#dome c

[therealuniverse]

Zap This image was taken a few weeks ago at Concordia Research Station, built high on the Antarctic plateau at a site called Dome C. Since it was taken, the sun has finally come up at this site, and it will remain up for the next half year or so.

The bright light being fired into the sky is the LIDAR experiment at this site. They are shooting the laser into the sky to study how it interacts with the lowermost layer of the atmosphere, known as the atmospheric boundary layer. As they send out pulses of light, some of the light reflects off layers in the atmosphere, some of it scatters to the side off of turbulence or particles in the atmosphere, and during the five minute laser pulses these properties can be measured. Dome C is flat, at high elevation, and about as isolated from air currents in the atmosphere as any place on Earth. Thus if air pollution arrives at this site, it is showing its abundance in the rest of the world. If this site heats up, the atmospheric boundary layer thickness will change in a measurable way, and this has been gradually seen over the last 15 years since this experiment began. Finally, this site is also subject to the ozone layer hole generated by human release of chlorofluorocarbons into the atmosphere over the last century. Thus, these laser pulses monitor the formation of that hole and hopefully, its healing at this site over time. -JBB Image credit: European Space Agency https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2020/08/Return_of_the_LIDAR Reference: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-12968-1_12

[endirectdu6econtinent]

La station Concordia apparait à l'horizon sur la route du "Raid". Ce convoi de ravitaillement est parti il y a 10 jours de la base côtière française Dumont Durville, en Terre-Adélie, et transporte 180 tonnes de matériel et de vivres sur 1150 kilomètres à travers l'Antarctique pour permettre aux 13 hivernants de passer l'hiver coupés du monde à Concordia. Onze personnes sont embarquées dans l'expédition, dont 2 italiens, 1 australienne, et 8 français. Parmi eux, deux médecins dont un est également en charge de la cuisine, des mécaniciens, des techniciens, et des scientifiques. Le raid est composé de différents modules de vie (cuisine, bureaux, chambres, énergie), et est tiré par d'énormes tracteurs Caterpillar Challenger de 25 tonnes. Après 2 jours d'escale à Concordia, il faudra déjà songer à repartir pour Dumont Durville !

[stochasticplanet]

73.775790°S, 121.952528°E northwest of Concordia Research Station, Dome C, Antarctica photo by ESA/IPEV/PNRA - Evangelos Kaimakamis