10-16-E4

All in a day's work. Deploying an Automatic Weather Station at A028, deep inland on the ice plateau.

These weather stations measured wind speed, wind direction and air temperature at three different heights above the snow surface, plus snow temperature and solar flux. Data was transmitted automatically to polar orbiting satellites and relayed to the Argos processing centre in Toulouse France. Power was provided by a lead-acid battery charged by a solar panel, with backup from a Lithium battery.

The stations were designed to work unattended for many years in temperatures to -55 degrees C and below. Stations on the southern route from Casey observed and reported temperatures below -70 degrees C.

Wilkes Land
East Antarctica
18 Feb 1986