Small pleasures

Message from "Sledge Echo" - 31/12/2011:

We have bad weather again today - virtually no visibility and down to -15 degrees C last night. This may sound bad, and indeed it is for the work, but I am actually quite enjoying these days off - so seldom do I have several hours to do whatever I like when at home! Today we woke up at 7am and Roger looked out of the tent door. I knew from the smile on his face that we could go back to bed (he likes to lie in). We have sat, drunk tea, and chatted whilst listening to music on the MP3 players through a small speaker. Every now and then Roger pops out of the tent to adjust the dipole for the radio so he can chat to other field parties elsewhere in Antarctica. We are particularly enjoying talking to my colleague Teal and his field assistant Tom about 300 miles north of us. They are very amusing and tend to get the same weather as us, so are in the tent at the same times. All very relaxing. Yesterday I spent most of the day working so I feel I can at least have some sort of weekend today.

Roger has been working very hard cooking nice food for us recently. Last night he showed his genius with the best pudding yet. I had earlier in the day wondered aloud if we could make ice cream by freezing the custard outside. After dinner he disappeared outside for a while, and I thought he must have gone to the 'doo loo' (more on that later). Then he came into the tent carrying two plastic mugs containing our dessert with two matchmakers sticking out of the top. I think he does very well with presentation! Anyway it took me a while to figure out exactly how he had made the ice cream, but it was heavenly. He had mixed powdery snow with condensed milk, and then put freeze-dried bananas and strawberries on the top. I would love to try this at home (perhaps when I give a talk to Phoebe's nursery in March), but sadly the snow is just not the right consistency at home and there is unlikely to be any in March!

You are probably now wondering about the 'doo loo'. This is a very cosy place to get away from it all....we have put the two skidoos side by side and tied a tarpaulin over them as a protective tent. Then in the middle is our poo bin. So at least we have somewhere out of the wind to answer the call of nature! The petrol smell from the doos masks any other aromas that may be emanating from the poo bin. Fortunately the cold weather helps to reduce those! Roger told me that he even had a wash in the doo loo yesterday - he has gone one better than me then. I haven't bothered with a wash yet at all! But today I did go for a clean pair of knickers....only the third in 2 weeks.....think I have gone native! Actually I have got to the stage where a shower would be really quite nice, but I have another 5 weeks to go without one so I must get those cravings out of my head.

We are expecting good weather for all of next week, and will also move camp - so you may not hear so much from me. It will be a busy time as we try to wrap up a few loose ends with the work and move area. It will be nice to have some new parts to explore and some new views. Then I will be making decisions about where to move to by plane in a few weeks.

New Year Suprise for Jo

Hello, Uncle François here...

I am thinking of a small surprise for the New Year for Jo.

If you want to send her a message, leave a comment in the comment box, it will not appear online but I will gather all the messages and forward them to her.

The deadline is 3pm GMT on 01/01/2012. Thanks a lot.

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update: Behaviour of comments is now back to normal. Best Wishes messages have now been forwarded to Jo.

Ronne Mank

Message from "Sledge Echo" - 29/12/2011:

Hello again. The weather here is gorgeous again today, but we never really got to start work because the clouds off the Ronne Ice Shelf have been encroaching on us from below our camp all day. The first work site was shrouded in it, so we had to turn back. So Roger and I are enjoying an afternoon off (well, he has been sunbathing in the doorway and I have been trying to catch up with the 'paperwork' for my work here). I just looked at my nose in the mirror and it is attesting to the fantastic sunny weather we've been having - oh dear. The sun is unbelievably strong here, and we are putting on factor 50 sunblock several times a day!

We have lovely views when we drive out and about, so I am enjoying sitting watching the scenery this evening...which is always changing with the changes in light and cloud. My favourite time of day is the evening, when the light changes as the sun dips slightly behind the mountains behind our tent. The temperature dips a little (from -10 to -15 last night!) and the shadows get longer. When the wind dies down, it is totally silent. Beautiful.

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By clicking on it, it is possible to print or generate a PDF of the blog entry.

