Observation Of Auroras From Below The Snow

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29775, 19 March 1962, Page 7

Observation Of Auroras From Below The Snow

Two Americans and a New Zealander have settled down for a winter of auroral observations in a unique sub-snow building about 42 miles north-east of Byrd Station, says the National Science Foundation. For the next five months of uninterrupted darkness, they will be entirely selfsufficient, communicating with Byrd Station and with the outside world only by radio. By taking photographs of auroral displays simultaneously with other observers here, they hope to determine the height above the earth of the aurora australis, or southern lights. The research aims also at comparing the southern lights with the northern lights, and fixing more precisely the zone of maximum auroral activity in the Southern Hemisphere In addition, clues may be found to increase man’s understanding of how and why these strange light displays occur and how they relate to other upper atmosphere phenomena. Manning the auroral substation are the Americans, Messrs A. E. Hedin, J. P. Turtle, and the New Zealander. Mr G. N. Johnstone. The sub-neve, or sub-snow, building which, together with a generator building constitutes the sub-station, is approximately 16ft by 32ft. and is made up of a number of modular components joined together and placed in a trench in the snow. Structural supports affixed to the roof rest on a series of weightspreading pads on the snow surface. Most of the weight of the building is borne by timber resting on oil drums

beneath the building. Through a system of lifting jacks, the entire building can be raised to greater heights as the snow accumulation gradually coven the station.

The building has both a photo dome and a visual observation dome that extend above the snow surface. Beneath the building is a large storage area. Two rubber tanks in a 7ft pit provide the three occupants with a month’s supply of diesel fuel. Additional fuel is stored outside the station area in barrels.

Throughout the winter darkness, radio communication between this station and the sub-station will enable the physicists at both sites—located on approximately the same geomagnetic meridian—to take simultaneous photographs every time an auroral display occurs. Such photographs, taken at the same time along a line of known distance, are expected to indicate the point above the earth at which a display occurs. This knowledge, in turn will provide the distance to, or height of, the displays. Continuous winter observations will indicate the Southern Hemisphere zone of maximum auroral activity. Because auroral heights have a bearing on the physical processes involved in the formation of the aurora in both hemispheres, it is important that they be measured in both polar regions for correlation and analysis. Knowledge gained can provide information about the similarities and differences that exist in the entire area of upper atmosphere physics of the two polar regions.