The scene at Williams Field last week looked like a high schoolpep rally as spectators turned out to cheer on the crews preparinga long duration balloon for liftoff. The payload that day includedthe TIGER instrument. The crowd sported posters of a tiger,chanted T-I-G-E-R and included a woman dressed in a tiger outfit.

December 21, 2003

Published during the austral summer at McMurdo Station, Antarctica, for the United States Antarctic Program

www.polar.org/antsun

Baby berg born to the B15A

Page 3

“Teamwork is everybody doingwhat I tell them to.”

A Massif manPage 12

Quote of the Week

- Manager at an Antarctic field camp

Photo by Melanie Conner / Special to The Antarctic Sun

INSIDE

By Brien BarnettSun staff

Inside TRACER missioncontrol, Patrick “JoJo” Boylesits in the six-foot squareoffice listening to music andwatching computer monitorsfor incoming data and mes-sages.

Every now and then Boylepoints to the monitor where astring of bright red pixelssuddenly appear, indicating arecent high-energy cosmicray event. The tone of hisvoice shows excitement.

“Oooh, that’s a bigevent… That’s an iron eventfor sure … There’s anotherone.”

Behind him, in the officeat McMurdo Station’s CraryLaboratory is a map ofAntarctica with a semicircleof sticky notes stuck to it.The stickies indicate theflight path and altitude of theballoon at regular intervals.In five days, the balloon car-rying the $10 million instru-ment called the TransitionRadiation Array for CosmicEnergetic Radiation haspassed an old point on themap. Written in pencil with acircle and the word

By Kris KuenningSun staff

As steel and plywood panelscontinue to go up at the newAmundsen-Scott South PoleStation building, this season’sresidents are living out the transi-tion from old Dome to new sta-tion.

With the summer crew set-tling into the first two occupiedsections of the new station, thereis some nostalgia for Dome life,but the large new dining facility,with windows overlooking theceremonial South Pole, has wona lot of hearts over already.

“I don’t miss the old galleyone bit,” said cargo technicianScot Jackson, “and I reallythought I would.”

Head chef “Cookie” JonEmanuel is enjoying the newfacilities, too, but is feeling thepangs of the transition when itcomes to getting supplies up tothe second floor kitchen. Despitethe limiting size and aging facil-ities of the old kitchen, the foodstores were always in easy reachunder the Dome. Without thenew warehouse constructed orthe cargo elevator running,kitchen supplies are now broughtto the second floor landing byforklift and then passed hand byhand down the hall.

“Lots of departments aredealing with these types of jug-gling acts in terms of space,equipment and logistics, and willbe until the station is complete,”

Home awayfrom DomeBalloons up and away

TRACERtakes flight

See Dome on page 11See Tracer on page 10

2 • The Antarctic Sun December 21, 2003

Matt Davidson

How far ...Newsmaker Saddam’s so-called“spider hole” to …McMurdo: 12,639 kmSouth Pole: 12,064 kmPalmer: 12,420 km

McMurdo residents recently hadcrab legs for dinner. We assumedthey were caught in Dutch Harbor,Alaska: 12,733 km away

Palmer Station to McMurdo is3,294 km away as the skua flies,but it takes a person 21,346 km totravel from the Peninsula to RossIsland.

Santa must travel 14,965 km todeliver presents to the good kids atSouth Pole.

E-mail travels at least 70,000 kmon its journey from the continent tothe satellites to the ground andthen to friends and family at home.

Happy holidays!

Primary source: McMurdo GIS

Cold, hard facts

Ross Island Chronicles By Chico

The Antarctic Sun is funded by the NationalScience Foundation as part of the UnitedStates Antarctic Program (OPP-000373). Its pri-

mary audience is U.S. AntarcticProgram participants, their fami-lies, and their friends. NSFreviews and approves materialbefore publication, but opinions

and conclusions expressed in the Sun are notnecessarily those of the Foundation.

Use: Reproduction and distribution areencouraged with acknowledgment of sourceand author.

Senior Editor: Kristan HutchisonEditors: Brien Barnett

Kris KuenningCopy Editors: Geoff Jolley, JD Menezes

Wendy Kober,Melanie Conner

Publisher: Valerie Carroll,Communications manager, RPSC

Contributions are welcome. Contact theSun at AntSun@usap.gov. In McMurdo, visitour office in Building 155 or dial 2407.

Web address: www.polar.org/antsun

Hey! Look overthere. It lookslike there’ssomeone coming.

It was horrible. We crash landedand got split up. We found one ofthe reindeers frozen nearby sowe’ve been able to make somejerky for food.

Pssst. ... I thinkthis guy hasalready hit thepoint of noreturn. Look athis eyes. Helooks like a serialkiller.

WHAT!!!Where’s yourcompassion. It’sChristmas. Let’sinvite him fordinner, thenwe’ll lock him up.

Can you please help us. We wereflying on our way to the South Polewhen we encountered a monsterblizzard out of nowhere.

What do yousuppose wedo withthem?

December 21, 2003 The Antarctic Sun • 3

B15A continues to break upBy Brien BarnettSun staff

Smack. Whack. Just like that, iceberg B15A has lostanother chunk, now tentatively named B15K.

The new iceberg came from the west side of B15A afterdays of storms and repeated ramming against nearby ice-berg C16. B15K is estimated to be about 10 km wide by40 km long.

The icebergs, including the previously spalled bergB15J, lie just north of Ross Island. Ocean currents, islandsand seafloor ridges have pinned the icebergs into a cornerwhere they are beginning to break up after more than twoyears of almost no activity.

Iceberg researcher Doug MacAyeal of the University ofChicago said the recent storm that brought 50-plus knotwinds and nearly a foot of snow to McMurdo, likelyplayed a role in roughing up the bergs.

In October, MacAyeal spied the crack that wouldbecome the new iceberg. He spotted the clean break insatellite photos after the clouds cleared. Specialists at theUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison’s AntarcticMeteorological Research Service confirmed it.

