SCIENTIFIC WORK “GOING WELL” AT CAPE HALLETT

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29713, 5 January 1962, Page 8

SCIENTIFIC WORK “GOING WELL” AT CAPE HALLETT

Operations at the joint United States-New Zealand scientific station at Cape Hallett. 380 miles north of McMurdo Sound, were “going along reasonably well.’’ said the scentific leader. Mr C B Taylor, of Lower Hutt, when “The Press" made a radiotelephone call yesterday Two United States Army turbo-helicopters had flown in earlier this week, the pilots and survey crews being the first visitors the staff at the base had seen since mid-November, said Mr Taylor.

Because the aircraft runway on the sea ice breaks tip early in summer, no wheeled aircraft have been able to land at the station since then.

The Army turbo-helicop-ters are working on the second stage of a topographical survey, “Topo North.” covering the country from McMurdo Sound north along the coast to Cape Adare. The pilots are United States Army officers, and the topographic engineers are members of the United States Geological Survey. The icebreaker East wind (which sailed from Lyttelton on Wednesday morning) was expected at Cape Hallett about Monday or Tuesday. Mr Taylor said. The weather at the station recently had been very good, he said.

There were at preset* 35 men at the station, including himself and two other New Zealanders, so that Christmas dinner had had to be held in three shifts, said Mr Taylor. Because of the special preparations for the meal, only Christmas dinner and

one other meal were served on Christmas Day. The New Year was welcomed in quietly. The two other New Zealanders at Cape Hallett are Mr M. G. Woodgyer, of Wellington, a New Zealand Post Office radio technician, and Mr R R. Exly of Lower Hutt, a Dominion Physical Laboratory technician. Mr Taylor himself is a physicist with the Institute of Nuclear Sciences at Gracefield, Lower Hutt A great variety of scientific work is being carried out at Cape Hallett It includes daily upper air and surface weather observations, auroral and air glow studies, geological studies, ionospheric physics, and seismic and cosmic-ray observations One United States scientist is at the station this summer making a study of the nature and distribution of Antarctic lichens.