519
Away from people and civilization
Fascinating report on how meteorologists four years living far from civilization. Read the continuation.
Early January, four in the morning. "36442-42999- ...." - Despite the New Year holidays, rather cheerful voice is heard from the hardware of the alpine weather station in Russia - Kara-Turek. 365 days a year, every three hours, now 73 years old, in spite of everything, it sounds a set of numbers in which the encrypted data on the weather. Their work is very important for forecasting floods and aviation, including for international flights.
Kara-Turek with the Altay translates as "black heart". Located this "black heart" in the Altai mountains Katun Range at an altitude of 2600 meters. It passes the name of the station name, which is 20 kilometers on foot along a winding ridge. The station was established in 1939 and, according to official data, transmit information from October 1, 1939. Even during the war the station run smoothly, and precisely on time always received weather data.
The nearest small village Kucherla 30 kilometers on the mountain steep paths, and the nearest large village of Ust-Cox - 100 kilometers. About the city can not even mention - he is one for the whole of the Altai Republic - Gorno-Altaisk, to which 800 kilometers of mountain passes.
On the station is only a horse and walking trails, by car or jeep not get there. In some places the path is very narrow and passes over a steep cliff. By car you can drive just before lift - this saves the running time of three o'clock. The rise begins after the Elan Valley. At first just children's slides up and down, up and down. On the left the mountains, steep cliff to the right, ending raging river Kucherla. And though in the street minus 30, the river does not freeze completely. It only places covered with a thick layer of ice, which can be heard by the terrible roar. But it begins "adult" trail - steep climb up serpentines.
And in the winter and summer Altai are the cattle grazing in the mountains. What do they do in the winter? This is the first question that arises when you see horses on snowy clearings, scratching away the snow in search of grass hooves. Scott, who roams the mountains, treads a comfortable trail. On this trail is easy to climb - at the compacted snow on the asphalt like. The sun is going down behind the mountains. At sunset, clearly visible traces in the snow: rabbits, mice, wild boars - they trampled all around. Wood finishes, and then the road goes on bald snowy mountains. The rise became even steeper and deeper snow.
Mountain misleading: look up, like here it is, top, another 20 minutes - and will be in place, but after 20 minutes there is a new top that hid behind relief. And finally, the last step - before the eyes open and meteorological. And around the mountain panorama in 360 degrees, it covers all the surrounding mountain ranges - North Chui, Katunsky, Tirektinsky. And only in the distance, 80 kilometers, one can see the distant lights of the city. He opens the door a young man, a little shy but good-looking.
The rhythm of life on the weather station calm and measured. Do not run in the morning on the subway, bus, train or standing in a traffic jam. I woke up, went out into the street. Breath of fresh mountain air and enjoy the mountain scenery. 30 seconds - and you're in the workplace - at the meteorological site. Living isolated from society. In the summer sometimes wander passing by tourists and winter lull. All communication - this is his partner, a cat and a dog.
Living rooms and workroom are located in the same building. In the evening, everyone gathers in the hall near the TV. And although there is a regular show, not interesting series about someone's unfortunate fate, all come to look for the company, just to spend time together.
Besides living quarters, there is a storage building and a sauna. However, special attention should be paid washroom - when you come into it, is breathtaking. It stands on the edge of the cliff on several boards, on the other side as a counterweight which neatly laid out the stones. In which case will have to fly far. With the exception of meteorological, this whole infrastructure "meteogorodka" ends.
At the station, the Kara-Turek are only men, four people - two meteotehnika, one senior meteotehnik and the stationmaster. Once a year, in the autumn, there zabroska food by helicopter. This is the only way to deliver a large amount of cargo on remote objects. Helicopter makes about ten walker to deliver everything you need. And though a kilometer away, at the bottom of a huge forest wood imported by helicopter. But because of the height and the pressure is not so easy to deliver all the necessary station. So, after the repair meteorologists decided to renovate the old wooden windows with plastic. And when they lifted the station, it was found that the glass burst from the pressure. It turned out to deliver only the second attempt, the pre-drilled holes in the frames.
In winter, in order to get water, poured into huge barrels and snow a few days they are in the room until it has melted. In the summer collected rainwater drained from the roofs. The high location of the stations has its advantages - a line of sight from the district center of Ust-Cox, so there is a cellular connection. And recently there was one benefit of civilization - the Internet, with a fairly high speed for areas of 1 MB / s.
Ten in the morning. "36442 - ..." The bright sun begins to burn cardboard strip tape in heliograph. "Do you remember, as a child, a magnifying glass in the sun set fire to pieces of paper? So here - the sun's rays are reflected through a glass sphere and burn strips "- says Alexander meteotehnik.
Helio records the duration of sunshine during the day. It is a glass ball, which serves as a lens that collects the sun's rays on a special purple ribbon separates hours lines. In the total length of burning cardboard belt determined the duration of sunshine hours per day. If the sun is close clouds burn line becomes weaker or disappears.
In order to transmit data on the weather, you need to remove ten readings, depending on the time of year there may be fewer or more: air temperature, soil temperature, air humidity, atmospheric transparency, rainfall, snow cover, the presence of solid precipitation, pressure, wind speed and direction, sunshine time. Then, these readings are encrypted in the synoptic code to make it easier to transfer information to the dispatcher. 'There you see the tower - Alexander shows up on a nearby mountain. - Now, if it can be clearly seen, so visibility is 100% »
"We are going with Andrew to go to the North Pole to work. Already filed a statement. Institute want to finish, to become a weather forecaster. And then what - I do not know. I like to live like that. My wife is bored and waiting all the time. Parcels sends. Every time I go down home on the first date. Let all that remains ».
