Palmer Station Timeline
1975-85
Palmer Station in the 1976-77 summer (photo from Ed Born)
Summer 1975-76
Mary Alice McWhinnie works at Palmer Station for the first time
Winter 1976
Manager: Larry Miyoda; population 6 (list and photos)
W/o Bill Fraser conducts major bird census
Summer 1976-77
First desal unit installed--peak production was 20 gallons per hour
Unused potable water tank cut up and removed from second floor of GWR above garage
Another piece of the water system...here's what the seawater intake looked like in 1977 (Gary Cullen)
And from the other end of the station...
This summer 76-77 view from above the helo pad shows some of the, er. trash that has accumulated, waiting perhaps to be burned on a less windy day, or....?? (Ed Born)
Two prefab fiberglass "Heli-huts" (that would become the KARLs) shipped in for additional wet lab space
Hero runs aground near KGI and requires midseason repairs for bow damage; later in the summer she would be the second known US-flag ship to call at South Georgia in the past century
Wayne Trivelpiece and D. Muller-Schwarze, then with SUNY Syracuse, venture to KGI in October to study penguins for the first time at Point Thomas (a few miles north of the future Copacabana site); their stay is cut short in December because of aforementioned damage to Hero
And shortly after they leave, the Poles arrive at Point Thomas and erect Arctowski Station (dedicated 26 February; the station fuel tanks now occupy Wayne's original tent site)
Winter 1977
Manager: Shane Williams; population 8 (list and photos)
Summer 1977-78
LIDAR project set up using equipment used at Pole the previous 3 seaons (the DRI project would remain on station until at least 1980)
First permanent refuge hut constructed for penguin studies at Point Thomas near the new Arctowski Station in Admiralty Bay
Two portable aquarium huts: KARLs (Krill Aquarium Research Laboratories) erected behind Biolab (site of present aquarium building)
Stanford VLF equipment installed?
Winter 1978
Manager: Pete Harding; population 9 (list and photo)
Summer 1978-79
H&N takes over direct operation of Hero from subcontractor (12/1)
Station building exteriors painted
KARL structures completed and dedicated
The two prefabricated modules were located on the site of the present aquarium building. In this photo from 29 January they are nearly complete (and the Yelcho is in the harbor). The buildings were NOT named for 1990's PI David Karl, but rather by DA Stephen Brand, who was awarded 2 cases of beer by Buz Betzel as first prize in the naming. Here's another early winter photo showing the completed (and snow-covered) roofs. Photographer and 1979 w/o Allen Cull reported that the spot between the A-frame roofs was used for sunning on good days.
First precast planks installed to improve Zodiac boat ramp
Winter 1979
Manager: John Konecki; population 10 (list and photo)
Summer 1979-80
Chilean submarine calls
This was the submarine Simpson (ex-USS Spot) which showed up in November along with the accompanying Chilean Navy icebreaker which is unidentifed at this point. While the U. S. Navy used a submarine (briefly and unsuccessfully) in Operation Highjump in 1947-48, this may be the first and only visit of a military submarine to a post-IGY American Antarctic station.
Postscript...while returning north in mid-December, the Simpson rescued the LNG carrier Copernico by towing it away from a lee shore after the tanker lost engine power in the Straits of Magellan during a storm (photo from Allen Cull).
Hero sent to BA for emergency drydocking after a teredo infestation was discovered
Cleanup activity--Yelcho hauls off 10 tons of scrap
Winter 1980
Manager: Bryan Bertacchi; population 7 (list and photo)
Hero has major overhaul in Long Beach
Summer 1980-81
Desal units rebuilt
Palmer Station as it appeared in January 1981 in this US Navy photo by Dana B. Babin (Antarctic Journal, September 1981). The small boat is probably the "Heroine" which was mounted as you see here away from the water since it was much more cumbersome than Zodiacs.
