Dr Alexander Mangold is a researcher who has been working with the Observations Department at the Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium (KMI-IRM) since 2005. He manages the institute’s research on aerosols, UV and ozone at the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica (PEA) Research Station. He has participated in numerous scientific expeditions to the station in Antarctica.
The last projects he has been involved with include AEROCLOUD (a collaboration between KU Leuven, the Belgian Royal Meteorological Institute (KMI-IRM0 and the Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (BIRA-IASB), CHASE (in partnership with Ghent University and the Université Libre de Bruxelles ULB)) and ACME (a collaboration between the Belgian Royal Meteorological Institute (KMI-IRM), the International Polar Foundation, and the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest Snow and Landscape Research (WSL)).
You are involved in a number of research projects in Antarctica. Why so many?
I’m involved in several and they mutually benefit each other. I think last season I was involved with three. One is the AEROCLOUD project, which officially ended one year ago, but we left instruments at the station, which are still operational, even during the austral winter. I’m also involved with the CHASE project, which is about atmospheric chemistry and the chemistry of surface snow. This was the third season for CHASE, and there is still another season to do.
The third project I’m involved with is ACME. It was started as a cooperation between the Royal Meteorological Institute (KMI-IRM), the International Polar Foundation (IPF) and the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest Snow and Landscape Research (WSL). It’s a great project because in order to investigate the atmosphere above the enormous Antarctic continent and obtain data to contribute to weather forecasts, you need to collect vertical meteorological information by launching weather balloons. It’s quite an effort (with respect to work, logistics and budget) to continue the measurements, so the involvement of IPF and staff like Benoît Verdin, who has launched the weather balloons during two seasons now, is essential. Several international scientists have already asked for the data collected from these balloon launches, and the data contributes to the work being done for the Year of Polar Prediction (YOPP 2018-2019).
Why is East Antarctica particularly interesting for conducting atmospheric research?
It is an area where not much atmospheric research has been carried out yet. Another point is that PEA is located inland, but not too far from the coast. For our research, which involves studying precipitation, atmospheric chemistry and the transport of fine particles, the location of PEA is very good because it’s influenced by both oceanic air masses brought in by cyclones, but also by katabatic air masses from the interior of the continent. If you go to a coastal station, the meteorological situation is mainly influenced by cyclonic regimes. For this reason, conducting research at PEA is very interesting.
In 2014 the ACME project launched the first weather balloon from PEA. Have you continued the project throughout the years? What data have you collected?
We’ve conducted the ACME project almost all seasons since 2014. Indeed, the first balloon was launched in January 2014. It was quite exciting because it was new for everybody, but it worked well. Then, we continued it for each austral summer season that a research team was at the station. I have been at PEA for two additional seasons since then, and when I left the station, the IPF staff continued to launch weather balloons to collect data to contribute to the project.
Now we have six seasons of data, with data from the months of December, January and February. For some seasons, we also have data from a few days in November, but it depends each year on when the team and equipment arrived. If the weather conditions are good, then staff and instruments arrive earlier. Still, as it is Antarctica, we must be satisfied with the data that we are able to collect during favorable conditions.
Which other scientific teams have used the data that has been collected through ACME?
Scientists from the German Neumayer III Station have used the data to make weather forecasts for the region of Dronning Maud Land in East Antarctica. The radio soundings have even been used from time to time for the local airbases at PEA or Novolazarevskaya. Furthermore, the data has been used by several research groups, including:
- KU Leuven in Belgium for the interpretation of clouds and precipitation data
- The Royal Observatory of Belgium for interpretation of their GNSS water vapour data
- The Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences for improving radiative transfer modelling within the MICROBIAN project
- The team from the Federal Polytechnic Institute of Lausanne (EPFL) who was at PEA during the last two seasons used the data to interpret precipitation measurements and the vertical dynamic structure of the troposphere
- The Sorbonne University in Paris (CNRS, LMD/IPSL) for the interpretation of snowfall rates in East Antarctica
- The British Antarctic Survey for studying gravity waves in the lower stratosphere.
We are happy that the data we collected have been shared so widely, and that we could do this additional project together with IPF.
How do ACME measurements contribute to the Year of Polar Prediction (YOPP) of the Worled Meterological Organization (WMO)?
I know the data have been included in the database of YOPP, so, the data is generally available. I know scientists from BAS also used data taken during this period. I am not aware of who else may have used them as they have been shared widely, and they are readily available to anyone who is interested in having them. There is a YOPP overview article in the Bulletin of the American Meteorologcial Society (doi.org:10.1175/BAMS-D_19-0255.1), in which the radio soundings at PEA are mentioned.
While the AEROCLOUD project ended in 2019 and in order to collect data, you installed many different instruments at PEA. What was the aim of combining so many instruments?
The AEROCLOUD project aimed to have a look at how clouds and aerosols influence the climate. On the one hand, you can look at how clouds impact climate. It is more direct because clouds reduce incoming radiation from the sun, but they can also trap radiation reflected from Earth’s surface. On the other hand, the project looked at the fact that the clouds can also bring precipitation, which plays an important role in surface mass balance of the Antarctic Ice Sheet because precipitation is the only way the ice sheet gains mass, so understanding it is critical.
While measurements happened only at one location, when the data are fed into a regional climate model for this part of East Antarctica, the measured data will help the models to become more precise.
When it comes to the aerosols, they are essential because you need particles to form cloud droplets and ice crystals. If we can characterise more precisely the kinds of aerosols that help promote precipitation or to form ice clouds, liquid clouds, or mixed-phase clouds, then this will help the models to be much more precise. One of the most important aerosol parameters is obtained through the Cloud Condensation Nuclei (CCN) instrument, measuring the number of particles able to form cloud droplets. It helped to improve a regional climate model for East Antarctica. The aim of our project is to continue with such measurements and modeling studies.
How will the findings of your research help to delineate future climate change projections? Will they contribute to future Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Assessment Reports?
This sort of regional climate modelling is part of a larger regional climate modeling initiative, bringing together different projects. To be sure, I would need to ask our KU Leuven partners, but I think some results they obtained will contribute to the next IPCC Assessment Report.
Our findings can be seen as a small piece of a very large puzzle. But even small contributions are needed to see the big picture. Other scientists use our data for simulations, and then other scientific groups use these simulations for their projects. From my experience in the atmospheric science community, scientists work really well together. They are always willing to help each other.
You and your colleague Quentin were not always on-site during every season. How did the BELARE team assist you with the many instruments you had installed?
The BELARE team really helped. However, first and foremost, they had to be trained to know what to do once Quentin and I left. Some instruments just need to be checked and maintained occasionally to continue to collect data, while others need more considerable attention (e.g., calibrations, minor repairs, refilling of working liquid).
This situation improved considerably once the remote communication connection was stably established. Since then, we’ve been able to manipulate or supervise our instruments from Belgium and notify the PEA team about actions that need to be taken.
An important task for the IPF team has been the launching of the weather balloons. They prepare the balloon before launching it, take the time to collect data, stop the measurements, and check the data afterwards. It required major commitment as well as some working hours, but I had the impression that the crew liked doing it. Launching a balloon is something more engaging than just switching on an instrument.
Since you come back to Belgium, have you had any difficulties in working on your research projects due to the limitations caused by coronavirus?
I didn’t experience direct limitations. Everything is still going on as a lot of science work is at the computer so I could still work online. The reason why I hope we can go back to a normal situation quite soon is that it is challenging to plan the next year’s Antarctic campaign, especially if you cannot talk directly with your teammates. If you do the whole organisation online, it gets a bit difficult. If you can all sit around the same table, you can easily exchange and discuss ideas.
Also, if you are required to work at home all the time it can be difficult to concentrate, especially if your children need help with, e.g., their math homework or some IT issues!
What are your plans for the next seasons? Are you planning to return to Antarctica soon?
We plan to send two people to PEA for the CHASE, ACME and CLIMB projects next season. I don’t think I will be part of the team going to Antarctica, but I hope to get the opportunity to go back to PEA one day as the time I spend there is always unique and fascinating.
Valentina Savaglia is a PhD student supported by a FRIA/FNRS grant specialising in cyanobacterial diversity, genetics and biogeography in Antarctic regions at the Centre d’Ingénierie des Protéines (CIP, Centre for Protein Engineering), Université of Liège and the Laboratory of Protistology and Aquatic Ecology (PAE), Ghent University.
Valentina is part of the MICROBIAN project, a collaboration between Ghent University, the University of Liège, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences and the Meise Botanic Gardens, which aims to study the effects of climate change on the diversity and genetic-functional attributes of soil microbiomes in Continental Antarctica
The MICROBIAN team, returned to the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica Research Station for the third consecutive season. This year, the team was composed of Valentina Savaglia, Quinten Vanhellemont, Beatriz Roncero Ramos, and Juri Klusak. They spent four weeks around the station mapping soil habitats using drones and taking samples of microbial communities that were brought back to Belgium at the end of the season.
MICROBIAN is a research project financed by the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BELSPO), in the BRAIN-BE program.
The MICROBIAN project returned to the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica for a third consecutive season. What were the objectives of the mission this past season? How do they fit into the overall objectives of the project?
During the 2019-2020 season, the MICROBIAN team concluded fieldwork as it was the last field campaign to the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica for the project. The main goals were to finish taking samples from open-top chambers and snow fences that were installed during the first year of field campaigns and during earlier projects and to map the different nunataks around the station.
On the first and second field campaigns (2017-2018 and 2018-2019), much time was devoted to exploring the area and taking samples of microbial communities from the nunataks around the station in order to document their biodiversity and functional characteristics. This year, we used a drone to map the nunataks. The data we collected will help us understand the physical characteristics of these terrestrial habitats. The very high-resolution mapping of the nunataks we did was crucial for our project as the microorganisms we are studying form inconspicuous biocrusts and biofilms, and the topography of their habitat needs to be surveyed in the most detailed way possible in order to understand and predict the conditions favouring their development. We also monitor local temperature through miniature recorders that are replaced each year.
As for the open-top chambers and the snow-fences, these are more long-term in-situ experiments mimicking altered climate conditions and the duration of snow cover. Samples of microorganisms will be taken from them again in the future in follow-up projects as we would like to monitor the trajectory of the communities for many years. The MICROBIAN project initiated these long-term monitoring studies, but there will be other follow-up projects in the future hopefully.
What were some of the highlights of your fieldwork this season?
This year was exceptional because of the weather. It was very sunny most of the time and there were almost no storms at all. In previous years, we often experienced intense storms, which forced us to stay inside the station and lose precious time. But this season we could accomplish a lot.
The field guide from the BELARE team was very helpful to us for our field work. Thanks to him, we could work every day and almost every Sunday. It was exhausting, but we were grateful for what we could get done with his help.
This last season was very special for me because we also had the opportunity to climb several nunataks to place GPS markers on their summits, so that when the drone flew, it could recognize the exact position of the markers. It was not easy to transport the markers to the top of the nunataks, but the wonderful view was worth the effort!
Did you encounter any difficulties while doing your fieldwork?
Unfortunately, we had problems with the primary drone and weren’t able to use it all the time during the whole campaign. Fortunately, we had a smaller ‘back-up’ drone. While it wasn’t as ideal as the primary drone because it takes more time to do the mapping, it still took very high-resolution images, and produced excellent data for the purposes of the project.
Did you get to learn more about other research projects at PEA during the 2019-2020 season? Do any of them complement MICROBIAN?
It was enriching to work with several groups of researchers at the station this past season. We got to know the BELAM research project, which is hunting for micrometeorites. The two research projects don’t complement each other scientifically speaking, but we found it very interesting to think about ways in which the two projects could create synergies in the future. Unfortunately, the scientists working on an aerosol project, with whom we might cooperate in the future, were present at the station before Christmas and so we never met in person at PEA.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, almost all of the world experienced some type of lockdown. How do you think it compares with working at an isolated research station in Antarctica?
In a way, the two experiences are comparable, but in other ways, they are different.
In Antarctica, we could still go outside, even for a short walk around the station. Also, we as scientists had to go into the field every day, so we never felt locked up. We also didn’t communicate with the outside world that much while in Antarctica. But as soon as we returned home to lockdown in Europe, the amount of online communication we were doing was almost overwhelming.
On the other hand, it was similar to lockdowns many people experienced due to COVID-19 as you are forced to share close quarters with the same people over a long period of time. You are not always able to have your own privacy in these kinds of situations.
However, people adapted their behavior to the unique situation. As you know that you need to be in close quarters with others for an extended period of time, you have to learn to be more patient with each other to make sure things go as smoothly as possible.
