Written 22 Dec 2007 3670 meters above sea level Maximum & Minimum temperatures: - 28 to - 36 °C With general coordinates of the abandoned station determined by satellite images of the long-buried packed snow runway, today we stopped at Plateau Station. This was the site of a US science camp from 1966-69, but had not been occupied or visited by any US field team since then. No one could tell us what evidence of the abandoned station may still exist above the drifting snow. Immediately visible upon our arrival was the tall meteorological tower, still standing solidly above five smaller towers and the top of a flag mast. To our delight, on closer inspection, also immediately visible at snow level was the clear dome of the aurora tower and the top ...

22 December 2007 Westhaven Nunatak, Antarctica. The goal of this field season is to deploy GPS systems on bedrock, so we can understand how the bedrock is moving. These systems are meant to be “permanent”, in that they will operate year round. We get to these sites by helicopter, and a twin otter (a type of fixed wing aircraft). When we are within 200 km of McMurdo, the U.S. base station, we use helicopter support to reach our sites. Unfortunately, weather has been bad this year. A lot of low pressure systems, which means low-hanging clouds, which means no helicopter work. We had an opportunity last week where weather was good, so we took advantage of it and flew both during the day and the night (it’s light here 24 hours a day in the summer). We ...

Written 21 December 2007 3619 meters above sea level Maximum & Minimum temperatures: -27 to -36 °C One morning everybody woke up at Plateau Station due to a dramatic sound that appeared to be traveling through the camp. This was a very scary episode for the personnel that did not know what had happened. After the noise had died down, they realized that it had been a firn quake. In very cold conditions large snow crystals grow and they are very loosely bonded. Thus, this weak layer in the snow can suddenly collapse. The personnel at Plateau Station figured that the surface lowered about 1 cm duri...

Report no 10, 16-20 December The weather is now stable and clear. We are heading eastwards along the ice divide. On the 17th we reached Kohnen station, which is maintained by Germany for the European deep ice core project EPICA. The station is unmanned at the moment, but a crew will get there later in the season. From Kohnen we have travelled more or less along the 75th latitude and are now at 9 degrees east at an altitude of approximately 3300 m. The air pressure is about 650 mb, which means that all physical work is hard. The air temperature varies daily between -20 and -30C, which is cold of course, but does not hinder any outdoor activities. Along the route we are measuring data on standard meteorological parameters, ice surface elevation, i...

Written 20 December 2007 3619 meters above sea level Maximum & Minimum temperatures: -29 to -36 °C Today, at the traditional Christmas lunch at the Norwegian Polar Institute, Einar received the price “The Employer of the Year.” Congratulations Einar! It is very well deserved. The nomination committee especially emphasized Einar’s efforts on numerous expeditions in the Arctic and in Antarctica. Einar is going to celebrate his seventh Christmas in eight years in Antarctica in a few days. Also, his high standards for field safety and work for the union were highlighted by the committee....

The site progettosmilla.it has an aim of explaining to the Italian students (with a target of 14 years old) and teachers, the ANDRILL project and the basic geographic features of Antarctica. In the various sections of the site, users can find detailed descriptions (made by a teacher of the educational project of ANDRILL with the supervision from ANDRILL scientists) of all the phases of the research viz. objectives, methods, instruments and results. The idea is to involve as many as possible students and teachers in the scientific process and adventure of the ANDRILL research. In order to support this, the site further contains: multimedia material (1450 photos, 20 videos and 10 audio), blogs, interactive a...

We were all pretty exhausted after 12 hours in the field, but wanted to take advantage of the weather, so back out we went 45 minutes later, this time to a site called Brimstone Peak. The site install went well (although we will need to go back to finish up one more item) and the weather was great again. Again, about -20C (-4F) and not too much wind. Really ideal conditions for an altitude of 7,500 ft. but still tiring to move all that equipment…. Guick lesson for those who don’t know: The way oxygen works at altitude is that as you get higher, the pressure decreases. Basically this means that your body has to work harder to pump oxygen from your lungs into your blood. That’s why it’s harder to breathe when you are at high elevations. So here’s the catch: the bar...

Written 19 Dec 2007 3619 meters above sea level Maximum & Minimum temperatures: -25 to -35°C No doubt, this ice core has really challenged us. We started drilling last Saturday and have encountered a series of problems since then. Today, however, it seems like we reached a turning point. The optimism is back in the hard-working drilling team and maybe by tomorrow the second 90 meter ice core is retrieved. Today, we also took part (by satellite phone) in a press seminar in connection with the visit of Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg to Troll Station in January 2008. ...

The October 2007 issue of the WMO Bulletin focussed on the International Polar Year 2007-2008. The issue contained an IPY overview and six articles covering polar weather, stratospheric ozone, polar atmospheric chemistry, polar oceans, cryosphere connections to hydrological cycles in the Arctic, and future space observations of polar regions. As part of its sponsorship of IPY, WMO makes the IPY articles (in English) available for free download on its website, see: http://www.wmo.ch/pages/publications/bulletin/october_2007.html These articles provide fresh reviews of many aspects of polar science. The I...

Written 18 December, 2007 3619 meters above sea level Maximum & Minimum temperatures: -22 to -32 °C All cameras were pointed towards the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) launcher when Stian made his first test flight today. The UAV carries one C-band radar, temperature and pressure sensors, a digital camera and a GPS. The C-band radar is similar to the ones on satellites and to the one we have mounted on one of the vehicles. Thus, data from these three different platforms will be compared. The camera can be used for route planning and crevasse detection. Some modifications will be made before the first long ...