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Meteorology Support

McMurdo Weather runs 24-hour per day operations, 7 days a week. Four forecasters cover three work shifts averaging 54 hours per week; working 4 days on, 2 days off, 12 hours per shift. With questionable weather, the 4-day shift can feel like an eternity. Over the course of a full summer of operations, the routine becomes grueling. Such is the fate of the McMurdo weather forecaster. Luckily, our team comes from the ranks of the military, and are no strangers to "deployed" work scenarios-long hours, less data.

Terminal Aerodrome Forecasts, or TAFs, are issued every 6 hours for the Williams Field Skiway, Ice Runway, and Pegasus Ice Runway. The skiway supports skied New York Air National Guard LC-130 and Ken Borek Air Twin Otter aircraft operations; while the ice runways caters to wheeled US Air Force C-17 and Royal New Zealand Air Force C-130 aircraft. In addition to the local aerodromes, the forecaster issues a Daily Forecast for the town for general purposes (outdoor work activities, recreation), an area forecast for helicopter operations, and must keep abreast of theater-wide weather conditions; which brings us to our next layer of support, briefing.

LC130 "Skier" operations normally consist of seven flights per day to various "Camps" throughout the continent. This translates to 4 morning flight weather briefings, and 3 for the afternoon, or "night lines". But (there's always a but), the flight schedule depends on the TAFs issued from both McMurdo and the Remote Weather Facility (RWF) in Charleston. If we're forecasting weather below flying minimums, we face canceling or delaying flights, which generate ever more questions.

Then you have your Twin Otter briefings. These are smaller aircraft that hop all over the continent, fuel caching and ferrying scientists and their equipment to small, out of the way camps. These pilots have much more latitude for where they fly, and where they fly generally doesn't have a regularly issued forecast, so we're basically creating these on an as-needed basis.

Lastly, every so often we get tour groups through. As for VIP's, last year, we had Sir Edmund Hillary in the office. This year, Senator John McCain and a host from Congress crowded the forecast counter for a briefing. Civilian cruise ships also ply their way down the channel for a visit late in the season, and can generate up to seven briefings (this year) in a day.

McMurdo Station Weather Observers, also known as "Town Observers", take observations for the safety of personnel working in and around McMurdo Station. This data is also ingested into forecasting models, and is used to maintain year round climatology for the station. Town Observers take, encode, and disseminate synoptic observations for McMurdo Station. Town Observers prepare, launch, collect, and transmit upper air data. Airfield (tower) Weather Observers take METAR/SPECI observations for the safety of aircraft, safety of personnel working in and around the McMurdo airfield, and for ingestion into forecasting models. There are three airfields within a ten-mile radius of McMurdo Station that are utilized throughout the summer season.

SRC currently provides MET support services for the Antarctic Program consisting of weather forecasting and observation services such as: