We had a slight “event” a week or so ago, when our group was at a site called Mt. Paterson. Mount Paterson is about 550 miles west of McMurdo, somewhat near the coast. I would have put a post up about this earlier, but it was a somewhat sensitive issue. Enough time has elapsed now, and I think it is important to talk about, so I’m putting up some photos. In short, we had a plane crash in the Basler. If you have read previous posts, you will know that a Basler is a fixed wing aircraft, slightly larger than a Twin Otter, and therefore capable of carrying more weight. It uses skis to land, just like a Twin Otter. I wasn’t on the flight, another member of our group, Bob, ended up taking my place. There were six people from out group total (3 GPS, 3 seismic) and 4 people from fixed wing...

13 Jan 2008 86.05767 deg S, 55.06667 deg E, 3251 meters above sea level Maximum & Minimum temperatures: - 25 to - 36 °C It was with mixed feelings that we finished the last science stop. On one hand, it was good to know that a very successful field program was completed. On the other hand, it was a bit sad to know that the field season comes to an end soon. After lunch we packed up. A lot of reorganization was needed since only three vehicles are operative now. After dinner we started out on our non-stop driving to the South Pole. All vehicles performed well and the spirits were once again high – “only” 600 km to go… - Jan-Gunnar Photo: Last night when all four vehicles were operative (Photo: Jan-Gunnar Winther)...

Report from the Swedish part of the Japanese-Swedish Antarctic Expedition, JASE. Report no 18. On Saturday afternoon we reached the Kohnen station (75oS, 0oE-W). The hospitality shown by the German crew has been overwhelming. We felt like sailors coming from the great ocean to a friendly harbor. We have had the opportunity to be shown the drill hall of the EPICA deep ice core drillings. It is an impressive construction in a 60 m long and 7 m deep snow trench. It is a historical scientific site. Today we have been able to relax, repack sleds and made repairs of the vehicles. We are now prepared for the last legs of this expedition. We will take off Monday morning for the next move towards the Heimefrontfjella mountain range where we will have a science stop wh...

There's a changed mood on board now the frantic pace of the CTD (Conductivity, Temperature, Depth) circuit has abated. Work continues along with the CEAMARC trawls but it seems as if people have been absorbed by the ship. I have a kind of holiday - a reading blitz, and have just finished reading about the explorer Hubert Wilkins. Wilkins grew up on a property on the wrong side of the Goyder line in South Australia and saw the Federation drought of 1901 destroy the family farm. His remarkable exploration expeditions to both poles were driven by a certainty that understanding the climate of the polar regions was the key to predicting weather and that understanding climate could alleviate human suffering. When he set off for Antarctica with Shack...

Yeah, you better believe it. The wind has been ferocious here. It is hard to describe just what a physical presence it has, its own personality each day. One day its a continuous ground blizzard that makes getting between the tents “fun.” Some nights you can barely sleep because the your tent is being rocked about, with gusts occasionally bending it completely out of shape. You lie there wondering if you’re about to blow away. When the lulls come they are glorious, the silence is absolute, much more so than anything you can find around McMurdo, where there is always the noise of a generator or a vehicle backing up somewhere. The people here are a nice bunch. They seem pleased to have scientist in their mix. The staff are regular explorer types mostly, with a few hardy ...

Patriot Hills is a nice spot. Well sort of, its very pretty to look at, really rather good to eat at, but not so great when the weather is concerned. The wind blows constantly here, which is why the camp is actually here. The wind screams down from the mountains and strips the top layer of snow off, leaving slippery, polished blue-ice, that very large Russian transportation aircraft can land on. Unfortunately most of that snow ends up in the tented camp a little bit to the north. When I say the wind screams, I mean it just absolutely howls through the camp, throwing up whirlwinds of snow, battering tents, and putting spindrift into any available orifice. It’s a tangible presence here twenty-four hours a day. Anything not locked down is gone with the first ferocious gust. W...

It’s been a few days since anything really happened. There was the New Year, which was ushered in with much hilarity and scotch, and the helo-hanger party where the blue grass and rock bands from Ice Stock played again. And there was the visiting members of Congress that we had to talk to, and several fire drills, but conspicuously there wasn’t much work to be done. Weather has not been our friend, and we have had some logistical knock on effect from the plane crash that our group was involved in earlier in the season (Google "Antarctica Basler", to read-up on it, if you are so inclined). I’m writing this from the belly of a LC130 ski-equipped Hercules aircraft. Four of our team, myself, Brian Bonnet, Don Voigt and Thomas Nylen (yeah him again) are l...

12 Jan 2008 3251 meters above sea level Maximum & Minimum temperatures: - 26 to - 36 °C We received a very pleasant visit of an international VIP-group this morning. This group is supported by Antarctic Logistics Expedition and led by a Swedish explorer. They landed at our traverse with a Twin Otter on their way to the Pole of Inaccessibility. The group consisted of VIP persons from Australia, Canada, Dubai, Germany, Russia, Scotland and Sweden. Later this afternoon the transmission transfer-case on Sembla broke. Since we have no spare parts Sembla will be placed on a sledge and riding ...

Friday 11th January 2008 It is heresy to say this out loud when our key projects are dependent on being in open water - but I do enjoy being in the ice. We have shared the company of many large tabular bergs as well as some scattered bergy bits today. I have learned about the ship sinkers - the growlers, and correctly identified brash ice. I've seen pancake and fused and rafted, know a bummock from a hummock, and have seen frazzle, and grease and slush. It was Toby that pointed out an odd feature in the distant sea. He had his binoculars straight onto it. "It's black... sticking up out ...

11 Jan 2008 3273 meters above sea level Maximum & Minimum temperatures: - 26 to - 38 °C Roald Amundsen left his spare tent at the South Pole after his visit there in December 1911. The father of Finn Ronne, whom one of our modules is named after, made this tent for Amundsen. The tent Amundsen used on his way back from the South Pole is exhibited at the Fram Museum at Bygdøy in Oslo. Most likely his spare tent is located under about 15 meters of snow. However, due to airdrops during the building of the first South Pole Station in 1957 there are many other items buried in the snow in this area. At the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting in Stockholm in 2005 the tent of Roald Amundsen was protected based on a proposal from USA and supported by consensus among ...