We went out to visit the Lettau AWS site during our second day at CTAM. At this site we added 3 new tower sections and installed an entire set of new instruments. The power at this site has been clicking on and off for a few years (Shelley and I visited this site in 2009 and the group from last year also visited this site) so we thought that a new set of instruments might be able to fix the problem.
Lettau AWSThe flights out to Lettau and to the sites on the previous day were incredibly beautiful. The CTAM field camp is located on the Beardmore Glacier in the Transantarctic Mountains. The map below (borrowed from another Antarctic blogger) details the region. You'll see McMurdo labeled as MCM in the bottom right hand corner. CTAM is located closer to the center, within the Transantarctic Mountain Range. Lastly, you'll see the Ross Ice Shelf in the center.
The stations that we flew to on the first two days out of CTAM are located on the Ross Ice Shelf . Therefore, the flights included views of the Transantarctic Mountains and its many glaciers. Here are a few highlights from the flights.
In other news, the riggers were able to install tall tower. Therefore, the tower sections and upper four levels of booms have been installed. Jonathan, Lee and I have packed up all of the instrumentation (there will be 6 levels of instrumentation on the tower) and put it into the cargo system. Therefore, once Jonathan and I return from the Icebreaker and Lee returns from South Pole we should be able to get out on a Twin Otter to get the instrumentation installed. We received word today that we will have 2 riggers to help us with the instrumentation installation. This will be a HUGE help. Here are a couple of pictures that were sent to us by the riggers.
Melis, those photos of the mountains taken during your flight are gorgeous! I bet they'd look awesome framed in your house when you get home.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like you're having fun. We miss you around here!
~Benet