Written 28 November, 2007 3541 meters above sea level Early Antarctic explorers may have had problems with their sled dogs, but we are now experiencing the problems of modern times — a broken-down traverse vehicle. Just as the day was coming to an end, with just one or two more hours of driving left, one of our four vehicles, Lasse, showed signs of a problem by means of a flashing red light on an instrument panel. After a through inspection by our super mechanic Kjetil, it turns out that the differential gear (a gear that controls the speed of the wheels when making turns) needs replacing. The front part of Lasse is now covered with a tarp and heated so that maintenance work can be done in the cold of -45 degrees Celsius (air temperature at midni...

Written 28 November, 2007 3541 meters above sea level Early Antarctic explorers may have had problems with their sled dogs, but we are now experiencing the problems of modern times — a broken-down traverse vehicle. Just as the day was coming to an end, with just one or two more hours of driving left, one of our four vehicles, Lasse, showed signs of a problem by means of a flashing red light on an instrument panel. After a through inspection by our super mechanic Kjetil, it turns out that the differential gear (a gear that controls the speed of the wheels when making turns) needs replacing. The front part of Lasse is now covered with a tarp and heated so that maintenance work can be done in the cold of -45 degrees Celsius (air temperature at midni...

Written 27 November, 2007 3542 meters above sea level We started our day quite early today at 7:00am as there was lots of work to be done. Depot 700 is a site where a fuel-caching party left 127 fuel drums last year in preparation for this traverse. We picked up 122 of them and now are fully loaded with all the fuel needed to reach the South Pole, plus some reserves. The air temperature during the daytime hovered at around -20 degrees Celsius under a nice clear sky, which made our job certainly much easier than cold, windy conditions. Science also took place here, with Mary, Lou and Helgard working on a snow pit, and Jan-Gunner and Tom drilling a 12m ice core with a hand auger. ...

A new satellite image of the Antarctic continent is now ready for all to see and use. The IPY Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica (LIMA) project has been completed and its stunning result is freely available for the first time today. Compiled from over 1000 Landsat scenes, the result is a 15-metre resolution, near seamless and cloudless image mosaic of the continent. A team from NASA, the U.S. Geological Survey, the National science Foundation and the British Antarctic Survey have worked together for more than a year to produce this uniformly and rigorously processed surface reflectance dataset. In addition to providing sci...

Written 26 November, 2007 3542 meters above sea level Today we traveled a further 96.8 km and arrived at Depot 700 (700 km from Troll) at around 19:00. We adopted a little different driving schedule today, starting at 4:00 in the morning instead of driving through the night. The main reason is the chill at night. The thermometer has indicated as low as -43 degrees Celsius during the night! At such low temperatures, we noticed that vehicles were not performing at their best so it has been decided to cover as much distance as possible during the more favourable conditions. Tonight, 'The Cafe at the End of the World' became the venue of the celebration for Torbjorn's birthday. ...

Report #3, covering November 24-26: The weather is still problematic, with high wind speeds making preparatory work slow and chilly. At the moment we have an average wind speed of 28 m/s. Though progress is slow, the vehicles are getting ready one by one. It is a matter of servicing engines, installing radar equipment, etc. The lab module is now instrumented with particle samplers, a weather station and a work bench for the preparation of snow samples. The team is hard at working getting ready for the departure and everyone is keen to get going. The harsh weather has had surprisingly little effect on morale, but we all have two wishes now: One is to wake up to a sunny calm day and the second is to start the traverse. We need a calm day both for the final prepa...

Permafrost underlies up to 20% of the world land surface and is highly sensitive to changes in air temperatures. Large parts of the world’s uppermost permafrost are likely to disappear with increasing global air temperatures. This can lead to the release of additional greenhouse gases (in the form of carbon dioxide and the more powerful greenhouse gas methane) to the atmosphere from carbon pools that are currently stored in the permafrost. In addition, permafrost degradation will pose threats on infrastructure built on frozen ground. Paradoxically, permafrost temperature evolution is relatively unknown and global approaches to monitor ground temperatures are lacking. The location of permafrost areas in often remote areas of the Arctic and the Antarctic makes it a challenge to provide a c...

Fifty young researchers from thirteen countries around the world will meet for three days (Nov. 29 – Dec. 2, 2007) in Saint-Petersburg to learn more about the latest permafrost research methods and to discuss future plans to address climate change issues in permafrost areas. Permafrost underlies up to 20% of the world land surface and is highly sensitive to changes in air temperatures. Large parts of the world’s uppermost permafrost are likely to disappear with increasing global air temperatures. This can lead to the release of additional greenhouse gases (in the form of carbon dioxide and the more powerful greenhouse gas methane) to the atmosphere from carbon pools that are currently stored in the permafrost. In addition permafrost degradation will pose threats on infra...

Thursday, 22 November, 2007 3280 meters above sea level Today was Thanksgiving Day in the United States, a holiday typically marked by a turkey dinner with family. Einar was well aware of this holiday, and had arranged to have some turkey brought along. Lou coordinated the cooking, and with help from Glen and Tom, managed to prepare an excellent Thanksgiving dinner that couldn't be beat with the turkey, fresh bread, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, and mixed vegetables, with ice cream, sliced pears and whipped cream for dessert. The leisurely pace of dinner was a welcome change from our typical routine. ...

Thursday, 22 November, 2007 3280 meters above sea level Today was Thanksgiving Day in the United States, a holiday typically marked by a turkey dinner with family. Einar was well aware of this holiday, and had arranged to have some turkey brought along. Lou coordinated the cooking, and with help from Glen and Tom, managed to prepare an excellent Thanksgiving dinner that couldn't be beat with the turkey, fresh bread, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, and mixed vegetables, with ice cream, sliced pears and whipped cream for dessert. The leisurely pace of dinner was a welcome change from our typical routine. ...