First Update From the Field

17 Jan 2014

We have been having email problems, but hopefully they have been resolved so I will be able to keep you updated more regularly during the last half of our field season.

We arrived 10 days ago and had an interesting time setting up camp – digging out the depot from last year took hours of shoveling! Getting the tents set up, dinner cooked, and beds ready took the rest of the evening and it was almost 2am when we finally got to sleep. Luckily, the sun is up all day so we never have to worry about running out of daylight!

The science has been going well so far, but not every day has been beautiful weather. On our bad weather days, we have been spending our time catching up on sleep in our individual tents, taking care of any maintenance that needs to be done, organizing our research notes, and eating very well. It may be a bad day for field work, but all the fresh snow was perfect for making ice cream! Our field assistants are quite talented chefs, taking the regular dehydrated food provided in the man-food box (one point to the first person to explain why it’s called man-food) and turning it into something reasonably good! With only a few extra ingredients, the typical meals can turn into gourmet-feeling dishes (well, in comparison anyway). It’s amazing how good a homemade cheese sauce on pasta with a bit of spam can taste after eating only dehydrated food for a while.

On our good weather days, we all meet in the tent for the sched (scheduled check-in with base) at 10:15am.  Then we have another cup of tea (it is a UK field party, after all!), pack our bags, and get ready to go. We pack up the skidoos and the sledges (which haven’t changed much since the original sledges used in the early field expeditions!) and head out to the appropriate mountain range for the day. The work varies depending on the weather and the day. We have a list of our priorities and we’re working our way through. 

We’ve been in the field for at least part of 7 days, had three bad weather days, and used one day to initially get camp set up. It’s been productive so far, but we need another 4-5 good weather days to finish all that we had hoped to do. The chances are good that we will get most of that done, but we could be looking at leaving the field as early as Jan 25, so potentially only another week here - we will just have to make every day count! Of course, given weather and plane availability, it’s also possible we could be here for another 3 weeks, so we will just have to see how it goes…

From the Australian Museum Victoria, one of the original sledges used by
Ernest Shackleton while exploring Antarctica in 1907

I had planned to incorporate more science into this post, but I want to be able to send this off without slowing down the system too much, so more on the science and other details in future posts. Thanks for all the support while we’re down here!

Wildlife Galore!

7 Jan 2014
The internet is back up and running, which is good for now, but it may not last. Such is life on base (more about that after the field). For now, I’ll jump into my Antarctic Animal Checklist. There aren't too many larger animals that live on the continent, so my animal wishlist was not very long. I had heard that there would be seals and penguins that I would see whether I wanted to see them or not. They live on base and you sometimes have to consciously avoid them rather than seeking them out. However, there are 3 types of seals, 2 kinds of penguins, 3 types of birds, and several whales that are all seen here at Rothera. However, some of these species are weather/season dependent and the whales seem to be seasonal, but you also need a bit of luck. I went down here hoping for at least Weddell seals and Adelie penguins.

Rothera is situated on a little point of land and you can leave the main base and walk around the shore of the whole point in about an hour. It is mostly cobbles and gravel, but there are still some areas with snow as well. As we started off on a very calm evening, which was made all the rarer by the blue sky, we took tons of scenery photos of the ice in the bay and just offshore. The reflection of the icebergs on the ocean was stunning by itself (I have a feeling that I’m going to need to look up synonyms for stunning - majestic, beautiful, breathtaking, awe-inspiring, amazing? Yeah, it’s all of those things…).

It wasn't long before we came upon two penguins. Photo shoot ensued by all members of our group. We finally tore ourselves away and continued on. Two more penguins with an even more majestic background, so we took some more photos. Then came the seals who were nice enough to smile at us for the photos. I bought a nice camera with a good zoom lens, but apparently I didn't need that for seals and penguins since they weren't far away at all (you can't approach within 10m, but they aren't much further from the trail than that anyway!). On this same walk, we also saw some play-fighting elephant seals and managed to get a great view from the top of the hill on our way back to base.

Wow! What a day full of wildlife. Head for a drink in the bar to relax, decide to head to bed, then my roommate comes running into the bedroom: “I think I saw an orca fin! Look out the window and see if they’re still there!” I stared out the window for a few minutes as I put away some clothes and then I saw the fin. Bed is completely forgotten, exhaustion is put aside, and I ran out the door with the first shoes I could find, some gloves, and my good camera. There were at least two orcas and they were circling a chunk of ice in the bay. Perhaps there was a seal up there? The stayed in the area near base for about an hour and my fellow animal enthusiasts and photographers (about 30 of us) were loyal followers as they moved from the area near the runway over to the wharf on the other side. By the time we could no longer see them, it was 00:30 and DEFINITELY time for bed now.

But I went to bed completely amazed by the cooperative animals of the day. Despite the natural beauty on base, I’m looking forward to the field work in the mountains, although the only animals we are likely to see there are the unwashed and unshaven members of our field party.

Antarctica!

