CHAPTER 26
In conjunction with the atmospheric research taking place out at ARO, the South Pole also has its own meteorological department, known as Met, which monitors the atmosphere and weather. Whereas the data from ARO is used exclusively for research purposes, the Met data is primarily used for local weather forecasting, which in turn is used as a basis for flight operations to and from the Pole- regular and uninterrupted flights being one of the most critical aspects for maintaining a functioning Antarctic station. Not only do the flights ferry in personnel and deliver scientific equipment and food, but they also bring in a large amount of the fuel used by the station to generate heating and electricity over the long cold winter. Not enough flights = not enough fuel = winter operations at the base would have to be drastically scaled back. So, you can see the importance of reliably forecasting the weather at the Pole to give the greatest chance for the most number of flights to take place.
At home, it’s only rarely that flights get canceled due to weather, but here in the desolate center of Antarctica, it’s a rather common occurrence, even in the height of summer. The weather can change drastically in just a few minutes, from sunny and calm, to white-out blizzard conditions. Being 800 miles from the nearest support, no chances are taken for landings or takeoffs. If a plane is in route, and the conditions deteriorate, even only minutes before touchdown, the plane is told to return the 5hrs back to the main base McMurdo- a so called “boomerang” flight. Likewise, when a plane does land, it only stays for a short period, sometimes only 10 or 20 minutes, to ensure that it can get back into the air before conditions change. Weather at McMurdo is no day in the park either, and can change just as quickly, often times with more ferocity because it is on the coast- so coordinating flights between these two bases with such fickle weather patterns can be tricky to say the least.
Luckily, the South Pole has a great Met team, one of whom was our friend Rolf, the husband of our comrade-in-scrubbing, Emily. Rolf was kind enough to give us a firsthand look at his duties as a meteorologist on station, the most exciting of which was periodically launching off weather balloons.
The balloon building is basically just a big garage with two giant doors at one end. After filling it with just the right amount of helium and attaching a suspended recording device, Rolf let Kacey do the honors of releasing the balloon up into the clear blue South Pole sky!
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