Darron Lehmann from the Bureau of Meteorology at Mawson Station was kind enough to take us through the process of releasing a weather balloon. Balloons are released at exactly 4:15 PM every day along with hundreds of others around the world. The balloons capture temperature, humidity, wind speed and wind direction and add to the global model for weather forecasting. Darron dons a flash suit to protect himself from potential explosion of the hydrogen which is made on station. He also wears a man down trigger in case something happens and he is suddenly reclining. It triggers the fire alarms across station after 30 seconds in the horizontal position. The balloon starts off about 1 metre across big but expands to the size of a house as it reaches the upper atmosphere. #weather #weatherballoon #mawsonstation @bureauofmeteorology@ausantarctic
While at Mawson Station we had the honour of interviewing cosmic ray scientists Alejandro Saiz Rivera and Pradiphat Muangha. Better known as Alex and Fhoon. The two scientists have traveled from Thailand to upgrade the equipment and software for cosmic ray detection that has been in continuous operation since 1957. That is an incredible source of long term data for analysing cosmic weather. They plan to send another team of researchers in 2025 to further the upgrades.The Thai team is working with long term researchers at University of Tasmania to make this an ongoing international effort. The characters "Cosmic Ray" and his sidekick "Muon Detector" have apparently been adopted by the Hutton Truckers and I wouldn't be surprised if they appear in the epic game Elite Dangerous. The cosmic ray building sits up on a hill at Mawson station and has a deep bunker underneath that was dug to install detectors deep in the earth. We will release the video interview in the future. #cosmicweather #cosmicray #research #mawsonstation #antarctica
One thing we really hoped for in voyaging to Antarctica was to see the Aurora Australis. Yes, we see the ship every day. I mean the Aurora Australis lights and on March 1 in the wee hours it was visible over the ship. We had seen a "weak" Aurora when at Mawson station, it was described as weak by seasoned expeditioners but still looked pretty amazing. This aurora was a little dim and cloudy for an hour or so then turned on the whole cinematic display with dancing curtains and greens and pinks and purples covering the sky over the Aurora Australis (ship). I couldn't capture the sheer majesty of it all and the ship was rolling a bit so hard to get a still image. Those white squiggles are stars. But here are some teasers. #auroraaustralis #aurora #southernlights #icebreaker #southernocean @ausantarctic
We were lucky enough to get perfect weather for flying the drone on the Aurora Australis in ice, and at Mawson and Davis stations. The odds of getting perfect weather (almost no winds, perfect visibility) for piloting on the two days available to us at the stations must have been pretty slim, but we were so blessed. We captured aerial footage for a basic survey of the Aurora Australis, Mawson station and Davis station. We will use the footage to generate basic photogrammetry models of the ship exterior, Mawson and Davis. It took a fair amount of coordination so our sincere gratitude to VL Chunky, Captain Rob, DVL Amy, Mawson Station Leader Kyle, Davis Station Leader Dave and Will who kept us safe at Davis. We've been preparing since before we left, reading SOPs and CASA regulations and getting a Remote Pilot License. We made plenty of paperwork for everyone along the way. Was well worth the effort! #mawsonstation #davisstation #drone #aerial #icebreaker #photogrammetry
After leaving Henderson Hut, we set course for Rumdoodle Hut. The name apparently comes from an adventure novel describing an "epic" adventure and survival story. Rumdoodle actually has 2 huts, the blue hut shelters 5 people and the red hut is for 3 people. You travel along the vast ice plateau, following the 'Bamboo Line'; bamboo markers spaced at intervals as guides. Ian knew the terrain very well but I'm sure the bamboo line comes in handy in a whiteout. We did some recording and some thawing out in the hut. What a spectacular place to spend a few nights. In the afternoon we headed back down the plateau to Mawson and could see the ship and station as we descended. #mawsonstation #rumdoodlehut #iceplateau @ausantarctic@anat_australia
We were incredibly lucky to get a trip out on to the ice plateau. We jumped in a blue Hägg (Hägglunds tracked over-snow vehicle) with Ian as our intrepid guide and headed for Henderson Hut, 'Hendo' The approach to Hendo is through a small gap and the wind howls through and spits ice along with it. The hut is a refuge for 4 people with a magnificent view down to the sea towards Mawson station. We set up the 360 camera and the ambisonic sound recorder to capture the environment. We also had a GoPro camera recording the journey into Hendo so stay tuned for the Glacial TV episode. @ausantarctic #gopro #mawsonstation #hendersonhut #360camera #ambisonics
It seems every time we approach a station the weather turns to magnifico on the dial. Here is the sunrise at Mawson Station. Only matched by the sunset, of course. The yellows in the sunset are incredibly vibrant. #mawsonstation #antarctica #sunrise #sunset @ausantarctic
Here is a view of Mawson Station featuring the bust of Sir Douglas Mawson and The MUG. This is a shout out to the Hutton Truckers and VL Andy "Chuncky" Cianchi, who have a LOT of fun for a great cause. All "FOR THE MUG.
