While the Polarstern did her utmost best to break through the pack ice towards the shelf, most scientists finished their practical station work and had the first look at the preliminary results. As member of the benthology team I work on the smallest, though surprisingly amazing members of the multicellular benthos, the Nematoda. These wormlike creatures are so numerously present and show such a great variability that they simply have to fulfil an important role down there. Because they are so small you need a microscope with high magnification to be able to identify them. Therefore and also because I plan to do some biochemical analyses on the nematodes found in the deep-sea sediments, my preliminary results on board would be limited to mentioning that the sampling we did by means of the...

86.80033 deg S, 54.45187 deg E 3151 meters above sea level Maximum & Minimum temperatures: - 22 to - 33 °C We are now in a situation where it is impossible to get all our equipment to the South Pole this season. The alternative to go onwards with two vehicles and light loads, even receiving assistance if this light traverse experiences problems, was considered unfavorable. We would then have ended up in a situation where our vehicles and equipment were located at two different places at the start of next season. Thus, we have decided to establish a winter camp here. Personnel, scientific samples, instruments and all other gear that can not stand the cold winter will be airlifted to South Pole with a Basler aircraft from Antarctic Logistics Centre International...

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...

For about two weeks the Polarstern had been fighting against a forbidding fortress of ice, and day after day there seemed to be very little progress. The scientists on board of this research icebreaker were less than happy. Some stations had already been given up when we were called to the Atka Bay for the second time. On Monday afternoon, it still looked like our goal was still very far in the distance. In the middle of the night from Monday to Tuesday, around 2 a.m. the birthday parties of two scientists and a member of the helikopter crew were about to wind down. Suddenly, out of the blue, the happy news reached the “Zillertal”, the ship’s bar, that the Polarstern had reached the shelf ice edge. I could hardly believe it! After a bit of hesitating, I put on my Po...