Friday, March 28, 2014

Science Post: CosRay

It's time for another post about some of the science I look after down here at McMurdo. CosRay is probably one of the coolest projects I work with. It doesn't actually require much in the way of support from me, but between the actual science that it does, the building that it is in, and the history behind it, it is very cool.
Anyways, CosRay is one of the longest running projects in Antarctica, having run continuously since 1960, with another very short run in 1958-59 during the International Geophysical Year. The CosRay Observatory is a cosmic ray detector. Cosmic rays are basically high energy subatomic particles that are produced by processes in the sun, or by further away things, like supernovas. So, these cosmic rays cruise towards Earth at nearly the speed of light, and when they hit the atmosphere, they are destroyed, producing a cascade of secondary subatomic particles. CosRay detects the neutron portion of these cascades.


A cosmic ray interacts with Earth's atmosphere on the wall of the CosRay building.
 By counting the number of neutrons that hit the detectors, the group is able to determine how many cosmic rays arrive at the Earth's atmosphere in a corresponding location.
McMurdo CosRay is part of a network of twelve observatories that make up an international monitoring network called Spaceship Earth. By studying solar activity, scientist are able to predict when major disturbances from the Sun might occur. The longevity of the study gives information about the solar cycle, which is 22 years long. The Sun switches polarity every 11 years, and at the middle of each 11 years reaches a solar maximum, which is when many sunspots and solar flares are observed. At these times, solar "storms" are most likely to cause problems here on Earth. For example, in 2003 a large magnetic storm affected 47 satellites, including one scientific satellite costing several hundred million dollars, and which was written off as a total loss.
A detector bank

One end of one of the detectors
The neutron counter at McMurdo consists of 18 tubes, arranged in three banks of six detectors each. Each detectors case is a 7-inch stainless steel case seven feet long and maintained at -2800V. The tubes contain boron triflouride (BF3) gas doped with boron-10, which is good at capturing low energy neutrons. Each tube is surrounded by a polyethylene sleeve surrounded by lead rings. The lead rings act as 'producers' because they will emit neutrons in response to a neutron hit. As the neutrons make their way into the detector, they will get close to a boron-10 nucleus and be absorbed. The boron nucleus then undergoes fission, producing electrons, which are accelerated by the voltage differential in the tube towards the counter.

Once upon a time CosRay required a lot more support than it does today, and there was a time when people more or less lived at the CosRay building. All that time spent there shows, since the interior has been elaborately decorated.
A rainbow ceiling

The New Cos-Ray

The reason the project exists

Snowscape

More rainbows
 Between the decoration and some of the old equipment, this building is one of the coolest on station.
An old "computer" counter. There is a corresponding "bit" bucket in the corner, holding all the paper punches this machine produced.


With all the advances in computers, CosRay doesn't need that much support anymore. I check on things once a week, and run out there whenever the router that controls data transmission goes out (which seems to happen at least once a week).

At this point, the plan for the project is to move it from McMurdo to the Korean base located at the same latitude, but about 300 miles down the coast. The initial move had been planned for this year, but the shutdown caused that to be delayed, so next year, two of the detector banks will move out, while the third remains here at McMurdo to collect data. Once the other two are set up at the Korean base, the third will leave here, and the CosRay building will be torn down. Kind of sad, but the program wants to start consolidating buildings, and tearing down older outlaying buildings is an easy start to that.



In other new, penguins are starting to arrive on station. The other night I went for a ski with Beth on the road to Pegasus and we ran into this fellow at Mile 2:

That is a molting Emperor penguin, so it will probably hang around the area for a couple of week. Hopefully the Adelies will start making their way toward McMurdo soon, because those guys are supposed to be funny to watch.

And New Years was great. The tradition at McMurdo is a chili cook-off and IceStock, a music fest of bands made on the Ice.


The line-up for the night

Watching one of the bands
 It is really amazing how talented the people down here are, and the music was amazing, as was the night. And the next day we had beautiful weather and a group of us hike out to Castle Rock for a picnic and nap. Great way to start 2014.








Sunday, March 16, 2014

Since my last post...

So it has been a while since my last post, over a month in fact, and lots of things have happened since the end of January.
The cargo vessel came and went, though not without some drama. While it was here we had a big storm blow in, which kicked up a lot of waves and caused the ship to early. All there cargo made it off, though a lot of stuff that was supposed to get back to the States is stuck in McMurdo for another year, including some science samples.
Big waves crashing into Hut Point during vessel

The next day, Hut Point covered in frost and spray

After that the summer season was more or less over, so people began trickling out and heading for warmer climes. I definitely had a rough time with all the goodbyes, so by the time last flight came I was ready for winter to start.
Waiting for the last flight to take off on a blustery Sunday morning

Sharing the sparkling wine/cider toast with Admiral Byrd. Winter has officially begun!

Sometime in there we also had our first sunset. At this point we are well on our way to Antarctic night, with 13 hours between sunset and sunrise. We should be up to 24-hour darkness in a few weeks.

First sunset!

In the meantime, we’ve had some beautiful weather, with steam rising off the water as the air temperature drops. We’ve also had some pretty windy, overcast weather. No Con 1 weather yet, but I’m hoping for some of that later in the season.


A beautiful (if windy) day at Arrival Heights, with mist rising from the water below.

And a blustery day at Arrival Heights. The winds were at about 30kt here.


Also, with that big storm back in February, we had some pretty heavy erosion and undercutting of the shoreline. Right now we’re not suppose to go within 10 ft of the water and Hut Point has lost its point.
Hut Point is falling apart! It kind of looks like a fish.

Other than that, things have started to settle into a winter routine. The station is much quieter, which makes sense since we're down to 142 people, compared to 800+ for most of the season. The family table has returned to the galley, so while meals usually seem pretty empty, there is usually a "big" group eating there, with a scattering of others elsewhere in the galley and a lot of people eating in their rooms. I'm still getting used to the change in energy around station, but I've got a couple of things to keep me active. A group of us are doing strength training after work. I'm volunteering in the craft room, and today I'm getting orientated to the espresso machine, so that I can be a barista one evening a week. Then there is the usually soccer night, and SAR training once or twice a week. I'll be putting up some more about that in a future post.

Mini-post: Antarctic Birkie, 2014 edition

A short post about my second Antarctic Birkie.

For those of you who weren't following me on my last adventure in the Antarctic, here is the link to my first Antarctic Birkie experience.

The morning of my Birkie (the day after the Birkie at home, since I have to work Saturdays), the weather was actually pretty similar to what was going on in Cable, WI on race day. Single digit temps and a nice wind.

Getting ready to go in my office at Crary
Racing suits aren't really made to stand up to 20 knot winds, so I dressed a little warmer than I normally would have for a race.
This close to winter, the only trails open for skiing are Castle Rock and the road to LDB, both of which are a hike from station, which means that my Birkie this year was more of a duathlon. I ran about four miles out to the snow road with my skis and poles in hand, boots in a pack on my back.
The one photo I was able to get before my camera died. Taken on the road to Scott base, during my run out to snow.

Once I got to snow, I traded my running shoes for my ski gear. The snow was okay for skiing, not great,  but not nearly the slog that it sounds like the real thing was back home. Most of the road was pretty icy or windblown, but if I stayed to the sides I could usually find some decent snow. Most of the way out to LDB was very slow since I was fighting the wind, but I flew on the way back. I kind of wish I'd had a kite or a sail. That would have been a lot of fun.
I got back to the gravel road and switched back to my running stuff and headed back to McMurdo. I will say that running with skis and poles is not my favorite thing, but it was definitely worth it to get to ski on Birkie day.