DanielLB
Immortal
Feb 1 2013, 5:01pm
Views: 655
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I'll try to keep this one a little more brief. Probably not though ;-) Thank you for everyone's good wishes in my original leaving thread. I meant to thank you all last week for such kind words, but forgot in my haste to post an update. So thank you :-) Since last week we have got some good results. We're releasing a weather balloon everday at 12 GMT. We've had one intensive campaign where we released 5 sondes in one day (09, 12, 15, 18, 21 GMT) when the wind direction was favourable for strong winds and waves in the atmosphere. Unfortunetly, that has been the only appropriate day for what we're looking at. For my PhD, I have gone through 10 years worth of automatic weather station data here at King Edward Point. It has *never* been this calm before. The wind has either been from the north, south or east, which is absolutely no good for us! Because South Georgia runs (roughly) from the NW to SE, ideally, we would like SW winds (since they're perpendicular to the mountain chain, and therefore have a greater interaction with the topography of the island). Even westerly winds would be good for us. I'm looking at the dynamics and occurence of foehn winds on the island. From my previous analysis, I found that foehn winds are more common (and more extreme) during the summer months (DJF). On average, there are 10 a month. We've experienced just one foehn event ... and that was a temperature change of just 2degC. Not particularly exciting for my research! Everyone needs to carry on with their bad weather/rain dances for me ;-) The lidar is also working well, and we have some nice results to complement the balloon data from the intensive campaign. Since the wind has been so calm, we've had lots of practice flying the UAVs (Un-manned aerial vehicles). One has flown into me and we've landed them twice in a river. Oops! Because of the river incidents, we're now having some electrical difficulties. By the time we leave, hopefully we can get some good results. This is all very new, and the first time UAVs have been used for this kind of research. Even if we don't get much data, at least we have shown that they can be used in the future. In 10 years time, I imagine UAVs will replace weather balloons. They're a lot more cost effective, efficient, and can take better measurements of the atmosphere over space and time. I think it's time for some pictures now! We hiked to Maiviken yesterday, which is roughly a 2 hour walk from Grytviken. Beautiful place, and somewhere where very few people get to see. About 4 miles from the cove, you could hear the penguins and seals. The beach was covered in fur seal pups, and a colony of penguins. The cove is also surrounded by several (freshwater) lakes, which were also full of pups. It was quite a struggle getting down onto the beach because of the tussock grass. It felt like Jurassic Park - the tussock came to the top of my head, and all I could hear was the occasional growl and rustling. Great fun though, and some lovely pictures. And since it's always nice to put a face to a name ... that's me, in front of the penguins. Although ... I wouldn't click, as it might ruin your perception of me ;-) This is my favourite place on the walk, and of South Georgia so far: link. It has a very Middle-earth feel about it. Perhaps it could be Mirromere? The photo doesn't do it much justice, but the lake was a brilliant blue. Here are a few more pictures: posing penguins, another view over the cove (towards Cumberland West Bay), seal pup playing in rock pool, and an albatross and seal pup My time here is nearly over. We leave next Thursday, and head back to the Falklands. I've had an awesome time here, and it's a beautiful place. I'll be sad to leave, but incredibly happy that I got to see it all. My next update may be delayed, and I hope the sea is calm on the journey back to the Falklands. Hmmm ... so that wasn't brief at all in the end! I hope everyone is well, and you all have a great weekend - whatever you get up to. Forget Groundhog Day, it's my birthday tomorrow! :-)
(This post was edited by DanielLB on Feb 1 2013, 5:04pm)
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