This week’s station news is brought to you by Doug M.
As for something totally different this week we will look at a couple of science areas where things happen automatically and require very little human input at any time of the year. When at Casey you may see a roped off area, a building or a structure and wonder what it is all about.
All of these areas on station require regular checks to be carried out on them to verify all is operating correctly and or calibration/comparison checks made so that the automated equipment can be verified as working correctly.
Only a few topics will be covered this week, as there are lots of things happening around Casey, science wise.
Air sampling
Casey conducts a program for the Division of Atmospheric Research GASLAB — CSIRO, by sampling and collecting atmospheric gas on a routine basis. Sampling collection commenced in 1996/97 and then a few years ago an automated sampler (Picarro) was installed. The twin sampling heads are installed approximately three metres above the ground.
Fresh air is collected in special flasks locally in order to provide improved measurements of trace gases in the global atmosphere. The gases of particular interest are those implicated in major environmental issues such as the greenhouse effect and stratospheric ozone depletion.
The fresh air collection for these flasks is collected twice a month, under specific local weather conditions, and then the flasks are returned to CSIRO during resupply each year. GASLAB is then able to provide a comprehensive and precise analysis of the major trace gases in air samples. There is a vast global network of flask collection sites (of which Casey is just one of those sites on the Antarctic continent).