The beating C16 is taking has MacAyeal wanting to geta team back out to that iceberg to retrieve $400,000 worthof seismic gear he fears may be lost into the sea.

His group placed the instruments on the iceberg inOctober and he had planned to leave them there throughthe winter. The recovery attempt may come in January. Butwhile he’s concerned for the instruments, MacAyeal saidthe breakup continues to be good news.

“We’re delighted because the more action the better,”MacAyeal said. “We wanted to see what the life cycle wasand by golly we’re getting what we were wanting.”

MacAyeal offered his “best guess” scenario for theshort-term future of the bergs.

The new iceberg sliver may be low enough to pass overthe seafloor ridges or break up into smaller pieces andenter McMurdo Sound. That could create some headachesfor the icebreakers and re-supply vessels now headed thisway. Over the fall and early winter, MacAyeal said thebergs might begin to head north if conditions are right.

—————National Science Foundation funded research in the

story: Doug MacAyeal, University of Chicago,http://amrc.ssec.wisc.edu/amrc/iceberg.html

The crack thatcreated the

new icebergwas visible inthe center of

this phototaken during

an Octoberflight to B15A.

Photo by BrienBarnett / TheAntarctic Sun

Expert first spotted crack that led to new iceberg during mission in October

October 2003

B15A is intact withC16A just to thesouthwest of it.

December 2003

The new iceberg,B15K, is clearly visi-ble to the west of itsparent, the giantB15A.

Smashed bits of iceare visible north ofRoss island, providingevidence of thedestruction caused bythe icebergs collidingrepeatedly over thelast month or so.

East of iceberg C16,B15J has rotated sothe jagged pointwhere it broke withB15A is now facingwest.

Satellite photos courtesy ofAntarctic MeteorologicalResearch Center at theUniversity of Wisconsin,Madison

B15A

B15A

C16

B15K

B15J

C16

Curious Christmas. Thoughts of home.

How do you pack a holiday into 75lbs of luggage? A string of lights,some tinsel, a cardboard tree…

We’ve all walked into stores draped withthe stuff and realized the decorations don’tmake the season.

So what does? There aren’t any childrenin Antarctica, eyes wide with wonder, forus to live through vicariously. Most of thetraditions of home, the family, the baking,the fresh scent of pine, have been leftbehind.

Winter holidays hit Antarctica midsum-mer, when the sun is high and scientists arebusy. For some researchers in the field,Christmas will be just another day, livingin a tent, melting water over a camp stove,collecting data on penguins or glaciers, orcracking open rocks to see what present ishidden inside.

Many workers will clock in Christmasmorning too, manning the radios, keepingthe generators running, making meals andcleaning dishes.

Even those with the day off struggle tofind a meaningful way to spend it whentheir families are several plane rides away,living an entirely different day. The earlyexplorers faced the same dilemma, but nomatter their circumstances they found away.

On board the Terra Nova in 1910,Robert Falcon Scott and his crew enjoyeda festive Christmas.

“I don’t think many at home had a morepleasant Christmas Day than we,” wroteApsley Cherry-Garrard. “It was beautifullycalm with the pack all round. At 10 we hadchurch with lots of Christmas hymns, andthen decorated the ward-room with all oursledging flags…The men forrard had theirChristmas dinner of fresh mutton at mid-day; there was plenty of penguin for them,but curiously enough they did not think itgood enough for a Christmas dinner.

The ward-room ate penguin in theevening, and after the toast of ‘absentfriends’ we began to sing, and twice roundthe table everybody had to contribute asong. Ponting’s banjo songs were a greatsuccess, also Oates’ ‘The Vly on the tur-muts.’ Mears sang ‘a little song about ourExpedition, and many of the members that

Southward would go’ of his own composi-tion.”

Penguin won’t be served at McMurdothis year, but a small chorus has been prac-ticing carols at Chapel of the Snows. OnChristmas Day the stations and field campswill radio each other, exchanging greetingsand taking turns caroling the others.

Shackleton’s crew aboard theEndurance also ate well on Christmas1914, still hopeful they’d succeed in cross-ing the continent. The Endurance waspushing through pack ice in the WeddellSea, moving less than 30 miles a day. Thecrew had expected to be ashore by the endof December. Instead, they were not evenacross the Antarctic Circle.

In spite of the disappointing progress,they celebrated Christmas festively. Thewardroom was decorated with bunting andthey had an excellent dinner of soup, her-ring, jugged hare, plum pudding, andsweets, washed down with stout and rum.Afterward there was a hearty songfest,with Hussey playing a one-stringed violinhe had made himself. That night before heturned in, Greenstreet recorded the day’sevents in his diary, concluding the entrywith these words:

“Here endeth another Christmas Day. Iwonder how and under what circumstancesour next one will be spent. Temperature 30degrees.”

A year later their ship had sunk. Thecrew ate cold seal steak and tea after fivehours pulling life boats across the iceflows. All Shackleton wrote was “CuriousChristmas. Thoughts of home.”

He roused the men again at midnightand resumed the march.

Douglas Mawson was also in the mid-dle of a brutal march on Christmas 1911,

with just one companion and one dog left.The sled with most of their supplies hadbeen lost into a crevasse and they wereresorting to eating the dogs. On ChristmasEve they staved their hunger with a pieceof cold, scorched dog liver and a reboiledtea bag. His only feasts were in his dreams.He dreamt of a bakery filled with cakesseveral feet in diameter on a street withwindows decorated with candle-lit treesand bunting. But he woke before he couldtaste the cake.

Instead of cake, he found half a biscuithe’d been hoarding and gave half to XavierMertz with some dog stew.

“A relic of better days, Xavier,” he said.For seven hours they walked through

the snow showers, then camped again. Tocelebrate Christmas they added a knob ofbutter to their ration of dog stew.

