Scientists Flown Out From Sky-Hi Station

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29744, 10 February 1962, Page 13

Scientists Flown Out From Sky-Hi Station

With the evacuation by United States Navy Hercules of 10 men from the National Science Foundation’s scientific station at Sky-Hi in Ellsworth Land yesterday afternoon, the season’s most ambitiously-planned summer establishment ceased operations until next summer.

The men brought out from Sky-Hi were three scientists who had worked there during the summer and the seven-man scientific party, led by Dr. J. C. Behrendt, a geologist from the University of Wisconsin who have recently completed a 1200mile traverse through unexplored regions of Ellsworth Land. They arrived at SkyHi on February 6. The Hercules' of the Navy’s VX6 Squadron, waited for weather clearance at McMurdo Station, flew direct to Sky-Hi, picked up the men and several thousand pounds of equipment and

took off for Byrd station where it landed for refuelling. The aircraft landed at McMurdo Station yesterday afternoon. Sky-Hi station was established in early December last year to house six men who conducted studies into ionospheric soundings, v.l.f. studies, and magnetics. The seven polar scientists using three snocat vehicles made their 68 day, 1200-mile traverse through a largely unexplored region of Ellsworth Land, near the base of the Palmer Peninsula, to learn more about the behaviour and thickness of the massive ice sheet that covers the continent, and its underlying rock surface. As a special study they also have attempted to find the end of a deep trench that entends below sea level from the .Ross Sea into Ellsworth Lana.