Happy printing... and don't kill too many trees!

Uncle François.

Sun, sun, sun

Message from "Sledge Echo" - 27/12/2011:

We have been having amazing weather here the last 3 days - gorgeous blue sky and no wind. We have been out and about driving the skidoos and sledges to get to my work sites. They are not very far away (a few km) but it takes ages because the snow is very soft following the storm last week. It is quite difficult to drive on anything but flatish ground. Today one of the sledges turned over completely, which was a bit annoying.

The work is going O.K., but I have not found many of the erratics that I want to sample. On the other hand, I have found out what rocks are around here and have taken some pieces that I can probably work on. We have had some really long days - we didn't get our dinner till 11pm last night and there was so much to sort out that we only went to bed at 2am. I am quite tired already and I've only been here a week! I think I need some bad weather so I can gather my thoughts and get some rest....no doubt it will be on its way soon!

Right now I am melting lots of snow to make our water. It takes ages but obviously is the only way we can get liquid here. The snow is very fresh and clean, and tastes fine! The food is O.K. because Roger has been adding 'goodies' to our diet - we had duck breasts for Christmas lunch, and then again in a casserole last night which was quite tasty. Tonight it'll be back to the dehydrated 'manfood' which is rather bland and textureless. Never mind!

No time here, so must dash....

Greetings from the Lassiter Coast!

Message from "Sledge Echo" - 23/12/2011:


You will probably have gathered from my relative silence these past few days that we are now in the field! The weather improved enough on Wednesday 21st for us to have 2 input flights in the Twin Otter aircraft from Rothera to my field area on the Lassiter Coast. The third flight followed yesterday, when we also had good weather. Our exact location is 74 deg 29.34’ S / 62 deg 38.67’ W, and we are about 1010 m above sea level. We were lucky with the weather, because today (Friday) we have been experiencing strong winds (25 knots) and lots of drifting snow, and it’s -10 degrees C outside. The contrast between today and yesterday is incredible – we were sitting outside drinking cups of tea with the pilots yesterday after the plane landed, and now we are struggling to see further than our sledges only about 15 m away.

The flight was O.K., but it made me feel a bit sick flying in such a small plane, and it was quite stressful having to choose where to land. It was also cloudy most of the way! But it was incredible to see the planes landing on skis next to our camp, and they did a low fly-by on the way out. We had to piste a skiway for them to ease their landing, which we did by driving a skidoo up and down in lines to beat down the snow. Because it is quite cold here, the snow is hard on top but very soft and powdery underneath.

We have a lovely view (when we can see it) of what I have called the ‘lower Guettard Range’. Only a few peaks here actually have a name. In fact, I thought no one had ever been here before, but when we flew in, we saw a shipping container and some fuel drums on a small flat rock outcrop not far from here. We are finding out some more information, but clearly we are not the first to come here! Roger and I will go and check out the container when we get a chance – it will be interesting to see what’s inside, although Roger says he thinks I should go in first in case there is a corpse in it....I don’t think that is likely but it’s certainly very curious.

I am thinking of you all getting ready for Christmas, and travelling to see various family and friends. Judging by the weather forecast here (bad for tomorrow but improving later), I think we will be working on Christmas Day. It will hopefully be a very memorable one for me, and I hope for you too.

Lots of love to you all

Jo

New map, Fossil Bluff & Twin Otters

Hello, Uncle François here...


There is a new interactive map to follow Jo's journey. Links on thumbnails have been updated and this new map will be updated when some as new coordinates are transmitted.

When clicking on pins, you have information about the place and/or blog entries related.

If you want to know more about Fossil Bluff or the Twin Otters, follow these links.


Fossil Bluff is (according to my computer anyway), 420km (260miles) away from Rothera and takes (according to the website) 90 minutes flying.


Lassiter Coast is another 400km (250miles) away from Fossil Bluff.

Jo is aiming for either Mount Owen or Mount Lampert which are a few tens of kilometres apart. More as soon as I have been updated.

A day of rest

My day started early, with my 'last' shower and hairwash, followed by a good breakfast and making my packed lunch. Then the met team and pilots finished their meeting and came down to say 'no' to going flying today :( So I didn't go to my field site today after all....it was too cloudy on the Lassiter Coast and so the plane wouldn't be able to land safely. I was disappointed, but in this game you learn to expect plans to change by the hour, and not to have any expectations.

Because all our gear is packed and most of my belongings are in the aircraft hangar, I couldn't really do much other than go outside (what a hardship!). It also happened to be another glorious day here with no wind and temperature up to 5.3 degrees C! Before lunch I walked around Rothera Point, and after lunch I went out skiing with Roger. We drove the skidoo up to 'Vals' which is a safe skiing area a few kilometres away from Rothera, and did a bit of cross country skiing followed by Roger driving me up and down the hillside so I could ski down! Later on he went off by himself and I went back for dinner - I wouldn't want to miss that because it will hopefully by my last proper meal for a few weeks! (I had seconds of pudding)

Here are some photos of the things I saw on my travels today:

Weddell Seal on the beach by Rothera

The Rothera diving team in their boat

Proving that it is not always cold in Antarctica - skiing in a T-shirt and sunhat

Skiing in paradise

I am feeling optimistic that we will be able to fly tomorrow because the weather forecast is better...... I really hope we do because I have no clean clothes left other than what I will be wearing over the next 6 weeks! I will also have to wash my hair again in the morning to make sure it is as clean as possible for our departure.

Bye for now

Nearly off!

This will probably be my last post before I head off into the field tomorrow, or possibly on Wednesday (weather dependent). We are really busy preparing for departure now, which basically involves moving our stuff to the aircraft hangar ready to be loaded onto the Twin Otter planes. We will have three flights to take all our stuff to our field site. And on route we will stop at Fossil Bluff, on Alexander Island, for refuelling the aircraft. This means we need good weather at Rothera (for take off), Fossil Bluff (for landing and take off) and on the Lassiter Coast (for landing at my field site). In this part of the world, this is quite a big ask because the weather changes so rapidly and can vary a lot between different sites even if they are quite close together.

Two days ago I went out skiing on some touring skis, which was lovely. Here is a photo to whet your appetite:

In case you are wondering what I have in my front pocket, it is a VHF radio for contacting the base in case of emergency. I was out on my own, in an area that is known to be free of crevasses (otherwise I would not have been allowed out alone).

So from now on, I will not be able to post any more photos to this site until I return to Rothera at the end of January. All my communications with the outside world will be via radio, or satellite phone. Each night Roger and I will have a radio sched with Rothera, so that they know we are safe and well. We will also chat about interesting things that have happened and get the weather forecast for the next day. But mostly we will be doing our work without being interrupted by anything but the weather.....I am looking forward to it!

Have a wonderful Christmas! (we have managed to snaffle two duck breasts from the kitchen here for our Christmas dinner)

Poo

The poo bin

Today's post is about poo, so I apologise in advance if you are eating your dinner! This is the topic that I always get asked about and it's probably the topic lots of people would like to ask about but don't. Anyway it was sparked off by me asking someone after lunch what he would be doing this afternoon, and his reply was 'burning more poo, I suppose....I've got a bit of a backlog'. Of course we laughed a lot, but the reality is that someone has to deal with it at Rothera (the plumber, Dale) and unfortunately in the field, new regulations mean we are not allowed just to dig a hole and cover it over afterwards. At Rothera there is a sewage treatment plant, and I understand that liquid waste is pumped into the sea after treatment, whilst poo is burned. If there are 80 people on station in the summer, that's a lot of poo!