Part of the MICROBIAN team got the opportunity to participate in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) outreach sessions for students on Skype while at PEA. How was this experience for you?
The students prepared a lot of questions before every Skype session, so it was exciting to see such enthusiasm coming both from young children and secondary school students.
While I was at the Princess Elisabeth, I took part in a session with high school students together with Henri Robert, IPF’s Science Liaison Officer. I had never spoken to high-school students before about my research. I was a little nervous because I didn’t know if I’d be able to answer all of their questions. But it went smoothly. They were very curious about things such as daily life in Antarctica for researchers and the kind of research we were doing there. They also asked about our thoughts on climate change.
It was very important for us as scientists to be able to pursue outreach activities with young citizens of the future.
As an early career female scientist, do you often motivate young women to pursue careers in STEM disciplines?
As I usually speak with very young children about my research, I don’t often talk about the gender imbalance in many scientific fields. But during one Skype session I had with high school students while at PEA, I raised the issue.
Last season 2018-19 during the MICROBIAN field campaign, I was the only woman at the station for several weeks. I try to encourage young women and tell them they are just as capable as their male peers. They just need to believe in themselves and keep doing good work.
A good solution would be to raise awareness about the issue not only to young women but also to young men. They too need to be aware of the noticeable underrepresentation of women in STEM disciplines.
What do you think about young people demonstrating about taking action on climate change?
I think young people are very conscious about climate change and are very motivated to create a better future for themselves and the planet. Their voice should be more listened from older generations.
Some months ago, I went to a conference where I exchanged with some high school teachers. They told me that when the students go to visit museums with the school, they often refuse to take gift bags prepared for them (even if they include reusable water bottles) because it encourages the creation of more waste. Most conference attendees throw away things they receive in a gift bagbut young students prefer to bring their own water bottle everywhere even if it means an heavier backpack. It was touching to see how the young generation is thinking more sustainably and it should really be taken as an example for older generation students & scientist peers.
On Thursday 7 May, Dr. Kate Winter from Northumbria University, presented the work she has been doing for the last two seasons at the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2020, Europe’s largest annual conference for geoscientists, which was forced to move online this year due to the COVID-19 crisis.
As the 2018-2020 laureate of the Baillet Latour Antarctica Fellowship, Dr. Winter has spent the 2018-2019 an 2019-2020 seasons in Antarctica conducting research for her BioFe project. Her research is examining how bioavailable iron (iron compounds that nourish organisms) is being transported by sediment in glacial ice as it flows from Antarctica’s interior to the coast and ultimately the Southern Ocean. Once in the ocean, this iron nourishes primary producers like phytoplankton, which take in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as they grow.
Dr. Winter recounted her experience talking about her research at such an import scientific conference.
How did you come to present your research at the 2020 EGU General Assembly?
I submitted an abstract in January, just before I left Cape Town for my second field season at the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica. The EGU General Assembly has lots of different sessions that you can apply to be a part of, so I chose a session about biogeochemical cycling because I wanted to discuss my research with experts in this field.
How did you go about presenting your research at a conference using an online format?
A convener was assigned to manage each of the hundreds of sessions that had been scheduled. Due to the online format of the assembly, my session convener asked those of us presenting to put together a graphical abstract describing the research each of us has been doing, so people taking part in the session could get an idea of what our research was about before the session started.
During the session, which focused on biogeochemical cycling in the cryosphere, each presenter had five minutes to briefly introduce their research before the floor was open to questions.
What did you focus on in your presentation?
I used the session to introduce my research project, focusing on the multi-disciplinary research techniques I use to assess how continental sediments can add to the global carbon feedback loop.
During the session I learnt lots about biogeochemical cycling in the ocean, but I realised that very few people are looking at the source of bioavailable iron, so I am glad that my research will be able to start filling this gap.
Most of the presenters conduct their research in the Northern Hemisphere, in Svalbard and Greenland so it’s great that we are starting to see what is happening in Antarctica. One other researcher was looking at biogeochemical cycling along the coast of an island off the Antarctic peninsula, but it looks like I am one of the first researchers to be searching for nutrients in Antarctica in the interior of the continent. I think that might be due to logistical and cost constraints.
Research projects that go deep into Antarctica require a lot of funding to complete, so I was very lucky to have had the funding from the Baillet Latour Antarctica Fellowship to be able to travel to more remote and logistically challenging parts of Antarctica. My research will allow the scientific community to fill in some of the scientific and geographical gaps of our knowledge of biogeochemical processes.
How was the presentation of your work received?
Very well. A lot of the participants asked about the methodologies that I used in my research, and how I knew that the iron-rich nutrients were coming from the sediment that was previously at the bottom of the ice sheet. I knew this thanks to the radar imaging that I was able to do during the two seasons I was in Antarctica.
The audience really appreciated how interdisciplinary my field research was. I wasn’t just taking sediment samples. I was also using radar to look at the topography of the bedrock beneath the ice, and using drone mapping and seismometers to track how sediment falls off of rocky outcrops and slip below the ice, before the sediment is transported to the coast via glacial flow.
Are you satisfied with how the session turned out?
One of my goals was to interact with researchers studying bioavailable iron that’s already in the ocean (on the other end of the nutrient cycle process) to exchange ideas and network. I was surprised at how well the online conference format worked – I was able to get in touch with a number of researchers who I’ve never met. I now have their contact details, so we can discuss our research further.
I was able to get the contact information of some of them, so we can discuss our research further.
The other session participants were also very helpful. Some of them gave me pointers on how I could begin to look at other nutrients in the sediment samples I collected in Antarctica, whilst others talked about the potential for future research collaborations. This shows how the work I’ve conducted in Antarctica, thanks to the Baillet Latour Antarctica Fellowship, is a great proof of concept, so we could upscale this work in the future, to other areas of Antarctica and Greenland. The more I connect with those in the scientific community who work in this area, the more I get excited about the future – there is still so much to explore!
How many people attended your presentation online?
About 160 participated. This is a lot more than would have been able to fit into the room where we would have presented at the assembly in Vienna.
How did you find the online format of the conference?
