Palmer Station SitRep for Period Ending 21 Feb 79

1. Fuel Consumption: 1325 /Tank one 79,012/Tank two 115,483/Total DFM on hand (less day tanks) 194,495/Day tanks 6,000.
2. Station population 21/Hero 12
3. Power Readings: High 93.7VA/Low 42.0 KVA/ Avg 72.6 KVA.
4. Weather: High temp 6C(21)/Low temp -3C(19)/Avg temp 2C/High pressure .1006.2MB (20)/ Low pressure 981.0 MB (16) / Avg pressure 993.2 MB/peak wind 18 m/s at 10 deg (16)/ Avg wind 7 m/s prevailing wind dir 30 deg/avg cld cvr 10/10 nmbr of clear days 0/ nmbr prtly cldy days 0/ nmber cldy days 7 / nmbr days visibility less then 400 mtrs 0.
5. Another week of high winds with a brief lull on Monday set the emphasis on indoor projects during this period. Duane Ness overhauled and winterized the Gorman-Rupp pump and installed a new prime mover in one of the Herman-Nelson heaters. Both units were run in for testing. Pat Moriarty has been rebuilding outboard motors and winterizing those that will not be needed before next season.
   Pat Kraker finished his rebuilding of the desalinators and installed a water volume meter in the output line to monitor their production. One of the salt water pumps failed late Wednesday night causing a five minute seawater outage. The standby pump was started and the faulty unit exchanged. An air lock in the hydrotherm oil burner’s fuel line was traced to a clogged fuel filter which was replaced. The D-333 emergency generator as put on line for several hours on Wednesday morning for it’s monthly exercise. John Heg worked on a map of the outside materials storage area and continued to organize the general supply storeroom. Don Wiggin took advantage of the good weather on Monday to do the last of the touchup painting on the GWR building. Construction of new roofs for the KARL buildings was started on Monday, but the return of strong winds hampered progress on this project. Indoor fabrication is underway awaiting another break in the weather. The light pole on the dock was reinstalled to reduce the nighttime crime rate in the neighborhood. The 10 kw transmitter (FRG-39) is suffering from problems in its high voltage power supply. John Wells traced the problem to an arcing relay and repairs are underway. A fire extinguisher horn and valve were installed on one of the large CO2 refill bottles. This has been located in the generator room to provide first line fire protection in the area. Niel Bernstein (S-021) and Paul Tirrell (S-011) spent most of the week dug in at their field camp on Cormorant Island. Neil reported seeing a Humpback whale breeching within 30 yards of shore on Wednesday. No radio contact has yet been made with the Mike Hoover mountaineering expedition. The constant winds have been working on the Ice Piedmont and the glacier has been very active. Crevasses have made the trail to Old Palmer impassable. The ice wall across Arthur Harbor has been calving frequently. A thunderously large icefall occurred early Monday morning that woke station personnel and sent waves lapping up onto the saltwater pump house. An obliging Leopard seal ate his supper just off Gamage Point Wednesday night and a number of photographers braved the cold winds to record the grim event. Despite the windy weather operations continue to run smoothly.
   Regards, Konecki