south pole weather question

[dainthomas]

Wouldn't the wind always be from the north? According to this, the wind was out of the SE yesterday (25th).

http://weather.noaa.gov/weather/current/NZSP.html

 

[dullard]

Bah! Wind should be listed as where it is going TO, not where it is coming FROM.

 

[spaceman]

iot should be blowing up the shorts of the people rocking sotuh pole but a belt would be better see.

 

[spidey07]

Winds are constantly changing direction in the poles. Their are trade winds in different bands around the world and the poles get all the turbulence from them.

-edit-
oh, I get what you're saying. You think it's north all the way around. No, North is defined as zero longitude in the poles.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I'd assume the weather monitoring device isn't directly on the spot defined as the South Pole.

 

[radioouman]

North is not all directions.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
I'd assume the weather monitoring device isn't directly on the spot defined as the South Pole.

Look at the coordinates. Sure looks like the south pole to me.

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
I'd assume the weather monitoring device isn't directly on the spot defined as the South Pole.

Look at the coordinates. Sure looks like the south pole to me.

Even if it is DIRECTLY on the pole, the direction is still measured as a degree off 0 longitude. So at the south pole the 'north' is less important than the 10 degrees mentioned, which tells you the direction the wind is blowing from.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
I'd assume the weather monitoring device isn't directly on the spot defined as the South Pole.

Look at the coordinates. Sure looks like the south pole to me.

I would expect that the coordinates (E & W) are lined up along the Meridian

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: radioouman
North is not all directions.

Actually directly at the south pole, all directions are North.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: Common Courtesy

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
I'd assume the weather monitoring device isn't directly on the spot defined as the South Pole.

Look at the coordinates. Sure looks like the south pole to me.

I would expect that the coordinates (E & W) are lined up along the Meridian

After some googling it's normally just South 90 degrees, latitude isn't important of course - you can add a 0 E or 0 W if you like. And north is indeed pointed to the zero longitude, the prime meridian. South direction is the anti-meridian or 180 degree longitude. So if you point yourself geographically N at the south pole your facing the prime with your back to the anti.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
I'd assume the weather monitoring device isn't directly on the spot defined as the South Pole.

Look at the coordinates. Sure looks like the south pole to me.

Ok, I don't know how cardinal directions work when you're that close to the pole (I didn't know they started using longitude), but 90-00 X 00-00 E covers a whole region surrounding the actual geographic south pole, right?

 

[dainthomas]

Originally posted by: spidey07
Winds are constantly changing direction in the poles. Their are trade winds in different bands around the world and the poles get all the turbulence from them.

-edit-
oh, I get what you're saying. You think it's north all the way around. No, North is defined as zero longitude in the poles.

Ah, that makes sense.

I'd still hate to be the poor bastard that has to go out and maintain that equipment in -75 or whatever it gets down to.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
I'd assume the weather monitoring device isn't directly on the spot defined as the South Pole.

Look at the coordinates. Sure looks like the south pole to me.

Ok, I don't know how cardinal directions work when you're that close to the pole (I didn't know they started using longitude), but 90-00 X 00-00 E covers a whole region surrounding the actual geographic south pole, right?

No, by definition that MUST be the south pole. At the pole there is no latitude.

-edit-
I mean there is no need for lattitude because you are directly on the south pole - you're at 90 degress South and postionally there is no need for a longitudinal measurement because there is none at the pole. You're on the pole.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
I'd assume the weather monitoring device isn't directly on the spot defined as the South Pole.

Look at the coordinates. Sure looks like the south pole to me.

Ok, I don't know how cardinal directions work when you're that close to the pole (I didn't know they started using longitude), but 90-00 X 00-00 E covers a whole region surrounding the actual geographic south pole, right?

No, by definition that MUST be the south pole. At the pole there is no latitude.

Ok, I'm 10 feet from the South Pole... tell me my coordinates in the form

XX-XX, XX-XX

 

[The Boston Dangler]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
I'd assume the weather monitoring device isn't directly on the spot defined as the South Pole.

Look at the coordinates. Sure looks like the south pole to me.

Ok, I don't know how cardinal directions work when you're that close to the pole (I didn't know they started using longitude), but 90-00 X 00-00 E covers a whole region surrounding the actual geographic south pole, right?

No, by definition that MUST be the south pole. At the pole there is no latitude.

i don't like your latitude

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello


Ok, I'm 10 feet from the South Pole... tell me my coordinates in the form

XX-XX, XX-XX

89-59.9 S, 0-1 E

The longitude would depend on where you were. I'm guessing at 6 seconds being 10 feet. The latitude would not change since you said you were 10 feet from the south pole, only the longitude (second number).

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello


Ok, I'm 10 feet from the South Pole... tell me my coordinates in the form

XX-XX, XX-XX

89-59.9 S, 0-1 E

The longitude would depend on where you were. I'm guessing at 6 seconds being 10 feet.

You don't have that many digits of precision is my point.

You can't give me 89-59.9 because you only have XX-XX to work with, not XX-XX.X

My point was that 00-00S, 00-00E is a whole region since anything in the 00-00.49S to 00-00.49E region would be rounded to 00-00S, 00-00E. The weather station could be anywhere in that area and still be rounded to 00-00S, 00-00E.

That was my initial thought for how the weather station could be getting wind coming from the actual south pole and be reporting it as coming from the south even though the coordinates would seem to indicate that it's directly at the south pole.

I had no idea that they started using longitude for North/South when they got close to the poles.

 

[dainthomas]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello


Ok, I'm 10 feet from the South Pole... tell me my coordinates in the form

XX-XX, XX-XX

89-59.9 S, 0-1 E

The longitude would depend on where you were. I'm guessing at 6 seconds being 10 feet.

You don't have that many digits of precision is my point.

You can't give me 89-59.9 because you only have XX-XX to work with, not XX-XX.X

My point was that 00-00S, 00-00E is a whole region since anything in the 00-00.49S to 00-00.49E region would be rounded to 00-00S, 00-00E. The weather station could be anywhere in that area and still be rounded to 00-00S, 00-00E.

That was my initial thought for how the weather station could be getting wind coming from the actual south pole and be reporting it as coming from the south even though the coordinates would seem to indicate that it's directly at the south pole.

I had no idea that they started using longitude for North/South when they got close to the poles.

After some more digging, it turns out that the station is 300 meters from the actual pole. Not sure about the monitoring equipment though, but I suspect they're just using longitude as others have suggested.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Here's a really crappy diagram of what I was first thinking before the mention of using Longitude for North
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...sDAjello/SouthPole.png

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
Here's a really crappy diagram of what I was first thinking before the mention of using Longitude for North
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...sDAjello/SouthPole.png

It looks like a booby with some piercings! 😉

But it looks correct. As long as you're not sitting directly on the south pole then north will be "up" or towards the equator/north pole.

Interestingly (more googling) this is ONLY with the south pole. The north pole is different in that if you are directly on it all directions are south, they don't use the prime meridian to designate south. I guess all directions are based on "where is north?" In the south there pole there is a north, in the north pole there isn't.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: spidey07
It looks like a booby with some piercings! 😉

:laugh: