Erecting a tall automatic weather station high on the Antarctic Peninsula
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Erecting a tall automatic weather station high on the Antarctic Peninsula

by Andrew Elvidge

The mast was designed to be of sufficient height that the instruments – measuring meteorological conditions including air pressure, wind velocity, temperature and humidity – would stay above snow level, year-round. This is on a high plateau on the Antarctic Peninsula, where many metres of snow can accumulate over the winter. We landed here in the red Twin Otter aircraft, having flown with the weather station in "flat-pack" form from the nearby Rothera Research Station.