“Let us thank God, Xavier, that we arestill alive. Let’s promise to remember eachother on this day for the rest of our lives –and to celebrate this day together when weare in better circumstances.”

Mertz brightened: “Yes, yes. When weget to the hut I will make your WhiskyOmelette Mawson! We will have fine din-ners … and never again will I eat dog.”

This week at the Antarctic research sta-tions we are at least assured a feast onChristmas Eve, no dogs allowed. SouthPole’s dinner will be candle-lit, served onwhite tablecloths. At Palmer Station peoplehave spent hours making gifts to exchange.Here in McMurdo, the dining attendantshung stockings, and some green dishwash-ers gloves, below the wide screen TV inthe dining hall. The branches of the plastictree have been dusted off and hung withornaments. Garlands festoon the hallwayoutside the recreation office.

Like the men with Scott, Shackletonand Mawson, we will toast absent friends,think of family and then celebrate a sunlitholiday with what we have.

Compiled by Kristan Hutchison.Quotations taken from: The Worst Journeyin the World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard,Endurance: Shackleton’s IncredibleVoyage by Alfred Lansing and Mawson’sWill by Lennard Bickell.

4 • The Antarctic Sun December 21, 2003

Perspectives Perspectives

“We will have fine

dinners … and never

again will I eat dog.”

- early explorer Xavier Mertz

the week in weather

Plant life at Palmer By Kerry KellsPalmer correspondent

As our local islands started to sprout withbits of green plant life, a new research grouparrived at Palmer Station. Biologists TadDay (principal researcher), Christopher(Wally) Ruhland (co-principal), SarahStrauss and Ji Hyung Park will study theplants and soil of the Peninsula. This groupwill examine the alterations and responsesof landbased ecosystems to short and longterm climate changes. The ecosystem theystudy includes nutrient pools, plants, litterand soils in communities dominated by vas-cular plants – higher order plants with a sys-tem for transporting water. The goal is topredict how long-term climate change willimpact ecosystem productivity.

Behind Palmer Station, the researchershave set up an area for the soil and plantexperiments. They will collect 4-inch to 5-inch thick, round sections of tundra, calledcores, with plant and soil intact. The twoplants they are studying are a short nativegrass commonly called Antarctic hair grassand a moss-like plant with white flowerscalled Antarctic pearlwort. About 240 corescontaining both species will be collectedfrom different local islands. The cores willbe brought back to grow in plastic pipesunder a manipulated climate. These sampleswill reveal the ecosystem’s response to cli-mate changes.

Day’s group has expanded and refined itsmethods from earlier research during the1995 to 1999 summer seasons. At that timethey brought the controlled climate to theplant. Small cages, like miniature green-houses, enclosed a plot of land for passivewarming experiments emulating globalwarming. They also used the greenhouses tofilter out various amounts of ultraviolet-Bradiation.

This time Day’s group will use threeexperiments over three research seasons totrack the impacts of temperatures (globalwarming), exposure to ultraviolet-B radia-tion (ozone depletion) and increased precip-itation (possibly caused by global warm-ing). Infrared heaters placed over one set of

cores will raise the plant and soil tempera-tures to varying degrees. As an improve-ment from earlier seasons, the heaters canwarm the plants day and night. Ultraviolet-B absorbing filters placed over another setof core samples will emulate different levelsof ozone. Another group of cores willreceive extra water to mimic greater precip-itation.

The research also will measure and sam-ple natural communities on a few localislands. One such study may compare theecosystems of a north-facing slope and anadjacent south-facing slope to the experi-mental cores at the station. The team willcompare the gradients of temperature,snowpack and moisture on these slopes, aswell as levels of carbon and nitrogen in theplants and the composition of the soil. Thearrival of the researchers in mid-Decemberallows them to study the late spring snow-pack patterns of these areas. For example,these Antarctic plants need to store enoughcarbon in their roots to sustain them throughthe winter. Greater precipitation during thewinter along the Peninsula may lead tomore snow accumulation and later snowmelt dates. A late snow melt can exhaust theplants, causing them to perish. Subsequentseasons at Palmer will allow manipulationof snowmelt times in plots on these islands.

For this and the next two summers, Dayand his researchers will heat, water andexpose their sample plants to create envi-ronments reflective of global warming andozone depletion. Their experiments couldgive a picture of a vastly different AntarcticPeninsula many years in the future.

‘Tis the season of buildingBy Tracy SheeleySouth Pole Correspondent

The South Pole season keeps flyingalong, and most Polies find themselveswondering how the Christmas holiday canbe less than a week away!

We have reached our maximum popula-tion, and while people will come and go, weexpect to maintain high numbers until theend of the summer season – construction,science, and support staff – all have a full

plate.The construction of the elevated station

is moving along quickly. Panels are goingup on the B-3 pod, which marks the farthestpod toward the skiway. The steel crew con-tinues to erect the frame of the remainingpods, which extend off the main length ofthe station. Each passing day brings a newview on the future. Interior crews are work-ing on the new medical facility, station storeand computer lab, which we hope will comeonline late in the summer. The informationtechnology department is working on thetransition as well – relocating satellite dish-es and equipment to the radio building,which will be the communications base ofthe new station. From the 24-hour-shiftwork to the kitchen staff cooking up a stormand the janitors preparing rooms in the 20minutes between when a room is vacatedand when it is re-occupied – all of this ispart of the 2003-04 jigsaw puzzle at thePole.

Science, of course, is alive and well atSouth Pole. We’ve had a flurry of activity atthe Atmospheric Research Observatory asseveral science groups share space andresources in their atmospheric studies. Theannual snow stake runs, which measure theaccumulation of drifted snow on the polarplateau, wrapped up last week. We’ve alsoplayed host to science in transit, greetingboth the meteorite hunters and an AutomaticGeophysical Observatory group.

Laurence M. GouldCalm conditions helped the Laurence M.

