www.polar.org/antsun DOUBLE ISSUE The SEASON FINALE February 4, 2001 PublishedAntarctic during the austral summer at McMurdo Station, Antarctica, Sun for the United States Antarctic Program Quote of the week Titanic iceberg “If you want to end a conversation with someone, let’s say someone sitting next to you on an airplane, you say, ‘astrophysicist.’” - South Pole astronomer and astrophysicist on his job title INSIDE Bombs heard around the world page 2 X-ray of Lake Pushing its weight around the sea, iceberg B-15A floats within miles of Ross Island. Undulating tides com- Vostok bined with the Earth’s rotational force have brought this massive chunk of the ice shelf almost to the edge of McMurdo Sound. The size of the original berg was estimated to be 480 cubic miles (2,000 cubic kilo- page 6 meters) of ice, which if melted would be more than 528 trillion gallons of water (enough to meet the domestic and public water needs of the United States for several years). Researchers from the University of Chicago and the University of Wisconsin traveled by the Coast Guard Cutter Polar Sea and helicopters to the middle of B-15A, where they installed weather and GPS instruments. It’s the first time an iceberg What’s in an has been monitored like this, and the data will allow an unprecedented understanding of how giant bergs make their way through the waters of Antarctica and beyond. Researcher Doug MacAyeal will talk about acronym? the project tonight in the galley at 8:15 p.m. Photo by Josh Landis. page 18 By Beth Minneci Sun staff fishingat thePole strophysicist Albrecht Karle kneels gingerly beside an ice hole at the ASouth Pole twice his width and more than a mile deep. On the surface it looks like nothing other than what it is – a darkening The AMANDA telescope is buried gape in the ice. deep in holes But buried deep inside is a cutting edge of melted in the ice cap. astronomy. A long chain of orb-like sensors is see Space on page 10 2 • The Antarctic Sun February 4, 2001 Nuclear test ban sensors By Josh Landis going online Sun staff n a quiet stretch of snow off the south- ern slope of Ross Island, engineers Having monitoring Ofrom the University of Alaska are set- stations here ting up a device that will listen for explo- sions on the other side of the world. is very With its tentacles of plastic tubing, the advantageous. instrument looks like a space-age Hydra. But this super-sensitive creation will be the - Brian Stone, nemesis of anyone who tries to test a nuclear weapon. It’s an infrasound sensor, representative, and it’s the newest addition to a global National Science monitoring network aimed at keeping tabs Foundation on any new weapons of mass destruction. The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) is extending its Dr. Charles "Buck" Wilson, a professor emeritus of geophysics at the University of reach onto the Ice by including Antarctica Alaska, attaches plastic pipes to an infrasound sensor, which can detect atmospheric in its vast network of sensors. CTBTO is an pressure changes from a blast on the other side of the world. Photo by Kay Lawson. international organization with the goal of monitoring, and eventually eliminating, the Jagged lines leapt across the screen each the data. testing of all nuclear weapons. time a door somewhere in the building was "There was nobody in that group who Based in Vienna, the treaty has been opened. had experience in Antarctica," said Stone. signed by 160 countries since it came into "It’s just like a barometer," explained "They wanted to make it happen, but there existence in 1996. President Clinton signed Osborne. "It reacts to changes in atmos- was a lot of reality-checking. The specifica- it in ’96 but Congress has not yet approved pheric pressure." tions for station up-time were not written it. So far, 30 of the 44 key countries that The array of infrasound detectors on the with Antarctica in mind." must ratify the treaty before it can enter into ice shelf just off Ross Island will be able to The organization also had to allow full force have done so. sense a one-kiloton blast that goes off someone else to transmit the data from the Central in the effort to eliminate large- above-ground or just under the surface. sensor site. Normally the link goes through scale, nuclear weapons testing is the ability Osborne said the technology is so sensitive a satellite uplink CTBTO supplies. That to detect explosions wherever they may that when Mount St. Helens erupted in wasn’t feasible here, so they agreed to let happen. To this end, CTBTO monitors hun- Washington in 1980, similar