TRANSPOLAR SKITREK PROGRESS REPORT #15: May 7, 1988 Prepared by Rich Ensign, N8IWJ, AMSAT Science Education Advisor For Use With The AMSAT Teachers Guide "Exploring The High Arctic From Your Classroom" Last week, UoSAT OSCAR 11's programmer, Michael Meerman travelled to the North Pole. He went, at the invitation of the Soviets, to share in the celebration as the Transpolar Skitrek Expedition arrived at the Pole and marked this major milestone in their 1730 km trek from Russia to Canada. Michael's report follows: It was an excellent, very exciting trip. Unfortunately, we spent too little time at the actual North Pole. Here's a short description of my impressions of the trip and events. I arrived in Moscow (Sunday 24th April) after a 4 hour flight from England. Next day morning, we went to the assembly point (not far from the Kremlin) to meet with the Russian delegation and the Press (both western journalists based in Moscow and the Soviet press). We then set off for a six and a half hour flight to Sredniy Island in Siberia by AN-74 Cargo plane. The plane was stuffed with about 30 passengers, tents, fuel, generators, heaters, and food. There were no windows, so we couldn't see anything of the Siberian landscape. We spent the 'Night' on Sredniy Island and the next day, somewhere in the afternoon, we set off with the same airplane to the Soviet ice island North Pole 28. After a long delay while we waited for the Canadian delegation to arrive, we travelled by helicopter to the North Pole. Among the diginitaries attending were Canadian Minister of Mining, Energy and Resources Marcel Masse and his Russian counterpart, Mr. Y. Izraeli. We only stayed at the Pole about four hours. The offical celebration lasted for about an hour out in the open with both ministers addressing the skiers and the press. I estimated a hundred to 150 people were gathered together, probably the largest meeting ever held at a Pole. There were flags, balloons, a MacDonalds Restaurant (model 10 cm high), champagne, a post-office and a radio shack. McDonalds is one of the Canadian sponsors of the trek. The Russians had put up a few tents (with heaters!), but the weather was excellent, blue sky, only a light wind from the south (of course, south, it's the only direction) temperature somewhere between -20 and -28 C. We arrived around 2300 gmt 26th April (this is a guess), there is of course no local time, not even a local date. The organizers had laid a small ring on the ground, round an ice pillar (the Pole) with a flame on top, and some meridian lines stretching direction of the South Pole. Naturally, there was a sign saying 'Welcome to the North-Pole'. I made about 50 QSO's using Barrys' rig (ICOM 761) under both of the skiers calls, EX0VE and CI8UA. The pile-up of contacts was enormous, mostly Canadian and American stations, one station on the Golan-Heights, a few from South America and two or three European. Pity I couldn't work them all, there just wasn't time. I taped a short interview with Laurie Dexter. Here is some of what we discussed including answers to a number of students questions. Regarding the Nordski-Comm navigation procedure, Laurie reported that the conditions on HF have been very reliable, the skiers get their position back via 80/20 m from Moscow about 2 hours after they switch on their ELT beacons. In the case of UoSAT, there is a 6 to 8 hours time delay, due to the fact that at Guildford we have to wait until UoSAT comes in range for programming. The skiers have listened and found it very easy to understand. The Pole looks like a desert; white, flat, very flat. The only hills I saw were actually pressure ridges, going up to about 2 meters. Laurie indicated that pressure ridges were everywhere on the trek so far, but none of these proved to be impossible to cross though some were difficult and they had to search for a good path. Although it is flat, the surface is not smooth at all. Not only pressure ridges, but the wind blows constantly, leaving strange shapes, sometimes like you can see on a sand beach, caused by the flowing sea-water. The surface is layered, snow freezes, new snow falls on top of it, is blown away, etc. The thickness of the cap varies between 3 and 12 meters. Laurie said that they haven't seen any life on their journey, but curiously, about 30 km from the Pole they saw the foot prints of a polar bear. This is very much closer to the Pole than anyone expected. The skiers do carry a rifle, but have never needed to use it. The skiers have not yet used their rubber boats. When they encounterd open water, they either went around it, or waited until the water froze, or the gap narrowed enough to cross it. Expectance is though, that due to the warmer