Då är vi så sakteliga på väg hemåt! Just nu är dock vår expedition utspridd på två kontinenter. Våra fyra forskare flögs ut från Troll häromdagen och är redan i Kapstaden på väg hem, vi fyra logistiker är kvar i Antarktis och väntar på att få plats på flygen ut.
After 17 days in field, the team is back at the SANAE IV research station. Now the preparations for the journey home begins.
Ta en titt på din gamla jordglob. Platsen MAGIC-DML är på nu finns antagligen inte med, för där fäster sladden till lampan, som ska lysa upp resten av globen inifrån. Tittar du på din världskarta på väggen så ser Antarktis helt förvridet ut; den mer eller mindre helt runda kontinenten har blivit utdragen. Antarktis är, både bokstavligt och bildligt talat, fortfarande en mestadels vit fläck på vår karta.
Winter is coming, the sun is getting closer to the horizon in the evenings.
Yesterday we drove our snowmobiles up to the Høgskavlen Mountain, 2 256 m above sea level, and 850 meters higher than the location of our camp. Høgskavlen is a glacier-covered plateau lined with small mountain ridges. The way up (and down) went over rolling glaciers and past blueish icefalls. At the top it was completely windless and not a cloud in sight!
Dronning Maud Land – tårtbiten av Antarktis där vi befinner oss – är en helt fantastisk plats att vara på. Omgivningarna påminner lite om ett fruset hav med bergiga öar, 1 500 meter höga, som spretar mot himlen. Vi förflyttar oss långsamt mellan dessa berg med skoter och bor i relativ komfort i våra små "arkar" – husvagnar i slädformat.
We have spent three nights in different camps between Kirwanveggen and Borgmassivet. Yesterday and today, the researchers worked at a mountain with the funny name Huldreslottet.
With a few days of good weather the team had a very productive time at one of our most northerly field sites, Straumsnutane.
The other day we had a long-awaited change in the weather. Now we have had two days of brilliant sunshine and low winds. The temperature is between minus five and minus ten degrees Celsius, much like a nice May day in the Swedish mountains!
I förrgår gjordes en planerad förändring av gruppens sammansättning: Derek anlände och Jon åkte hem. Bytet gjordes med ett mindre flygplan, en Twin Otter, som gjorde ett kort stopp här vid SANAE IV strax efter kl 14. Dereks resa hit från Glasgow tog 48 timmar och Jon är redan nu i Kapstaden på väg hemåt!
During the first four weeks of the expedition we have had unusually many storms. One of the researchers we met here at the South African station SANAE IV is Professor Ian Meiklejohn. He has spent twelve seasons here and never experienced so many days with bad weather. Normally, it's pretty nice, interrupted by one or more storm days – this year it's the other way round. However, the short periods of field work have been successful and produced 13 nice rock samples for the project.
On Thursday afternoon the helicopters arrived. Their original plan was to fly to Troll and pick up passengers, but clouds and low visibility changed the plan. Instead it was decided that we would deploy our first fuel supply.
We had our best day yet for collecting samples and seeing evidence of past, higher levels of the east Antarctic Ice Sheet. We returned to Grunehogna, a nunatak that we had visited a few days ago for reconnaissance work. We found good evidence that the ice sheet had formerly been much thicker and covering much of this nunatak
New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day were productive fieldwork days for the MAGIC-DML field team. Poor weather had been delaying fieldwork, but a couple of good days gave us a window of opportunity. We visited two nunatak sites.
Today the sea ice conditions were good enough to allow all of our heavy equipment to be offloaded from the S.A. Agulhas II to the ice shelf. The ice shelf surface is about 40m above the ship’s deck, so everything has to be lifted up by crane. Our logistics team is unpacking the equipment, testing it, and getting everything ready for us to be able to travel and camp safely on the ice.
We are is still on the S.A. Agulhas II and wrapping up planning for sampling sites. Due to a change in wind pushing the sea ice against the ice shelf, unloading of our cargo from the ship has been delayed until the winds change.
Att kryssa genom havsisen mellan isberg, sälar och pingviner är inget annat är hänförande. Nu är vi tillbaka vid avlastningsplatsen. Vi tycker vädret ser fint ut för imorgon, så hopp finns för både flygning till Troll för upphämtning av bagage, vetenskaplig flygrekognosering och lossning av vår utrustning.
The team is now on a ship! The S.A. Agulhas II is the ship bringing the team’s heavy equipment to Antarctica, including snowmobiles, sleds, and living modules. The ship was delayed leaving Cape Town, and is now at the edge of the ice shelf unloading its cargo for transport to SANAE IV, the South African research station.
Troll, the Norwegian research station
The MAGIC-DML team has arrived at the Norwegian research station Troll in Antarctica.
All expedition participants are now gathered at Breakwater Lodge in Cape Town. All our luggage has arrived and everybody is in good spirit. The day was spent doing some supplementary purchases and we had dinner at Harbour House.
The food can truly make or break an expedition. And feeding our small ‘army’ of a field team is far from an easy challenge!
American Geophysical Union (AGU) has posted Sarah Sams blog on preparing for Antarctica.
The Magic-DML team have just wrapped up a very productive week in Stockholm.
The team is in Stockholm for field training and meetings. Safety first, always.