Gould collect five hours of underwater andbird feeding video. Along with planktoncollecting, this completed the work for theVeit seabird research group. Snow andwind was still hampering groups atSeymour and Vega Islands. On Wednesday,the Seymour group reported a work dayafter two days of being tent bound. TheGould was scheduled to pick up theSeymour camp on Saturday and Vegagroup on Sunday.Nathaniel B Palmer

The Nathaniel B Palmer left Lyttelton,headed for Antarctica, on Dec. 18.

December 21, 2003 The Antarctic Sun • 5

around the continentPALMER

SOUTH POLE

SHIPS

McMurdo StationHigh: 37 F / 3 C Low:16 F / -9 CWind: 23 mph / 37 kphWindchill: -17 F / -27 C

Palmer StationHigh: 40.8 F / 4.9 C Low: 28.04 F / -2.2 CWind: 40.5 mph / 65 kphWindchill: 18.3 F / -7.6 C

South Pole StationHigh:-4.2 F / -20.1 C Low:-17.9 F / -27.7 CWind: 24 mph / 38.6 kphPhysio-altitude: 9,835ft / 2,998 m

6 • The Antarctic Sun December 21, 2003

What holidaygift wouldyou like?

“Shower shoes. 88 centflip flops.”

Sean HufstetlerSouth Pole comms technician

from Wasilla, Alaskafirst season

“Most of what I want Ican’t have.”

Greg GonzalesMcMurdo FEMC coordina-tor from Broomfield, Colo.

first season

“Socks and underwear.That’s what my mother

always sends me.”

Mike PolitoCopa field camp

seabird biologist fromCleveland, Ohio,

third season

By Brien BarnettSun staff

A test to check instruments that will beused to detect strange phenomena in themagnetosphere was launched via balloonlast week.

The balloon climbed to 15,200 meterand the 31 kg MINIS payload collectedand transmitted data back to a lab inBerkeley, Calif., in the first few hours afterlaunch. However, the balloon descendedrapidly and unexpectedly landed onMount Discovery, where it lost some gear.The balloon eventually dragged its way tothe top of the mountain and traveled toabout 900 km west of McMurdo where itfinally landed.

MINIS, an empty acronym pun basedon a previous project called MAXIS, hadenough battery life to last eight days, butproject team member Edgar Bering IIIsaid the instrument was damaged as it waspulled up and off the mountain by the bal-loon.

Bering suspects the post-launch set-backs were caused by a leak in the smalllong duration balloon and not the scientif-ic gear it was carrying. Bering said hethinks the instruments proved theyworked, though the data will have to beanalyzed.

The lessons gleaned from the flight willbe incorporated in a series of plannedflights in the next year or so that will huntfor high energy “killer” particles cycled bythe earth’s magnetosphere, the feature inouter space created by the earth’s magnet-ic qualities.

Bering said the particles are interestingbecause they have been detected by scien-tific missions only a few times, but indi-cate a major disturbance in the magnetos-

phere capable of killing satellites and cre-ating disruptions to electrical systems onthe surface.

“We needed to fly a detector that had ahigh enough energy range,” said JohnSample, a doctoral candidate who is work-ing on the project.

The primary goal of the $350,000 pro-ject is to launch a series of four balloons ina row from the South African Antarcticbase, SANAE, to attempt to detect thehigh-energy particle shower.

The researchers want to determinewhether it is a one-time occurrence, likesomeone turning a faucet on and off, or if

there is a constant stream of particles in avery narrow area.

Also, they would like to learn moreabout the properties of the particles. Theinformation they obtain could help powercompanies guard their extensive grids andspace agencies protect satellites and astro-nauts.

National Science Foundation fundedresearch in this story: David Smith,University of California Berkeley,http://www.geophys.washington.edu/Space/SpaceExp/Balloon/Antarctica99/

Test flight preps way for hunt for ‘killer’ particles

Brandon Reddell smiles as Michael Kokoranaski pumps his fist in celebration after hearinga report from John Sample on the satellite phone that the MINIS team back at UC Berkeleywas receiving good data from the instruments they had just launched from the long durationballoon facility at Williams Field.

Photo by Brien Barnett/The Antarctic Sun

Ahigh-altitude balloon carrying twohigh-tech astrophysics projects is cir-cling Antarctica in the company ofnail polish, chewing gum and a col-

lection of New Jersey rocks next month.Why? So that almost a thousand school

children can study the effects of ultravioletlight and cold weather on a range of materi-als.

Project Aria is a Washington UniversitySchool of Engineering outreach, researchand education program started by formerspace program manager Keith Bennett in1998. So far, the project has involved about3,000 K-12 students from around the U.S.and Australia in aerospace projects.

For Aria’s first Antarctic project, Aria-9,a package of student experiments has beenattached to a high-altitude balloon thatresearchers hope will circle the Antarcticcontinent at 125,000 feet for more than 30days. The balloon, launched last week fromMcMurdo Station, also carries devices tomeasure galactic cosmic rays and very highfrequency and ultra high frequency(VHF/UHF) noise levels.

Aria-9 involves about 950 students from26 schools. They will compare the samplesrecovered from the balloon flight with iden-tical samples left on the ground atMcMurdo and another control sample, leftat home.

Science teacher Claude Larson is coordi-nating the experiment for OgdensburgPublic School in New Jersey. TheOgdensburg project is replacing one thatwas lost in the ill-fated Columbia 107 spaceshuttle. The students, who are eighthgraders, are using this experiment to see ifthe effects of increased ultraviolet radiationwill affect the fluorescence of the mineralsthey have collected.

Ogdensburg has picked up the spirit of

the space program by assigning its projectan interesting acronym. “OGRE stands forOgdensburg Glowing Rocks Experiment,”Larson said. “Ogdensburg is world famousfor its diversity of minerals, 340 in all, andhigh concentration of fluorescent minerals.Most areas of the world have about 30-40types of minerals in one locale.”

Larson said the students have learned tooperate a spectrofluorometer to measurelight emissions of the minerals and havebeen studying the electromagnetic spectrumas part of their earth science class.

