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3 May 2010
Is The Ash Coming Back?? Maybe
Ireland is closing it’s airspace at 7am Tuesday morning because of ash. The ash is below 20,000 feet so it may not be too disruptive to transatlantic air traffic. The ash is expected to drift over the UK later Tuesday and this may impact Heathrow and Gatwick. If that happens, you will see major disruptions. Below is the latest forecast from the UK Met office: The eruption shows no sign …
If This Isn't Cool, You Don't Have A Nerdy Bone In Your Body!
The Spirit Rover on Mars hasn’t been heard from in a few weeks now. This was expected because it’s winter up there and the sunlight, and the cold, have drained the batteries. It is assumed that Spirit went into hibernation mode as it was designed to do. Hopefully it will wake up in the Spring. Hopefully. There are no guarantees and we cannot claim we didn’t get our moneys worth. …
19 April 2010
Gorgeous NASA Shot of Iceland Ash Cloud- Heathrow Reopening?? (Updated 0230GMT)
There is actually some good news tonight. The ash cloud over Europe has diminished and begun to sink south of Paris and London. Here is the outlook for tomorrow regarding the no go areas. Late word tonight that the eruption has picked back up. The current wind flow will steer the new ash cloud toward the UK, Central England in particular. So the openings of the airports tomorrow may be …
18 April 2010
Iceland Volcano Quieting Down??
The weather radar at the Keflivik Airport is not seeing a plume from the ash cloud this evening. The last report from the UK Met. Office is a plume height of 16,000 feet. This is much lower than over much of the last 72 hours. There is also good news on the flight restrictions. The lower levels are looking much better. It looks possible that flights could operate from Paris …
27 March 2010
Science On The Ice- Part One
One of the main reasons the NSF took Ann Posegate and I to the bottom of the world was to foster student interest in science. This was fine with me because it is one of the main reasons I write this journal and the Wild Wild Weather Page. I’ve just finished putting together a 5 minute slideshow with embedded video about my January trip to Antarctica and the South Pole. …
30 January 2010
The Greenhouse At The Bottom of The World
A little story for you. I’m on the board of our great science museum, SCI Quest, here in Huntsville. Just before my trip to the South Pole, I found out about a project some students were doing with help from Sci Quest. I was asked if it might be possible to get some info or pictures of a greenhouse in Antarctica for them. The students are involved in an eCybermission …
10 January 2010
The Amazing Rugby Match in Antarctica!
I witnessed a real spectacle today here. Every year the Kiwis over at Scott Base and the Americans at McMurdo base have a Rugby match. Rugby is the national past time in New Zealand and they are VERY good at it. The USA has never scored a goal against them, much less won the match! So what was the final score?? See the picture! The Kiwis won again, and the …
9 January 2010
The Great Bottom of The World Rugby Match (Hello from Mac Town Antarctica)
I’ve spent one day and zero nights here at the bottom of the World now. Before bed last night I walked to building 155 to get midnight rations in the cafeteria. The sun was shining high above the dirt main street that is McMurdo Station. Midnight rats, as they call it, was delicious. The NSF has kindly given me a distinguished visitor pass so I can eat right at midnight …
6 January 2010
Boomerang Flight To Antarctica!
I have seen Antarctica, but I am not there tonight. We spent 10 hours on a U.S. Military C17 from Christchurch to McMurdo. Today was our second attempt, after we were canceled at Dawn Tuesday due to bad weather at McMurdo. So at dawn today (Wednesday here in Christchurch) we headed to the airport. After a 30 minute briefing, and packing our luggage into bright orange bags, we headed to …
28 December 2009
Packing Like I'm Heading to the South Pole! (Oh wait- I am!)
So what DO YOU pack when you’re headed to the very bottom of the world?? Little clothing surprisingly! Most of my winter clothing will not suit for Antarctica and instead when I get to Christ Church, I will be outfitted with the polar clothing. I did spend 50$ on special long underwear. I will be given much heavier long johns when I get to Christchurch but this is for those …
Dan Satterfield has worked as an on air meteorologist for 32 years in Oklahoma, Florida and Alabama. Forecasting weather is Dan's job, but all of Earth Science is his passion. This journal is where Dan writes about things he has too little time for on air. Dan blogs about peer-reviewed Earth science for Junior High level audiences and up.