weather, more and more gaps will occur, which freeze less quickly, so they might need the boats during their trip to Canada. About igloos, they made only one, in the very beginning of the trek. The moisture problem in their suits and in the tent is completely gone, purely because of the change in the weather and temperature (-45C when they left, but shortly after it warmed and has remained between -20 and -30C). Michael Meerman's report from the Pole will be continued in Progress Report #16 where he will share his observations of ice island North Pole 28. TRANSPOLAR SKITREK / PROJECT NORDSKI COMM - SKI TEAM POSITION LOG ----------------------------------------------------------------- Daily reports are made by the team to communications support stations on Sredniy Island, USSR, Russian ice station North Pole 28 and Resolute Bay, Canada via amateur radio. These reports are relayed south at 1500z in the 20m amateur radio band on 14.121mHz USB. Reports are automatically taped at W0RPK and reduced to daily information notes for continuing logs. DAY/TIM UTC LATITUDE LONGITUDE REMARKS ----------- --------- ---------- ------------------------------------------- 08May 10:48 87d25.4mN 81d13.9mW 07May 11:54 87d43.5mN 81d31.5mW 06May No position report 05May 11:41z 88d14.4mN 81d13.6mW 04May 10:15 88d31.7mN 81d07.3mW -5dC Open water could become a prob 28km 03May 11:58 88d46.6mN 81d41.8mW 02May 11:29 89d05.6mN 86d03.0mW 01May 11:49 89d18.6mN 90d17.4mW -10dC wind 25km/h vis 4km light snow 36km 30Apr 10:32 89d37.9mN 94d29.8mW 29Apr 10:30 89d48.2mN 106d55.0mW 28Apr 11:21 89d51.1mN 109d53.9mW 27Apr 90d00.0mN Official Canadian/Russian meeting 26Apr 16:00 90d00.0mN The North Pole 25Apr 10:12 89d56.6mN 147d18.8mE 6km to pole 22km 24Apr 11:13 89d46.4mN 107d25.7mE -25dC 24km to the pole 28km 23Apr 89d30.9mN 87d54.9mE -20dC 46km to pole ETA 25Apr 18km 22Apr 12:39 89d21.2mN 80d26.2mE -20dC 64km to pole 21km 21Apr 11:33 89d11.9mN 89d20.6mE -22dC Wind NE 43kts bad conditions 20km 20Apr 11:05 89d00.0mN 95d42.8mE -30dC Now estimating pole on 25Apr 25km 19Apr 11:58 88d45.8mN 94d31.6mE -35dC 140km to pole 27km 18Apr 11:10 88d33.9mN 91d47.9mE -30dC 27km 17Apr 11:00 88d20.3mN 91d28.9mE -32dC 185km to pole 25km 16Apr 10:30 88d08.9mN 90d44.6mE Movement due only to ice drift 15Apr 10:35 88d10.7mN 91d48.2mE Movement due only to ice drift 14Apr 11:45 88d11.4mN 95d09.9mE Movement due only to ice drift 13Apr 88d11.4mN 97d07.0mE Air drop coordinates 13Apr 10:42 88d10.4mN 96d45.2mE Start of trek before air drop 15km 12Apr 10:49 88d02.7mN 95d34.9mE -30dC 235km to pole 37km 11Apr 12:06 87d42.4mN 94d55.7mE -30dC Estimating pole April 24-26 18km 10Apr 11:37 87d32.6mN 93d29.5mE -30dC 272km to the pole everything ok 34km 09Apr 10:38 87d14.2mN 91d48.4mE 08Apr 11:55 87d00.2mN 91d03.5mE -28dC Best single day progress 37km 07Apr 10:08 86d40.6mN 92d38.6mE -28dC 600km total 369km to the pole 26km 06Apr 10:57 86d26.3mN 93d18.3mE -40dC Lots of ice everybody ok 27km 05Apr 11:01 86d12.4mN 92d07.2mE 421km to go to the pole 22km 04Apr 10:39 86d00.7mN 91d44.5mE -37dC 22km 03Apr 11:49 85d48.8mN 92d20.5mE -36dC Everybody ok 02Apr No position report 01Apr 11:12 85d23.2mN 93d40.0mE -37dC Slept in before starting 8km 31Mar No change 30Mar No change 29Mar 11:38 85d18.9mN 94d55.3mE -35dC 2nd air drop a success - stopped 24km 28Mar 10:26 85d07.1mN 95d17.4mE -38dC Open water a problem 12km 27Mar 10:48 85d00.1mN 95d31.5mE -45dC clear wind light good ice 31km 26Mar 12:15 84d43.1mN 95d50.5mE -42dC Clear wind NW 2-3mps 2days prog32.4km 25Mar No position report 24Mar 13:00 84d25.6mN 95d58.2mE -37dC wind 40km/hr snowstorm 0km 23Mar 13:00 84d28.9mN 96d12.4mE -33dC Strong head winds 20-40km/hr 15km 22Mar 13:02 84d19.0mN 97d02.9mE Everything good ice, temp, progress 28km 21Mar 13:00 84d03.5mN 97d40.4mE -39dC ice excellent few leads&hummocks 21km 20Mar 11:40 83d51.8mN 97d27.4mE -36dC wind 1-2mps good ice & spirits 26km 18Mar 13:00 83d37.9mN 97d21.7mE -31dC no wind or open water good cond 22km 17Mar 13:00 83d11.7mN 97d26.6mE -35dC SE wind 3-5meters/sec 24km 16Mar <1st air drop successful on 14MAR > 15Mar 13:00 82d58.7mN 97d28.9mE 14Mar <17Mar for R&R and experiments > 13Mar 11:16 82d52.2mN 97d19.8mE -42dC wind 3-4meters/sec 24km 12Mar No position report 25km 11Mar 11:36 82d28.8mN 97d13.0mE 10MAR 11:58 82d16.9mN 97d24.6mE -45dC 20km 09Mar 12:30 82d09.3mN 97d47.0mE -30dC 12km 08Mar No position report 20km 07Mar 12:23 81d56.6mN 97d15.1mE 17km 06Mar No significant progress - Open water - Very windy - camped early 0km 05Mar 12:44 81d35.8mN 96d52.4mE -21dC Snow wind 33meters/sec 14km 04Mar 11:13 81d32.3mN 97d 0.0mE -28dC 20km 03Mar 11:24 81d21.2mN 96d12.8mE 7km 03Mar 07:31 81d15.0mN 95d50.0mE Starting point on Cape Arktichesky