From Middle Earth to the End

B.J. and Greg with our totally awesome GPS set up

This trip was a great time to become acquainted with the new technology we will be playing with down in Antarctica. To stress the importance of taking good care of the equipment our instructors got right to the point and told us how much everything was worth,  $400,000.  If they had known me any better they would not have let me even touch a single button.  This was not the case and we got down and dirty with it all.  One of the experiments we will be doing involves a GPS system that tracks down to the nearest centimeter with nothing less than the help of 5 satellites at any given time. There has been a giant grid of poles drilled in to the ice 100meters apart. We are to measure the location of each post and see how much the ice has shifted. We were also forewarned that this 6 hours of intensive tedious labor would probably take place on a day with high winds and low temperatures since it was not one of the experiments that required good weather. Joy.

B.J. setting up the seismometer

 

Sinead looking puzzled over our $120,000 glorified computer

What we have here is a 23 meter strip of detectors that act as mini microphones in the Earth. It is essentially a seismometer to read waves traveling through the Earth. Commonly used for earthquakes and the such. We are going to use it by analyzing the waves to figure out their speed and, indirectly, the density of the material its traveling through. We have a fun computer to create pretty picture graphs for us and it can even print them out! That must be why it was worth $120,000. One other thing we shall need for this to work is a wave….. 

Phil at his finest

This can be done with the help of a giant sledge hammer, wire and Phil.  We will smack the metal plate with the giant sledge hammer to create a wave in the Earth. If any of you have ever been to a fair where there are strength competitions to whack a target with a mallet, you’re not far off from what we were doing. In fact, we thought it was so similar that we had a bit of a competition to see who could whack it the hardest. And who said science wasn’t fun.

The best is yet to come. For in Antarctica we will not be easily pushing the detectors in to the soft earth but in to hard packed ice. Surely we are up for a bigger challenge than that!  We shall have to dig a trench, with stairs of course, to a depth of 3-5 meters and then install the detectors in to the wall.  Luckily, we are allowed several days for this intensive excavation. We will be equipped with hand saws and our own muscle power.  I must admit it is quite neat though because we will be the first group to test this piece of equipment in Antarctica. Traditionally it has been used for farmers, wind mining companies and the like in isolated areas of New Zealand. Antarctica should actually provide a more suitable environment given its lack of seismic background activity. I say this now but who knows what types of obstacles we will be faced with. Its all about improvising to get the job done.