This beast of an instrument was invented in the 1920s by, you guessed it, Dobson. This one here at Arrival Heights has the serial number "17" on it. It is ye olde. And, it still works. We think this one has been in use since at least the 50s, but probably earlier than that. It is used for measuring total column ozone, or basically how much ozone is in the atmosphere directly above the instrument. In does this by, in a nutshell, sending two wavelengths of light up into the sky. One of these wavelengths is absorbed by the ozone, the other, not so much. By comparing the amount of absorption, the total amount of ozone can be interpolated. Wow. Cool.
Afterwards, we walked the 200 feet to the US building, all the while I was taking some pictures.
This shot is taken in the direction of McMurdo. The hill you see is Observation (Ob) Hill which we have a nice view of from the lab.
Here I am at Arrival Heights with the sea ice behind me. The horizon is the ocean.
Here is Jen leaving the Kiwi lab on the hill. It was really windy.
And this is a view of the Transantarctic Mountains.Isn't this place amazing? Well, off to a lab party. Have a good few days!
8 comments:
That's fun! I was reading some stuff at work about Spectrometers. You also look marvelous, keep on postin' :) Miss you!
Hi Leslie
Things are looking great for you! Thanks for the call the other day, it was great to hear from you. Hope your dishes duty wasn't too bad. I love all your pictures! Can't wait to see you again.
Steph
A lab party?! I want to go. Although I think the ride down might take a little too long. Ya know, I think its so funny to see you in these pictures with this HUGE red coat on (in which you look smashing in by the way) and you have these tiny little gloves on. How are your hands not freezing? That cracks me up. Oh, and I saw Rachael Ray yesterday, she's still has horrible as she was when we were in college. Except now, she chops one thing and everyone in the audience claps-for nothing. Be lucky you can't just "land" on her show. Miss you!
Hello, Leslie
Life in Antarctica seems to agree with you. The pictures you are posting are precious and priceless. The spectrometer looks daunting. I bet you're meeting some interesting and unique people while on this adventure. Stay warm and hug Hugh for me. Savor each moment; it will be over before you can blink twice...
Pat
Dana,
Yeah, I was waiting for someone to point that out. The little gloves are actually Merino wool glove liners I got in Christchurch. They are super super wonderful, but not so warm when you don't have big mittens or gloves on on top of them. But I can't take pics with giant gloves on. ;)
Well your pictures are wonderful so those little glove liners are worth it. Just try to stay warm and moisturize!
Oh man, it sounds like you're having so much fun down there...parties and dinners...I'm kind of jelous of the scenery. I'm trying to wait patiently for the snow to start falling here but I really want to put on my ski gear and take a trip to the mountains. See you in a month! ~Nikki
You should be wearing "bear claws" On The Ice, Leslie; instead, you borrowed a pair of Hugh's little gloves. The Spectrophotometer still looks daunting. Do they have a newspaper there?
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