The Scientists Have Arrived!

Headed by professors Jean-Louis Tison (Université Libre de Bruxelles) and Frank Pattyn (Université Libre de Bruxelles), the group quickly adapted to Utsteinen and started preparing and testing their material for their mission. While a first group tested the drill at the Princess Elisabeth Station, a second one went a little further afield to try out the radar to be used later on to study the underside of the Antarctic ice sheet.

The first expedition of this season, escorted by Alain Hubert and René Robert, will take the scientists to their two base camps at the coast, where they will split into two groups, the radar team and the drilling team, to conduct their research started two years ago at Breid Bay. While the radar team will use radio-echo sounding over the ice sheet to assess the situation under the ice, the drilling team will gather data to infirm or confirm the findings of the radar team. Once the scientists are well established at their base camps, Alain and René will head to Crown Bay for the first time of the season, before returning to Utsteinen on December 10^th.