“This experiment was carried out at thelocal mine where the students selected min-erals, sawed them to size, tested their fluo-rescence, photographed them under UVlight and tagged them,” Larson said.

“Our hypothesis is that an increase in UVradiation will change the particle physics of

the minerals and allow them to fluorescemore intensely.”

Southeast of St. Louis, Fred Lewis’s highschool science classes in Marissa, Illinoishave packaged six vials of materials to flywith the balloon.

“We tried to choose two types of experi-ments,” Lewis said. “One, materials whichmight be altered by the UV radiation. Two,materials that might be affected by long-term extreme cold. Then we learned that thesamples in flight might reach very warmtemperatures on occasion. Now some stu-dents are wondering how the warm-coldcycling may affect their experiments.”

Projects from the Marissa school includeeverything from copper sulfate to chewinggum. Students will compare their resultswith identical samples that will fly on theAHAB high altitude weather balloon.

“There was a lot of excitement amongstudents whose experiment proposals wereaccepted for flight,” Lewis said.

“My project with Aria-9 is dealing withcopper sulfate,” said student Dawn Hines.“I’m going to find out if it has any effect inmaking crystals.”

Adam T. is experimenting withantifreeze. “Pure Prestone freezes at about -34 F. I hope this doesn’t break my little glasstest tube. I did leave room for expansion, Ijust hope it was enough.”

Sarah Harkness sent the inner part of afloppy disk. “I saved the TIGER logo on itand want to see that once I put the disk backtogether if it is still there. I don’t think it willbe changed very much by any magneticmaterial around the South Pole.”

The chewing gum was put forward byAbby M. “I think that the gum is going toget harder and lose its flavor. We’ll find outwhen it comes back next spring.”

December 21, 2003 The Antarctic Sun • 7

See Aria on page 8

Kids playballoon

scienceat

By Kris KuenningSun staff

In the foreground, Ogdensburg PublicSchool students Amanda Rillo and NicoleOlinger work with Maureen Verbeek tochisel some minerals to send into theAntarctic atmosphere.

Justin Sikora, an eighth-gradestudent from OgdensburgPublic School holds up a vialpacked with mineral samplesthat will fly on the Aria - 9.

Photos courtesy Claude Larson / Ogdensburg Public School

Photos courtesy Claude Larson / Ogdensburg Public School

8 • The Antarctic Sun December 21, 2003

The Aria-9 project was launched on theballoon carrying the Trans-Iron GalacticElement Recorder (TIGER) instruments andthe VHF/UHF Antarctic Impulsive TransientAntenna (ANITA)-lite project. The balloonis provided by the National ScientificBalloon Facility (NSBF), which is funded bythe National Aeronautics and SpaceAdministration (NASA) and supported inAntarctica by the National ScienceFoundation.

The plastic-wrap thin polyethylene bal-loon launched this year is almost a third larg-er than the one used in 2001. With a 300-meter circumference, the balloon itselfweighs almost 1,360 kg. When inflated, 20Boeing 747’s could fly in formation beneathit. Taller than the Eiffel Tower, the balloon isstill visible to the naked eye when it reachesits soaring height of 40km.

Students will be tracking its progressfrom classrooms all across the country,including the Lab School of Washington, inWashington, D.C.

Anne Runow of the school said studentsare hoping to track the experiment on theinternet.

“We meet every Monday for SkyScience,” Runow said. The first and secondgraders are also learning about Antarctica, itsenvironment and the early explorers.

The Lab School project consists of threevials. “One had salt water in a balloon, a pairof magnets and a red crayon. The second hassugar water in the balloon and two smallrocks in water. The third has exposed filmwith class photos, natural fabric (cotton andsilk) and a marker picture of the sun.”

Children were asked to predict whatmight happen to their materials during flight.

“I remember they thought that the filmmight get foggy, the crayon may melt, thesun picture may fade or turn dark, the waterwith salt/sugar may crystallize and the rocksmay crack,” Runow said.

Whatever the level of scientific participa-tion, students involved in Aria-9 will certain-ly have a better understanding of Antarcticaand the science being undertaken here.

Keith Bennett started the Aria programafter he returned to Washington University in1993 after a career in space work on a num-ber of satellite projects. “After a few yearsdoing other things, I decided to get back intospace,” he said, “I was also trying to find away to excite kids about science and engi-neering, particularly space but not just space.I started Project Aria in 1998 primarily as aK-12 outreach program. Since then it hasgrown to include university engineering edu-cation and space-related research.”

Other Aria projects involve children withsatellite launches, robotics and round-the-world balloon flights. About 50 undergradu-ate students have been involved each semes-ter since ‘98.

“The Aria-9 is our first Antarctica mis-sion, although we are hoping to get more inthe future,” Bennett said.

Claude Larson of Ogdensburg PublicSchool said the students are excited to havethis international project opportunity.

“Repeating the experiment was a greatway to carry on with the science of the pro-ject and carry on the spirit of exploration thatwe all revered in the Columbia crew,”Larson said.

Aria From page 7

Photo by Melanie Conner / Special to The Antarctic Sun

Photo by Melanie Conner / Special to The Antarctic Sun

Above, the balloon carrying TIGER, ANITA-

lite and ARIA lifts off fromWilliams Field. When theballoon reaches the upperatmosphere at an altitude

of nearly 40 km the helium will expand and theballoon will expand to thesize of a football stadium.At right, spectators watch

the takeoff.

National ScienceFoundation funded

research in this story:Dr. Walter R. Binns,

Washington UniversityPhysics Department

http://aria.cec.wustl.edu/Aria9/default.htm

December 21, 2003 The Antarctic Sun • 9

By Kris KuenningSun staff

The Aria-9 project is a smallpiggyback on the 1,700 kg Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder(TIGER). TIGER is a collabora-tion composed of scientists fromWashington University in St.Louis, California Institute ofTechnology, Goddard Space FlightCenter and the University ofMinnesota. Led by Bob Binns ofWashington University, this is thesecond Antarctic flight for TIGER.

