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May 22, 2004SOUTH POLE NOTEBOOK Special to the Record-Eagle/Ethan Dicks A view of the auroras. Learning to appreciate simple things By TROY WILES Special to the Record-Eagle SOUTH POLE, Antarctica - This has been a very busy place. The temperatures are still fluctuating between minus seventies and minus nineties Fahrenheit. The lowest of the year thus far is -96 degrees Fahrenheit. The storms still come and go, but, in between, it is crisp and clear. It is on these cold but clear days that you get a great view of our galaxy and all its beauty. We are seeing beautiful auroras almost daily. In clear view is the milky streak across the sky, which signifies the edge-on view of our galaxy - the Milky Way. Just to the right of the Milky Way one can see clearly our sister galaxies - the Magellanic Clouds. We learned on one of our bi-monthly science lectures that the Milky Way is consuming these galaxies. This can be clearly seen using a radio telescope, as long arms of debris are pulled into our galaxy. The universe - it's alive! Also, from this vantage point in the Southern Hemisphere you can identify the closest visible star to us, Alpha Centauri, 4.36 light years away, which is very similar to our sun. The closest star to us is Proxima Centauri, 4.22 light years away, but it's not visible to the naked eye. It is the smallest of three stars that make up the Centauri system. Beta Centauri, smaller than Alpha and not visible, is considered to be a binary system with Alpha Centauri. On May 5, we were treated to a total eclipse of the moon. This was exciting. We had the Milky Way streaking across the sky and perpendicular to it were light green auroras. The dark, rose-colored moon resided betwixt these atmospheric and galactic entities. During the eclipse, I gazed over the Dome just in time to see one of our communication satellites moving rapidly toward the moon. I watched it for several seconds before it moved into the earth's shadow and disappeared. In between stargazing, work continues. From a medical standpoint, things have been very slow, which is what we prefer. Our resources are limited, so a successful year would be uneventful. We are now two-and-a-half months into the winter. All seems to be going well. When I considered coming down, committing to a 13-month contract seemed to be a relatively short period of time. But what I have come to understand is that although it seems a relatively short period of time, you still must do every day. As one of my comrades said in jest recently, "It's not the worst mistake you ever made, just the longest." And you thought bottled water was cool Where do we get our drinking water? One hundred percent of the water we use is melted Antarctic ice. Pure water. So pure, in fact, that calcium and sodium ions must be added to soften it. In early winter, we realized that sinks and showers were turning blue. It was determined that the water was so pure it had not allowed scale to build up on the inner surface of the pipes, which was causing copper ions to be leached from the pipes and into the water. Our water is drawn from a well we refer to as the "Rod well." This is a well that is created directly in the Antarctic ice cap, where the temperature below the ice remains constant at -54 degrees Fahrenheit. First, a shaft is made with a piece of equipment that looks similar to an 18" diameter plumb bob. The device is heated, and actually melts a column in the firn layer to a depth where water begins to pool in the column. Above a specific density in the firn layer, water percolates out of the forming column. The firn layer is snow with less density than ice. The density increases as the depth increases until blue ice is formed. At the point when blue ice is reached, the firn layer ends. This depth is about 360 feet. At about 120 feet, water begins to pool. At this point the water is pumped up, heated and then circulated with additional water back into the column to begin development of the well bulb. Eventually, the well deepens to a point below the firn layer and into solid ice, which is the objective. As snow and ice turn to water, it is pumped to the surface, heated and then circulated over and over until the well matures. The water is heated by using waste heat from station power generator manifolds and muffler systems. Glycol is heated in the power plant, pumped to the wellhead, which in turn heats up water through a heat exchanger (coil). Using agricultural pumps, water is continually circulated through the well for its entire life. This circulating warm water develops the well and prevents the water from freezing. It takes about two years for a well to mature. Once mature, the well is shaped like an upside down teardrop. The current well is about 413 feet deep, with a water level at 346 feet below the surface. The current depth of the water within the well is 67 feet. The width of the well is about 60 feet in diameter. The lifespan of the well is related to the amount of time it's allowed to mature. If you start the well too soon, rather than being bulb-like, it will be shaped roughly like a column, shortening the lifespan of the well. The average lifespan of a well varies anywhere from four to seven years. As the well approaches 500 feet, a new well is started. In the next one to two years, a new well is scheduled to be developed. A few years ago, a small robot was lowered into the well for inspection and found a multitude of micrometeorites at the bottom that had been entombed in the snow for eons. Interestingly, Antarctica is one of the best places on earth to search for meteorites. Last week's water usage report showed that we used 10,571 gallons of water. We still are encouraged to take short showers even though the station population has been substantially reduced for the winter. Burrr! This brings us to our wastewater and sewage. After a water well has been exhausted (determined by the length of hose and the power of the pump) it is turned into our sewage outfall. This brown popsicle slowly makes its way to the ocean, eventually arriving at its destination in 12,500 years or so. I suspect it will be pulverized on its journey, as it drops off the ice cap and is dragged across mountains locked within a glacier. We winter-lovers have less than six months to go before we are introduced back into the real world. I would like you to step outside and take a deep breath for us. Smell the fragrances and listen to the sounds. As I have learned from being down here for over six months, it is the simple things in life that make it enjoyable. Troy Wiles, a 38-year-old physician's assistant from Frankfort, is part of a two-member medical team caring for about 600 researchers and staff at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station for a year. He is writing a journal for the Record-Eagle describing life at the pole. Write him at Troy.Wiles@usap.gov
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