sensors here Raytheon carry the data back to the States, dreds of sensors around the world. on the Ice detected the blast each time its where it will be redistributed to the rest of In all, there are 170 seismometers to shock wave encircled the Earth. After a the world. measure subsurface explosions, 80 while, he lost count. "We convinced them it’s better to con- radionuclide detectors to sniff minute It’s that kind of sensitivity the CTBTO solidate things in Denver," said Mitch amounts of fallout in the air, 11 hydroa- relies upon. In addition to the infrasound Lasky, Raytheon point-of-contact for the coustic units that can detect underwater station at Windless Bight, there is one at project. blasts, and 60 infrasound sensors able to Palmer Station. Traditional seismometers The sensors are all now either in the sense subtle pressure waves that result from will be listening to the ground at the Dry installation or testing phase. If they pass explosions on or near the surface of the Valleys, South Pole and Palmer, where a muster they will be officially incorporated Earth. radionuclide detector will also be on line. into the CTBTO monitoring network. It’s Until recently, the network was lacking The CTBTO had to make some conces- an ideal scenario and fits well with the in the southernmost reaches. sions when installing a device in overriding philosophy of science in "Antarctica was a big hole in the global Antarctica. For starters, sensors on the net- Antarctica: share the data. CTBTO is con- coverage," said Brian Stone, National work are normally required to have a near- veniently, and efficiently, co-opting the Science Foundation representative and perfect performance record. The "up-time same instruments that would be used for CTBTO program manager. "So having requirements" only allow a sensor to be off- scientific purposes. (monitoring) stations here is advanta- line for about three days a year. There is no Still, monitoring nuclear weapons test- geous." way to guarantee that kind of reliability in ing around the world from Antarctica is an Dan Osborne heads the University of Antarctica. If the system would go down in odd twist on the continent’s position as an Alaska team that’s installing the new infra- the middle of the winter, for example, it area of peaceful, scientific pursuit. sound detector at Windless Bight. Hurrying could potentially take more than a day just Antarctica has drawn researchers and around his makeshift office in Bldg. 165, for someone to go check it out. explorers from the most powerful countries the bearded, brown-haired, bespectacled It’s not the ideal scenario for CTBTO, in the world. engineer spliced various computer wires to but Stone says the organization will mostly "Now the science really is being used for get his laptop to communicate with a sensor likely accept the Antarctic standards, a peaceful purpose," said Osborne. "It’s a on the floor. because that’s the only way they will get perfect fit." I February 4, 2001 The Antarctic Sun • 3 Antarctica Marathon LETTERS to the editor Results from the Jan. 28 race Seeing McMurdo 43 years later Full marathoners Times Hiram Henry 2:44:48 Upon reaching McMurdo three-story buildings! A network of John Hoppe 2:49:10 Station aboard the Russian ice- Thai Verzone 3:40:06 pipelines! Massive fuel tank Amy Beyerlein 3:48:11 breaker Kapitan Khlebnikov on emplacements! Parking lots Julie Aurand 3:48:11 January 9 this year, little did I real- crammed with heavy vehicles! Stefan Vogel 3:52:00 ize that the decoration of LAL – a Could this LAL be excused from Amy Brennan 4:03:26 Living Antarctic Legend – was asking the pilot, "Are you sure Jeanelle Parrott 4:19:54 about to be bestowed upon me. we’re landing at the right place?" Karen Joyce 4:21:37 "What, you lived here in Where is Burke Boulevard Jennifer Kemper 4:31:48 1958?!" exclaimed the young lady (named after the chief of naval in the coffee shop. "That’s all of 43 16 milers operations, not me)? What’s hap- Wanda Myers (ski) 1:41:03 years ago." She appeared to stare pened to Honey Bucket Lane and Joe Heil 2:14:03 hard, to make sure I was still its unique toilet shack that was Forrest McCarthy 2:49:27 breathing. "Why, I don’t think my reverse air-conditioned through Justin Gibbons 3:02:33 mom was born then!" holes in the floor? (And it wasn’t Don Bowen 4:32:00 "And I was here again in 1962," much fun staring through those I added for good measure, attempt- holes either.) Who stole our pint- Half marathoners ing a puff-out of my parka- sized PX store? And who turned Steffan Freeman 1:06:00 enclosed chest.