Postcard from the Summit – Page 10 – A Darker View

Drill Bits

A set of drill bits await use in the Keck machine shop

Hammered

Various types of hammers await use in the Keck machine shop

Ladder

Looking up a ladder on the Keck 2 dome

Loose Bolts

Loose Bolts — Bins of bolts in the Keck supply room

A Little Icy…

Icy — Freezing fog and 90mph winds combine to create ice sculpture on Mauna Kea

Keck 2 Ice — A ladder platform of the Keck 2 dome with a heavy coating of ice

Summit Ice — A heavy coat of ice covers everything at the summit of Mauna Kea

Snow — A touch of snow and ice atop Mauna Kea this morning

A Blade of Ice — The effects of freezing fog on the summit of Mauna Kea

Park Away From Dome — An ice covered sign warning drivers to park away from the telescope dome

Ice — Freezing fog and 90mph winds combine to create ice sculpture on Mauna Kea

A snow covered summit road — Getting to the summit over a snow and ice covered road in heavy fog

Icy Weather — The meteorological instruments atop the Keck weather mast covered with thick ice.

Summit Ice — The results of a night of freezing fog atop Mauna Kea

Summit Ice — A heavy coat of ice covers everything at the summit of Mauna Kea

Iced — The emergency evacuation vehicle covered with ice

Keck Under Ice — Keck Observatory covered in heavy ice

Ice on the Mast — Ice on the Keck weather mast

Heavy Ice — Ice on the Keck 2 dome ladders after the New Year’s storm of 2015

MastCam Ice — Hanging ice blocks the view of MastCam after a severe winter storm on January 4th, 2015

A Little Snow…

Snowy SMA — The SMA antennas in snow and fog

Icy Sunrise — The Sun rising over an icy snowfield along the summit road of Mauna Kea

Nearly There — Keck 2 appears out of the fog and snow as we are nearly there

SMA On Ice — The SMA (Smithsonian Submillimeter Array) under a heavy coating of ice and snow with Haleakalā in the background

IRTF Snow 3Mar2015 — Snow falling around the IRTF telescope on the afternoon of March 3, 2015

Snow Day — Looking across at the Keck 1 dome from the top of Keck 2 with Mauna Loa in the background

Fresh Snow — Fresh snow atop Mauna Kea, the first good storm of 2013

Snowy Keck 1 — Keck 1 looms in the fog and snow

A Summit Road — Six inches of snow on the road as we approach the summit of Mauna Kea

Shoveling Snow — The crew shovels the loading dock clear while the OMKM grader clears a troublesome snowdrift.

Light Snow — A light snowfall atop the summit of Mauna Kea

Shoveling Snow — Mike Dahler clearing snow from the edge of the Keck 2 shutter

Snowy Arrival at the Summit — The crew arriving to a summit to find several inches of fresh snow

Fresh snowfall blankets the summit of Mauna Kea

Fesh snowfall from the top of the Keck 2 dome

Shoveling Snow — George and Nick realizing how much snow must be moved

Snow — A touch of snow and ice atop Mauna Kea this morning

A Little More Snow — April storm brought enough snow to cover the slopes of Mauna Kea

Snowy Summits — A fresh snowfall blankets the summit of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa

Shoveling snow in Hawai’i!

Abandoning the Summit — Abandoning the summit as weather conditions deteriorate and the snow begins to fall

Arrival — We arrive to eight inches of snow at the telescopes

A snow covered summit road — Getting to the summit over a snow and ice covered road in heavy fog

Snowplow — An MKSS snowplow clears the road atop Mauna Kea

A Bit of Snow — The twin domes of Keck after a bit of snow on the summit of Mauna Kea

Breaker

Breaker — A row of circuit breakers in the Keck 2 computer room

Transform

Transform — The transformers for the Keck 2 telescope servo drives

Snow Gallery

This winter has already seen quite a bit of snow atop our tropical summit. It seems appropriate to put together a few recent snow photos…

OLI Hawaii — Recent snowfall atop Hawaiian summits as captured by NASA’s OLI imager aboard Landsat 8 on Dec 25th, 2016

Snow at Keck Observatory atop Mauna Kea — A summit covered with snow to greet us on a recent morning up top.

Mauna Kea Blizzard — A snowstorm continues for a second day atop Mauna Kea, December 2, 2016

Mauna Kea Blizzard — A snowstorm continues for a second day atop Mauna Kea, December 2, 2016

Mauna Kea Blizzard — A snowstorm continues for a second day atop Mauna Kea, December 2, 2016

Mauna Kea Blizzard — A snowstorm continues for a second day atop Mauna Kea, December 2, 2016

Fresh Snow — Fresh snow atop Mauna Kea blankets the ground behind Keck

Snow Drifts in Hawaii — Substantial snow drifts in front of the Keck Telescope, December 19, 2016

Heavy Ice — Heavy ice on the weather mast of Keck Observatory, December 19, 2016

Hoku Kea — A shot from a UKIRT webcam of the Hoku Kea student observatory

Eric gives scale to a rather large snowdrift in front of Keck Observatory — Yeah, this is going to be a problem… Eric gives scale to a rather large snowdrift in front of Keck Observatory

No View — The Keck 1 breakroom windows feature the view of the inside of a snowdrift

The MKSS snowplow crews remove snow from in front of Keck Observatory atop Mauna Kea

The MKSS snowplow crews remove snow from in front of IRTF Observatory atop Mauna Kea

Deep drifts in front of Keck Observatory cut through by the MKSS snowplow crews

The summit road choked with deep snows — It will be a fair bit of work to clear the road to the summit

The MKSS snowplow crews remove snow from the roads atop Mauna Kea

Loading Snow — Loading pickup trucks with snow for export from the mauna.

Heavy ice covers the Keck weather mast

Subaru Observatory looms out of the fog and snow

Snow along the road as we approach the summit of Mauna Kea

Mountain Traffic — Winding our way down the mountain with snow day traffic

No View

Normally the Keck 1 breakroom windows feature a great view of the Kohala, and of Maui and Haleakalā beyond. Not lately…

No View — The Keck 1 breakroom windows feature the view of the inside of a snowdrift