U.S. Antarctic Projects Officer
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EliJilihl N OF THE U.S. ANTARCTIC PROJECTS OFFICER VOLUME V NUMBER r^ FEBRUARY 1964 BULLETIN of the U.S. ANTARCTIC PROJECTS OFFICER An account of logistic and scientific programs and current events of interest in Antarctica. Published from September through June and distributed to organizations, groups, and individuals interested in United States Antarctic programs, plans, and activities. Rear Admiral James R. Reedy, US N United States Antarctic Projects Officer Vol. V, No. 6 February 1964 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS CONTENTS Material for this issue was Monthly Digest .................... 1 abstracted from United Stales IQSY and Antarctica.................. 2 Navy news releases; United United States Antarcticans Given a Memorable Christmas 8 States Air Force news re- Antarctic Leaders Visit Russian Station ......... 9 leases; Antarctic stations Air Force Completes DF64 Mission........... 10 daily reports; All Hands First C-130E Flight Over South Pole .......... 11 magazine, January 1964; Na- South Pole Wintering-Over Personnel Arrive....... 11 tional Science Foundation Navy Meteorologists Studying Ross Sea Tides ...... 11 press release, 6 January Temperatures ................... 12 1964, and The New York A Poem for the New Year ............... 12 Times, 15 November 1963. DEEP FREEZE Personnel Find Friends in New Zealand. 13 Aircraft Successfully Completes Emergency Landing. 13 The United States Antarctic New Antarctic License Plate ............... 13 Projects Officer and his staff Navy Parachutists Pay Surprise are indebted to Dr. Martin A. Visit to New Zealand Convent. ........ 14 Pomerantz of the Bartol Re- Official Foreign Representatives Depart United States 14 search Foundation for the Secretary of Defense Medal Presented article on the International Deputy Antarctic Projects Officer ...... 15 Years of the Quiet Sun. University of Michigan Television Center Preparing Series on Antarctica . 15 Except where credit is other- New Book on Antarctica by Dr. Carl Eklund ....... 16 wise given, all photographs Correction ................... 16 are official United Stales Navy Bulletin Errata .................... 16 photographs. Army Helicopters Support Science in Antarctica ..... 17 Large Antarctic Fish Kept Alive 10 Days ........ 17 eenwich Mean Time is used University of Arizona Scientists Study Weddell Seals . 18 through this issue. Cause of Death of Weddell Seals Determined ....... 18 Antarctic and Arctic Research Expected to Reveal Wit h t he exception of the how DDT has Invaded Waters of the World. 18 temperatures on page 12, no Crevasses are Where You Find Them, Part III...... 19 information appears in this Additions to the Library Collection ........... 23 issue after 15 January 1964. Antarctic Chronology .................. 25 When sending in a change of address request, All inquiries should be directed to the United please make reference to the four-digit code States Antarctic Projects Officer, 718 Jackson number appearing in the lower right corner of Place, N.W. Washington, DC 20450. Telephone the address label. DUdley 2-1795 or DUdley 2-1794. Monthly Digest In his illuminating article on the International ology all observations had to be taken from the Years of the Quiet Sun, in this issue of the Bulle- surface. By the time of the Second International tin, Dr. Pomerantz uses the striking phrase, Polar Year, 1932-1933, many of the earlier limi- "Antarctica, the worlds greatest proving tations had been overcome, and the technology ground for the development of new concepts of scientific observation had improved enormous- in international cooperation." He also notes ly. It was, in fact, the discovery over Greenland that this most recent of collaborative scientific of extremely high winds that appeared to be in- programs has distinguished precedents going dependent of surface phenomena, what we now back 80 years to the First International Polar call jet streams, that set in motion the plans for Year of 1882-1883. For us in the United States, a Second International Polar Year, and one of it is interesting to recall that an international its outstanding features was the successful use scientific attack on the problems of Antarctica of radiosondes for recording weather phenomena was proposed on the eve of our Civil War by high above the earth. Commander Matthew Fontaine Maury, USN, in a circular letter to the principal maritime na- Although a severe economic depression tions of the world. gripped much of the world, when the time to commence observations arrived, 44 nations par- Nothing came of Maurys proposal, and the ticipated. As a majority of the stations were in honor of bringing the first polar year into being temperate zones, it was really a world rather