Hello there, dear reader!
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| Exploring the "show crevasse" at Rothera |
Since I last shared my story with you, summer has kicked into (nearly) full swing. We now have gone from 21 Rotherites to over 80 in the past two months, and despite the new boatman and scientists eager to start work, the sea ice is stubbornly denying that summer is here. This means, besides a few occasions to dive through the ice close to base (where we know we can escape quickly should things change dramatically), we are relatively land-locked and I have had the opportunity to leave this island for the first time in 8months!
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| Twin otter take-off |
Summer here officially starts when the first airplanes arrive, bringing new faces, fresh food and the much awaited first batch of mail of the year! I cannot express how loved and grateful I felt, receiving a huge pile of gifts and cards from loved ones. Some of the best gifts have been cards labelled to be opened on specifically bad or random days. These have lasted me throughout winter, and helped me feel a bit less isolated when morale has been low. Simple little treats that remind me of home and kind words have gone a very long ways down here.
I can only imagine the struggles of previous generations of Antarctic explorers, who would not have had any contact or news from home until they returned North, often years after their departure. We are so spoiled currently to have rapid internet access and phones around station and satellite phones to keep us within contact when in the field.
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| Enjoying the evening views |
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| Giving my new camera a test run, circa 11pm. |
One of the other treats of summer is the lengthening daylight, which by now results in nearly endless days. When the first cargo arrived (with my nice camera replacement onboard), we had some stunning sunsets. By now, we just have a low sun circling the sky through both day and night. It always amazes me just how warm it can be to simply sit in the sunlight on a calm evening.
With some new benches installed on the veranda of our accommodation building, it has become a popular place to relax on a sunny evening.
I did mention that we still have sea-ice at Rothera, but had not yet pointed out just how unusual that is at this time of year. The last time there was this much sea-ice in December was in 2002, when it stayed until after Christmas. We were expecting the James Clarke Ross (BAS ship) to come in mid November with a hull full of scientific equipment, scientists and supplies but it was unable to navigate the thick brash ice on the other side of Adelaide Island and had to turn back to the Falkland Islands.
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| Rothera, still locked in the ice early December |
This means on the boating/diving side of things we are stuck in a strange limbo with the slower pace of winter activities and highly limited dive sites. The scientists who have recently arrived are rather impatiently joining us in wishing this ice away so we can start summer science and seeing more wildlife.
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| Some of my treasure trove |
For my part, this has meant getting a bit more creative and productive with the only two dive-sites we have had access to through this ice which is >1m thick. I've made it my personal mission to clean up any unused science equipment I've found underwater, often organising multiple dives to clean a popular science site. It amazes me how much has been discarded or left for hypothetical future use, and I have found it very gratifying to finally clean up experiments that are almost 10 years old!
The other exciting new diving we've done this year involves sampling the surface of icebergs underwater! We noticed some algal growth on some of the structures and got the paperwork sorted out to allow us to go touch these incredibly fascinating ice formations. I'm not sure words can accurately describe the experience of seeing the colours and size of these underwater, so i'll probably stop trying to describe it now. And instead share a few photos:
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| Saz collecting algal samples from a grounded iceberg |
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Undulating cusps on the side of an iceberg
- likely formed by water |
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| Photo taken by "Debra", an ROV under the command of Ben Robinson |
Summer here officially starts when the first airplanes arrive, bringing new faces, fresh food and the much awaited first batch of mail of the year! I cannot express how loved and grateful I felt, receiving a huge pile of gifts and cards from loved ones. Some of the best gifts have been cards labelled to be opened on specifically bad or random days. These have lasted me throughout winter, and helped me feel a bit less isolated when morale has been low. Simple little treats that remind me of home and kind words have gone a very long ways down here. 
