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Polar Services - 1995-96 Season Report
    
UNAVCO GPS Support to the National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs APPENDIX A - Detailed Summary of Support ProvidedS-005 (Art DeVries)Meter level GPS coordinates were provided for several fish hole locations in the McMurdo sound area. While not necessary for all the sites, the data were available from the dive hole positioning performed by ASA Scientific Diving Coordinator Jim Mastro (see ASA summary). S-005 also used GPS equipment and support to measure the ice thickness of the McMurdo Ice Shelf to correlate CTD data with ice depth. GPS was also used to measure tidal displacements concurrently with 24 hour CTD castings. GPS support was not requested prior to the field season, but was easily accommodated due to the limited amount of support requested and proximity of the field area to McMurdo Station. Field team members were trained on basic receiver operation, and all data were processed by the UNAVCO field engineer. S-042F (Andrew Fountain)Dr. Fountain requested GPS support prior to the field season to obtain precise coordinates for glacial monitoring stakes on four Taylor Valley glaciers (Canada, Commonwealth, Howard, and Taylor). By repeating the GPS measurements in the next field season, glacier velocity profiles can be obtained contributing valuable data to the mass-balance study in Taylor Valley. Stakes on the Canada glacier were surveyed twice in the 1995/96 field season, yielding preliminary velocity results. Continuing work is planned for the 1996/97 field season. A GPS tie was also made to a reference point used for a conventional survey of the Canada Glacier during a prior field season. This tie may allow previous stake survey data to be combined with the current GPS data. One member of the S-042F field team (Paul Langevin) attended the four day GPS training session at UNAVCO. Field engineering support was provided during the initial surveys. The UNAVCO field engineer provided refresher training to Mr. Langevin on equipment set-up and operation, data management, data processing, and advanced applications used in support of S-042W bathymetric projects. The field engineer also maintained contact with Dr. Fountain by email to the U.S. during the project, and met with him in April to review the GPS data results. Glacier stake coordinates were provided to Cheryl Hallam (USGS) to plot locations in the LTER Taylor Valley digital cartography data base. S-042W (Bob Wharton)A request for GPS equipment was made for support of the bathymetric work conducted by Dr. Wharton's field group. Plans for this work were finalized during the field season in November, and GPS equipment was available in Taylor Valley after Dr. Fountain's work was completed. Mr. Langevin (see S042F) was very familiar with the GPS hardware and software and supported this second LTER application without UNAVCO on-site assistance. GPS was used to position-tag bathymetry data across Dry Valley lakes and to trace the lake shorelines.
S-042M (Diane McKnight)A request for support was made by Dr. Ned Andrews of S-042M after discussing GPS with the UNAVCO field engineer at McMurdo Station. Equipment and field support were provided for a two day effort to digitize the topography of the Huey Creek drainage near Lake Fryxell Camp. Data from this effort were processed by the on-site field engineer and were used to produce a detailed topographic map.S-081 (Philip Kyle)Dr. Kyle requested one day of GPS support to obtain accurate coordinates of four seismometer locations on Mt. Erebus and Observation Hill for the Mt. Erebus Volcano Observatory. Due to the small scale of the project, the entire effort was conducted by the UNAVCO field engineer. The project consisted of one day of field work and one day of data processing,S-098 (Robin Bell/Don Blankenship)Four TurboRogue receivers were shipped to S-098 in Austin, Texas prior to the field season. S-098 shipped these receivers to Byrd Surface Camp (NBY) where they were used for the entire field season. Two of these receivers were part of the UNAVCO/OPP GPS equipment pool and the use of the other two receivers were requested directly from JPL resources. Due to a diminishing NASA DOSE TurboRogue pool and a delayed letter of request from the investigators to JPL there was some concern about securing the last two TurboRogues. To avoid future delays in resource planning, UNAVCO has already contacted S-098 investigators to determine their receiver needs for next season. No difficulties are expected in meeting their request this upcoming season.Once in the field, the project requested additional receiver memory cards from UNAVCO. Arrangements were made to deliver these from CONUS to a field team member en-route to NBY. After the field project, the field engineer received the equipment at McMurdo Station and arranged shipment directly back to the UNAVCO Facility. S-171 (Ed Waddington)Dr. Waddington requested GPS equipment to re-measure ice displacements at Taylor Dome. UNAVCO equipment was provided and power cables were specially modified for specific configurations by the field engineer at McMurdo Station. A very brief refresher training was provided as the S-171 field team was experienced in GPS surveying. In addition to the requested equipment, UNAVCO provided S-171 with a data processing computer due to unforeseen problems with the investigator's own equipment. Use of this computer allowed the field team to process their data at Taylor Dome as planned. The UNAVCO field engineer also surveyed the DVP3 borehole at McMurdo Station as requested by Dr. Gary Clow.S-180 (Sridhar Anandakrishnan)Dr. Anandakrishnan requested GPS support for two purposes: to survey in the locations of the seismometers he installed on Ice Stream C and to measure velocities along the ice stream. In November 1995, after a brief refresher training and practice sessions in the McMurdo area, the field team used the GPS receivers to record the seismometer locations as the instruments were deployed. The data were processed upon their return to McMurdo Station with assistance from the UNAVCO field engineer.During part two of the S-180 field season, selected sites on Ice Stream C were re-surveyed to obtain ice stream velocities. In addition, a kinematic survey of stakes across the shear margin between the ice sheet and Ice Stream C was re-surveyed. The initial survey of these stakes occurred during the 1994/95 field season