TRANSPOLAR SKITREK PROGRESS REPORT #16: May 14, 1988 Prepared by Rich Ensign, N8IWJ, AMSAT Science Education Advisor For Use With The AMSAT Teachers Guide "Exploring The High Arctic From Your Classroom" UoSAT Programmer Michael Meerman, G0/PA3BHF, visited North Pole 28 on his way to the Pole for a special ceremony with the Transpolar Skitrek Expedition on April 26th. He talked with the head of the station during his brief stay and provided us with this report. NP-28 is one of the three Soviet scientific drifting polar stations, mainly for ocean and weather research. The landscape at NP-28 does not really differ from that at the North Pole, its distance on April 26th was only about 28 km. There are just three Soviet stations, and one privately based Californian- Alaskan-Canadian station on the ice cap. NP-28 is about 800 by 800 meters. When it was set up in 1986, it measured about 1.5 by 2 km. It is, of course, not like an island surounded by water but is attached, part of the polar cap. It has drifted about 4000 km in the polar currents since 1986. The station consists of 5 or 6 wooden barracks: a common room with kitchen, Meteor/NOAA receiving station, radio shack, a hydrological station where sea temperatures and currents are monitored, and also a radio hut for the airplanes. At NP-28 about 25 men work in 1 year shifts. People work round the clock as the sun stays at a constant elevation. The meals at NP-28 were at a set time, but Michael reports he could not see a real difference between what was served at breakfast, lunch or dinner. NP-28 has begun to crack apart since Michael's visit. Buildings have had to be moved and the large AN-74 jet cargo plane that had dropped supplies to the skiers and brought Michael and others to the Pole can no longer land on NP-28's shortened runway. Teachers who wish their students to plot NP-28's southward drift may want to access the W0RPK AMSAT Bulletin Board at 1-515-961-3325 to obtain a special exercise containing NP-28 position data since the beginning of the trek. Also available on the BBS is a questionnaire which should be filled out by all schools following the trek. The questionnaire may also be obtained by sending a buisness sized SASE to: Richard C. Ensign, N8IWJ, 421 N. Military, Dearborn, MI 48124. The skiers have made excellent progress recently and are now about half-way between the Pole and Canada. On May 13 and 14 they were resting after their first Canadian air supply. A low cloud ceiling prevented the Twin Otter from spotting the skiers as it flew north so the plane landed at NP-28 and waited for the weather to clear while loading up with Canadian and Russian supplies. On May 13, in clear weather, the plane headed south, quickly spotted the skiers and landed beside their camp. Pilot and co-pilot then spent the "night" with the skiers, before taking off for the trip south. During this rest period the skiers coordinates were 86d 39m North and 75d 38m West. The next Transpolar Skitrek Expedition Progress Report will be issued on May 20, 1988 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 ----------- --------- ---------- ------------------------------------------- 15May 10:37 86d36.0mN 75d39.2mW Drift movement only 14May 11:47 86d37.5mN 75d19.9mW Resupply successful - Drift movement only 13May No movement - stopped for resupply aircraft - 1st attempt failed 12May 12:12 86d39.7mN 75d38.6mW Approximately 400km from finish 10km 11May 10:28 86d44.7mN 77d32.1mW Approximately 358km from pole 22km 10May 11:36z 86d56.6mN 79d20.3mW 09May No report available 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 RADIO AMATEUR SATELLITE CORPORATION TRACKING AN ICE ISLAND: A TRANSPOLAR SKITREK EXPEDITION CLASSROOM EXERCISE The Ice Island North Pole 28 is a Soviet scientific station located in the middle of the Arctic Ocean not far from the North Pole. The ice island contains an air strip and several buildings housing scientific equipment, communications gear and crew living quarters. Barry Garratt, 4K0DX/VE3CDX, is currently on the island serving as communications representative for the Canadian Communications Team supporting the trek. We wanted to know how the ice island moved in the Arctic Ocean currents and he supplied this data: DATE LATITUDE LONGITUDE (decimal degrees) ============================ 04Mar 88.0d N 177.0d W 11Mar 88.2d N 178.1d W 25Mar 88.5d N 178.0d W 31Mar 88.6d N 178.6d W 06Apr 