6 Jan 2014

After gluing my face to the airplane window for the last 2 hours of the flight (ever since we could see land), I stepped out of the plane and onto the runway at Rothera. We were greeted by the base commander who warmly welcomed us to the frozen continent. At +3 degrees C and sunny, the first impression was stunning. The elephant seals were grunting loudly and play fighting and the view of the mountains with ice glistening in the sun made it hard not to grin every time I looked around.

We had our safety briefing, dinner, then drinks at the bar. The JRC (the James Clark Ross) was leaving the next morning, so everyone on base was invited to the ship for drinks. A unique experience that we only got because the ship was running a few days behind schedule. We all collapsed into bed after midnight, although you couldn't tell because it still looked like early evening outside based on the light.

The next morning (Sunday) was a day off for most of the base – well-earned after two full days of “relief.” Relief happens whenever a ship comes in with a new shipment. All other work on base ceases while the supplies from the ship are ferried by gators (little utility trucks) back and forth from the ship to where they need to be stored. The equipment, food, and other supplies need to be unpacked and stored in various locations on base and the effort goes on around the clock until it’s complete.

While everyone else rested, Kate (the other new member of our field party) and I started our field training so that we could be prepared to leave at the earliest possible flying window. Field training included learning how to use the stoves and lamps (which look like they’re out of the 1800’s, but they are the most reliable and field-serviceable equipment for the cold!), how to drive the ski-doos, how to set up our emergency tents, how to use the comms equipment (radios, satellite phones, etc.), and it culminated in a night outside in the Rothera “backyard” play area. 

We had such a busy day that we weren't able to get up the hill for our overnight until after dinner – I'm ok eating pork roast, delicious potatoes, and roasted vegetables instead of freeze-dried meals for one more night! There will be plenty of freeze-dried food in the field. We took the ski-doos up the hill, set up the tent, had a cup of tea, and went to bed exhausted after ~12 hours of training. The light didn't seem to bother us at all…

Up at the tent site, in the complete stillness that can only be found in remote areas of the world, I heard a distant rumble. Then another small sound, like very distant thunder. Finally, a long, louder rumble. The field assistant (and our instructor for the training) told us that he had seen evidence of a recently calved off chunk of ice floating in pieces at the base of the cliff where we were staying. Mystery solved and my awe of this place increases :)  How magical! The entire experience is surreal and unlike anything else. But lots of training and no time to spare, so back to work in one of the most beautiful places in the world! 

Packing for the trip

1 Jan 2013
I hadn’t planned to stay up late enough to watch the fireworks, but between the Antarctic packing and finishing up papers that are already late, I accidentally got to watch them. Since our flat has a castle view, we were able to look out the window and enjoy the show – which is great because it was an amazing display (on par with some finales I’ve seen, but for the whole show!) and I was able to go back to work afterwards…then get up at 5 am because I can’t sleep in when I’m stressed out.

Packing for Antarctica is unlike any other packing I’ve had to do. I’ve travelled to Kyrgyzstan for remote camping-based field work before and we recently moved almost everything we own across an ocean, but this was different. The British Antarctic Survey provides much of the gear, but not everything. They are providing warm-weather gear for the cold, but I will need clothes for while I’m on base. They are providing the tent and food, but if I want to eat something other than biscuits (crackers) and tinned fish for lunch, I need to bring extra food. They are providing the internet connection, but I have to bring an appropriate device so I can use it.

I like to plan ahead for packing so I’ve taken over the large table in our kitchen for the last several weeks. Anything going to Antarctica (or potentially going to Antarctica) went on the table. Yesterday was my chance to sort through it all and make the final decisions. Some were easy: Ideally, I would like to have enough socks to change them fairly regularly (~10 pairs?), but I only own 7 good pairs of socks. Easy answer: bring them all and make do! Other things were harder: Do I need my own warm coat? Do I need any nice looking clothes? Am I going to want more than one fleece? I made some guesses, asked a whole bunch of questions of my colleague who did this last year, and I’ll find out how well I did on my packing when I get there. I have managed to leave 6kg of extra space in my bag for my sampling equipment that we will load up when we meet up with the other half of our party at the airport tomorrow. We only get 23 kg of total checked luggage and another 8 kg hand luggage.

Inevitably, there will be things that I brought that I don’t need and things that I wish I’d remembered. But I have my passport, traveling clothes, and three cameras and anything else beyond that will make things more comfortable but it isn’t necessary J

3 Jan 2014 (update)

Made it to Punta Arenas after 40 hours of travel. Headed to Antarctica tomorrow.

Here are some fun links to follow the weather at the base (I'll be there for 4-6 days) and you can check out the webcam. I will try to stand in its view at some piont :)

http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/living_and_working/research_stations/rothera/

http://www.antarctica.ac.uk//images/webcams/rothera/?cam=2&date=2014-01-01%2009:00:54&position=1

http://www.accuweather.com/en/aq/rothera-station/2273730/weather-forecast/2273730