Jo demonstrating use of the poo bin

Roger has been packing more of our equipment today, and I got to see BAS's answer to poo for the first time (we didn't have this back in 2003 and 2004 when I last camped in Antarctica). Basically it's called a 'poo bin', and is a large tub with a lid that you have to crouch over. Apparently one of these will do 2 people for 20 days, so we will have to take two. The really revolting thing about this is that we will have to transport our poo bins around with us on the sledges, so I hope it is cold because otherwise 6 week-old poo in a container is going to be very unpleasant. When we get back to Rothera at the end of the field season, the poo bin and all its contents will be incinerated. To me this does not seem very environmentally friendly, because the bin is made of very heavy duty plastic. Sometimes I don't understand why we have to go to such great lengths to preserve the environment whilst undoing a lot of the good work in the process. And apparently you mustn't wee in the poo bin, so that will take some practice in the mornings!

I hope this is not too crude for you all, but I thought it is worth a mention because after all, everybody poos (and it has been a boring day...).

The latest forecast for our departure is Monday...bring it on!

Today is a very significant day in the Polar calendar - it is exactly 100 years since Amundsen first reached the South Pole! BAS has a long and great history, and that is so much evident around Rothera. For example, the building my room is in is called Admirals, which is the name of one of the team of dogs that used to be used here. The last dogs left Rothera in 1993, which is not so very long ago. Today I got to try out our sledge, which is almost identical to that used by Nansen in the 1800s. It works remarkably well, and almost every part of it can be repaired very easily. Every trip down here makes history in some way....one of my proposed camp sites is in an area that noone has ever visited, and we know nothing about the rock type there. We can of course see it from satellites, but noone has actually set foot there. Having already had the honour of a place named after me in Antarctica (Johnson Mesa on James Ross Island), I feel a 'Stilwell Peak' (after Roger) coming on!

This morning I drove up the hill with Roger on the skidoos, and practising 'linked travel'. We travelled joined together with rope, with a sledge in between us. This is known as a 'half-unit', and is what we will take out each day we use the skidoos. The sledge carries all the emergency equipment, including small tent, food for 30 days and clothing etc. It is basically enough to enable us to survive for 30 days if we get stuck in bad weather away from our main campsite. Driving with a sledge in between is more tricky than you might think, because the sledge doesn't have any brakes! So that means that the person on the back skidoo (me) has to effectively act as a brake for the sledge when going downhill. Roger seemed impressed I managed it easily - somehow it didn't seem that hard to me, but apparently a lot of people cannot do it all when they first try.

Roger with the Nansen sledge

Our pyramid tent

Tilley lamp (left) and primus stoves

This afternoon we put up our tent to check it over. The photo shows the exact tent I will be camping in - a pyramid, again not very much different from the tents used by Scott! I have also shown a photo of the Tilley lamp and 2 primus stoves - the Tilley provides us with heat and light (not that we'll need the light, because it's light here all the time at the moment), and the primus stoves are what we will use for cooking. They may look old-fashioned, but again they are easy to fix and are robust. They both work off paraffin, and you prime them first with meths. You may be thinking there is an awful lot to this field season without even having got onto the science. You are right! I am exhausted thinking through it all, but I expect once we get into a routine it will be fine. And of course we still have to actually fly to our field area. I think this will not be until the early part of next week now. I just hope we are in by Christmas!




The weather forecast for tomorrow is 45 knot winds and heavy snow....I may struggle to stay upright on my way to breakfast tomorrow!

Now I must get a drink before bed. Good night!

Slow progress

Adelie penguin at Rothera Point

Today has been a lot slower than yesterday, which is good because I have not been feeling 100%. I started the day taking 20 minutes to download a 4MB file which I need for my work. It is frustrating not having a good internet connection, and doubly so because I had not realised quite how bad it would be. Anyway, having done that I had refresher training on how to use the Primus stove and Tilley lamp - our sources of heat for cooking and light/heat in the tent. The whoosh of the Tilley as it lights is very nostalgic for me!

This afternoon I was shown how to drive a skidoo, although I have done this before, and on a much fancier skidoo! (in Spitsbergen) Anyway it was O.K. - as they say, BAS needs to tick the boxes to cover themselves so I am in the process of doing just that. Then I sorted out various techie things to do with backing up my data and making maximum use of the battery on my laptop when I am in the field, with limited charging facilities. There is just so much to think about. I hope I don't forget anything because I won't be able to drive down to B&Q or PC World when I am out on the Lassiter Coast!

