Princess Elisabeth Station: All Going According to Plan
Posted on the 09.02.2011 by Alain Hubert
Between November and February, I usually don’t publish much news on my website. This is due to the fact that, at that time, I am on an assignment at the Princess Elisabeth Station. And that all the news concerning my activities is published in detail on the website dedicated to the station. I’m nevertheless benefiting from this half of the season for providing a quick wrap-up for those who haven’t had an opportunity to visit www.antarcticstation.org.
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The PES was given to the Belgian STATE
It seems to me important to emphasise from the outset that the station is now in its third year of scientific operation and that we all regard it as a huge success. I would then like to recall, in these times of vain political quarrels between the South and the North of my country, that the station was given to the Belgian STATE by the IPF in April 2010 and that it is henceforth being managed by the Polar Secretariat.
A new season BELARE therefore opened on 11 November, when the first participants arrived at Utsteinen on that date. Ben Huygue wrote on the subject: " ... Arriving at Utsteinen after a relatively quiet flight, the team was surprised by the unseasonably warm (by Antarctic standards!) weather. The two ski-doos stored in a container at the Utsteinen airstrip at the end of last season did great and started without too much sputtering. The team was back at the station after eight months away, and on first impressions, the snow accumulation didn’t look as impressive as it did last year. They did eventually realize this wouldn’t make their job easier. ...". 13 containers with 67 tons of material, food, fuel, and scientific equipment have followed.
The first scientists quickly got to work
The first scientists quickly got to work. It was a question of the BELISSIMA team (Belgian Ice Sheet-Shelf Ice Measurements in Antarctica) who is supposed to analyse ice shelf and ice sheet movements and dynamics in Antarctica in order to improve scientific models. It was for me an opportunity to direct a first convoy to the shore and back; it consisted of two Prinoths, each pulling three sledges - one sleeping container, the scientific equipment, the ski-doos, and the fuel reserves.
For those who are particularly interested in glaciology and the study of mathematical models, I would inform them that on 23 and 24 December, an excellent summary of the work of the BELLISSIMA members was written by Ben Huyghe.
Other teams are obviously part of this BELARE 2010-2011: in particular those who are tasked to discover meteorites, Steven Goderis and Vincianne Debaille of the SAMBA project (it is good to read on this subject the long report by Nighat Amin published on 7 January), or many German geologists Joachim Jakobs and Detlef Damaske, who are studying magnetic signatures in the rocks, called susceptibilities, in order to study plate tectonics.
As I don’t have enough time to mention all the programmes and projects in progress at the station, I would say simply that there is work in progress over several seasons and the people who are not on their first visit to Utsteinen (the researchers belonging to BELDIVA, BELATMOS, HYDRANT or GIANT) are continuing their work this year.
Mountaineer in my soul...
Mountaineer in my soul as you know, I cannot obviously forget that on 8 December, I climbed to the top of Utsteinen Ridge, accompanied by quite a group, in order to install a new antenna for better communication with the Russian Novolazarevskaya Station
I would say finally, in order to conclude this rapid wrap-up, that this year, several technical tasks to do with the station’s proper functioning are on the programme. And among them, I would mention the simplification of the water treatment, the installation of two new generators (their updated configuration will enable improved communication with the Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) managing the station's systems), the increase in the solar panels’ energy capacity, the precise check-up of possible technical dysfunctions (but I must say that up to now, therefore after one month and half of life on the spot, the station has spent the winter extremely well) and the installation of a new snow melter unit, inter alia.
For further information, please visit the station’s website.
Polar research in a sea of white
© IPF
