Science at the station
Philip K Swartz - 1960-61 - South Pole Station - Antarcticans Database Project more

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Science at the station

Included meteorology, glaciology, ionospheric physics and aurora, seismology, & magnetology. Ben Harlin at plotting board tracking weather balloons. Twice a day a hydrogen filled weather balloon lifting a radio transmitter tracked by a radar-like dish in the palindrome allowed plotting of wind speeds, directions, temperatures, etc. This, in the days before weather satellites, provided information for major weather analysis and prediction. The Antarctic, much larger than the continental US, had only 5 such weather stations, yet the continent has an effect on weather even in the northern hemisphere.



Pictures from Philip K Swartz, overwinter, South Pole, 60-61