The Soviet Union launched their first Arctic Ocean drifting research station, North Pole 1, in 1937. In 1991, the very year that the former Soviet Republics split apart into independent states, unstable ice in the Beaufort Sea forced personnel aboard the last drifting station, North Pole 31, to complete their observations. This 54-year-long record of scientific measurements aboard 31 drifting ice platforms in one of the world's harshest environments represents a monumental, lasting achievement by hundreds of dedicated Russian scientists.
Radiosonde (weather balloon) observations were one of many regular geophysical observations carried out at the drifting stations. These historical data were stored as bound volumes of handwritten tables at the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute in St. Petersburg, and were virtually unknown outside of Russia.
For the past 10 years I have led an international project to obtain, digitize and analyze this exotic set of Arctic meteorological data. In this colloquium I will describe this project, including its present status, and will discuss opportunities for student involvement.
This talk will be accessible to undergraduate and graduate students.
| Date & Time: | Friday, Oct. 8, 1999, 4:00 pm |
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| Place: | EMS Bldg., Rm. E495 |
| 3200 N. Cramer St., Milw., WI |