The project is collecting sam-ples of rare, heavy particles ingalactic cosmic rays. Binns is col-lecting and analyzing this data tolearn more about how stars, likeour own sun, live and die. Thesampling device, designed byresearchers at the WashingtonUniversity, works best in polarregions.

“The magnetic field of theEarth in the polar region allowscosmic rays easy access comparedto more equatorial regions,” Binnssaid.

Two years ago, the TIGERteam broke the record for longduration balloon launches with a31-day, 20-hour flight beginning atMcMurdo Station on Dec. 21,2001. TIGER graduate researcher

from Washington UniversityLauren Scott said the first launchwas successful in collecting about300 nuclei of heavy elements.

While that data will not provideconclusive answers about the uni-verse on its own, Scott said, “Itproved that TIGER is a sufficient-ly good instrument for looking atthese elements. We’ll need a goodamount of data before we’ll haveanything conclusive.”

TIGER was launched on theafternoon of Dec. 17 fromWilliams Field outside ofMcMurdo. An enthusiastic crowdof spectators, including a cos-tumed TIGER mascot, cheered thelaunch to its prompt departure.That night, researchers stayed upall night tracking the balloon andreceiving the initial data. For thefirst 24 hours of the launch,researchers can tweak the instru-ment settings through a high-speedconnection. Once the balloon dis-appears over the horizon and theline-of-sight connection is severed,the researchers move to an officein Crary Lab, where they receivesmaller bits of data via satellite.Every hour, there is a 10-minutewindow during which commandscan be sent.

Flying TIGER

By Brien BarnettSun Staff

This year’s goal for the ANITA-lite team is to test a scaled-down version of the instrument planned for launch in threeyears and check background signals that may affect futuredata.

“We think we know what the noise level is going to be andwe’re really looking at what random signals are comingthrough,” scientist Michael Duvernois said.

The full ANITA, an acronym for Antarctic ImpulsiveTransient Antenna, will use up to 36 antennas suspended overthe ice by a long duration balloon to look for pulses of neutri-no radio emissions coming through the earth, said Jason Link,another scientist working with the ANITA-lite team.

Neutrinos are thought to hold keys to a better understand-ing of the early universe because they rarely interact with mat-ter and are not influenced by gravitational and electrical fieldsin space.

“In the 10 years since I’ve started, (neutrino research) hasgone from an interesting thing to, ‘Where have these high-energy particles come from?’” Link said. “They are excellentprobes of the very high energy universe.”

ANITA is similar in concept and shares the general missionof the Antarctic Muon And Neutrino Detector Array (AMAN-DA) project at South Pole. Both telescopes aim to detect neu-trinos and “look” through the Earth toward the northern hemi-sphere to detect particles after they interact with the ice.

One of the key differences between the South Pole and bal-loon projects is that AMANDA looks for visible light emittedwhen particles interact with the ice on the polar plateau whileANITA will detect radio emissions from the events.

“This is the exact same process except, rather than photonsof light, we get photons in the radio spectrum,” Link said.

The scale of ANITA also is much broader. AMANDA andits successor will eventually use up to a cubic kilometer of theice near the South Pole. ANITA will use the ice across largeportions of the continental ice as its surface component.

ANITA-lite features two 9 kg, 96 cm antennas to pick upparticles with energies equivalent to about a 115 kph fastball,Link said.

National Science Foundation funded research in thisstory: Walter Binns, University of Washington, http://cosray2.wustl.edu/current.html

National Science Foundation funded research in this story:Dr. Walter R. Binns, Washington University Physics Department http://cosray2.wustl.edu/current.html http://tower.nsbf.nasa.gov/ice0304.htm

Telescope takes test ride

Photo by Brien Barnett / The Antarctic Sun

A team member works on the ANITA-lite instrument at thelong duration balloon facility at Williams Field.

Photo by Melanie Conner / Special to The Antarctic Sun

Spectators watch the TIGER balloon inflate.

“BOOMERANG,” it marks the end point of a previous balloonflight.

TRACER has passed the point on the continent oppositeMcMurdo and is flying at 80 degrees latitude at an altitude of 39km. At this rate, the TRACER mission may get a bonus secondrun around the continent. That would mean more and better datacollected by the instrument launched more than a week ago fromWilliams Field.

The instrument is attached to a helium-filled balloon thatgrows to the size of a football stadium. At its maximum heightthe identity of the particles will not be obscured by cosmic rayinteractions in the atmosphere that lead to showers of variousparticles below.

Boyle predicts the winds may bring the balloon back overMcMurdo, offering station residents a chance to see the giantballoon in action.

The instrument’s primary purpose when floating at nearly theedge of outer space is to detect high-energy cosmic rays.Scientists study cosmic rays to learn more about the violentprocesses in the universe that accelerate matter to energies manytimes the magnitude produced by the largest accelerators onearth.

The data will help Dietrich Muller, professor at the Universityof Chicago and the project’s principal investigator, and other sci-entists find out where high-energy cosmic rays originate. In the-ory, cosmic rays are particles accelerated nearly to the speed oflight by shockwaves of supernovae, or exploding stars. Muller,though, wants to find out if there is a point at which even super-novae no longer can account for the energies of the particles.These very high-speed particles or rays are what he is most inter-ested in detecting.

The instrument is a layered device set inside a rectangularcubic structure. Assembled, TRACER resembles a box-like sil-very satellite, complete with winged solar panels, which powerthe electronics inside. However, it’s about two to three times asbig as a satellite that would typically be launched from a spaceshuttle or rocket and will conduct its research at a fraction of thecost of a space mission, according to Boyle.

The key to TRACER is that it measures the nuclear charge,

the energy, and the trajectory of each charged particle travelingthrough the instrument. It accomplishes that task using detectorsarranged like layers in a cake.