I was so pleased that the organisers were able to run the conference online, at such short notice. One positive aspect is that all communication was done via text messages, which helped bring more people into the conversation than you could normally include in person (because of time constraints). There were no video presentations. This format allowed young academics who may sometimes be a bit shy to ask questions. It’s usually the more senior and more confident people who ask questions to presenters at conferences. In this format, everyone got to ask questions, which made it a more enriching experience. No question is silly. An idea you bring up can help move a project forward, so I really hope we can include text message chats and discussions in future conferences (whether they are held online, or in person)
A downside is that if you give a presentation online, sensitive information such as data and preliminary findings that haven’t been peer-reviewed can’t be shared easily (as is often the case at scientific conferences). In a closed-room setting, you’re only presenting to your peers, so you know who you’re talking to. You’ve all been in the same situation at some point so you know your audience will be discreet. But if you present online, you don’t know who might be able to have access to this information, so it’s a bit more restrictive.
I will say that not travelling to and from the conference made for a much smaller carbon footprint for the assembly. The current situation made it possible to test how to hold a conference as large as the EGU General Assembly (which usually draws more than 6,000 people) entirely online, without the massive carbon footprint involved in flying people in from all over the world. Many scientists don’t want to go to conferences all the time because of the environmental impacts of doing so. This was an occasion to test alternatives.
While one downside to online meetings is that you can’t meet people in person and build professional relationships with them, perhaps we don’t need to have in-person conferences as often as we do. Or perhaps we could do more hybrid conferences that are partly online and partly in-person to reduce the amount of travel required. In any case, the EGU General Assembly 2020 paved the way for how we might be able to have more environmentally-friendly conferences in the future.
The International Polar Foundation is saddened to hear about the passing of its longtime friend Philippe Bodson on 4 April 2020 due to complications related to COVID-19.
Always passionate about discovering the world, Philippe Bodson travelled extensively during his lifetime, most notably with Alain Hubert, with whom Philippe shared many expeditions and a steadfast friendship.
Engaged in exploring the most cutting-edge innovation through the many companies he developed, and convinced of the importance of polar science in better understanding our climate, Philippe got involved in the International Polar Foundation right from its establishment in 2002.
He joined the Strategic Council of the Polar Secretariat upon its creation in 2009, and was its vice-president for five years.
He became an administrator for the International Polar Foundation in 2010 and had since been one of the Foundation's pillars.
An unwavering supporter of the Foundation during its most difficult years (2015-2017), Philippe personally invested himself in all mediation meetings with the Belgian Government. This allowed for a new agreement to be established to ensure that the Princess Elisabeth Station could continue to help broaden the influence of Belgian polar science.
In spite of his many commitments, Philippe was always there for the Foundation to share his vision, his enthusiasm, and his advice.
His passing leaves a large void in the Foundation. However his energy, his vision, and his sense of duty remain the basis upon which the Foundation shall continue its mission, in particular to achieve excellence in its mission as Operator of the Princess Elisabeth Station in Antarctica.
About Philippe Bodson
Baron Philippe André Eugène Bodson was a Belgian businessman and politician who had a long career, which included positions such as CEO of Glaverbel and Director of Fortis Bank. He also served in the Belgian Senate from 1999 to 2003 as a member of the Movement reformateur party. In addition, he served on the Board of many organisations, including the Board of the International Polar Foundation.
He held a degree in civil engineering from the University of Liège (ULg) and a Master of Business Administration from INSEAD business school in Fontainebleau, France.
The 2018 Baillet Latour Antarctica Fellowship Laureate, Dr. Kate Winter of Northumbria University in the UK, spent nearly a month based at the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica in January and February 2020 to complete the second of two seasons of research for the BioFe project.
The BioFe project seeks to understand how biologically available iron is transported via glacial flow from the interior of Antarctica to the Southern Ocean, where the iron serves as a key nutrient to primary producers in the ocean food chain such as phytoplankton.
Since primary producers like phytoplankton take in carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere when they grow and multiply, the work she is doing in the BioFe project is essential for ultimately understanding how the iron nutrient cycle in Antarctica influences the rate at which primary producers absorb carbon dioxide, a key greenhouse gas driving climate change.
What did you do during the recently completed season in Antarctica compared with last season?
We started the season by scanning the mountains as we did last year. This allowed us to compare movements in the mountains that took place over the last year, such as falling rocks, simply by comparing visual images from last year to those taken this year.
While in the field, we noticed that some movement had happened – we could visually see new rock falls, but we will only be able to quantify change when we run computer-based analysis at Northumbria University.
This year we flew the drone, and we had a laser scanner with us to accurately record the surface of the mountains. The scanner could function well even in the cold of Antarctica.
What else did you manage to accomplish?
We also collected more sediment samples to test how much bioavailable iron was in them. I had already processed all the samples I took last year in the lab at the university but I wanted to get some extra samples from a couple of new locations.
This year we also took with us a new ice-penetrating radar system to look deeper in the ice than we did last year. Last year we wanted to look at sediments near the surface of the ice, so we scanned down to 200 metres. This year, we were able to scan down nearly 2,000 metres to look at sediments near the base of the ice. It was great! We did quite a few transects by pulling the radar system on a sled behind the snowmobile.
Where exactly did you take the samples? At the base of the rocky outcrops?
Yes! We took samples in the mountains. We took some from the base of the mountain where they accumulate and then some from the ice to see how they are being transported to the coast. We have some wind-blown samples as well because the wind picks up and transports very light sand-sized sediment particles. I collected them last year.
Did you also take radar transects like you did last season?
We were able to get useful data from the radar this season, and we were happy with the results. It was helpful to test out the new radar system.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t too many transects in the direction of the plateau this season because there were a lot of crevasses this year. But that’s Antarctic fieldwork!
What about the Raspberry Shake seismometers you put in place last year?
Last year we installed Raspberry Shake seismometers on a mountain not too far from the PEA Station. Unfortunately, during the last austral winter, the solar panel that was replenishing the battery of the seismometer was knocked down by the wind, possibly during a storm. However, we know that it was running quite well until mid-August, and I was able to get a lot of good data during the several months that it was running.
While I’m disappointed that I wasn’t able to get an entire year’s worth of data, we know that the solar panel was recharging the battery, and I am delighted that the system ran for as long as it did. However, now we know, if I were to do this kind of research again, I would need to either change the location of the solar panel (perhaps find a less windy place) or try to attach the solar panel to the surface more securely (although it was attached pretty strongly last year).
Were you happy with the work you did and the amount of data that you were able to collect?