The photo above is one of the penguins very close to Rothera station. Today I saw a couple come right up to the vehicles near the beach. I tried to imagine what they were thinking - they seem so inquisitive, but it must be very strange to them to have noisy things around, which move fast on land (not many animals/birds in Antarctica do that).

In a few minutes I will be off to the next meal.....everything revolves around meal times and 'smoco' here (coffee break). We had flapjacks with tea this morning and chocolate brownies this afternoon. I am trying to feed myself up before the lean period ahead (well that's my excuse anyway!).

Bye for now...

About Rothera

Hello, Uncle François here (this name makes me feel old... but never mind! :-) ).

First, note that the small maps which appear at the top left hand corner of some blog entries are clickable. You will be directed to a new page with a Google Map centred on Jo's location. You can then zoom to "street level".

Now, about Rothera... For those who are curious about the time difference, I have been told that there it is GMT-3.

BAS has pages about the different stations in Antarctica. For example, on this one, you'll find the current temperature & wind information as well as some photos of the station facilities. Some more photos are available here.

There are also 2 webcams with regularly updated views.

Last but not least, in the Daily Images section, you can vote for the Penguin of the Day. The 2 favourites at the moment are:


Let's hope that one of the future top photos from this category is brought back by Jo!

A perfect day

I have been sitting here trying to figure out how to describe today, and failing. That's because it was fantastic. We awoke to the best weather I have ever experienced in Antarctica - beautiful clear blue skies, lots of sunshine and no wind at all. Roger and I got our gear together and went up the hillside to do some field training, which involved a morning of sliding down slopes trying to stop myself with an ice axe and digging a trench as part of the crevasse rescue. Whilst this was going on, the Twin Otter aircraft were flying in and out on the runway. They are bright red and look fantastic flying in with the beautiful backdrop of ice-clad mountains behind.

Jo near Rothera Station

Reptile Ridge as we saw it

Looking towards the Antarctic Peninsula from Reptile Ridge

Roger near the top

After lunch Roger took me behind Reptile Ridge on the snow and ice, and we walked linked together with crampons and ice axes over several wind-sculpted features to the summit (see the photos above). It was really hot and I feel like I have had too much sun today. Fortunately I was plastering on the sunscreen all day! Anyway the views over Ryder Bay and the islands were breathtaking. What I liked best were the weird ice sculptures and the peace and quiet. Because there was no wind, and we were over the other side of the ridge from the base, it was totally silent except for a few birds flying by. For me, that is the best way to experience Antarctica. After all, most of it is not inhabited by humans and most of it is extremely remote. To see it on a day like today was really special. Having said that, it was also quite hard work! I am really tired now, but we all know that the weather tomorrow is going to be rubbish....so everyone here is making the most of today. Actually I think that's a very good philosophy in general. I certainly made the most of dinner this evening - lamb with roast potatoes, mashed carrot and suede and gravy, followed by apple and cinnamon crumble and custard. Yum! (the food has been a lot better this weekend...)

Slots and knots

Today I have been extremely busy with checking my clothing issue and practising crevasse rescues with Roger. We only did the latter indoors - tomorrow we will go outside and try it for real (although not the falling in crevasse bit!). In fact they have here a 'show' crevasse, where they take VIPs and people who fancy a trip out from base. I hope I might also have the chance to do this, because people always bring back lovely photos of long ice crystals and beautiful colours in the ice. For those who don't know what a crevasse (or 'slot') is, it is a deep vertical crack in a glacier. They can form if the ice starts to flow over a steeper bit of rock or round an obstruction e.g. lump of rock. Some are huge - tens of metres deep and several metres wide. They are not always visible when you walk or drive across a glacier because they get covered in snow. If you fall down one without being attached to anything at the surface, that will most likely signal curtains for you.... So for glacier travel, we always go roped to another person for safety reasons. In the event that Roger falls into a crevasse (highly unlikely, by the way), then I will have to get him out, hence the training.