88.8d N 178.6d E 16Apr 89.3d N 173.4d E temp -25C 17Apr 89.3d N 172.7d E 20Apr 89.4d N 179.3d E 22Apr 89.7d N 174.4d E 23Apr 89.7d N 176.3d E 25Apr 89.7d N 165.3d W temp -23C 02May 89.5d N 127.5d W 03May 89.5d N 128.4d W temp -10C 04May 89.4d N 119.8d W temp -5C 07May 89.2d N 125.8d W 08May 89.2d N 127.8d W Plot the data on polar coordinate graph paper to get a sense of the ice island's motion in the Arctic Ocean. Check a world atlas in your library to find the location of currents in the Arctic Ocean. Can the sudden change of motion the ice island underwent beginning on April 25th be explained by ocean currents? RADIO AMATEUR SATELLITE CORPORATION SURVEY OF SCHOOLS USING AMSAT EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS The following set of questions are designed to help AMSAT develop educational materials and programs like SKITREK of use to schools both in classrooms and in extra-curricular activities. Your name________________________________ Call Sign (optional)____________ School______________________________________________ Address__________________________________________ (of school) City___________________________State or Province & ZIP_______________________ Country_____________________________________ Your affiliation with the school (teacher) (administrator) (volunteer) (other-explain) If you are not an amateur radio operator, who is your ham contact? Name _______________________________________ Call_____________ Address_______________________________________________________________ _______ If you are not a school employee, name the teacher(s) or administrator(s) with whom you work __________________________________________________________ If you are a teacher, what subject do you teach?_____________________________ In what subjects is ham radio used either as a direct subject of study or as a tool to facilitate other studies: How did you receive Skitrek Progress Reports? (AMSAT BBS) (Packet) (ASR) (Nets) (Another ham) (UoSAT Bulletins) In what subject areas is the Skitrek Expedition being used? How many students were involved? Did you have media coverage of your activities?_____ Describe: What benefits do you feel the students gained from the Skitrek experience? How could we have improved our Skitrek Guide & Progress Reports? FUTURE AMSAT EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS: What would you like to see us do? Check items of interest ____ More information about amateur radio satellites in general. ____ Help in setting up an amateur radio satellite communications station. ____ Provide lists of schools with clubs and satellite setups. ____ Participation in school satellite nets via satellite (Phase 3C). ____ Curriculum modules in science, electronics, space science. ____ Cross cultural & language studies via HF and satellites. ____ Science experiment data sharing via satellite. ____ Satellites in education articles in ham & AMSAT publications. ____ Decoding & using satellite telemetry in science & electronics classes. ____ Packet radio via satellite. ____ Astronaut/Cosmonaut Ham activity from space. ____ Satellite tracking programs for visual as well as radio observing. ____ Amateur radio equipped balloon launches. ____ Other: (Specify) Put me on a mailing list to share ideas with other schools? (Yes) (No) Does your school have a club station with you as sponsor? (Yes) (No) How many students are in the club?_______ If you answered yes above, circle the modes/bands you work: HF: (10) (20) (40) (80) (CW) (SSB) (RTTY) (HF PACKET) 2 Meters: (FM) (SSB) (CW) (RTTY) (PACKET) (SSTV) 220 MHz: (FM) (SSB) (SSTV) (PACKET) 440 MHz: (FM) (SSB) (PACKET) (SSTV) (ATV) SATELLITES: (RS 10/11) (AO-10) (PHASE 3C) (FO-12) (UO-9 & UO-11) Modes: (B) (J) (L) (K) (T) Is your club station located at home or at school?_________________ Club call if you have one __________ How many students have become hams in the last 2 years?______ Are you currently an AMSAT member?_________ If you would like AMSAT membership information or a list of publications, satellite tracking programs and other products send your request with a business sized SASE to AMSAT Headquarters, P.O. Box 27, Washington, DC 20044. Send this completed survey to: Rich Ensign, N8IWJ AMSAT Science Education Advisor 421 N. Military Dearborn, MI 48124 Watch for notice of new AMSAT educational programs in ASR (AMSAT Newsletter) on AMSAT Nets and on the WORPK AMSAT BBS.