We managed to get all three elements of the project completed and we collected lots of really great data. The weather was really good this season, which helped. It’s going to take us a couple of years before we can process all of the data we’ve collected, though.
But we have a long-term plan for this project. The work we did over the last two seasons is a great proof of concept. We plan to do something similar on a bigger scale over a larger part of Antarctica to compare what’s happening with bioavailable iron in different parts of the continent that have different geologies.
In this regard, I think the Ballet Latour Antarctica Fellowship was extremely helpful, as it allowed me to try out new techniques and collect some really interesting data. Thanks to the Fellowship, now we have something to build upon to upscale the project.
As far as you know, are you one of the first researchers who has ever looked specifically at the transport of bioavailable iron from the continent to the coast of Antarctica?
As far as I know, yes. Researchers interested in bioavailable iron for primary producers usually go to the coast of Antarctica or Greenland where they collect sediment from icebergs or deep ocean cores. But as far as I’m aware, there aren’t many well-established techniques looking at how this bioavailable iron gets to the mountains to the coast.
Why has this been the case?
I think it’s mainly because Antarctic science is still quite young. We haven’t been sampling in Antarctica for that long, and a lot of research stations in Antarctica are on the coast and not near the mountains. So, in-land mountains in Antarctica are generally one of the hardest places to get to. That’s why the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica Station is a great place for this kind of research since it’s so close to the mountains.
You also took your husband, Ross, on your expedition this year. Was this the first time that you’ve taken him along?
We actually spent six weeks in a tent together in the European Alps a few years ago, collecting data for one of my other research projects, so we knew it could work. In the end, it worked really well because we are a great team, and he knows me and how I work.
He’s always been involved in my research, and he’s an engineer, so he’s good at solving problems. By the time we returned from Antarctica, he was already analysing some of the data that we’d collected!
Ross also helped some of the other scientists at the station when I didn’t need his help for some parts of the project. So he got to go to the polar plateau with the meteorology team. It was a wonderful, once-in-a-lifetime experience for him.
How did you find the technical support you received in the field and at the station?
We were supported this year by Jacques Richon, the station’s doctor, as well as Deputy Station Manager Henri Robert. Night Amin, the Station Manager, also came out on one of my field expeditions.
Roch, one of the carpenters, came with us to dismantle the seismic monitoring station we set up last year. It was great to have him again since he helped me to set up the station last year, so he already knew which tools we needed. However, this year I was much more independent in the rest of my work because I knew where everything was, and what I wanted to do.
I found that the station’s scientific programs were very well coordinated this year. Deputy Station Manager Henri Robert held science planning meetings before dinner every evening to coordinate all scientific activities and find synergies wherever possible. This allowed our team to go with the Japanese team on one of their expeditions since they were going to a place that we needed to go. They did their biological work while I took my sediment samples. It made a lot of sense, and you can learn a lot from the other research projects if you go out into the field together. I now know lots more about bacteria and algae!
It sounds like you've had a very successful season.
Yes, it was wonderful! I feel very at home in Antarctica, and I never want to leave! Since I’ve been back, I’ve had the opportunity to do more outreach. I visited school children to talk through experiment results, and they designed and tested wind turbine blades for the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica Station.
The article that I wrote for The Conversation just before my second field season has had more than 250,000 reads, So, that was incredible! It was really well received by the public. I’m pleased that it has allowed others to read about the work we do in Antarctica, and how wonderful the zero-emission credentials of the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica are.
In May, I plan to take part in the European Geophysical Union “Sharing Geoscience Online” event to present some of the results from the work that I’ve done at PEA. It will be a great opportunity to talk to other academics about what I’ve been doing.
Will we see you in October 2020 in Brussels for the next Baillet Latour Antarctica Fellowship Award Ceremony?
Yes. Although I teach in October, I’m sure I will be able to re-arrange my classes to attend the Ceremony.
I would love to come to Brussels to meet the new Laureate and find out about the next research project that will be pursued in Antarctica thanks to the Fellowship!
Every year the members of the BELARE team working at the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica (PEA) Station must undertake several traverses to assist with the unloading of materials and supplies arriving by ship and bring them back to the station, which is located more than 200 kilometres inland from the coast.
What’s different about this season
Compared to previous seasons - when only one cargo ship would drop off supplies for the PEA Station at the Dronning Maud Land Coast in East Antarctica - this year, logistical constraints made it necessary to have two cargo ships to deliver supplies which represent a logistical challenge on its own.
The first ship to arrive was the M.V. Vasily Golovnin (a Russian ice-breaking cargo vessel), which unloaded its cargo on January 5th. The second was the S.A. Agulhas II (a South African ice-breaking scientific and supply ship), which dropped off its load on January 20th.
Each unloading event requires usually one to three traverses to transport the delivered cargo back to the PEA Station. This year, a total of three heavily loaded traverses took place.
Diverse cargo
A sizable part of the cargo collected this season included wooden construction materials for the new annex of the PEA Station.
Other cargo transported included food, as well as materials for the kitchen, including a new oven and air filters.
The first traverse of the season transported about 85 tonnes of provision, materials and supplies. The second traverse transported around 150 tonnes of construction materials for the new building. The third traverse transported about 80 tonnes and was composed mainly of three containers loaded with construction materials and fuel for the planes and tractors. This represents a total of nearly 315 tonnes of materials and supplies.
Careful planning
Considering the limited amount of time available during the summer season at PEA, the BELARE team had to plan the traverses weeks in advance in order to schedule them at the right moment for the ship and to not interfere with the many scientific research projects happening during the season. The team must always take into account the time needed to reach the coast as well as the weight and size of the materials to be transported.
The BELARE team usually uses Prinoth tractors and Lehman sledges to transport the supplies and materials from the coast to the PEA Station. This year we had the opportunity to also use a CASE Quadtrack 600 belonging to the Perseus Airfield, allowing us to carry a heavier load at once.
Two drivers are assigned to each tractor and they alternate, allowing one to rest. The tractors can only go 10-12 km/h.
The station’s cook prepares ready-made meals they can easily heat up and eat during their time in the field. The traverse team usually spends the night at the coast.
The team takes advantage of a cargo ship’s arrival to send off waste from the station. The Madrid Protocol to the Antarctica Treaty requires all research stations to properly dispose of its waste by shipping it places where it can be properly recycled or disposed of. Any waste from the PEA Station is sent to South Africa to be handled.
