During the night of January 21-22, 2011 — the night I finally flew out of the ice — we witnessed a live “show” of an Adelie penguin versus a Weddell seal at the Hut Point on Ross Island in Antarctica. I also photographed four emperor penguins standing beside the runway to Pegasus International Airport. The… Read More
Patience, creativity, and persistence finally paid off! The A-130 lidar team successfully resolved the lidar EMI (electro-magnetic interference) issue at Arrival Heights in the 9th week at Antarctica. Nice weather has returned to McMurdo so the team is happily running the lidar to collect data for our science goals. An icebreaker ship, Oden, finally made its… Read More
After the gorgeous weather around Christmas (maximum reaching about +5C with clear sky), McMurdo had overcast sky for nearly two weeks from December 28th, 2010 to the morning of January 9th, 2011. Since the lidar beam couldn’t penetrate such thick clouds, we took this time to optimize the lidar system, provide training opportunities to our… Read More
We at McMurdo are probably one of the first groups in the world to enter the new year 2011, as the local time is the same as New Zealand (two hours ahead of Australia, five hours ahead of China, and 20 hours ahead of Colorado). A special new year celebration was named “Ice Stock” at… Read More
The Christmas 2010 at McMurdo was marked by nice, warm and clear weather, delicious Christmas dinner, and the hard work of the lidar team at Arrival Heights. It’s certainly an unforgettable one! Excited by the preliminary results of our 24-48 hours of continuous lidar data, the lidar team members were determined to collect more data… Read More
December 22, 2010 was a summer solstice in Antarctica but a winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere. I am very happy to announce that we successfully obtained both channels (372 and 374 nm) of lidar data with the Fe Boltzmann lidar from Arrival Heights, McMurdo in Antarctica on December 20th, 2010. And the lidar operation… Read More
Dear Friends and Colleagues, The 4th week (December 4-16th, 2010) was long and dramatic for the A-130 lidar team because we went through hell to reach the heavens!!! First, what happened in the heavens? I am very happy to announce that we obtained the first Fe signals (372 nm) from Arrival Heights on December 16, 2010.… Read More
Dear Friends and Colleagues, The 3rd week on ice was extremely busy so this post will be short as I need to get up earlier tomorrow morning to deal with many things. Despite quite a lot of frustration, the important progress we made included: All lidar boxes were finally moved into the Arrival Heights Kiwi’s… Read More
Dear Friends and Colleagues, Happy thanksgiving from McMurdo, Antarctica, although a few days late! What a busy and tough week we had on the ice! Construction, moving, unpacking and installation become so difficult in this cold world! Seawater-moisture, damaged power console and broken frames were the subject of this week, but at the end victory… Read More
Once again I am on the ice. It is my 5th trip to the Antarctic, and also the beginning of our new lidar campaign at the USAP (United States Antarctic Program) McMurdo Station (77.85S, 166.67E). The purpose is to complete an observational chain for Antarctica in combination with previous lidar measurements made at the South Pole… Read More