Winter 1981
Manager: Don Wiggin; population 9 (list and photo)
Summer 1981-82
Anvers Island Air Chemistry Facility (Clean Air) constructed
The 14'x10' structure was prefabricated and test erected at Washington State University before being shipped to Palmer Station on the Polar Sea and dedicated on 1/16. WSU's 5-year research program measured trace atmospheric constituents such as ozone, methane, and fluorocarbons in relation to weather patterns. The hut was equipped with a 2" sampling stack extending 10'
above the building, and a blower that supplied the automatic gas chromatographs and other instruments. The long-term monitoring later evolved into the current activities by the NOAA and LTER programs. In this view from the glacier (right), Clean Air can be seen below the left mast of the Hero, to the left of the storage Jamesway (that would later be replaced by T-5) (Antarctic Journal, 1982 review issue)
Wayne Trivelpiece makes his fourth trip to KGI...and brings Susan for the first time
Skua YABY eulogized (January)
YABY (named for his band colors Yellow, Aluminum, Blue, Yellow) was a south polar skua known to Palmer Station residents since he was first banded in 1975. Each year since he returned to Bonaparte Point, where he faithfully defended his mate. He also was a notorious scavenger, but he was tame enough that he may been fed by the Palmerites at least once. He died in January 1982 and was remembered at Palmer by 1975 w/o Gary Bennett's eulogy. Here's the full story (pdf file) of his life and death from the March 1982 Antarctic Journal (this photo from the article is of a "skua like YABY..." photographed by Bill Curtsinger somewhere on the Peninsula).
Winter 1982
Manager: Garth Brown; population 8 (list and photo)
R/V Hero's cook Harvey High falls off the gangplank while boarding the ship in Punta Arenas; he is drowned (26 June). Harvey had lots Navy and civilian ice time including 2 winters (one was at Pole in 1967).
Another death--while the Hero is in drydock in Talcahuano, second mate O. Keith Jordan falls from the ship onto the drydock floor (19 August). Keith had worked for H&N and ANS since the 1979-80 summer.
Summer 1982-83
The end-of-summer redeployment saw Hero calling at Argentine Islands, and then Almirante Brown. Over dessert at Brown an Argentine Fureza Aerea Twin Otter dropped the mail with the news that Argentina just invaded the Falkland Islands. Hero's destination was Ushuaia but halfway through the Drake Passage as Hero came the closest to the Falkland Islands, the State Department wired the vessel and ordered Hero to go to Punta Arenas. It never went back to Argentina (thanks to Gary Bennett who was aboard).
Winter 1983
Manager: Tom Plyler; population 10 (list and photo)
...Tom had wintered twice at Pole in 1975 and 1981, the second time as manager.
UW researcher Ann Waylette and cook Becky Heimark are the first two women to winter.
Summer 1983-84
Original portion of new carpenter shop completed; original shop space on ground floor of biolab converted to lab and dive locker space
New (present type) fire alarm system installed
Storage Jamesway replaced with new prefabricated structure (T-5)
Winter 1984
Manager: Phil Colbert; population 7 (list and photo)
Fire destroys the Argentine station Almirante Brown (64°53'S-62°53'W) (4/12); the 7 winterers are rescued by Hero, brought to Palmer Station, and later dropped off at Jubany
R/V Hero departs Palmer Station for the final time (4/15)
Summer 1984-85
USCGC Glacier's Arctic survey boat left at Palmer (with crew) for 6 weeks for inshore research--a short-term replacement for Hero
Polar Duke arrives at Palmer (January) on her first NSF Antarctic cruise
The Trivelpiece penguin research site on Copacabana Beach (Admiralty Bay, KGI) has its original refuge hut (which had been moved from Point Thomas) upgraded into a 16'x12' structure, the main portion of today's hut. This is dedicated the Pieter J. Lenie Field Station in honor of the retired captain of the retired Hero (12 February).
Construction begun on new aquarium building behind Biolab, to replace the KARLs labs
And...construction also started on the new/present boathouse
Winter 1985
Population 12 (list and photo)
Continue to 1985-95 timeline