As one traverse usually takes between 22 and 25 hours one way, some materials brought by the vessel can be left at a safe storage area near the coast to be picked up at a later time when it is more convenient to bring it back to the station.
Taking precautions against risks
Drivers make sure to watch out for crevasses along the route. Although they are monitored year after year and clearly marked along the way, their size can change over time as the ice moves. They can range from a few centimetres to as much as several metres in width.
The capricious weather in Antarctica is also a major hazard to look out for. It’s possible for the weather to quickly turn from a calm and clear day to blizzard conditions - which can severely reduce visibility - in a matter of hours. One potentially dangerous weather phenomenon is the so called “white-out”. It occurs when the wind blows snow particles several meters into the air, creating a situation where it’s not possible to see more than a few meters in front of you and everything around you becomes white!
As a precaution, all drivers follow the leading Prinoth tractor and maintain a distance of around 100 meters between each tractor and sledge train. All tractors follow exactly the same path clearly marked out on GPS, and communicate via VHF radio with the lead driver to know if there are any hazards ahead and determine how to best handle them. If conditions become too dangerous, the team will temporarily stop the traverse until conditions improve enough to continue safely.
An incredible adventure
“Overall, a traverse to the coast remains an incredible adventure!” reported IPF Science Liaison Office Henri Robert, who took part in the last traverse of the season. “Besides the need to bring supplies and cargo to the station, going on a traverse allows you to experience the remoteness, the solitude, and the extreme beauty of the Antarctic. Whether it’s drifting snow on the ice on a dark day, or whether the sun is shining, it’s a beautiful spectacle to behold!”
“After a long day of driving, when you finally arrive at the unloading site along the ice shelf’s edge, with a little bit of luck you might spot some seals resting on the remaining fast ice, emperor penguins, or even seabirds such as Antarctic petrels, snow petrels, Wilson’s storm petrels, or the south polar skua,” Henri explained. “Some colleagues were even privileged enough to spot a pack of orcas near the unloading ship earlier in the season!”
“As was probably the case for the early explorers of this continent, every time you go to a new place - maybe you see a different part of the coast, another side of a nunatak, or how the wildlife is so well adapted to their environment and so beautiful - each sight makes you feel privileged to be able to admire the beauty in front of you.”
The International Polar Foundation’s outreach activities towards young students through educational Skype classes have always been welcomed with enthusiasm since they were started more than 10 years ago, soon after the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica was built.
Over the past couple of months, Science Liaison Officer and Deputy Station Manager Henri Robert has given Skype classes via satellite to classes in England, Belgium and Spain about the scientific research being done around the Sør Rondane Mountains (which are not far from the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica), the functioning of the station, and the risks posed by climate change.
Having engaging talks with students
In December, Henri spoke with a very passionate class at the Royal Hospital School in Ipswich, England. Henri spent a lot of time talking to them about the station. The students were so curious they asked him about a hundred questions!
The English school was very grateful for the time Henri spent speaking to them. They made a video summarising the experience and uploaded it to the school's Trilby TV platform.
Then in January, students at the Institut Montjoie High School in Brussels, Belgium were treated to lecture from Henri, which focused on numerous subjects related to the functioning of the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica, including the station’s “zero emission” approach to renewable energy production and management, the station’s water treatment system, and the concept of passive construction, which allows one to save an enormous amount of energy through sound design and insulation techniques.
Valentina Zvallia, a scientist who is part of the BELSPO-sponsored MICROBIAN project, and doing microbiological research in Antarctica, joined Henri in the lecture so the students could learn more about the research she and her colleagues are conducting. The students asked both of them about climate change and the effects of global warming not just around the world, but especially in Antarctica. During the conversation, the students came up with many ways they could adopt new habits to reduce their carbon and climate footprint.
Claire Gillet, the teachers in Belgium who organised the Skype class said the following about the experience for the students: “It was a very positive exchange of ideas that proposed new ways of thinking for the future. What a gift for a teacher! The students also loved your answer about the beauty of the surroundings of the station, the nature in the area and the quick look Henri and Valentina gave through the station’s window with the webcam. Thank you both for this communication and exchange that gives sense to what teachers are doing.”
Encouraging the next generation of scientists
Around twenty twelve-year-old children from the Escola Reina Elisenda Virolai primary school in Barcelona, Spain, participated in another Skype class in January with Henri Robert and Beatriz Roncero Ramos, a scientist also working on the MICROBIAN project. The discussion covered many topics, including the different scientific projects being done at the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica, as well as the work and daily life of scientists working there.
The participation of Beatriz in the discussion was especially significant for many of the young girls, who were encouraged to consider future careers in STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).
As Philippe Guisset, one of the organisers of the talks reported to Henri Robert afterwards: “It was a great present for these kids. It’s an experience they will remember forever. Did you see how many girls want to become a scientist? And when you said that they can maybe become scientists and come to the station they all screamed ‘I want to go!’”
The class invited Henri and Beatriz to Barcelona to recover from the cold of Antarctica. The students were thrilled at the idea of meeting them in person to learn more about their work and the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica.
Teaching young people climate awareness
Since the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica was constructed in 2007 - 2009, the International Polar Foundation has been keen to have educational lectures and discussions with the younger generations to raise awareness about climate change and introduce them to everyday initiatives to reduce humanity's impact on the planet’s ecosystems.
Using the example of the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica - the first ever zero-emission research station in Antarctica - provides insights into the numerous opportunities at our disposal to tackle climate change and reduce energy consumption around the world. Young children will likely witness in their lifetimes significant impacts of climate change. Hence, giving them the possibility to talk with scientists actively conducting research on relevant topics encourages them to become even more passionate about science, nature conservation, and to become climate activists.
If your school would like to organise a Skype class with some of the scientists and engineers working with the International Polar Foundation, please feel free to contact Henri Robert at science@polarfoundaiton.org .
We look forward to hearing from you!
The Princess Elisabeth Antarctica was recently featured on the Croatian TV show, "Dobro jutro, Hrvatska (Good Morning, Croatia)". A live studio audience listened intently to two members of the International Polar Foundation staff working at the research station.
The first was native Croatian engineer Damir Simpović, who had been on a mission to the station earlier this year as part of the IT/technical system team. He was interviewed live in the TV studio in Zagreb. Joining him live via satellite video connection form the station itself was IPF Science Liaison Officer and Deputy Station Manager Henri Robert.
