Live from Antarctica: Monday 1st December
Today, we received fresh news from Alain and the scientists. They are having some good weather over there: blue sky and moderate winds (which is more than we can say!). They are busy with the radar and GPS survey of the area, before they start drilling for ice samples. Apparently, an auxiliary camp is to be set up approximately 30 km away from where they are now, to allow measurements over a more interesting area.
Today, we also received additional supplies through a feeder flight: epoxy and some further flooring supplies for the station, bits and pieces we found out we needed and ,of course, fresh food! Tasting some newly arrived peaches from Cape Town at lunch had quite a knack!
Apart from the work in the station, the blowing catabatic winds are giving us some additional snow shovelling duties: it's amazing how fast the "structure" of the base camp (paths, alleys, storage places and so on) gets covered in snow with this permanent blow.
Nathalie Pattyn
Picture: Jean-Louis Tison and Alain Hubert at the Coast - © International Polar Foundation