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Science and Stewardship in the Antarctic
FIGURE 2.1 The first Automatic Geophysical Observatory (AGO) set up for unmanned operations at a remote site in Antarctica 500 km from the South Pole. The ski-equipped Hercules aircraft is positioned to deliver the year's supply of propane that fuels the AGO's 60 watt thermoelectric generator. Heat from the generator is used to maintain the shelter at a constant room temperature while the experiment electronics pass nearly 3 gigabytes of science data to the AGO's recorders. Six instruments supplied by one Japanese and five U.S. institutions are included in the instrument complement for studies of upper atmosphere physics. Also included is a set of meteorology instruments. (Courtesy of J.H. Doolittle, Lockheed Palo Alto Research & Development Laboratory. Acknowledgement: NSF/OPP contract DPP 88-14294).
Norwegian explorers had reached the South Pole before them: "Great God, this is an awful place and terrible enough for us to have labored to it without the reward of priority" (Scott, 1913). No doubt, even today, many antarctic scientists attempting outdoor activities that do not go according to plan have felt these same frustrations. The harshness of the antarctic environment imposes an extra measure of difficulty on everyone who works or visits there. People inexperienced with these conditions quickly learn that additional time and effort are required to accomplish even seemingly simple tasks.
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