international
polar
foundation

The first convoy of containers reached the base camp in Utsteinen today (December 19) at 5 pm. The most needed equipment was brought first, comprising of the remaining wood to complete the garage construction.

Since Saturday morning, the coast team and ship crew members have been busy non-stop unloading the Ivan Papanin ship. They have been working 18 hour shifts, sleeping very little but progressing at a good pace. As of Wednesday December 19th, there were only 6 containers left to unload.

The first traverse team, comprising of two military officers (topographer Dieter Callaert and sergeant-mayor Vercouillie) and two civilians (Birty and Laurent) arrived back to the base camp today. In theory, a conventional one-way trip to Utsteinen is about a 20-hour drive from the coast. After having calculated the various variables to take into account, Alain has hinted there would not be a single day's rest until the entire load has reached Utsteinen base camp... tight schedule ...

The Ivan Papanin cargo ship started making its way through the sea ice on Friday December 14. She was anchored to the sea ice near Breid Bay around 7 pm that night. The exact location has been named Crown Bay (70°S 23°E), because of the shape of a nearby iceberg.

A white out on Friday evening forced the team to postpone the unloading procedure. They were able to begin the operations the following morning, using the Hammar side loaders.

The Prinoth tractors and sledges have been loaded with the first containers and driven up the snow ramp that the coast team had built before the ship came into the Bay. When enough containers have made it up the ice-shelf, the snow tractors will begin the first convoy traverse to the Utsteinen base camp. The entire unloading procedure should take about 5-6 days.

The Ivan Papanin ice-class cargo ship carrying aboard the 120 containers of the Princess Elisabeth Station reached 5° East on December 11th. She is progressing smoothly towards the South and is expected to come into Breid Bay around December 14th.

"For several days, the air had been getting cooler on board, a sign that the ship was progressing southwards", says Philippe Herman, Belgian Army coordinator. Last week, the ship's crew saw their first iceberg and then, the cargo ship started ice-breaking. Although the ice thickness was not yet significant at the time, the whole ship was shaking as strange sounds reverberated through the haul.

A few days later, the ship was caught in sea ice. It took the captain several tries before freeing the ship from the ice's embrace. A few days later, the captain had to shut the engine off when the motor broke down. After four hours of repair work, the Ivan Papanin was ready to resume her voyage.

The journey through Antarctica's waters proceeded without any trouble as the ship crossed the Antarctic Circle. After having watched a sunset on the horizon from the ship's deck, the crew went to bed and slept through an artificial night. Indeed, from this point south, the sun no longer sets. The sun only circles the heads of the crew around the clock, dipping slowly under the horizon before it rises again.

The ship reached 5° East on December 11th with the members of the Norwegian expedition ready to unload their equipment. In a couple of days, it will be the Belgians' turn to greet the ship. As a matter of fact, Alain Hubert has already made his way towards the coast, in order to identify potential unloading sites. The choice of the unloading point will depend on ice conditions at the coast.

Working on top of the Nunatak is not an enviable job: the wind comes in from the east and constantly blows your way. Some time ago, the thermometer on top of the rocks indicated -24 degrees Celsius, with gusts of wind reaching 50 km/hour.

Needless to say that working in such severe conditions requires a great deal of morale and a body made of steel. As the drilling work is an essential step in the station's construction, it cannot be interrupted. The whole construction plan would fall behind in schedule.
But, aside from the harsh wind and temperatures, the work in itself is also very demanding: the whole drilling installation often has to be disassembled and moved over the rock slope; some parts of the installation are so heavy that it takes 6 people to drag them over.

On the west side of the Nunatak, a large part of the garage has already been built. On this side of the rocks, the workers are sheltered from the wind. In the afternoon it even gets pretty "warm", when the sun turns to the west. The difference in temperature between the foot and the top of the Nunatak can reach 15 degrees, although there are only a few meters difference between the 2 spots.

In order to fit the working schedule, the drillers have decided to work nightshifts too. Some of the younger guys who used to be working on the garage are now lending a hand to the drillers.
The subsoil is frozen solid (-20°C), making it hard for the drilling material to function properly. Several drill chucks and hammers have already broken off on the frozen granite rocks.

Aside from the drillers, other workers are having to place 6-meter bars, weighing over 50 kg each, into the holes. In order to anchor the bars into the drilling holes, special resin has to be used. The resin is first heated before it is poured into the holes. For the moment 7 of these bars have been put into place. More material will be delivered soon and several more bars will be installed every day. Over 50 bars will have to be placed either vertically or at a certain inclination before the building construction can begin above the ground. Much work still has to be done before the 120 containers arrive with the modules on the coast, towards mid-December.
 

Alain and Dieter have been measuring geodetic points for the National Geographic Institute of Belgium, and are happy with their results to date. Geodesy is the study of the size and shape of the Earth, its field of gravity, and such varying phenomena as the motion of the magnetic poles and the tides. Apart from having measured existing points that were left by the Japanese expedition of 1985, they have also installed new measuring points for a satellite survey.

