| 20/11/08 08:44 PM |
#953
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Wesley Tower
Hmm, to answer a few questions about down here.
COLD: Well McMurdo is on Ross Island out in the Ross Sea. We are below the Antarctic Circle but we do get summer here. We are getting 3 months of day light and temperatures will warm up into the 40's. Now the South Pole Station will not get higher than -40 every. During the winter it is much harsher here with most temperatures down to -40 where the pole hits -70. The first things to remember working in any of these climates is that EVERYTHING is cold. Frost bite and hypothermia are literally just minutes away if you are careless. You get issued a lot of cold weather gear, that if used right keeps the cold out. The two biggest things to worry about is the wind will strip body heat and freeze flesh if exposed, and contact freezing. Everything down here is ambiant temperature, and it gets COLD, especially metals and fuels (most of which don't freeze till well into subzero temperatures)
Now how do I spend my days. Well I'm the satcom engineer down here. That means I'm the one that maintains all the equipment that feeds satellite data and telephone in and out of the station. But that job means maytag repairmen mostly. I also pull my fair share of helping with wireless communications, fixing radios, and issuing out pagers, radios, etc.
I spend half my week out at Black Island 28 miles away. This has a living habitat the size of a small house with a permanant facility manager and cook on duty during the summer. The place is powered by four wind turbines, a solar panel bank, 3 generators, and a huge battery bank. It's not all fun out there though. It's quiet but no showers and toilet facilities are spartan to say the least (imagine what happens when you use no running water and still have to be careful to remove all waste from the environment). Then i come back to town to work in my office the other half the week. Mostly I do paperwork or help the others with their comm jobs. I'll do odd day trips out via helicopter to places to fix remote radio repeaters or long range wireless for the science camps.
For my off time I go to the gym, go to aerobic classes, go hiking, read a lot, study, and hang out at our coffee house or bar.
An example for the next four days: Today I turned in a bunch of equipment that was old. I helped one of my coworkers prepare hand held radios for the fire department. Tonight I'll sit around and watch a few DvD episodes of Rome, True Blood, and Stargate. I'll work out in the gym and visit the bar for a few hours.
Saturday I'll come in early and work on repairing an HF radio that has a bad mother board. I will then get on a helicopter to go out to a field camp to look at their microwave relay to see why it is not working right. Then for the evening I'll hit the gym to lift weights and practice martial arts. Then back to the bar to play pool with some of the Air Guard folks down here.
Sunday I am off so I'll sleep in late, hit brunch, attend the protestant service at the Chapel, then hit the sea ice for a six mile hike. The evening there is a science lecture on a proof of concept robot submarine NASA is testing down here in frozen lakes. It is seeing if their ideas might work for a Europa (Jupiter's moon)probe.
Monday I will get up early grab a early helicopter flight out to Black Island. I'll spend three days out there ripping through equipment to finish a bandwidth upgrade. I also have some maintenance to do as well. Then when I come back Wednesday the first thing I'll do is try to find a hot shower. For off time out at black island I'll study toward my math degree, and do some writing. I've still got a least one novel manuscript I wish to finish while down here.
And that is 4 days from my life.
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