At the top and bottom are plastic scintillation and Cerenkovcounters, devices that help measure the charge of a particle.Beneath the top charge measurement device are four double lay-ers of two-meter-long by two-centimeter-diameter proportionalcounter tubes set at different directions per layer. The tubes aremade of mylar and contain a thin wire surrounded by xenon gas.Particles traversing the tubes liberate electrons in the gas whichmove toward the wire, generating avalanches of secondary elec-tions near the wire and hence, electric signals which character-ize the nuclear charge and energy of the particle.

Below, there are further layers of tubes alternating with lay-ers of plastic fiber radiators. Altogether, there are 1,600 tubes.

Strapped to the outside and below the central box are a vari-ety of navigational and communication systems. One antennaallows the team to collect as much data as a high-speed businessInternet connection when the balloon is within range ofMcMurdo. After that, another antenna transmits small amountsof data to a satellite, but only for about 20 hours a day. All thedata is stored onboard and will be retrieved. Ideally the payloadwill be jettisoned somewhere close to McMurdo and will para-chute safely to the surface and be retrieved.

The instrument is suspended from the balloon by a rotatingdevice that will keep an array of solar panels and shields facingthe sun. Because the instrument will be flying at the height of theatmosphere, there is little air or wind. To ensure a stable temper-ature, engineers have enclosed it with plastic foam insulationand thin metal panels covered with expensive, reflective, breath-able tape.

Most of the sensitive computer electronics are set within asmall pressurized sphere carried underneath the main instru-ment. The sphere is a piece of history, said Gary Kelderhouse, anengineer with the TRACER project.

The sphere was originally designed for a project to detectelectrons called “e-plus-minus.” Kelderhouse said it was flownon several missions back in the early 1960s. It was designed tohold the entire payload on a scientific balloon. While working onTRACER the team found it in the basement of their building andrealized it would work for their mission.

TRACER was originally designed to fly in the Arctic.However, negotiations for flyover rights broke down and even-tually the project was moved to Antarctica. Muller said that’sbetter for the project anyway for several reasons. An obvious oneis that nobody owns Antarctica and flyover rights are not atissue. More important, though, is that the atmosphere aboveAntarctica provides a more stable temperature environment forthe balloon. Also, the constant daylight and circumpolar windtend to keep the payload over Antarctica for a long time.Typically, a balloon flight will take two weeks to circle over thecontinent.

The experiment, which is funded by the National Aeronauticsand Space Administration and supported by the National ScienceFoundation, is a follow-up study similar to one conducted byMuller’s group aboard the shuttle Challenger in 1985.

“There’s some hardware in there that was originally flown onthe Challenger in one of the last missions before it blew apart,”Muller said.

The Challenger experiment provided much of the current dataabout cosmic rays at super-high energies, according to Muller. Ifsuccessful, TRACER should greatly extend that body of knowl-edge.

National Science Foundation supported research in this story:Dietrich Muller, University of Chicago, Enrico Fermi Institute,http://tracer.uchicago.edu/, http://tower.nsbf.nasa.gov/ice0304.htm

10 • The Antarctic Sun December 21, 2003

Photo by Brien Barnett / The Antarctic Sun

Engineer Gary Kelderhouse and a technician lash down wiresaround the electronics sphere, which was first flown as the entirepayload of several 1960s balloon missions.

Tracer From page 1

December 21, 2003 The Antarctic Sun •11

Emanuel said.“That’s part of the pain of the transition,”

said Jerry Marty, National ScienceFoundation representative at the South Pole.“There is always going to be a certainamount of operational inefficiencies as weare phasing into the new facilities.”

With more than 200 South Pole resi-dents, including 94 construction workers,not everyone has a room in the new station.And not everyone wants one.

Some have opted to live under theDome. The rooms are tiny. The walls arethin and the bathroom is unisex, but theexperience under the Dome will not beavailable much longer.

Summer camp at the South Pole includesa series of Jamesways and Hypertats. Bothare temporary semicircle structures withsmall rooms partitioned by blankets in theJamesways or cardboard dividers in theHypertats. Hypertats are connected to bath-rooms by a covered, but unheated, walkway.A late-night trip to the toilet from aJamesway requires several layers of coldweather gear.

Construction coordinator Doug Forsythecould have had a room in the new station,but after 10 seasons in the same Jamesway,he felt more at home in summer camp.

“I'll take my old J-way anytime. I have itfixed up the way I like it,” Forsyth said.

Residents of the new station may becomfy and close to the dining facility, butuntil the next wing is occupied, they still

have to carry their laundry to the Dome orthe summer camp.

Forsythe describes the transition phaseas “kind of like having a brand new house,but still attached to the old cabin.”

Living between stations also makes for adichotomy in the social environment. Thebright new dining facility has a bar at oneend, which provides a contrast to the dimlylit bar under the Dome. Social gatheringsare split between those two venues and thesummer camp lounge.

“Many people have commented abouthow quiet the Dome area and Dome livinghas become,” Forsythe said. “It's definitelynot the upbeat, exciting place it use to be.”

If all goes as planned, the third wing ofthe station will be occupied in February,bringing the computer lab, store, post office,clinic, laundry, reading room and green-house under the same roof. Marty said themove will make for a more efficient opera-tion.

And there will be fewer reasons to climbthe 92 stairs of the stairwell in the circularmetal structure referred to as the “beer can”and traverse the tunnels to the old Dome.

Emanuel reports lots of “out of breathpanting in the lunch line” from the “beercan” climbers.

There are other unexpected features ofthe new station. “Like how the buildingsways a little in a strong wind,” Emanuelsaid, “and how the sunny back decks are sowarm because they are on the downwind

side of the building (I’ve heard rumors oflawn chairs next year).”

“I feel very fortunate to be here duringthe building transition phase,” said janitorSusan Weber. “In the short term, there’ssome inefficiency and inconvenience, but inthe big picture, progress is being made.”