Today they continued surveying the blue ice field at Vesthaugen, which could eventually be used as an air strip for wheeled aircrafts. Alain feels the results are promising: being only 30 kilometres away from Utsteinen, this place would be a very good location for a future ice runway serving the Princess Elisabeth Station.

Meanwhile, another group went over to Asuka Station in order to recover any material and wooden sledges for use at Utsteinen. The army mechanics were able to fix the door of a Gomaru tracked vehicle they found before moving it over to the bare rock so that it would be kept free of ice over the coming seasons. The wind at Seal Rock, where Asuka Station is based, is very strong, keeping the rocky surface clear of snow deposits. However, it can be so powerful that it ripped the Gomaru vehicle door off its hinges last winter.

The Japanese research expedition (JARE) of this season is working at Bratnipene, not far from Utsteinen. Last season, the BELARE expedition prepared a fuel depot there for the Japanese field party, and expects a visit from them sometime in January 2008.
Several of the windmills are now up. However, there is not enough demand yet for the amount of energy they can produce. It is expected that the team will slow down on this activity now and concentrate on the drilling operations in the ridge. Since the drilling team has received new drill bits and hammers, they have been able to drill another seven 6-metre-deep holes for the anchoring of the Station in the space of 24 hours.

They are working flat out as the drilling experts are expected to leave Utsteinen on the flight scheduled December 16th. There are still 25 holes left to drill. The drilling equipment will then be carried to Breid Bay where it will board the Ivan Papanin and be carried back to Cape Town along with the containers of waste which are to be treated in Cape Town.

At the end of November, the Ivan Papanin arrived in Cape Town for a last stop-over before leaving for Antarctica. The ice-class cargo ship filled up on fuel and food supplies for the crew and loaded the last containers full of frozen goods, fresh fruits and vegetables, gas for the vehicles at Utsteinen, wood and other small elements of use on the building site. The Ivan Papanin left South Africa on 1 December.

Eighteen people in total are now on board the ship. Some will debark at Breid Bay where they will complete or relieve the team currently on site since October, while others (ornithologists, journalists ...) will stay on board and travel back to Cape Town. Amongst the ship's crew, eight military officers are coming in to replace their colleagues in Utsteinen who have prepared the site for the arrival of the Princess Elisabeth Station.

The Ivan Papanin left Cape Town under a shining southern sun. Unfortunately the good weather did not last. On the second say of travel, a storm picked up and the ship entered the renowned "Roaring Forties" (latitudes between 40°S and 50°S), reputed for its hostile waters. The ship has been pitching and rolling ever since. The weather has been so bad that the Russian captain has even forbidden anyone from going out on the outer decks. The waves hitting down on the hull are so powerful that they could carry away anyone standing on the edge.

The crew's days are filled with discussions, debates, observations, films and documentaries. Various work will soon have to be carried out in the ship's hold so as to prepare the equipment for unloading. Several containers need to be rearranged, the sledges and vehicles have to be prepared and the other machines, in seperate pieces, need to be reassembled and ready to go as soon as they arrive.

But the ship has not entered the Southern Ocean yet. All on board await the sight of the first icebergs, a sign that the frozen continent is close by. At that moment, a new episode will begin for the Ivan Papanin during which she will have to make her way through the icy waves.

Another day in Utsteinen, another day of work. Greeted by the sunlight early in the morning, the working men climb out of their tents as early as 6 am.

The first one up takes care of turning the wood oven on in the mess tent. The rest of the crew wakes up one by one, and walks into the warm tent to have some yogurt and home-made bread for breakfast. The coffee machine quickly becomes the center of attention.

The tent slowly fills up with conversation and words about the various work being carried out on the building site: the drilling, the garage, the poles, the resin, the formwork preparations, etc. It is often here that the problems encountered on site find a solution.

The mess tent is also the place where material and equipment is stored to keep warm. So much so that the team often jokes about how the tent looks more like a warehouse than a kitchen. But no one complains. The team is happy to be a part of this major Belgian project.

Work on the construction site begins before 8 am and doesn't stop before the time has struck noon. The 2 bulldozers, 2 Prinoth tractors and 4 Ski-doos work in concerto, hauling, scooting and pulling from right to left. After a light lunch, the building team is off to work again until about 7 pm, because the constant daylight allows them to do so. Around 4 pm, the wind picks up and makes the air feel stone cold. The heat in the mess room is a blessing.

With a glass of wine and the warm friends, the evening goes by very quickly. Little by little, people go off to bed and silence remains in the daylight. The men go to bed and already the sun is ready for another beautiful morning at Utsteinen.

Scheduled over 4.5 months, the BELARE 2007-2008 expedition aims to build the Princess Elisabeth Station's outer shell and set up the seven remaining wind turbines.