with UNAVCO assistance. UNAVCO provided field assistance for part two of the 1995/96 season. The UNAVCO engineers also spent considerable time after the field season processing these data as well as a problem data set from the previous year. S-181 (Mark Kurz)Dr. Mark Kurz requested GPS support to locate geologic sample sites and measure the heights of lateral moraines in the Shackleton Glacier area with meter level vertical accuracy. A separate survey was also conducted to tie the project GPS data to a local benchmark in bedrock which ensures repeatable data in a global coordinate reference frame. Training in GPS field procedures and data processing were provided in Boulder before the field season to one field team member (Robert Ackard). During the project, field engineering support was provided to advise on the data collection methodology as well as assist with data collection. The UNAVCO field engineer processed all of the project data.S-185 (Ellen Mosley-Thompson)Dr. Mosley-Thompson requested GPS support to survey the location of the snow stakes in her large scale snow accumulation grid at the South Pole. In addition, GPS was used to obtain data for the purpose of creating a topographical map of the plateau area around the South Pole Station. One field team member, John Paskievitch, attended the pre-season training course at UNAVCO. UNAVCO provided field support for this project, assisting with equipment set-up, equipping a Spryte for kinematic GPS, and planning the data collection methodology. All data were processed by the UNAVCO field engineer, both during the project at the South Pole Station and afterward at McMurdo Station. Due to the large volume of data collected, data processing was extremely time consuming. On-site assistance allowed data collection and data processing to occur simultaneously. Dr. Thompson left Antarctica with 100% of the data processed, and UNAVCO field assistance allowed her team to leave both the South Pole Station and McMurdo Station several days earlier than anticipated.S-320 (Rikk Kvitek)Dr. Kvitek requested two UNAVCO receivers to augment his own GPS/GIS system. The newer UNAVCO receivers provided less noisy data, resulting in higher accuracy coordinates. The two receivers were equipped with additional firmware (RTCM/NMEA) provided by UNAVCO specifically for this project. The S-320 group is set up for a special application of the GPS equipment and very little assistance from UNAVCO was necessary due to the expertise of the S-320 field team.S-322 (Doug Lowenthal)Dr. Lowenthal requested UNAVCO assistance during the field season to obtain coordinates for air sampling equipment at McMurdo Station. Dr. Lowenthal was briefly trained on running a receiver, which he used to collect data at the air sampling stations. The data were processed by the UNAVCO field engineer.T-390 (Colin Harris)Dr. Harris requested GPS equipment to support the environmental assessment work that his group was performing for NSF at Edmonson Point and Cape Hallett. The field team members were trained on receiver operation and data processing at McMurdo Station and received direct field assistance on a shakedown project in Taylor Valley before leaving for Edmonson Point. Due to their late return date from the field, arrangements were made for them to hand carry the equipment to Christchurch and ship the equipment directly back to UNAVCO. T-390 used the UNAVCO data processing PC for an additional two months after their return from the field.T-531 (John Evans)T-531 requested UNAVCO GPS support to obtain coordinates of crevassed areas on the Skelton Glacier, Leverett Glacier, and through the McMurdo Shear Zone as part of the reconnaissance for the proposed South Pole Traverse routes. Two sets of measurements (at the beginning and end of the season) were planned to measure the McMurdo Shear Zone strain.This late project request came after the UNAVCO GPS receivers were fully committed for most of the season. ASA Engineering provided two single frequency receivers for the project, and UNAVCO provided training and technical support. Two field team members (Mike Darrah and Oriol Sole-Costa) attended a three day training course at the UNAVCO Boulder facility before fielding and also received refresher training at McMurdo Station. A UNAVCO field engineer also trained an operator at the Shackleton Glacier Camp to operate a GPS base station in support of the Leverett Glacier survey. A receiver incompatibility problem was discovered during the initial GPS shakedown at McMurdo, necessitating the use of an additional ASA receiver. During the planning, UNAVCO advised the team that they would obtain meter level precisions with the planned short site occupation times. Given the short time between observations at the McMurdo Shear Zone sites (few months), the field team was also advised that they would be limited to measuring meter level displacements. The UNAVCO field engineers processed all of the data for this project. A significant portion of the data from the second occupation of the McMurdo Shear Zone was collected outside of scheduled time which required additional processing after the field season, as the data were differenced to data from the McMurdo International GPS Service for Geodynamics (IGS) site. ASA (Jim Mastro)A small level of support was provided to the ASA Scientific Diving Coordinator, Jim Mastro, to provide meter level positions of dive holes in McMurdo Sound. Resources (training, receivers, processing) were provided on an "as available" basis with Mr. Mastro collecting all of the data. The data were processed by the UNAVCO field engineer, and the coordinates were compiled in the handbook McMurdo Region Dive Site Information: Benthos, Depth, and GPS Data. GPS tidal data collected by the UNAVCO engineer were also published in this handbook. Many of the dive hole locations coincided with ice fishing holes and the data were shared with S-005 (Art DeVries).UNAVCO GPS support for this project was not requested prior to the field season, nor would such a project fall into the project support criteria used for prioritizing the 1995/96 field season. However, requests for support to projects such as this, S-005, and S-322 are supported when the resources are available.
UNAVCO GPS Support to the National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs - 17 MAY 1996 Generated with Harlequin WebMaker
Last modified Monday, 26-Nov-2007 22:31:07 UTC |
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