This evening our dinner was actually quite nice. We had steak with mushroom and pepper sauce and some lettuce (yes, greens that are actually green and not out of a tin or overcooked). Then it was ice cream for pudding. It is slightly weird eating ice cream whilst looking out of the window at icebergs and ice-clad mountains, but nice all the same!

Over and out.....


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A note on the blog - one of my blog assistants, Phoebe's Uncle Francois, is going to add some links to interesting facts about Rothera. So you can enjoy some photos and the Rothera webcam from those (since the internet connection here is really too slow for me to do much uploading). Whilst I can see comments at the moment, I will not be able to see anything you post on here after I leave Rothera.... Also I will not be able to post as frequently after next week!

Here comes the snow

This is a photo of my Dash-7 flight landing on the runway at Rothera yesterday. In the background you can see the James Clark Ross tied up at the wharf, with the relief in progress (cranes at work). Obviously I didn't take this...thanks to Adam at Rothera for the picture.

Today I started to get on with my fieldwork planning in earnest. I spent the afternoon discussing field sites with my field assistant, Roger. I have also unpacked a lot of my science kit - saws, batteries, geology equipment etc. There is so much to think about - my head is spinning! That is not helped by the fact I couldn't get to sleep last night because it was too light....it doesn't get dark here at all at the moment which is very weird. However, that has advantages. I just walked around Rothera Point after dinner, which is a short walk close to the base. There were several penguins on the beach (so I won't leave here without having seen one!) and a seal, as well as some very pretty blue icebergs. The weather has been very mixed today, and we had some very strong winds and blowing snow whilst walking around the Point - not very pleasant. But it was amazing to see the pilots landing a Twin Otter on the runway despite all that.

Today I talked to Phoebe on the phone. She was very excited to chat to me, and I am glad Robert is feeding her properly....she reliably informed me that she was eating pasta and capers for dinner! But the phone cut out half way through. I suppose that just shows that even with all these communications we now have, Antarctica still is quite remote from the rest of the world. Long may it stay that way.

Greetings from the last great wilderness on earth!

Here I am - in Antarctica! I was amazed to get here so quickly, expecting bad weather to delay our flight from Punta Arenas. Perhaps I should be more optimistic? Anyway, I arrived at Rothera research station this afternoon after a 5 hour flight on the BAS Dash 7 aircraft. It was an interesting flight - first we were able to drive right up to the aircraft and just get on, without any customs bother. Then I was lucky enough to get to sit in the 'jump-seat' for take-off - so I got to sit in the cockpit watching the pilots doing their pre-flight checks and listening to their conversations with air traffic control. It was exciting, and not exactly an every-day experience! Flying into Rothera was fantastic. I have done it before, but only (!) in a helicopter. It was amazing to see the first glimpses of the continent through the clouds, and then to spot the runway. The James Clark Ross (BAS's ship) had just docked as well, so we flew very close to it as we landed on the runway. It is cold here, but no colder than the UK on a winter's day.

Unfortunately the arrival of the JCR at the same time as us has effectively paralysed the base whilst they get all the equipment, food etc off the ship. It's called 'relief', and will take 3 days. This means no field training for me, so the earliest I will get into my tent will be 16th December. All a bit frustrating, because I just want to get on with the work! Rothera is in a very scenic location but my first impressions are that it is a bit unsightly. Personally I prefer the loneliness of a tent in the wilderness, not feeling like I have just landed in a small village! After the small sample I have tried, I am starting to wonder if the food will be better in the tent as well.... Anyway, my room is nice and I am sharing with the chef so I had better keep my thoughts to myself on the food! The internet connection here is excruciatingly slow, so I think I may not be able to upload any photos...but I'll try sometime. I haven't taken many yet. There is also the distinct possibility that I may come home in February without having seen any penguins - apparently there aren't many around Rothera and there won't be any where I am going :( And for those who aren't sure which end of the world I am at, I won't be seeing any polar bears either!

Till next time.....

