Grounding station

From SGCommand

"Like I was saying, there are lightning rods -- a lot of them -- placed all over the city. Now, as it stands right now, all the energy they capture is routed into four main grounding stations. In turn the stations ground all that energy into the ocean below."

—Dr. Rodney McKay

Grounding stations are structures on Ancient city-ships used to disperse lightning strikes down and away from a city-ship.

[edit] Functions

"Let's say the grounding stations weren't around. Every time lightning struck the city, [Atlantis'] halls would become supercharged."

—Dr. Rodney McKay

Due to the fragile nature of a city-ships buildings, they are extremly vulnerable to lightning. To protect a city-ship from lightning strikes, the city is equipped with a large number of lightning rods situated throughout the city. These rods channel the electric current of lightning to the grounding stations, which disperse the energy into the ocean (if the city is situated on one). Although the exact number of stations each city has is unknown, it is known that Atlantis has four, so this can be assumed to be the standard amount. On Atlantis, two of the stations are located in the central part of the city, close to transport chambers, while the other two are located on the outskits of the city, on the edge of the piers.

To disable a station, one input the Ancient equivalent of the numbers 031547 on the console next to the station. This causes the station to seperate, and the lightning directed to that station will instead run rampant inside the hallways of that part of the city. (ATL: "The Storm")

[edit] History

"If we were to disable the grounding stations...every time lightning struck the city, Atlantis would experience a momentary massive power surge."

—Dr. Rodney McKay

The grounding stations came into use for the Atlantis Expedition only once, when the city was threatened by a large storm. Since they had no shield to protect themself, the doctors McKay and Zelenka devised a plan which would lead the energy of lightning strikes directly into the shield, thus powering it up and protecting the city. To get this plan to work, the four stations had to be disabled. However at the same time, the Genii sieged Atlantis and one of the soldiers damaged one of the grounding stations. However, McKay managed to repaire it in time, thus the plan was successfully carried out. (ATL: "The Storm", "The Eye")

Two years later, when some of the Lanteans returned, McKay informed their leader Helia that one of the grounding stations was shot up. (ATL: "The Return, Part 1")