Who ARE Hutton? If you think back to the heady days of 1984, for some of you a memory, for others firmly lodged in 'the old days' before you were born, there was a computer game. The first of its kind. 3d graphics. Space. Trading and combat. No lives, no high score tables. For the first time kids could BE Han Solo, or Kirk, or Valerian. It had a few humorous twists. Planets with fat black felines, or slimy blue frogs. The essence of Douglas Adams' humour was rooted in it. Of Pratchett. Of silliness.
Fast forward to 5 years ago. The game was reborn. Updated. Glorious in VR. The whole milky way, accurately built and those who were kids in 84 are now in their 40s or older. With kids of their own. Still silly. After a year or so, a little community of friends built up. The game had one little quirk that had been kept from earlier versions. A space station that was an hour and 45 minutes away from anything. In a straight line. And at the end of it... Nothing of any note at all.
Over the previous few social get togethers, shouts of MUG had started due to a character invented for a podcast that kept lobbing them at people. 'Wouldn't it be great if there WAS a mug?' we asked on one drunken evening. 'I went all this way and all I got was this mug'. We entered a competition to insert something in to the game. We got 60 percent of the votes and the Hutton mug was born. 3500 gamers from across the globe, flying 1h45 in a straight line time and time again just for a stupid virtual mug. Since then, a community has built up around the idea that anything can be done as long as it is 'for the mug'. Take a mug into CERN? No worries. How about 1km underground in a science base?
We use it as a vehicle for raising money for two charities: Specialeffect and Hearing Dogs for the Deaf
/
/huttonorbital
/groups/HuttonOrbital/
#forthemug #huttonorbital
#huttonorbitaltruckers @ausantarctic
We got the opportunity to go on station for the day at Mawson. Our main priority was to use the drone to do an aerial survey of the station which we will try to use to construct a photogrammetry model. Mawson is often windy with the catabatics streaming down the ice shelf behind the station. We were lucky on the day as there was almost no wind in the afternoon and the sun was blazing down. It was pretty warm out there. Not sure if that is necessarily a good thing. Seymour Island off the northern tip of Antarctica recorded a record 20.75 degrees celcius on February 9, the first time the continent has broken the 20 degree barrier. However it was perfect drone weather with great visibility. We surveyed the station over a few hours and also took the opportunity to look around the station environment. Here is a 360 view #photogrammetry #mawsonstation #drone #360video @anat_australia@ausantarctic
A video of penguins racing the Aurora Australis. I'm not sure how fast we are travelling but it is probably a good 8 knots or more. The little penguins are really flying! #antarctica #penguins #porpoisingpenguins @ausantarctic
After a glorious day off the coast of Mawson we were treated to a sensational sunset over starboard and simultaneous full moonrise over the port side of the Aurora Australis #icebreaker research vessel. #moonrise #sunset #twilight #antarctica #mawsonstation @ausantarctic
After a night of breaking through fast ice we arrived just outside Mawson station on another stunning Antarctic morning. @ausantarctic #icebreaker #fastice #antarctica #mawsonstation
