Mega on the Ice - Antarctica 2019: Introduction

In late October I will be traveling to Antarctica. This will be my fourth trip to Antarctica, although the last trip was 11 years ago, so it has been awhile. The trip is a part of my research involving Antarctic meteorology at the University of Coloado - Boulder. The trip will be made with the University of Wisconsin. Years ago I received my masters from the University of Wisconsin and while I was in grad school I had my first experience with Antarctic field work. The work on this trip will be similar to past trips in that I will be installing and repairing automatic weather stations (AWS). There is a network of approximately 60 University of Wisconsin AWS sites across the continent. The weather stations measure temperature, pressure, relative humidity, wind speed and wind direction and communicate the observations primarily by satellite. I will be visiting 5 to 15 AWS sites depending on the weather and success of the season. I will have a first on this trip in that I will be spending a part of the field season at a remote camp in West Antarctica. I will be using this blog to share many of my experiences while I am in Antarctica. Depending on time, I will also add posts to better explain what life is like in Antarctica. I have created an email list (signup below) for those that would like to have the updates sent to their email inbox. Much of what I say in the email will be similar to that in this blog, although the blog will have pictures to go along with the stories. Feel free to share this blog address and the email list to family and friends. I have also included a check-box for teachers who sign up to the email list. If I have the time, I'll provide some posts and answers questions for teachers and students. Lastly, I have included a map of Antarctica with the locations of the University of Wisconsin AWS sites and a number of pictures from my last trip as a preview to this year's trip.

Map of the locations of the University of Wisconsin AWS sites. Approximately half my trip will be spent repairing AWS sites on the Ross Ice Shelf (e.g. Vito, Margaret, Elaine) and the other half will be spent in West Antarctica (e.g. Siple Dome, Byrd, Erin). I will be staying at McMurdo Station (near Willie Field AWS) for much of my trip.