3591 meters above sea level Maximum & Minimum temperatures: -22 °C to -30 °C Environmental regulations and standards in Antarctica follow the Protocol of Environmental Protection under the Antarctic Treaty. All activities are evaluated in accordance to these standards. Our project has reported the wide variety of activities that we carry out in an initial environmental evaluation. The evaluation was approved by the Norwegian Ministry of Environment prior to departure. The most severe impact from our project is burning of fuel due to the long distances we travel. In total, we will consume about 5...

Wow, what an incredible place this is – it goes way beyond my greatest expectations! I have been here a full week now, which has just flown by! We (26 of us) arrived by plane, having flown first to Cape Town, then down to Novolazarevskaya (a Russian base) where we camped overnight. We were met with such warm hospitality by the Russians and I was thrilled to see lots of IPY logos on the tents, the calendar, the planes – the list goes on and on!! What a great introduction to the Antarctic! Arriving at Halley Research Station was so exciting – we had a wonderful welcoming committee waiting for us and once we had unloaded all of our kit we were quickly shepherded off to our respective sleeping quarters to have a couple of hours of rest and relaxation and a cup of tea!...

On a day as today, when winds are blowing the snow around, large snow drifts may form over night. If we parked our vehicles randomly, we may get large drifts that need to be removed in the morning. Or perhaps snow drifts would made us become stuck when starting out for driving the next morning. Also, the order of how the vehicles are parked has been carefully considered. In the front, our main generator delivering power to the whole camp is placed. Both the living/kitchen module and the sleeping module, which are next to each other for practical reasons, receive power from the main generator. We keep the upwind area clean and this area is designated for science. ...

Written 8 December, 2007 3604 meters above sea level Maximum & Minimum temperatures: - 29 °C to - 36 °C Yesterday’s breezy conditions evolved overnight into strong winds with a lot of blowing snow, making today’s conditions the worst for visibility that we have experienced since our departure from Troll. Our goal for today is to travel all day and make good progress toward our next drilling site. Fortunately, with GPS navigation and no known obstacles between here and the drill site, we have been able to push ahead in spite of the poor conditions. The wind makes a striking difference on the ice sheet. Thursday morning it was -30 C, with clear skies, almost no wind, and walking and working on the ice sheet was pleasant. Bare cheeks were fin...

Written December 7, 2007 3589 meters above sea level Minimum temperature: -45 °C When drilling ice cores, one important task is to establish a precise dating of the core, i.e. know the age of the ice at certain depths. There are several methods for dating an ice core including using fallouts from the nuclear test bomb explosions as horizons of known age. We are drilling down to 7.5 meters to capture the well known radioactive reference layers from 1955 and 1965. These are later identified in the laboratory by measuring the Total ß-radioactivity. This contribution is from the log of the Norw...

Written 6 December, 2007 3589 meters above sea level Minimum temperature: -41 °C One of the associated projects that we accommodate on the traverse is to collect samples for studies of concentrations of black carbon in the snow pack. Black carbon originates from the industrialized parts of the world and is transported to the Polar Regions through the atmosphere. Presence of black carbon efficiently reduces the surface albedo, i.e. how efficient the surface reflects solar radiation. The lower the albedo, the more solar energy is absorbed at the surface which in turn can reduce the albedo even more by changi...

Written December 5, 2007 3585 meters above sea level After traveling all day, tonight we set camp at a location where satellite imagery told us we would experience very different snow structure across an expanse of several kilometers. Standing outside the vehicles and looking out across the expanse of the ice sheet, on casual inspection it looked pretty much the same in all directions; very small surface roughness with evidence of shifting winds, including occasional patches of shiny wind-induced surface polish. Yet our crevasse-detection radar had recently begun showing signs of unusual vertical fe...

Contents: 1. IPY Science Day: Ice Sheets, December 13th 2007 2. AGU 3. Data Coordinators 4. IPO in December 5. IPY Events and Conferences 6. Logos and Clothing 7. Two recent meetings 8. Blog on IPY.org From: IPY International Programme Office To: IPY Project Coordinators cc: IPY Community Google Groups 1. IPY Science Day: Ice Sheets, December 13th 2007 December 13th marks the second IPY Science Day, focussing on Ice Sheets. You can find information from more than 20 IPY Projects researching various aspects of Ice Sheets on ipy.org, as well as an educational flier, in 16 languages, and information for teachers and media. Show your involve...

MEDIA ADVISORY: DECEMBER 13TH: IPY DAY FOCUSSING ON ICE SHEETS IPY_Ice Sheet Press Release PDF December 5th, 2007 On December 13th, 2007, the International Polar Year (IPY) will launch its second 'International Polar Day', focussing on Ice Sheets and Traverses. In preparation for this, a special webpage, has been prepared with information for Press and Educators, details of current projects and expeditions, contact details for scientists around the world, including in the polar regions, images, background information and useful links and resources. ...

Written December 3, 2007 3590 meters above sea level With a sense of accomplishment, this noon we bid farewell to the packed snow and the lone temperature array transmitter, which is all that was left to mark our drilling site 91. Under a cool, cloudless sky, the horizon looked identical in all directions: flat and white, with lighter sky near the horizon fading into a deep blue straight up. Very small patterns formed by drifted snow, less than ten centimeters high, now provide the major surface features. Such a huge expanse dominated by the smallest of features! The calm, clear, sunny day makes th...