From
Early January, four in the morning. "36442-42999- ...." - Despite the New Year holidays, rather cheerful voice is heard from the hardware of the alpine weather station in Russia - Kara-Turek. 365 days a year, every three hours, now 73 years old, in spite of everything, it sounds a set of numbers in which the encrypted data on the weather. Their work is very important for forecasting floods and aviation, including for international flights.
Kara-Turek with the Altay translates as "black heart". Located this "black heart" in the Altai mountains Katun Range at an altitude of 2600 meters. It passes the name of the station name, which is 20 kilometers on foot along a winding ridge. The station was established in 1939 and, according to official data, transmit information from October 1, 1939. Even during the war the station run smoothly, and precisely on time always received weather data.
The nearest small village Kucherla 30 kilometers on the mountain steep paths, and the nearest large village of Ust-Cox - 100 kilometers. About the city can not even mention - he is one for the whole of the Altai Republic - Gorno-Altaisk, to which 800 kilometers of mountain passes.
On the station is only a horse and walking trails, by car or jeep not get there. In some places the path is very narrow and passes over a steep cliff. By car you can drive just before lift - this saves the running time of three o'clock. The rise begins after the Elan Valley. At first just children's slides up and down, up and down. On the left the mountains, steep cliff to the right, ending raging river Kucherla. And though in the street minus 30, the river does not freeze completely. It only places covered with a thick layer of ice, which can be heard by the terrible roar. But it begins "adult" trail - steep climb up serpentines.
And in the winter and summer Altai are the cattle grazing in the mountains. What do they do in the winter? This is the first question that arises when you see horses on snowy clearings, scratching away the snow in search of grass hooves. Scott, who roams the mountains, treads a comfortable trail. On this trail is easy to climb - at the compacted snow on the asphalt like. The sun is going down behind the mountains. At sunset, clearly visible traces in the snow: rabbits, mice, wild boars - they trampled all around. Wood finishes, and then the road goes on bald snowy mountains. The rise became even steeper and deeper snow.
Mountain misleading: look up, like here it is, top, another 20 minutes - and will be in place, but after 20 minutes there is a new top that hid behind relief. And finally, the last step - before the eyes open and meteorological. And around the mountain panorama in 360 degrees, it covers all the surrounding mountain ranges - North Chui, Katunsky, Tirektinsky. And only in the distance, 80 kilometers, one can see the distant lights of the city. He opens the door a young man, a little shy but good-looking.
The rhythm of life on the weather station calm and measured. Do not run in the morning on the subway, bus, train or standing in a traffic jam. I woke up, went out into the street. Breath of fresh mountain air and enjoy the mountain scenery. 30 seconds - and you're in the workplace - at the meteorological site. Living isolated from society. In the summer sometimes wander passing by tourists and winter lull. All communication - this is his partner, a cat and a dog.
Living rooms and workroom are located in the same building. In the evening, everyone gathers in the hall near the TV. And although there is a regular show, not interesting series about someone's unfortunate fate, all come to look for the company, just to spend time together.
Besides living quarters, there is a storage building and a sauna. However, special attention should be paid washroom - when you come into it, is breathtaking. It stands on the edge of the cliff on several boards, on the other side as a counterweight which neatly laid out the stones. In which case will have to fly far. With the exception of meteorological, this whole infrastructure "meteogorodka" ends.
At the station, the Kara-Turek are only men, four people - two meteotehnika, one senior meteotehnik and the stationmaster. Once a year, in the autumn, there zabroska food by helicopter. This is the only way to deliver a large amount of cargo on remote objects. Helicopter makes about ten walker to deliver everything you need. And though a kilometer away, at the bottom of a huge forest wood imported by helicopter. But because of the height and the pressure is not so easy to deliver all the necessary station. So, after the repair meteorologists decided to renovate the old wooden windows with plastic. And when they lifted the station, it was found that the glass burst from the pressure. It turned out to deliver only the second attempt, the pre-drilled holes in the frames.
In winter, in order to get water, poured into huge barrels and snow a few days they are in the room until it has melted. In the summer collected rainwater drained from the roofs. The high location of the stations has its advantages - a line of sight from the district center of Ust-Cox, so there is a cellular connection. And recently there was one benefit of civilization - the Internet, with a fairly high speed for areas of 1 MB / s.
Ten in the morning. "36442 - ..." The bright sun begins to burn cardboard strip tape in heliograph. "Do you remember, as a child, a magnifying glass in the sun set fire to pieces of paper? So here - the sun's rays are reflected through a glass sphere and burn strips "- says Alexander meteotehnik.
Helio records the duration of sunshine during the day. It is a glass ball, which serves as a lens that collects the sun's rays on a special purple ribbon separates hours lines. In the total length of burning cardboard belt determined the duration of sunshine hours per day. If the sun is close clouds burn line becomes weaker or disappears.
In order to transmit data on the weather, you need to remove ten readings, depending on the time of year there may be fewer or more: air temperature, soil temperature, air humidity, atmospheric transparency, rainfall, snow cover, the presence of solid precipitation, pressure, wind speed and direction, sunshine time. Then, these readings are encrypted in the synoptic code to make it easier to transfer information to the dispatcher. 'There you see the tower - Alexander shows up on a nearby mountain. - Now, if it can be clearly seen, so visibility is 100% »
"We are going with Andrew to go to the North Pole to work. Already filed a statement. Institute want to finish, to become a weather forecaster. And then what - I do not know. I like to live like that. My wife is bored and waiting all the time. Parcels sends. Every time I go down home on the first date. Let all that remains ».
From
