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All Change at the Station
Frenchman Jeremy Peychaud arrived aboard SA Agulhas on 10th September to take over as the new CTBTO station manager from Leo Genin. This allowed nearly four weeks for Leo to induct Jeremy into the routines of the post.
Jeremy is 23 and comes from a small village near Bourges in central France. He studied engineering in the French Alpine city of Grenoble and is already convinced he will enjoy his ten month sojourn on Tristan.
Jeremy sent this photograph of himself (left) with Leo taken in front of the station buildings.
We look forward to receiving Jeremy's pictures and news during what we hope will be a happy stay on the island.
CTBTO Station manager Léo Genin and Robin Repetto have sent some recent images of
Tristan's growing complex of scientific monitoring stations


Left : a view from the Goat Ridge
showing the buildings on Hottentot
Fence (or the golf field) November 2008

Right : close up of the complex showing left the Danish Magnetometer Building
and centre a new shelter to protect
the back-up generator as the station requires 24/7 electricity - April 2009

 

 

 


Left : The station looking west April 2009

Right : An evening view of the station from Robin Repetto April 2009

 

Ceremony to open new Danish Magnetometer Building

A ceremony was held on Friday 14th November 2008 to open the new Station Magnetometer Building which is run by Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI) and the Danish National Space
Institute.

Administrator David Morley cuts the tape to declare the building open with CTBTO Monitoring Station Manager Leo Genin alongside. See article on Leo's arrival on the Station News Page. Photo from Carlene Glass-Green.

Report on the new magnetism study project by Dr. Juergen Matzka

The first part of the magnetometer station on Tristan da Cunha is in operation now. A ribbon cutting ceremony on Friday November 14, 2008, to mark the start of the station was attended by the Tristanians involved in the project, by CTBTO Station manager Leo Genin, the heads of departments and administrator David Morley. In the previous months, Leo had organized a pilot survey of the area on the 'golf course' and then the erection of the hut that houses the instruments.

On Tristan, we are monitoring the strength of geomagnetic field, that is the natural magnetic field of the Earth, now with very high precision, says Juergen Matzka from the Danish Meteorological Institute. The data contains magnetic effects from all sorts of processes, for example the sunshine hitting the atmosphere. This is very interesting, since Tristan is located in a huge anomaly, where the geomagnetic field is too weak and too steep compared to other places on the Earth. Juergen, who visited Tristan in 2004 already, will add more magnetometers to the station in 2009. He is very grateful for the support for this project by the Tristanians and their government, by colleagues from the South African Hermanus Magnetic Observatory, and for the excellent work of EnviroConsult and the involved Tristanians.

The magnetometer station is a joint project of the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI) and the Danish National Space
Institute, funded by the Danish Natural Science Research Council.

Dr. Juergen Matzka
Remote Sensing and Geomagnetism
Danish Meteorological Institute
Copenhagen, DENMARK
Photograph of some of the Tristan workers who helped with the CTBTO building project from Leo Genin.

From left to right:
Dave Glass, Donny Green, Robin Repetto, Dion Green, Gerry Repetto, Graham Rogers, Shane Green.



Heads of Department are shown outside the new CTBTO Station Magnetometer Building as they gathered for a commissioning ceremony on Friday 14th November 2008.

The picture was taken by CTBTO Monitoring Station Manager Leo Genin and shows from left to right):
Carlene Glass-Green, Iris Green, Lorraine Repetto, Marlene Swain, Jimmy Glass, Stanley Swain, Andrea Repetto, Keith Green and Administrator David Morley.

Tristan da Cunha CTBTO Seismic Monitoring Station

The Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organisation (CTBTO), through their agents Enviroconsult, runs three IMS stations, which help contribute to international nuclear non-proliferation efforts. Instruments continuously record earth tremors which allow scientists to monitor, not only any earthquakes, but also detect any nuclear tests.

Left: The monitoring station is located on Hottentot Fence (see below) immediately west of the Settlement.

