From Chef to Meteorologist

Another day off, and not wanting to waste my free time i was up early and after a quick cup of tea i was soon geared up, sunblock on and it was over to the Simpson building where most of the science takes place to meet Andy the Meteorologist, where i had arranged to shadow him for an hour just to find out a little more about our weather.  Since i have been at Halley the main work and topic of conversation has been the new build of Halley VI, what with all the Morrisons construction team and everything revolving around keeping them working, it has been all to easy to overlook the Halley Science, which is always at the forefront of why we are down here.

So today i aided Andy in launching the Weather Balloon, which helps monitor wind speeds, pressure and temperature, all valuable assets in forecasting the world wide weather.

The First thing Andy showed me was the Transmitter that is attached to the Balloon. This has a GPS antenna obviously for recording position, a temperature gauge and a power pack that he had on charge as i arrived. The cord you see on the table attaches to the balloon like a kite string. The battery is soaked to swell the cells and is then attached to the transmitter. the whole thing is in a white plastic casing lined with polystyrene to keep it light and warm. The battery does not freeze as it generates enough heat to prevent this.
   

The Command Centre of the Meteorologists, where all the data is collated

 These are the Balloons, and one is used daily at the same time every morning 8.00am.
 Andy told me that there is a balloon being released more or less simultaneously at various locations around the world. All this data gets put into a model which gives us the world wide weather. The more information the more acurate the weather forcasting.
 

 

 The balloon is packaged in a plastic bag and warmed to a certain temperature. This helps it expand as it rises

 We then walked over to a small caboose on stilts called BART, this is where the balloon is filled with Helium and prepared for flight. Here it is tied to a weight with string. The idea is to fill the balloon untill it lifts the weight off the board and the string is taught.

This is a pic of me actually filling the balloon with Helium.

 When full  it is 1 metre in diameter

 The weight is removed the kite string is attached and it is tied securely

 Then it is out onto the platform, holding the balloon securely in one hand and the transmitter loosely in the other open hand. It is time to release.

1.2.3...Let go... So if there is a problem with the weather today, It's my fault!

  And away it goes. Once released it rises high into the stratosphere expanding as it rises, it actually reaches a height of 28 km, expands to the size of a double decker bus and records temperatures of  -91.7 degrees celsius. It stays up there for approx 1.5 hours.

Then it was a walk across fresh snow left from the blow we had the previous day to the Laws building where i was going for my morning smoko of cheese and bacon on toast. En route i passed a Nanson sledge fully laden with emergency supplies all ready to be taken on a field trip. 

The Nanson Sledge, named after the explorer. These are the type of sledges that would have been pulled by the dogs. Now pulled by skidoos

Once inside the Laws building the screen on the wall shows The temperature, wind speed and pressure, updated constantly, thanks to the data from the weather balloon

With nothing else planned i was invited to accompany the doctor on a skidoo trip to the Skiway, where the pilots that have been staying with us were eventually setting off on a science trip to do some research. They had clear skies and good winds and had been on standby for a couple of days, waiting for a window in the weather. So i joined the send off party and went off on a jolly.

Approaching the Twin Otter plane riding on a sledge at the back of a skidoo.

The Twin Otter with fuel drums to the right of the picture

These containers are placed on the Skiway to hold supplies and baggage

Sue, the other doctor turns up to see the plane leave

Michael and Susan the two Docs with the fire fighting sledge. they are attaching it to take it back.

 Every plane that comes in or leaves has to have a doctor and a fire sledge present.

Sledge attached to the skidoo ready to go.

Michael has a word with the pilot before take off

The runway has be groomed to firm it up for the plane to take off. James is the driving the Challenger which is pulling the Groomer

 Last call for the Halley flight. Me standing against the airport sign

 Groomer leaving the Skiway plane ready for take off.

 Richard, Michael, and James watch as the Twin Otter starts up.

There was another Halo around the sun.

Richard lying on the ground to get a shot of Michael in the Halo.

Plane gone and Rich gives me a lift back to the Laws for lunch