Archive | November 15, 2010 | Armed with Science

Volunteers Plant 500 Native Shrubs Along Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge

Volunteers logged 245 hours and planted 500 native plants and shrubs at Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge for National Public Lands Day 2010. (Photo: DoD)

By Bob Schallmann, Conservation Program Manager at Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach as part of Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Southwest.

Naval Weapons Station and Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge (SBNWR) hosted a volunteer event on 16 October 2010 with the objective of restoring native vegetation to several acres of upper saltmarsh habitat and adjacent upland habitat.

The project included removal of invasive plants, preparing the land for restoration, and planting native plants. These upland restoration areas provide habitat and shelter for state and federally-listed endangered bird species, numerous pollinator species, and a wide variety of mammals, amphibians, birds, and reptiles. They also provide a buffer between wetland habitat and agricultural lands.

The Navy and the Fish and Wildlife Service relied heavily on the Friends of SBNWR to assist in the coordination, planning, and implementation of this project. National Public Lands Day proved once again to be an ideal opportunity to involve community volunteers in the upland restoration adjacent to the refuge wetlands. The restoration areas were previously covered in non-native vegetation such at Fountain Grass, Fennel, and Hottentot Fig. The Navy was responsible for the removal of these invasives, clearing the way for soil preparation work by the Friends group. Volunteers from public and community groups, recruited by the Navy and the Friends, planted 500 native shrubs and flowers in the prepared area.

Funds from the Legacy grant contributed to the purchase of plants, soil amendments, transporting volunteers to and from the worksite, rubbish containers, and irrigation supplies.

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Scientists Chasing the Ozone Hole [Dispatches from Antarctica]

Filed under Earth Sciences, Videos by Armed with Science on November 14, 2010 at 1:48 pm {no comments}

This is the 28th entry in the Armed with Science series, Dispatches from Antarctica. The series features Air Force Lt. Col. Ed Vaughan’s first-hand experiences on OPERATION: DEEP FREEZE, the Defense Department’s support of National Science Foundation research in Antarctica.

October 29, 2010, McMurdo Station, Antarctica: Chasing the Ozone Hole

The Antarctic ozone hole was discovered in 1985 by British scientists Joseph Farman, Brian Gardiner, and Jonathan Shanklin of the British Antarctic Survey.

Dr. Terry Deshler knows ozone “all the way”. For the past 25 years, he and his teams have chased, tracked, plotted, observed, measured, and outmaneuvered the annual ozone hole over Antarctica. Dr. Deshler has sought to better understand how CFCs and other pollutants contribute to the ozone hole.

One of Dr. Deshler’s team members, Holly Troy, offered these amazing photos of McMurdo Station in the twilight hours, including shots of the mysterious and beautiful nacreous clouds, found only in the polar regions.

To learn more about the relationships among chlorine, nacreous clouds, and ozone depletion, watch the video interview with Dr. Deshler from McMurdo Station. To read more about Dr. Deshler’s work, visit his webpage here and here, and an NSF summary of 2006-2007 work here.

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Tragedy on the Ice [Dispatches from Antarctica]

Filed under Education & Culture by Armed with Science on November 12, 2010 at 1:43 pm {4 comments}

An AS350 Squirrel helicopter, similar to the one which crashed in Antarctica on October 28, is pictured in this file photo provided by Australian Maritime Safety Authority.

This is the 27th entry in the Armed with Science series, Dispatches from Antarctica. The series features Air Force Lt. Col. Ed Vaughan’s first-hand experiences on OPERATION: DEEP FREEZE, the Defense Department’s support of National Science Foundation research in Antarctica.

28 Oct, McMurdo Station, Antarctica

[NOTE: I’ve delayed posting this entry. Both because it is appropriate to wait and because I wish I didn’t have to write it. After discussing the matter with our National Science Foundation (NSF) management at McMurdo, and the producers of this Department of Defense blog, I thought it important to move this one in front of the backlog of Dispatches we’ve amassed recently. I’ve provided links below to news outlets in both French and English. I will not attempt to provide the news here, but rather offer a brief glimpse into this horrific event from the vantage point of fellow members of the Antarctic Community.]

