Scientist: Tankiso Modise
Like many school leavers in South Africa, Tankiso Modise, spent a frustrating year among the ranks of the unemployed.
Eventually he managed to borrow enough money to enroll with Vista University in Mamelodi outside Pretoria, where he completed a Bachelor of Science degree in physics and mathematics.
Seal resources were decimated within decades, but commercial whaling brought the next wave of hunters.
Antarctica has long occupied a special place in the human psyche.
Two thousand years ago Greek astronomers gazing at the night sky deduced that the hidden southern land Terra Australis Incognita must exist as a balance to the Arctic North.
Since its discovery, Antarctica has continued to capture the human imagination. Relatively few people have visited the ice-covered continent Halfway through an Honours degree in solid state physics at Pretoria University, Tankiso spotted a SANAP newspaper advertisement that offered contracts for young scientists to work in Antarctica. His application to the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism was successful and Tankiso decided to leave Pretoria for the University of KwaZulu-Natal where he started a six month training course.
Training for his year in Antarctica was comprehensive. Not only was Tankiso required to familiarise himself with the theoretical aspects of his future job, but he also had to learn the technical routines that he would need to employ to maintain the electronic equipment at SANAE IV.
Tankiso also had to pack his supplies for a year in Antarctica and he admits that he didn't do too well on this score: he took too much soap and deodorant (you don't sweat much in Antarctica) and too little brandy (the dark winter nights were very long)!
After a long sea voyage and a slow trip by snow tractor to SANAE IV, Tankiso settled into a work routine. His days were filled by recording data, maintaining sophisticated recording equipment and performing experiments. He also had to contend with extremely dry conditions which induce the build-up of static electricity and high voltages. This tends to damage electronic components which had to be constantly replaced.
Tankiso was involved in five of South Africa's ongoing projects in Antarctica. The projects are designed to measure atmospheric and near space phenomena.
His first task was to monitor the Very Low Frequency antenna which picks up energy that is generated by lightning in the norther hemisphere. The energy interacts with particles and other disturbances on its journey south and therefore contains a great deal of information about the earth's atmosphere.
Tankiso also participated in two complimentary ozone layer experiments as part of the long term studies that are funded by the South African Weather Service.
He was part of a project called OMNIPAL which looks for disturbances in the earth's electric field, and he used a magnetometer to monitor changes in the earth's magnetic field that are caused by explosions from the sun. He participated in the Auroral Imaging Programme by recording the Aurora australis (southern lights) using all sky (180°) and narrow field (30°) cameras.
Tankiso will use the results of his research to write up his Master's thesis.
As winter approached, Tankiso and his colleagues were confined to the base, the only aspect of his year in Antarctica that Tankiso found frustrating. Spring was spent preparing for the next over-wintering team, and all too soon Tankiso was back in the bustle of city life.
Tankiso says that his year in Antarctica provided him with a constant stream of new and exciting experiences. It broadened his horizons enormously and has given him a taste for adventure.
His journey to the frozen south has changed him forever.
|
