours of daylight during the Antarctic summer to make high-altitude, 100-hour observations of the sun impossible anywhere else on Earth. From the data he compiled, he confirmed that the sun oscillates every five minutes, rather like a bell: "This great musical instrument," as he described it to the New York Times in 1981. During the 1960s and 1970s, Dr. Pomerantz was alone trying to drum up interest from peers and funding agencies to erect telescopes in Antarctica. "People wrote in books such things as, 'Why would anybody be stupid enough to go to Antarctica when you could be in Hawaii and then go to the beach in the afternoon?' " Dr. Pomerantz told the American Polar Society's oral-history project in 2000. (A major observatory complex is at the peak of Mauna Kea.) A former journalism student at Syracuse University who converted to science after taking a "physics for poets" class, he was hired in 1938 by the Bartol Research Foundation, then at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. He began balloon investigations of cosmic rays, highly charged particles that enter the Earth's atmosphere from outer space. He traveled to northernmost Canada, Peru and India to release balloons into the upper atmosphere and collect data. His doctoral thesis included the unexpected finding that the sun's magnetic field was far less intense than was believed. During World War II, he was lent to Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he researched radar. Back at Bartol, he became an expert on the structure of the Earth's magnetic field, which is sometimes depicted as a bar magnet stuck through the Earth's axis but is, in reality, far more complex. Dr. Pomerantz was named director of the Bartol Foundation in 1959, just as new research possibilities in Antarctica were opening. In 1960, he installed a cosmic ray detector at McMurdo Station, the U.S. research center on the Antarctic coast. Later, he would set up a detector at the South Pole and conduct experiments there himself during summers -- 26 in all. Life in Antarctica could be scary and bracing, he recalled. He suffered from insomnia -- "big eye" in South Pole parlance -- enduring uncomfortable sleeping quarters where "you had to put the beer in just the right place so it would not freeze. It would freeze on the floor and it was terribly hot above." But the camaraderie was great and he later said that one of his lifetime regrets was never having spent the winter at the remote South Pole station. Frustrated that he couldn't persuade astronomers or funding agencies to commit to putting telescopes at the South Pole, he bootlegged some of his cosmic ray grant money in 1979 to set up a solar telescope. The resulting 100-plus hours of continuous solar observations set a new standard for helioseismology -- the study of "sunquakes" and the sun's internal structure. Within a few years a slew of new astronomy projects were under way at the South Pole. Explaining how Dr. Pomerantz was able to highjack the funds needed for his solar study, Stuart Pittel, the current director of what is now the Bartol Research Institute at the University of Delaware, says "Martin did things the way he wanted to and there was nobody to tell him no." Dr. Pomerantz retired in 1990. Already possessed of many tributes, he contemplated retiring to a typical senior scientist's role. But he also had a yen for business and partnered with his son, Martin A. Pomerantz Jr., to open a Nissan car dealership in Georgia. "He really threw himself into it," says his daughter, Jane Anne Staw. In 1994, he proudly attended the dedication of the Martin A. Pomerantz Observatory at the South Pole, the main research facility at the U.S. Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. Earlier, a part of the Antarctic continent was dubbed the Pomerantz Tableland. Email remembrances@wsj.com. http://67.199.27.3/antarctican_society/cfmbb-1.23/messages.cfm?messageid=A12372E3-3048-7B4D-A95845F9C3187302&r=16 2008-11-15T17:12:14-07:00 Martin A. Pomerantz (1916-2008) Dave: Yes, thanks, both Pole and Palmer have been contacted (Katy Jensen assisted with the contacts), and we hope to hear from them eventually. Glad you got past your registration problems. Tom Henderson http://67.199.27.3/antarctican_society/cfmbb-1.23/messages.cfm?messageid=AE6956C2-3048-7B4D-A9A76ED495F97F40&r=17 2008-06-22T03:55:16-07:00 Welcome to Palmer Winterovers Tom, Assume you have sent something to Palmer Station already. If not the email address is Pal.manager@usap.gov Dave B http://67.199.27.3/antarctican_society/cfmbb-1.23/messages.cfm?messageid=AC26A652-3048-7B4D-A9FF2EB7A9F01475&r=18 2008-06-21T17:23:11-07:00 Welcome to Palmer Winterovers If any Society member is having trouble registering for this set of forums, please respond to this posting or send me an email at webmaster@antarctican.org so I can investigate and clear up the problem. I can always assist and work out any problems. Thanks! :D http://67.199.27.3/antarctican_society/cfmbb-1.23/messages.cfm?messageid=A8B54537-3048-7B4D-A96D6C10073F0B19&r=19 2008-06-21T01:20:29-07:00 Having Trouble Registering? Welcome Palmer Station winterover crew! This is now your website so use it, enjoy it and feel free to contribute to any of the Forums. There are a number of Palmer Station veterans in The Antarctican Society who would enjoy hearing about your winter and possibly striking up a conversation. Also, feel free to comment on any aspect of the website, good or bad. I am always looking to improve it. And once more, welcome aboard! Tom Henderson, Webmaster http://67.199.27.3/antarctican_society/cfmbb-1.23/messages.cfm?messageid=7FE72526-3048-7B4D-A93F713FFB5ACBD3&r=20 2008-06-13T03:10:32-07:00 Welcome to Palmer Winterovers