IGY Bulletin, Number 1, July 1957 - Antarctic Program

The second article in the IGY Bulletin issue #1, July 1957 was on the Antarctic Program. Although there was so much significant science started during the IGY, the exploration of Antarctica and of the near space environment (including the launching of the first artificial satellites) were perhaps the two most significant milestones of the IGY. 

Since my last post, I have found one place where the IGY Bulletin can be found online. Issues were originally included in the publication Transactions of the American Geophysical Union, these days called EOS. 

The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is a professional society that supports over 100,000 worldwide enthusiasts in the Earth and space sciences. It was established in 1919 by the National Research Council and operated as an unincorporated affiliate of the National Academy of Sciences for more than 50 years, including the time frame of the IGY. It became independently incorporated in 1972. I have been an AGU member for about 45 years, and have attended many of its conferences. 

AGU members have access to the complete archives of EOS, which includes the IGY Bulletins. The first and second Bulletins, from July and August of 1957, were both in Transactions of the AGU, vol. 38, no. 4, August, 1957, pp. 611-626, and pp. 627-631, respectively. For some reason, the pdf of issue #2 in the EOS archive is missing the last 10 pages of the printed Bulletin.

If you have access to an academic library, you may be able to access EOS archives there. Anyone can subscribe to EOS Buzz or access back issues between 1997-2014.

Anyhoo, the second article in the first IGY Bulletin was on the Antarctic Program. This one and Bulletin articles to come were not attributed to particular authors.

The Wikipedia article on Research Stations in Antarctica gives a sortable list of all such stations.  The U.S. has been involved in 16 stations, out of a total of 167 in the Wikipedia list. The oldest U.S. Station was Little America I, established in 1929, followed by East Base in 1941. During the run up to the IGY, McMurdo and Hallet were established in 1956, with Amundsen Scott-South Pole, Byrd, Site 2, Ellsworth, Little America V, Wilkes (not found in the Wikipedia table), and Little Rockford all coming online during the IGY years 1957-58. More can be read about any of the Antarctic stations mentioned in this post via the hotlinks in the Wikipedia article. I copied and reformatted the Wikipedia table into a spreadsheet, which you can find here.

A total of 28 Antarctic stations were established from 1956-58, by 10 countries: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, France, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Soviet Union, United Kingdom, and the United States. I found a clear IGY station map online (although I did not find the original source). Besides the countries above, a Chilean station is also included on the map, but it was established before the IGY.

Note that the top of the figure is west; north is to the right.

An excellent map showing these and non-U.S. stations, geographic features, and cool (pun intended) information is the 1963 National Geographic map of Antarctica, I own a copy, but the image below was downloaded.

Antarctic map (1963), National Geographic

The IGY Bulletin article describes preparation for and construction of U.S. IGY stations. Operation Deep Freeze I began in 1956, and Naval Task Force 43 went to work. Little America Station V was established and 70 personnel wintered over. Preparations were made for the over-ice journey to establish Byrd Station (see a related cachet). Reconnaissance flights towards the South Pole and icebreaker cruises along the Antarctic coast acquired valuable survey and logistic information. Initial scientific measurements in several of the IGY subdisciplines were made. McMurdo Station was set up to later supply the South Pole Station via airlifts.

On Halloween, 1956, the first ski-equipped airplane landed at the South Pole; 65 missions and over 700 tons of cargo later, with temperatures as low as -100° F, the South Pole station was ready, occupied by 18 scientific and support personnel. Watch a short video contextualizing this milestone.

Byrd Station was established after a reconnaissance party, starting from Little America, got around "almost impassable crevasses," and after five weeks and 650 miles reached the station site. A seismic profile en route suggested that the station, 5000' above sea level, rested on top of 10,000' of ice. Remind me to explain the geophysical concept of isostasy some time, which explains how ice sheets can depress the Earth's crust to below sea level.

The cover below that I recently acquired was sent during the IGY, from the South Pole Station. The stamp is the definitive Statue of Liberty, Scott #1035. It includes a motto, "U.S. Operation Deep Freeeze," as part of the cancellation, a cachet noting Task Force 43, and another cachet of Admiral Byrd. I don't know what the dates of 1933-35 below his photo refer to; his Wikipedia bio doesn't suggest anything distinctive about this time period. The cover was posted and addressed to Byrd himself at his longtime home (mentioned in Wikipedia) in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Boston. Unfortunately, he had died over a year earlier in March of 1957 (three months before the start of the IGY), so he never actually touched the cover. I guess news traveled slowly those days to the South Pole.

IGY cover US #214 in my collection

IGY Little America Station was where the IGY Weather Central  was established to collate meteorological data collected across the continent. This initiated an era where the first time Antarctic weather maps could be correctly inferred from more than a few isolated weather measurements. A location for Ellsworth Station was found, despite problems with heavy pack (floating) ice in the Weddell Sea.

Wilkes Station was set up on Clark Island via an amphibious operation. The site had a good viewshed for auroral observations, and its location on bedrock was favorable for the seismic program. Finally, the article refers to setup of the Adare Station at Cape Hallett, which otherwise is referred to as Hallett Station. It was a joint venture with New Zealand.

Site 2 and Little Rockford stations are mot mentioned in the article, it seems because they were field camps and instrument stations, but without permanent staff.  S2 camp site was established as a glaciological research site to measure the movement of ice below the surface. Little Rockford was a station providing weather support for airplanes flying cargo drops, only open during the summer months.

I just learned of a Canadian band, Weather Station, which plays my kind of folk-rock music. Maybe I'll go see them in January in Philadelphia, if Delta behaves.