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Falklands Diary - Week 2

Week 1 | Current Week

2 March 2009

POL scientists Philip Woodworth and David Pugh are in the Falklands for the next few weeks to try to determine whether sea level is rising as fast in the southern hemisphere as in the north, and if the land of the islands is uplifting, as some geological models suggest. They travelled via Santiago and Punta Arenas in Chile, taking almost 3 days to get there. This project requires a lot of tide gauge and GPS equipment which is put together by POL's Ocean Engineering and Technology Group (OETG). The OETG designs, builds and uses instruments which record physical data anywhere from the surface to depths of about 6km and are crucial to the work POL undertakes.

Philip and David are going to write a diary of their work in the Falkland Islands which will provide an insight into the work and projects POL undertakes and the challenges and difficulties encounted when working in the field and in remote places.

March 4/5
4 March saw Phil drive to Goose Green, located on a narrow (4 km wide) isthmus between the northern part of East Falkland and Lafonia in the south. This is sheep country. Goose Green farm is enormous and during the 1970s over 100,000 sheep were shorn there each year. There are now fewer sheep due to the fall in the price of wool. Goose Green was the location of the first major land battle during the Falklands War, and the area has many reminders of the conflict, one of which is the Argentine Cemetery (see photo below). Goose Green is a small place but has two important assets. One is a tea shop, which are few and far between in this part of the world. The other is a very long jetty protuding into Choiseul Sound (See photo below). On the end of the jetty Phil installed one of David's RBR temporary tide gauges, as part of a separate project to study the frequency of seiches in different inlets.

5 March saw Phil back at Port Louis, this time transferring our GPS equipment from the jetty to the Magnetic Survey point which is located on a hill above the settlement (See photo below). This point was one of several that James Clark Ross occupied in 1842 in order to determine the location of the South Magnetic Pole. The survey marker includes a new commemorative brass cover provided by BGS which replaced an earlier one that was probably stolen (See photo below). The marker was also used as a height reference for an archaeological survey of the historical Port Louis settlement by Rob Philpott of Liverpool Museum. Our GPS measurements will allow Rob to adjust the heights of all his surveys to Mean Sea Level. After humping all our GPS equipment up the hill (access with our pickup truck being impossible) and avoiding the attentions of friendly horses and the Upland Geese , Phil returned to Stanley to pick up a Land Rover replacement for our Ford pickup truck. Over lunch he was able to get going the BGAN satellite system at Port Louis and send a couple of test emails to POL - this is the system that has won POL the Denny Medal of IMAREST.

Meanwhile, David is half way through a 3 day trip to Saunder's Island, off the north coast of West Falkland, and news from him will be in our weekend entry. We should have mentioned already that David is here partly through the generosity of the Shackleton Fund. Earlier this week we had our pictures taken for an article on our work related to the Fund award in this week's edition of Penguin News.

Goose Green seen from the end of its long jetty.

Part of the Argentine cemetery at Goose Green.

Crossing the steelwork of the
warehouses

The magnetic survey site with its brass cover for the benchmark is located beneath the GPS dome. The site is on a hill which overlooks Port Louis. This photograph is taken looking aproximately south across Berkeley Sound towards Green Patch. Berkeley Sound enters the Atlantic to the east (left). The pond is a fresh water pond called the Graveyard Pond which drains into the sea and is occupied by many varieties of ducks and geese. The Ross sea level benchmarks are to the west (right) of the pond on the shore of the Sound.

reading tide poles with the help of a few friends

New brass cover provided by BGS in 2001 to replace one that was probably stolen. Inside the cover is a stone with a benchmark which marks the location of Ross's magnetic field measurements.

Monday March 2 Although it is still officially summer, we had snow first thing this morning. We had an easy day with some gentle levelling in between rain showers at the Public Works Department in Stanley. Photos show one of us trying to do some levelling and keep dry, and the other shows the main reference mark in the Falklands - a normal Ordnance Survey type cut mark in the PWD building foundations - all heights in East Falkland are measured relative to that. Final photo shows a view of the James Clark Ross from a bedroom window at the Lafone Guest House (highly recommended). The James Clark Ross has had a cruise cancelled and is here for a couple of weeks more.
Ordnance Survey mark (circled)		Trying to do some levelling and keep dry
The James Clark Ross

Notes

The Proudman Oceanographic (POL) scientific research focuses on oceanography encompassing global sea-levels and geodesy, numerical modelling of continental shelf seas and coastal sediment processes. This research alongside activities of surveying, monitoring, data management and forecasting provides strategic support for the wider mission of the Natural Environment Research Council.

As a public funded body it is part of our remit to inform the public of the science and research undertaken at the laboratory. Attending events like the 'Ocean Awareness Weekend' at the Blue Planet Aquarium offers the opportunity for our scientists to meet members of the public and present the laboratory's work.

The Natural Environment Research Council is one of the UK's eight Research Councils. It uses a budget of about £ 350m a year to fund and carry out impartial scientific research in the sciences of the environment. NERC trains the next generation of independent environmental scientists. It is addressing some of the key questions facing mankind, such as global warming, renewable energy and sustainable economic development.