January 20, 2000

The Explorer moored in Arthur Harbor.

We were especially pleased to receive visitors from the Explorer today--who counted among their passengers, Jan and Rob Chapman, parents of Erik who is at Palmer as part of the seabird community study of the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) project. It is not often that one of our community gets to show family around Station! A group of us were also invited to go aboard ship for cocktails and hors d'oeuvres late in the day. I even ran into friends of friends from Washington, DC! It is indeed a small world. The Explorer has stopped at some very unique places, including Deception Island and the Lamaire Channel. It was fun to share wonder, enthusiasms and experiences with fellow travellers to the Antarctic.

Mimi Wallace (right), Palmer Station's Teacher Experiencing Antarctica shares a moment with travellers aboard the Explorer.

In the evening, as I was relaxing in the lounge, the "All Call" rang. It was the Science Technician paging me with some exciting news, "Just thought you would be interested in some atmospheric whistler activity in the VLF Hut. I don't know how long it will last, but I'm hearing quite a few events." I scrambled and popped over to the Bio Lab to get my recording gear. Mimi Wallace, Dan Osborne and Charlie Petit all joined me for an extraordinary sonic treat. Apparently, there was some very intense electrical storm activity centered off the Northeastern United States: lightning strikes sending energy out into the plasmasphere and returning to us here at Palmer Station as Very Low Frequency (VLF) phenomena--atmospheric whistlers. When I last listened for whistlers and described the phenomenon on December 29, 1999, I heard only a few faint traces, amidst intense static from more generalized lightning strikes around the world--lower reflections off the ionosphere. These were a mix of faint and clear descending glissandi of tones, sounding one over another, in a very distinct ostinato. Dan Osborne, who specializes in natural infrasound, was intrigued by hearing "sprites"-- events that are associated with lightning storms. Sprites have their own particular acoustic signature. "Listen for the sound of an egg hitting a frying pan," Dan explained. Sure enough, buried in the din of static popping, there was an occasional crackle in a slightly higher register.

Click here to listen to an MP3 sample of atmospheric whistlers.