went to another Naval officer, Lieutenant Carl than a nolar year, as the head of the Second Weyprecht of Austria. Unfortunately, Weyprecht International Polar Commission, Dr. Dan la did not live to see the fruition of his labors, but Cour of Denmark, pointed out. The Southern the inspiration which he had given to others Hemisphere was inadequately represented, and carried the project to a successful conclusion. Antarctica by only three Argentine Mete omiogical Eleven nations participated at 14 stations, only stations on its fringes. The Second International 2 of which could be said to touch on the Antarc- Polar Year, however, emphasized the fact that tic, a French establishment at Cape Horn and a scientific investigation of the polar regions is German one on South Georgia. The program in- most significant when it is conducted in connec- cluded observations in meteorology, geomagnet- tion with observations taken in other parts of ism, and aurora, but the various expeditions the world. were free to add other studies, and useful work in atmospheric electricity, oceanography, and This principle, of course, has been funda- glaciology resulted. mental to the International Geophysical Year, 1957-1958, and the International Years of the In the United States, the First International Quiet Sun. Another of Dr. la C our s innovations Polar Year is remembered chiefly for the heroic has also been continui. Faced with the double and disasterous expedition led to Grinnel Land problem of a great quantity of observations from by LT. A. W. Greely, USA. When the relief 44 nations and a lack of funds for publication, ship failed to appear, the party retreated to Cape he centralized much of the material at the Me- Sabine in Smith Sound where they slowly starved teorological Institute in Copenhagen, catalogued to death. Only Greely and six companions sur- it, and made it available on film to any scientist vived, but they managed to preserve their scien- who had need for it. He thus established the tific records intact and to present them to the forerunner of the IGY World Data Centers. International Polar Commission for inclusion in the handsome set of quarto volumes published by This last collaborative scientific effort i s the Imperial Academy of Sciences in Saint Pe- still so close to us that it requires little ex- tersburg. planation. It did, however, mark the integration of the Antarctic into the global scientific effort The First International Plar Year represented and especially the creation of wide-spread, con- a remarkable accomplishment, even though by tinning scientific programs in the area. Such a our standards the program was limited and the development would have been impossible without observations crude. For example, simultaneity great improvements in the techniques of logistic of observation was difficult to maintain because support as well as in those of scientific obser- there were no radio time signals, and in meteor- vation. I IQSY AND ANTARCTICA f., c, 414k^ ID 1. C I 1 Martin A. Pomerantz Bartol Research Foundation Swarthmore, Pennsylvania Dr. Pomerantz, in addition to being Director of the Bartol Research Foundation, a post which he has held since 1959, is Chairman of the United States Committee for the International Years of the Quiet Sun and Vice President of the International Committee for the same project. This year, 1 January was not only New Year 5 It is noteworthy that many words which char- Day. The date also marked the official start of acterize IQSY start with the prefix "inter. " By the International Years of the Quiet Sun, IQY. way of illustration, here are some examples. IQY (rhymes with pixie) is indeed a worthy successor to the widely-heralded International International collaborations on a scale never Geophysical Year, but it is not just a small- scale achieved previously have been set up. During repeat of IGY. Actually, in the fields of research IQSY, the joint efforts of scientists of different which it embraces, the magnitude of the effort nations are not restricted to the exchange of during this great 2-year scientific enterprise data, or the standardization of techniques. For will appreciably exceed that during IGY. the first time, actual experiments are being con- ducted together by colleagues in different coun- This applies especially to the activities in tries who share responsibility for operating Antarctica, for the polar regions are espe- equipment. A notable example of such a pro- cially crucial in the investigation of all phenom- gram, quite appropriately, i s currently being ena which are relevant to the IQSY program, activated in Antarctica, the worlds greatest namely those which transpire in the upper proving ground for the development of new con- reaches of the earths atmosphere and beyond. cepts in international cooperation. The project,