Today seemed like an ordinary Thursday. However, for the families, colleagues, and friends of a certain French Antarctic team, this Thursday will be filled with grief. It is anything but ordinary. Today, four members from l’Institut polaire Paul-Emile Victor, in Brest, Brittany, France would tragically perish in a helicopter crash near the French Antarctic research station Dumont d’Urville.

But we didn’t know that until two days later. At the time of the mishap, the focus at McMurdo was very different.

I finished work at 10pm and returned to my quarters for some evening tea. After addressing a noise complaint in one of the nearby dorms, I returned to find an urgent pager message waiting for me. It was just after midnight. The message indicated an overdue helicopter and a request for assistance. I went back in to work.

At McMurdo, unusual events and crises are often handled by the EOC, Emergency Operations Center. The EOC is convened by the NSF Station Manager on an as-needed basis. As the inter-agency government lead for the U.S. Antarctic Program (USAP), the NSF determines which, if any, of the USAP’s assigned and contracted assets and personnel will be made available to support requests for international support. Other international programs have similar arrangements.

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Announcing TEDxPentagon!

Filed under Education & Culture, Videos by Armed with Science on November 10, 2010 at 11:02 am {10 comments}

Liz Lopez is a social media intern at the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs.

“Have you seen this TED video?” is a friendship-forming question that’s been tossed around among college students, public intellectuals, humanitarians, and tech enthusiasts for the past few years.

TED — short for Technology, Entertainment, and Design — is a conference series that showcases dynamic speakers and their topics through short (less than 18 minutes) and fascinating speeches, such as climate change, music theory, and economic development. By advocating a distinctive speaking style and focusing on broad, futuristic ideas, TED has established a lecture series that doesn’t fail to leave their viewers thinking.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TED has created a program called TEDx. TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. Our event is called TEDxPentagon, where x=independently organized TED event. At our TEDxPentagon event, TEDTalks video and live speakers will combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events, including ours, are self-organized.

The Department of Defense is continuing their public outreach efforts by hosting TEDxPentagon: “The Human Stories” next Friday November 19, from 10 AM – 3 PM EST. Speakers from all over the world will be coming to the Navy Memorial to talk about their experiences with the military, including MSgt. Julia Watson, prior member of the Marine’s Female Engagement Team, Lt. John Pucillo, EOD technician from the Navy (think The Hurt Locker), Dr. Regina Dugan, Director of DARPA, and Gen. William E. Ward, combatant commander for AFRICOM.

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The Little Plane That Could

Filed under Technology by Armed with Science on November 9, 2010 at 10:06 am {no comments}

The Raven is a portable, durable UAV that requires minimal training, effort and coordination. (Photo: US Army)

U.S. Army MAJ Noma C. Martini recently returned from Iraq after a year-long deployment with the 2/3 Spartan Brigade in Mosul.

As a war-fighting technology that fosters new doctrine, organizations, and requires specialized training, the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is arguably the military’s newest example of a Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA).

From the strategic level drone weapons platform to the tactical Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) collection platforms, the UAV has become a driving force of change in modern warfare. The UAV’s versatility and utility will likely become an icon of the Global War on Terror (GWOT) era and a RMA of a generation of unmanned war-fighting enablers.

For the Second Heavy Brigade Combat Team (2HBCT), “The Spartan Brigade,” the small UAV known as the Raven is a combat proven enabler of the HBCT’s Full Spectrum Operations (FSO). Of the various types of UAVs employed in support of 2HBCT, the Raven has had the least public attention but has led the way as the most accessible, responsive, and field expedient UAV and ISR instrument in the HBCT’s inventory. The Raven is portable, durable, and relatively simple to employ, requiring minimal training, effort and coordination. This unprecedented capability at the tactical level has many advantages that enhance situational awareness for the maneuver commander and contribute to the development of his tactical situational understanding.

The Spartan Brigade arrived in Northern Iraq in October 2009 in support of OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM (OIF) 09-10. Upon assuming responsibility of the Ninewa Province, 2HBCT started a campaign to counter the enemy’s frequent indirect fire (IDF) threat targeting United States Forces (USF) and Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) operating bases. One such attack occurred on November 10, 2009, just prior to the 2HBCT’s transfer of authority of the mission and battle space. This attack consisted of 20 to 25 80mm mortar rounds impacting the Joint Security Site located in Tal Abtah. This attack illustrates the type of operational environment[1] in which 2HBCT assumed.