The studio audience was awestruck to learn more about the first zero-emission polar research station ever built, how it was able to function year round on renewable wind and solar energy, and how the station was used to welcome researchers during the austral summer research season from November until mid-February.
Remote control
Damir explained to the studio audience about the very important job he is doing: managing a setup that can remotely control the Princess Elizabeth Antarctica throughout the year from anywhere in the world, thanks to a satellite link. He highlighted the importance of being able to have remote access to the station in order to maintain its systems, especially to monitor energy production and use (primarily from wind during the austral winter, as there is little or no sun for many months).
The expert engineer also stressed the importance of being able to retrieve scientific data being collected by instruments and sensors scientists have set up at the station throughout the year - especially when the station is unoccupied during the austral winter. It is vital for scientists to be able to have uninterrupted data sets for the various scientific research projects they are working on.
Live from the station - an engineering marvel!
Thanks to a live video connection with Princess Elisabeth Station, Henri Robert was able to talk to the audience and answer several questions from the speakers.
Henri gave a bit of history about the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica, recounting that is was constructed between 2007 and 2009 (as part of the legacy of the last International Polar Year) by the International Polar Foundation and its many partners.
He explained the objective was to build a "zero emission" scientific research station that could run sustainably, meaning it would run entirely on renewable energy and create little to no carbon emissions.
"The idea is to show the world that such a station can be built in the harshest conditions, and that it can be efficient and viable with a high degree of comfort,” Henri explained. “If it can be done in Antarctica, then it can be done anywhere in the world, and we can all limit our negative contribution to climate change. The station has been running for a decade already and will continue to do so for many more to come.”
He also described how the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica was built using a passive design and powered by wind turbines as well as solar photovoltaic and solar thermal panels. Energy storage and use is managed thanks to a smart micro grid that allows the free use of energy when it is available, but restricts specific uses when power is running low, which can happen from time to time during calm and cloudy “nights”.
The show was broadcast live on Wednesday, January 29th at 9:00 am, Central European Time, on the Croatian television station HRT. You can find a video of the segment on HRT's website.
The scientific teams scheduled to conduct research during the second half of the 2019-2020 season arrived at the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica on January 13th, and were welcomed to a station in full swing. After following the usually necessary first aid and safety training required of all newcomers to the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica, researchers from the BioFe, BELAM, and MICROBIAN projects got to work on their respective research objectives for the season.
BioFe
Dr. Kate Winter from Northumbria University in the UK has returned to Antarctica for the second of two seasons of the BioFe project, which is currently being funded thanks to the generosity of the Baillet Latour Antarctica Fellowship.
Kate is studying how iron-rich nutrients are transported via glacial debris as glaciers flow towards the coasts of Antarctica. Once the glacial debris arrives in the Southern Ocean, the iron in the debris nourishes phytoplankton, tiny organisms alled primary producers that form the base of the ocean food chain. While they grow, these phytoplankton also take in carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere, and sequester the carbon at the bottom of the ocean when they die and fall to the sea floor.
Last season, with the help of the IPF team, Kate was able to take ice radar images to see the topography of the glacier-bedrock interface along transects of interest in the vicinity of the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica. Knowing the topography of the bedrock can indicate how the debris carrying the iron-rich nutrients flows towards the coast. This season, Kate is taking more ice-radar transects to compliment the ones she’s already taken.
In order to study how debris falls off of rocky outcrops in the vicinity of the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica, last season Kate took aerial drone footage of these rocky outcrops and installed Raspberry Shake seismographs around them to detect when debris falls off and reach the rock-ice interface at the edges of the outcrops. This season, Kate will take new drone footage of the same rocky outcrops to see how much debris they may have lost over the last year. She’ll also collect data from the Raspberry Shake seismographs to see how much seismic activity caused by falling debris was registered over one year.
While Kate was able to bring one of her students to assist her in the field last season, this year, due to students’ unavailability, Kate decided to bring her husband, Ross Winter, to give her a hand. A trip to Antarctica is certainly a once in a lifetime experience for any couple!
BELAM
Speaking of Baillet-Latour Antarctica Fellowship Laureates, one of the Fellowships’ previous laureates from 2010, Steven Goderis from the Vrij Universiteit Brussel (VUB), has returned to Antarctica after many years under the BELAM project to work on a similar project to the one that won him the 2010 Fellowship: hunting for micrometeorites that can give clues to the origins of our Solar System.
As in his previous expeditions to Antarctica, Steven and the BELAM team is spending several weeks out on the Nansen Blue Ice Field on the Antarctic Plateau 120 kilometers from the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica. Accompanying Steven are Naoki Shirai, a colleague from Tokyo Metropolitan University in Japan, as well as Hamed Pourkhorsandi an Iranian post-doctoral researcher at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and Mehmet Yesiltas from Kirkareli University in Turkey.
Meteorites - which are defined as extraterrestrial bodies that fall through the Earth’s atmosphere (as meteors) and make it to the ground - fall all over the surface of the planet. Smaller meteorites, called micrometeorites, are rather common. However, due to their dark colour, micrometeorites can be difficult to distinguish from normal rocks or soil in most parts of the world.
However, in Antarctica, micrometeorites are much easier to find. Areas where blue ice is abundant, such as the Nansen Blue Ice Field where the BELAM team is collecting meteorite samples, are particularly good places to find them, as they stand out against the clear, blueish-tinged ice around them. Becoming trapped in the blue ice also preserves the micrometeorites against erosion.
The micrometeorites can have multiple origins. Some can even come from the same rocks that eventually formed the Moon or Mars.
This season, the group of scientists will stay in the Nansen Ice Field for three weeks before returning to the station, after which they will all fly home with the meteorites they collect. The meteorites will be shared between the research institutions. In Belgium, the micrometeorites will be added to the existing collection at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences.
Financing for BELAM is made possible by the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BELSPO).
MICROBIAN
The MICROBIAN project is returning to Antarctica for its third consecutive season to continue analyzing the microbiological communities living at and around the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica. While there are a great number of microbiological sampling activities taking place all along the coasts of Antarctica, there aren’t so many being done in the interior of the continent.