Technical Specifications of the CTBTO Station

In addition to its IMS infra sound and radio nuclide facilities, Tristan da Cunha also hosts one of the network’s 11 hydro acoustic stations used to detect natural and man-made phenomena in the oceans, including underwater nuclear detonations. This so-called T-Phase station is one of five of this type located on oceanic islands and utilizing seismometers to detect acoustic waves that are converted to seismic waves once they hit land.

The Hydro acoustic T-phase station HA09 consists of two three-component seismometers.  The northern one is located near the Settlement (see photographs above and below) about 500 m from the coast while the western one is located at the Potato Patches about one kilometre from the sea.

In each element site, three principal sub-structures can be found: a data acquisition system, power supply system and satellite communications system. At the northern element site near the village, cultural noise includes people, vehicles, etc. Although livestock are virtually the only source of human-related noise in the vicinity of the western element site, this area is subject to extreme sporadic winds.

Edited information from the CTBTO Preparatory Commission's website in consultation with their website management.
To find out more about the Tristan CTBTO Station and the broader work of the organisation,
check out their appropriately comprehensive site on : http://www.ctbto.org



Left : Former Tristan Administrator Mike Hentley sandwiched between the aptly named Tristan 'Golf Balls': the satellite dishes used to transmit seismic data from the remote monitoring sites on the Settlement Plain to UN Headquarters in Vienna.

It was the need for 24/7 electricity for this project which was a catalyst for all day power to also be available to Tristan homes, and a collapse in the Island Store candle market! By coincidence (?) the dishes are situated in the field, or ‘fence’ occasionally used as a 9-hole golf course, but more often for grazing cattle.

Station History

This new IMS station was designed collaboratively by the CTBTO Provisional Technical Secretariat and Nanometrics with Guralp Systems providing the construction management and support. In total, three trips to Tristan da Cunha were required to complete station installation. The first visit, the site survey, took place in November 2001. Site preparation and construction took place in September and October 2003. The final installation mission took place from 16 January to 23 March 2004.

Due to the extreme remoteness of Tristan da Cunha and the lack of regular transport, the installation team completed site construction and conducted equipment installation and certification tests all during the same visit. Data began to arrive at the IMS Laboratory in March 2004. Following tests the station was certified in December 2004.

We reproduce a letter from Andrew Allen, Head of Southern Oceans Team, OTD
to Ambassador Tibor Toth, Executive Secretary, Provisional Technical Secretariat ,
Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organisation , Vienna International Centre,Vienna, Austria.
in which he highlights the crucial contribution that the station makes to providing 24/7 electrical supply on Tristan da Cunha.

Tristan da Cunha Electricity

As you may know, a fire on Tristan da Cunha in February this year severely affected the supply of power to the island, with implications for the three IMS stations the UK hosts there and of course for the islanders themselves.

The fire has helped highlight the crucial role played by the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organisation (CTBTO) in the supply of continuous power to the island. This role has depended on a close co-operation between the CTBTO, the island authorities and Ovenstones, the company which runs the fish processing factory on the island and which is also responsible for management of the power supply to the island.

The CTBTO, through their agents Enviroconsult, runs the three IMS stations, which help contribute to international nuclear non-proliferation efforts. Of more immediate relevance to the daily lives of islanders is, however, the fact that the CTBTO has, since around March 2004, continuously provided 8 hours of electricity free of charge to the island, during night-time hours. Added to Ovenstones' supply of electricity for 16 hours a day, the CTBTO’s generous and voluntary contribution enables the supply of power 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to the islanders.

The UK Government is highly appreciative of the CTBTO’s essential contribution to the life and economy of Tristan da Cunha , and is sure that the islanders themselves are equally appreciative. I very much hope this close co-operation with the CTBTO can continue to flourish.

Yours sincerely

Andrew Allen

Head of Southern Oceans Team, OTD
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This page first published September 2007