A component of 2HBCT’s enduring counter-IDF effort was the aggressive employment of the Raven. Based on the intelligence preparation of the battlefield[2] and the development of Named Areas of Interest (NAI)[3], the staff developed a pattern analysis of locations and times that drove the employment schedule to counter the enemy activities against the facilities and bases. Nested in the Battalion and Squadron ISR plans, the capability of the Raven proved essential in bridging the void of operational level enablers left in the wake of the USF draw down.

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VIDEO: LC-130 Landing from Pilot’s Point of View [Dispatches from Antarctica]

Filed under Education & Culture, Videos by Armed with Science on November 8, 2010 at 11:31 am {5 comments}

This is the 26th entry in the Armed with Science series, Dispatches from Antarctica. The series features Air Force Lt. Col. Ed Vaughan’s first-hand experiences on OPERATION: DEEP FREEZE, the Defense Department’s support of National Science Foundation research in Antarctica.

27 Oct, McMurdo Station, Antarctica: More LC-130s arrive

Skier 94, callsign for the second of the LC-130s, arrived at McMurdo today. Two other LC-130s, an Australian Airbus A319, and the C-17 all canceled their flights due to poor weather. Skier 94 got lucky with a weather window that opened just enough to accommodate their arrival. By the time the other aircraft were scheduled to launch, today’s weather window was closed shut.

Riding along on today’s LC-130 was a much needed contingent of New York Air National Guard aircraft maintenance troops. These are the hardy men and women of the 109th Airlift Wing who will work 12-16 hour shifts every day down at the seasonal ice runway. They will primarily work outside in the razor cold wind. There are no hangars here. The planes are out in the open. Even the maintenance offices and warming huts, sometimes half a mile away, look like big refrigerators.

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LC-130s Arrive: All Hail the Ski-Bird! [Dispatches from Antarctica]

Filed under Education & Culture, Videos by Armed with Science on November 5, 2010 at 9:49 am {2 comments}

This is the 25th entry in the Armed with Science series, Dispatches from Antarctica. The series features Air Force Lt. Col. Ed Vaughan’s first-hand experiences on OPERATION: DEEP FREEZE, the Defense Department’s support of National Science Foundation research in Antarctica.

26 Oct, McMurdo Station, Antarctica: All Hail the Ski-Bird

The stadium is packed. Thousands of cheering fans rise to their feet. The cacophonous roar is deafening. Striped officials wait patiently at midfield. Trumpets blare announcing the arrival of the home team. Then, out of the access tunnel, the starting lineup hustles on to the field, led by the team’s MVP.

No, this is not Joe Namath and the Jets. This is the mighty LC-130 Hercules, known affectionately among those who fly and maintain it, simply as… ‘Ski-Bird’.

I’ve waited weeks for this moment. And this is not to take away from the tremendous contributions of the other team players. The C-17 is arguably the master of heavy Antarctic inter-continental airlift, with the C-5 making a cameo appearance in New Zealand at the front and back of the season. The Australian A319 and Kiwi 757 provide world class passenger and cargo lift at crunch times. KBA’s Baslers (still über cool) and Twin Otters seem to fearlessly go anywhere at anytime. And PHI’s polar helicopters get the scientists to inaccessible sites and open up regions served by no other asset.

LC-130 Hercules, "City of Christchurch, NZ" at Seasonal Ice Runway. (Photo: USAF Maj David Panzera)

Ah, but the LC-130 is all heart…and a lot of muscle. Only the LC-130 can project such mighty feats of daring-do out to the remote corners of the world’s coldest, windiest, and highest continent. And then do it all over again on the polar opposite side of the world. Need 5 pallets slung together with telescope parts delivered to the South Pole? Call the Skibirds. What about some big tractor dropped off in the middle of nowhere with no time to drive there? How about drift off-loading of fuel bladders, followed by airdrop, followed by an open snow landing from the navigator’s airborne radar approach. There’s only one option.

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