The summer crews are working to gettwo new sections enclosed so that winterstaff can start the inside fitout of the admin-istration and communications facilities,housing and emergency power plant facili-ties. The new science wing, enclosed lastyear, should be ready for occupancy in2005. An increase in the number of scien-tists at the South Pole was the push behindthe construction of the new station in thefirst place, Marty said.

“This new facility is a quantum leap for-ward. It’s all about supporting science,” hesaid. Built in the early 1970s and occupiedin 1975, the Dome was designed to house18 people in the winter and 33 in the sum-mer. The new station will house 150 people,including 75 scientists and 75 support peo-ple in the summer and a total of 50 in win-ter. Marty has been a part of the constructionproject since the planning stages. This is his10th consecutive season at the South Pole. Itis exciting to be using the new station, hesaid, despite any transitional difficulties.

“I always wanted to be part of this pro-ject,” said Marty, who first came toAntarctica as a general field assistant atByrd Station in 1969. “It’s very historical.”

Dome From page 1

Photo by Kris Kuenning / The Antarctic Sun

Photo by Kris Kuenning / The Antarctic SunPhoto by Kris Kuenning / The Antarctic Sun

Adrianne Gass, center withglasses, passes a box of

kitchen supplies from the sec-ond floor landing. In the tran-

sition phase, food is lifted tothe new station dining facilityby forklift and then passed by

hand to the kitchen.

Left: Constructionworkers fix steelbeams into placeat the newAmundsen-ScottSouth PoleStation.

Right: The 92stairs of the

"beer can" con-nect the newstation to the

old dome.

12 • The Antarctic Sun December 21, 2003

Prof i leBy Kris KuenningSun Staff

W hether he’s charging up Antarctica’s highest peak ormoving scientific equipment to a remote field camp,John Evans has a reputation as a workhorse, storyteller

and sometime miracle-worker.The U.S. Antarctic Program’s coordinator for special science

projects is quiet and unassuming in the paper-piled cubicle of hisDenver office, but colleague Melissa Rider illustrated his charac-ter with a recent story she had heard from the field. Evans washelping to put in an island-based field camp when the motor onthe inflatable boat popped off its mount and sank under the roughseas.

“Without hesitation, John marched into the chest-high surf,ducked under the waves, and single-handedly retrieved theengine, placed it back on the Zodiac and continued back to theshore where he commenced the regular off-load duties,” Riderwrote from the research vessel Laurence M. Gould. “Nary athought in his mind he’d just saved the day and performed a par-tial miracle.”

Evans works to make Antarctica’s most inaccessible researchgrants possible. He is responsible for all the projects that can’t berun from one of the program’s permanent research stations orvessels.

Evans has experienced Antarctica in ways few other peoplehave, including from the summit of its highest peak. Just twoyears after working in the Ellsworth Range as a geology graduatestudent, Evans was chief scientist of the first party of moun-taineers to climb Vinson Massif in 1966. The team also scaled theother three highest peaks in the range, including the more chal-lenging Mount Tyree. Their climb of Vinson was not repeated foralmost 20 years.

Evans did not go on to a career in science. He never finishedhis PhD work in X-ray crystallography. “I got distracted,” hesaid. Instead, he has had a varied career, including a stint atNASA and 10 years with Colorado Outward Bound, followed bywhat his wife Loie calls “the biggest wilderness experience ofJohn’s life – working in a bank in downtown Denver.”

In 1991, Evans was rescued by another Antarctic opportunity.He was sought out to help coordinate a large project in the icyWeddell Sea.

“They found me at the bank, with my face pressed against theglass,” Evans said.

After an 18-month contract, Evans filled several other tempo-rary contracts until, in 1997, a permanent position was created forcoordinating special science projects. Evans has filled that roleever since.

“There was a real need for someone to manage these projectsand I happened to have a real need for a job,” he said.

This year, the number of projects he manages has grown tonine, so he’s passing some of the work to colleagues MelissaRider and Toby Kauffman.

Evans loves his job. And it seems a perfect combination of hisoutdoor skills and love of science.

Pushing Zodiacs through broken sea ice or belaying fossilsdown steep slopes, the 64-year-old enjoys the annual escapesfrom his Denver desk. In the field, Evans has a reputation as atireless worker and inspirational companion.

“John has incredible stamina. He will work tirelessly. Meremortals could never keep up,” Rider wrote.

“When there’s gear to be moved, John’s back is about all you

ever see because he’s out front with the biggest load,” said SteveAger, a marine projects coordinator on the Gould.

“Both his professional and personal life experiences are a hugeasset to his productivity,” Rider said. “He has a depth of charac-ter that seems to be instantly recognized by his audience. Heinspires confidence in those he works with. His charisma spansthe age and nationality ravines that often hinder people.”

Who better to explain this depth of character than Evans’ wifeLoie. The couple met through Loie’s brother, who shared thatfirst Antarctic season with John.

When Evans climbed the Vinson Massif he took a photo at thesummit wearing the perfumed sorority sweatshirt Loie had sentalong with him.

Loie remembers the year John got back from Vinson, “Therewere lots of visits that year between CU and the U of Minnesotaand John asked me to marry him late that summer of 1967.”

Since then, the couple have shared a life full of adventure,including the birth of two children and the sad loss of one ofthem, their son Barry in 1992.

“I know that all of these experiences have helped to shape andmold John in wonderful ways, but the basic kind, ethical, princi-pled, strong, gentle, humorous person has always been there,”Loie said.

“He has an amazing strength – physical and inner, whichseem to enable him to always get tough jobs done with a won-derful sense of enthusiasm. He has an amazing tolerance forcold, tough work and for helping others succeed in some chal-lenging situations.”

John Evans at the summit of Vinson Massif in 1966, wearing thesorority sweatshirt of his then-girlfriend, now wife of 30-some years.

Photo courtesy John Evans

John Evans:

Mountains and miracles