Punta Arenas

Hello from Punta Arenas! We arrived at our hotel here after a 36 hour trip - rather epic, but as planned. On route I saw some stunning scenery from the plane, including an erupting volcano with plume of ash rising upwards and lots of glaciers. However I can safely say I am sick of airports and planes for now. We are scheduled to depart for Antarctica tomorrow, depending on the weather.....the Dash 7 aircraft belonging to British Antarctic Survey was on the tarmac at the airport when we arrived, all shiny and red with the BAS logo. Seeing it made me feel very proud of BAS and happy to have been working there for almost 10 years!

'Mummy - you can wee like Daddy!'

Great excitement! - I have been practising using my 'freshette', which basically allows me to wee in the snow like a man. You can Google it if you want to know any more details! This seems to me like a fantastic piece of kit, and should enable me to attend to the call of nature when I am roped-up for crossing crevassed areas.

Right now I have everything everywhere in an attempt to pack my bags and not be over the weight limit....better get back to it.....

1 week to go!

This week has been one frantic rush to get everything done at work.....but miraculously I managed it and have 3 days 'off' to do shopping and packing. There is a lot to think about - making sure I can work all my electrical stuff, and that I know which cable goes with which. I also need Euros and Chilean Pesos for the journey, so delved into our stash and found both. Last time I was in Chile was in 2006 on the way back from Antarctica with the Germans! I have also been wrapping a few Christmas presents, and working my way through the sprouts in our veg box. I'm not at all sad to be leaving sprouts behind for the winter, but fruit I will miss a lot.

Apart from that, I am looking forward to a 'Christmas' meal at the weekend, and Phoebe's Christmas play on Monday (she is an angel, and Robert has made her some enormous wings!). Then I will probably be only too glad to leave, as the last few days can get a bit tense. In theory I should be in Antarctica on 10th December....weather permitting. Let's see!

Aims

Jo in Antarctica in 2006

Today I thought I would write a few words about what science I will be doing when I go to the Lassiter Coast. The essence of my project is to understand how the Antarctic ice sheet has changed in thickness and extent since the Last Glacial Period, which was around 20,000 years ago. That was the peak of the last ice age. We need to know how the ice sheet has changed so that we can make better ice sheet models - they will give us an indication of what the future holds in terms of how much water the Antarctic ice sheet will contribute to global sea level rise over the next 50-100 years. And that will help governments to prepare better for flooding etc.

I will be working along the eastern coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, next to the Ronne Ice Shelf (located where the 'A' of PENINSULA is on this map). Thanks to my colleague, James Smith for this map!

The part of Antarctica I am visiting has rarely been visited, and we know nothing about how thick the ice sheet was in that area in the past. However, we do know how thick the ice is there now, because we have very clever satellites that have collected all this information already. But satellite measurements cannot tell us about the past, and they only began in the 1970s....which is why I am going to look at the rocks!

I am using a technique called 'surface exposure dating' for my work. I have to collect rocks called 'erratics' which have been transported within glaciers and deposited on mountainsides as the ice sheet has thinned and retreated. These are usually easy to spot because they are of a different rock type from the mountain they are lying on (because they have been plucked off mountains much further away and transported in the ice). The picture opposite shows an erratic. Once I have the rocks back in Cambridge, I will do lots of chemistry on them to get out very small amounts of the isotope Beryllium 10. This builds up in the rocks when they are exposed to cosmic radiation (in effect, sunlight), but stops being produced when ice covers them. So the amount of the isotope tells us how long ago the rock was last covered by ice. If we collect rocks from different heights on the mountainside, and measure the amount of the isotope in each of them, we can see how rapidly the ice sheet has thinned through time.

An erratic cobble - the rounded shape shows it has been transported within ice.

This all sounds quite easy, but it is actually very time consuming to do the labwork. And it relies on finding the right kind of rocks in the first place....considering I know very little about my field area, apart from what I can 'see' on satellite images, I have no idea if I will find what I need! We shall see.....this is what being at the cutting-edge of science means!