Crary Lab & Arrival Heights Tours
Trip Start
Aug 16, 2007
1
12
61
Trip End
Apr 07, 2008
McMurdo,
Antarctica
Monday, October 8, 2007
The Crary Science and Engineering Center (CSEC), also referred to as the Crary Lab, is a 46,500 sq. foot state-of-the-art laboratory facility dedicated in 1992 which provides research space, instrumentation, and technical services for many scientific disciplines including aeronomy/astrophysics, biology/medicine, geology/geophysics, glaciology, and oceans and climate research. The Crary Lab was built at a cost of $23 million and holds over $4 million in capital equipment including hi-tech instruments such as a mass spectrometer, ultra-centrifuges, spectrophotometers, and liquid scintillation counters. Multiple services ranging from analytical chemistry, electronics, and information technology to diving support are provided to the more than 500 scientists who pass through McMurdo each season.
Our tour begins near the front door looking at various samples preserved in a display case. Some of the samples include: preserved plant fossils, petrified wood, Mt. Erebus bombs & crystals, giant fish skulls and Emperor Penguin eggs & feathers. There is so much to see and learn about it is hard to wrap our heads around everything!
We then move down the quiet hall to check out some of the science labs and storage freezers that will soon be swarming with busy activity! Noticing a poster on the wall we take a moment to learn about the life cycle of Emperor Penguins and when would be our best chance of getting to see one.
We stop by to look at the science cargo loading area and get to look at one of the huge ice core freezers. There is a photography tent outside of the Crary Lab to take detailed photos of the ice cores before they are cut and sent off to be analyzed. The overall goal of the Ice Core Drilling project is to collect and analyze high-resolution ice core records from the cold glaciers on the ridges between the Dry Valleys of Antarctica, and therefrom to provide interpretations of interannual to decadal-scale climate variability during the last 2000 years.
Moving on down the corridor we are excited to get the chance to visit the aquarium and see some of the fish and sea creatures that have been recently brought in by one of the science groups. They have a small touch tank in which we were able to hold some of the sea creatures while we learned more about them. We also spent a bit of time taking pictures of the fish since they were fascinated by the camera flash and would jump out of the water to be closer to it!
For those who are interested in the specifics of the sea creatures we saw here are the details: The fish species we saw was Trematomus Bernacchii (phylum chordata) and in the touch tank we saw a giant Antarctic Isopod (phylum arthropoda), Seastar Odontaster Validus (phylum echinodermata), Anemones (phylum cnidaria), a Dendronotid Nudibranch (phylum mollusca), Lamellarian Gastropod (phylum mollusca), Sea Spider (phylum arthropoda), and a Sea Urchin (echinodermata).
(Thanks to Brett for helping us with the names of all of these or else we would have been referring to them as "Fish" and "Touch Tank Creatures.")
We then moved upstairs to learn more about Mt. Erebus and see some video footage of it erupting! We were able to hold 2 bombs and compare the various stages of their creation. One was very rough and porus as it had been cooled away from the lava flow whereas the other bomb was very smooth and heavy as it had been shot out of the center of the volcano and cooled in mid-air.
Here is a short description to shed some light on this fascinating volcano:
Mt. Erebus (77°32'S, 167°10'E), Ross Island, Antarctica is the world's southern-most active volcano. Discovered in 1841 by James Ross, it is one of only a very few volcanoes in the world with a long-lived (decades or more) lava lake. Scientific research, sponsored by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) since began the early 1970's had included basic study of the petrology and geophysics of the volcano, the eruptive history, activity and degassing behavior of the lava lake, and the overall impact of the volcano on the Antarctica and global environment. Each austral summer, a group of scientists and students ascend the volcano to live and work for several weeks (early December to early January). Current research consists of 1) continued monitoring of the SO2 flux from the lava lake, 2) measuring the CO2 emissions from the lava lake and summit, 3) geochronology of the summit and flank lava flows, 4) continued monitoring of the seismic and seismoacoustic activity of the volcano through the use of a network of highly-sensitive broad-band seismometers, 5) establishing a GPS base network to monitor the short- and long-term deformation of the volcano.
Since we were the only two people that showed up for the Crary Lab tour that day we "won" a trip to Arrival Heights with Jason, a science support technician. Arrival Heights is a scientific research station which is located in an off limits area just outside of town. The building holds a bunch of scientific instruments that are recording data for several large research projects. Here is a brief description of some of the projects that are currently being studied:
ELF/VLF Radiometer - The Stanford ELF/VLF radiometer at Arrival Heights receives electromagnetic radiation (such as lightening strikes) in the Extremely Low Frequency (ELF) and Very Low Frequency (VLF) bands. These low frequency waves travel in the region between the earth and the ionosphere and can propagate thousands of miles without significant attenuation.
Micropulsation Magnetometer - The Augsburg College/University of New Hampshire micropulsation magnetometer observes tiny fluctuations in the earth's magnetic field, which are used to study the coupling between solar wind and magnetosphere.
Fabry-Perot Interferometer - The Fabry-Perot Spectrometer (FPS) at Arrival Heights is used to measure wind speed and temperature in the upper atmosphere. This measurement is made by analyzing light emitted from aurora and nightglow, which are typically characteristic of a specific altitude.
Broadbeam Riometers, IRIS Array, Auroral Photometers - The University of Maryland riometer and photometer systems help study the process of energy transfer from the solar wind to the earth's magnetosphere and ionosphere at high magnetic latitudes. The UMD riometer (Relative Ionospheric Opacity Meter) antennas pick up galactic radio noise which is assumed to be constant at any point in the celestial sphere. Radio signals are absorbed by ionized air; hence fluctuations (reductions) in the signal intensity reflect changes in the ionization level in the atmosphere between about 50 km and 150 km, or movement of clouds of ionization at even higher altitudes. Changes in ionization can be caused by solar UV and EUV radiation, galactic cosmic rays, solar flare protons, or aurora-associated energetic electrons.
UV Spectroradiometer - In 1987, concern over the newly discovered Antarctic ozone depletion led the NSF to call for the establishment of a UV monitoring network. The system works throughout the year, although the winter scan schedule is much reduced. The most important data are those taken at or within a few hours of local noon during the ozone hole season, September through December, particularly the start of the season in October.
We also took a trip over to the Cos-Ray (Cosmic Ray Monitor) building to check up on data being received. The Bartol Institute cosmic ray detector picks up neutron showers induced by incident cosmic ray interactions with the upper atmosphere. This experiment is one of the oldest ongoing experiments in Antarctica, dating back to 1960. The length of this study gives information about the solar cycle, which is twenty-two years in duration. The polarity of the sun reverses every eleven years. At the middle of each eleven years is the solar maximum, when many sunspots and solar flares are observed.
On our way back we stopped by the T-1 site which is a NASA International satellite communication tower. After a quick peek inside and a few pictures of the sunset we headed back to town. We are definitely over-whelmed by all of the knowledge that we have received during this tour, but are still eager to learn more!