All in all, the team comprises of a medical doctor/nurse, a cooking team, qualified mountain guides and first-aid team, construction teams, a base camp management team and, during the construction phase, a driving team.

• The first phase of the building plan began at the beginning of November. The objectives are to set up base camp for the building team, haul the containers stored there last year back to the base camp, complete the garage construction and drill both the station's anchoring points and the holes for the wind turbines.
• The second phase of the construction begins in December with the arrival of the Ivan Papanin in Breid Bay. After a first stop in Antarctica at the Norwegian Troll Station for equipment drop-off, the Ivan Papanin should arrive in Breid Bay on December 23rd. The offloading point will be secured and convoys will carry the unloaded containers across 190km to the base camp, securing the route along the way.
• In January, the construction of the actual station will begin (wooden and metal structures), along with the continued hauling of equipment to the base camp and the building of the wind turbines.
• The construction of the station's outer shell will be completed in February and joints will be sealed. Come March, the camp will be shut down and the station closed for over-wintering.

The building team has been working away securing the anchoring points of the station and making headway on constructing the garage. Alain Hubert and a few other team members have retrieved some useful material from the abandoned Japanese station, Asuka. The Ivan papanin should arrive at Breid Bay in less than a month.

Work on the various fronts has been advancing at a good pace. The hammering and drilling start as early as 7 am and continue all day until roughly 7 pm. Many holes have now been drilled in the bare rock of the ridge at Utsteinen. This stage is essential in order to set up solid anchorage for the station and the work required before the workers even insert the anchoring poles is not easy. To dismantle, move and then set up the drilling equipment again is not a simple task on such a rocky slope, but the workers are highly spirited and their motivation is high.

The garage building crew has already added part of the roof to the northern part of the garage. First side panels covering the southern part of the garage (the part which leads to the station on the ridge) have also been mounted.

Two days ago, Alain Hubert and three other members of the team headed towards ASUKA, an old Japanese station located on an ice sheet north of the Sør Rondane Mountains. Although it is only 60 km away from Utsteinen, the weather is completely different. Winds can reach up to 70 km per hour, bringing temperatures down to a very unpleasant level. Some old equipment (sledges, diesel fuel, wood, etc.) was found buried in the snow. They were able to recuperate some of the material and bring it back to the base camp on the old sledges (an old model with a wooden top) to be used for the Princess Elisabeth construction.

It is amazing to see how equipment has changed in just a decade. Last year, for instance, the BELARE 2006 team visited the old Belgian station, the Roi Baudouin, and had hauled back some boxes full of polar gear. This year, the team has unpacked them in order to let them dry in the sun. They intend to send the valuables back to Belgium as a memorandum of Belgium's history in Antarctica.

Tomorrow, two old Basslers (DC3 planes) will bring in another 3500 kg of material and food supplies. The next flight won't be until December 17th. For three weeks, the only way of communicating with the rest of the word will be to use the Iridium phone. Utsteinen is located in an area that the Inmarsat satellites do not cover, reminding us that the team is located at the bottom of the world and far from civilization (4400 km from Cape Town, South Africa).

The Ivan Papanin is making progress on its journey in the southern hemisphere. Estimated Time of Arrival in Cape Town, South Africa, is November 25. You can track the Ivan Papanin on its way to Breid Bay.

After having won the prestigeous Blue PLanet Prize in 2004, Dr. Susan Solomon was granted the Georges Lemaître Prize 2007 for "her pioneering role in the discovery of the ozone hole and her deep commitment to science in the service of mankind" on November 6th.

Dr. Solomon achieved a doctorate's degree in chemistry from the University of California in Berkeley in 1981. She went on to becoming a senior scientist for the NOAA/ERL, Chemical Sciences Division, in Boulder, Colorado, and co-chair of the IPCC Working Group I on the Physical Basis of Climate Change. She is also is a member of the American Science Academy
and a honorary member of the International Polar Foundation.

Dr. Solomon first became enamored of science when she started watching TV shows such as "The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau". But by High School she had switched her allegiance to the atmosphere when she earned third place in a national science contest by measuring the amount of oxygen in various gaseous mixtures.

Her observations modified the course of atmospheric research when she discovered what was causing the ozone layer to deplete over Antarctica into what is now called the "ozone hole". Thanks to her research, it was possible to identify exactly which chemical compounds were destroying the ozone layer and harming people's health worldwide (cancer, cataracts,
weakened immune system).

The Georges Lemaître Foundation was set up in 1995 by the "Association d'Anciens et Amis de l'Université Catholique de Louvain", of which Dr. André Berger, co-founder of the IPF is a member. A 25 000 euros prize is granted at least once every two years to commemorate the achievements of a Belgian scientist having made a significant contribution to increasing and popularizing scientific knowledge in the field of cosmology, astronomy, astrophysics, geophysics, climate and space research. The2003 prize was allocated to Alain Huber, co-founder of the IPF, for having promoted sciences, raised public awareness on the importance of global climate change and for being pro-active amongst the younger generations.