Saturday, January 21, 2006


Failing to be impressed by a cool iceberg... Posted by Picasa

Elephant seals Posted by Picasa

Thursday, January 19, 2006

Messing around in boats is what we like best...

Hello folks...Hope you are all well and having fun.

Since my last post things have been relatively quiet, and lots of science has been getting done. I've been out sampling in the bay quite a few times, once with a group of VIPs (including the director of NERC) in tow. Also, as I've alerted the UK people, the BBC have been down here filming, although I'm afraid I'm not personally featured. For a media friendly take on Rothera life you can read the BBC journalist's diary on http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4611712.stm You can also download various news reports from here, including the Rothera boys and girls faking it (a CTD cast) on camera and Dr Claire Hughes talking about the sea temperature rise (not our area of research). I would recommend a pinch of salt to be taken with them; despite the inference to the contrary, and as anyone who has seen 'The Day After Tomorrow' should know, scientists do not generally wander down crevasses to look for ancient gases in the icicles. However, the overall science seems to be about right.

Continuing the multi-media theme of this blog, if you remember the 'penguin in the boat' incident, I've put a short film clip of it up on the web - click on the link on the right, and it should open (works in Quicktime and Windows media player at least) although may take a little time to download. I'm doing the winching.

On Saturday I went on a recreational boat tour of the Bay. The sky was a low, flat ceiling of grey cloud, truncating the mountains on all sides, and closing us into a narrow plane between sea and sky. Aside from the blue bergs the landscape was gently monochrome. The sea itself was beautifully still, a quicksilver lake perfectly reflecting the icebergs and the elegant curtains of icicles hanging from their edges. After some gratuitous iceberg ogling, penguin spotting and Leopard seal watching, we landed at Lagoon Island which is about 13 km from base, and currently home to an expedition of adolescent elephant seals. The seals lay around totally indifferent to us; like teenagers they could barely be bothered to lift their heads to look at their visitors but did occasionally yawn, scratch with a flipper or snort through their snot encrusted nostrils. Mostly, however, they were just huge (nearly 3 m long and fat) sleeping beasts. In the style of true Brits, once we were exhausted with photo taking, we all then had tea in the small hut that has been on the island for as long as anyone can remember.

Life in Rothera can sometimes seem to be in a narrow plane too, as we settle into the post New Year routine. I'm never bored, and I have had loads of fun and unique experiences, but there is a limit to the variety of activities on offer! At the moment base is very busy, with nearly 100 people resident, and it seems everyday new people appear and others leave, which can be a bit disconcerting as you suddenly find yourself surrounded by people you don't know.

The emphasis has swung from cider to science now (with occasional exceptions), and as it has been going well I have managed to extend my stay until mid February and expect to be back in the UK by the end of Feb. I look forward to seeing lots of you then, and in the year to come. Hope that you are all well and having lots of fun,

love

R xx

Sunday, January 08, 2006


Jumarring out of the crevasse Posted by Picasa

The sea and a strange blue light Posted by Picasa

New crew member...the penguin is real Posted by Picasa

Saturday, January 07, 2006

New Year, New Science

Happy New Year from Rothera! I hope you are all well.

So far, 2006 in Antarctica has been flying by in a rush of beer, boats, ice and unusually, lots of science.

Rothera brought in the New Year with a concert in the sledge store, played by the base's very own band Tepid Stan and their unnamed support. Most of the band are winterers who only learnt to play their instruments (stop sniggering at the back!) during the long dark Antarctic winter, but the quality of rock-punk-postpunk-guitarledindierock was extremely good and we all did lots of jumping around and sweated our beer out. New Years Day was beautiful and so, as is often the case on Sundays, I went skiing then lounged around on the slope (we call it Vals) with a beer as snowboarders flew past.

The New Year really got started on Monday when Claire and I hit the lab to do our first seawater sampling and photochemistry experiments. I went out into the bay on the little orange rib called Discovery to help with the first depth profile CTD and Niskin casts on Wednesday. The water here is a perfectly flat steely mirror, complete with beautiful reflections of the surrounding mountains and ice cliffs. It is littered with strangely sculpted icebergs that range in size from shoe box to house (plus garden) and have a pale electric blue glow above the water but turn greener like Cambridge blue beneath it. While collecting our water, we were suprised and amused by a new Adelie penguin crew member who popped out of the water and made itself at home on our boat. We also saw the spout and fin of a Minke whale as it passed by.

On Thursday night, Claire and I persuaded Soup, currently the only field assistant on base, to take us to a crevasse on Stork ridge. I found myself abseilling through a small hole in the snow into an icy cavern, about 30 to 40 m deep and filled with slowly dripping icicles. We stood at the bottom of this immense crack in the glacier, against a back wall of completely clear ice, and looked around in awe - it was really an amazing space. Blue light filtered in to light up arches and stalactites of ice stretching away in both directions, asking to be explored. It was still and quiet, punctutaed only by dripping water, and had a timeless and ethereal feel, something like a natural cathedral. The climb back up the ropes to get out was definitely worth it.

As I've heard its been rather chilly at home, I thought I'd say a little about the weather here. It is not as cold as many of you imagine; I think temperatures are typically between -3 and +3 degrees Centigrade and it is not uncommon to see the more hardened inhabitants wandering around or even skiing in shorts and t-shirt, although I tend to wear a coat outside. The weather changes from day to day, when it is windy it feels cold, but sometimes the sky is clear blue and the sun feels very warm (for some unfathomable reason these are known as 'dingle days' in BAS speak).

Incase you want to know more about day to day life at Rothera, I've added a link to Keith Weston's blog. Keith is another UEA scientist working down here, and his blog is primarily for school children, but has lots of pictures of our buildings, people, vehicles, tag boards, etc. Look in the December archives for a photo tour of base.

Well I think that's it for now. Apologies for the lack of individual emails recently, I will try and reply to you all soon. As ever, thinking of you all and hope 2006 has started well for you.

Lots of love

R x

Tepid Stan New Year gig Posted by Picasa

celebrating Christmas... Posted by Picasa