This unique environment at the station - which, being 200 km inland from the coast, tends to have a much harsher climate than the coastal regions - is why the Princess Elisabeth and its vicinity is an ideal place for the MICROBIAN project to spend a few seasons taking samples of microbial life. It will be interesting to see if there are any significant differences between microbial life at a small scale on different nunataks near the station, or compared to the coastal regions of Antarctica.
The project is a collaboration between Ghent University and the University of Liège, two universities in Belgium specialised in microbiological research. This season, Valentina Savaglia, Quinten Vanhellemont, Beatrice Ronsero, and Juri Kusak are spending four weeks around the station taking samples, which will be brought back to Belgium at the end of the season.
MICROBIAN is also a research project financed by the Belgian Federal Science Policy (BELSPO).
Japanese research projects
A few days after the arrival of the first teams doing work at the station during the second half of the 2019-2020 season, a group of Japanese researchers from the Japanese National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR) arrived to use the Princess Elisabeth as a base from which to conduct their research expeditions in the area.
Auroral Observations
The first project the Japanese team of researchers are working on is building an aurora observation network along the coast of the Dronning Maud Land in East Antarctica. Two scientists, Akira Kadokura and Yoshimasa Tanaka, are installing at and around the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica an unmanned Auroral Observation system (UAO-2), which is composed of a Fluxgate Magnetometer, an aurora camera and a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) antenna. The magnetometer is being installed on Utsteinen Ridge, while the camera and GNSS antenna are installed on the roof of the station.
The goal of their research is to study on the onset mechanisms of auroral substorms (which produce mild aurora), the temporal and spatial variation of the auroral phenomena, but also the wave-particle interaction process during an auroral substorm and a full on auroral storm (which produce vivid auroras).
Biological research
A second team of NIPR researchers, Kensuke Tadome and Shohei Hayashi, will study the origin and transition between different biological ecosystems in Antarctica. The team will not only look at current ecosystems, but also try to reconstruct ecosystems from the regions recent past to see if there have been any significant changes in ecosystem boundaries.
The team of researchers plans to compare the biodiversity of the Enderby Land near the coast of the Dronning Maud Land and the Sør Rondane Mountains. They plan to sample two kinds of life in ice-free areas in these two locations during their research expedition:
Actinomyces: These are a particular kind of bacteria that exist in soils, and can be useful for developing new drugs. The team plans to see which groups of bacteria are present, and what specific characteristics they may have.
Lichens: The team plans to investigate how many species of lichens existing the project study areas, in particular if there are any differences depending on varying geological and geographical conditions. They also hope to gain insight into the origins of the different lichens, as there is a very high diversity in varieties of lichens in Antarctica.
Expert Field Support
As always, the team at the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica will be providing field guides to ensure the safety of field expeditions and assist researchers with their fieldwork. The station’s cook prepares readymade meals that can be heated up and eaten whenever needed, and are packed to stay fresh even during weeks-long research expeditions in the field.
Science in Antarctica is a great adventure!
A long range wireless link has been established connecting the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica Research Station to the new Perseus Intercontinental Airstrip - and it runs on renewable solar power!
To improve communications, reduce costs, and ensure the safety of flights landing and departing from the Perseus Intercontinental Airstrip with the DROMLAN logistics network, members of the IPF team installed a communication relay atop Vesthaugen Nunatak, located about halfway in between the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica Research Station and the new airstrip.
This new relay creates a wireless extension of the network at the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica out to Perseus Airstrip, making communication via Internet from the remote airstrip possible.
It sits on the summit of Vesthaugen Nunatak, 31.5 km north of the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica and 27.5 km south of Perseus Airstrip. The top of the nunatak is at an altitude of 1200 metres above sea level, which allows it to have a clear line of sight between the station, which sits at a higher elevation of 1365 metres above sea level, and the airstrip, which is located at only 794 metres above sea level.
The communications relay consists of phased-array relay antennas (antennas that create a beam of radio waves that can be electronically pointed in specific directions without moving them) powered by four 130Wp solar photovoltaic panels and two 97Ah battery storage units. This makes it possible to have up to 10 days full speed wireless communication without sunlight and more than three months of autonomy when no data is transferred over the link.
The relay station is also equipped with a SEN-LINK modem (an ESA – SENHIVE product).
"SEN-LINK is the world’s first multi-carrier Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite modem," said Thomas Petracca, the Head of the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica Engineering Team and CEO of Senhive, a Belgian firm specialized in mission critical communication and sensors.
"By combining multiple future Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite providers such as Hiber, Astrocast, Irridium, etc., it's possible to have up to five years of autonomy and guarantee mission-critical redundant communication. SEN-LINK modems will also be deployed to provide data repatriation on remote science and mission-critical systems."
A unique challenge
"Building an autonomous communication relay on the top of the Vesthaugen Nunatak to deliver wireless Internet to the remote Perseus airstrip, 70km away from PEA, was an exciting challenge,” according to Benoît Verdin, an IPF technician working the station team. “We were asked to build the first long-range wireless network in Antarctica.”
It was not the easiest of tasks.
“We had to carry heavy batteries and bulky solar panels up the steep slopes of the nunatak in stormy winds and blowing snow. Luckily, we found a sheltered spot near the top of the nunatak where we could install all of the equipment. It took more than ten ascents over a period of two days bring all the materials to the top and install them.”
However, after hard work came the reward.
“While configuring the link on top of the nunatak, I took ten minutes to Skype my girlfriend in Belgium. It was a surreal moment, calling her from the middle of nowhere in Antarctica.”
After the setup was installed at Vesthaugen Nunatak, the team of technicians headed to Perseus Airstrip to finalize the connection and contact their family back home.
Proof of concept
The new wireless link between the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica and the Perseus Intercontinental Airstrip is a proof of concept that Thomas Petracca devised before going to Antarctica this season. He couldn’t be happier now that the system is up and running.
“This shows that it’s possible to reduce costs of communicating over longer distances in Antarctica for relatively little up-front cost,” Thomas explained. “What we’ve constructed at Vesthaugen could have applications elsewhere in Antarctica, at other research stations or logistical waypoints, for example.”
Thomas also sees unique possibilities for improving communications between Antarctic stations in the future.
“Combining renewable power, LEO satellites and phased-array antennas will allow us to have extremely long, high bandwidth (gigabit) connections between Antarctic stations. The possibilities are endless! These kinds of setups will have a significant impact on all kidns of future Antarctic operations."
