international
polar
foundation

Far more than a mere symbol of Belgium's return to Antarctica, the Princess Elisabeth Station is first and foremost an Antarctic research station. As such, it welcomes scientists from everywhere around the globe to conduct scientific research in the Sør Rondanes. For this year, besides the JARE 51 program, the station has welcomed:Elie Verleyen (University of Ghent), and Steve Roberts (BAS) for their research on cosmogenic particles;Zorigto Namsaraev and Josef Elster, for their study of the microbiology in the area, continuing the work of BELDIVA from last year;Irina Gorodetskaya (KULeuven), for the preparation of the installation of meteorological instruments around the station.In this capsule, these scientists take you with them in the field. You will thus be able to see Steve Roberts and Elie Verleyen take rock samples, while Josef Elster and Zorigto Namsaraev head to a cryoconite field to sample micro-organisms. We then accompany Irina Gorodetskaya, before going back to Steve and Elie on an icy lake at Utsteinen to conduct a radar survey.

"When I look at it, I tell myself that it isn't possible. It's still a dream. But it's not! Mission accomplished." Those were the words of Alain Hubert, general supervisor of the project, about completing the first phase of the station's construction.

Zorigto Namsaraev is a microbiologist and works as a researcher-scientist at the Center for Protein Engineering at the University of Liège (Belgium). In the framework of the BELDIVA project, he studies one of the few indigenous life forms in Antarctica known as cyanobacteria.

Sanne Bosteels is a field guide at the Belgian Army. As the only field guide to be sent south for the 2010-2011 season, he will be responsible for the safety of outgoing expeditions. In this video, he shares his impressions on his first expedition last year, and his experience of life in Antarctica.

After having witnessed perpetual sunlight, Antarctica is now showing its true nature. The time has come for a good storm. When the wind blows, snow gets in through the slightest crack, making the base camp vulnerable. It is important to clear the place up, to protect the tents and to shelter the lightest equipment so that the storm doesn't destroy everything.

The International Polar Foundation (IPF) and global satellite operator SES S.A. have successfully completed the installation and tests of the SES satellite ground station in Antarctica.A crew of SES specialists joined the BELARE team to run tests and launch the operations. The new infrastructure will now make a significant contribution to scientific research by offering real-time data transfer from Antarctica, and will allow the Princess Elisabeth Station to be monitored online, thus ensuring best efficiency from the micro smart grid capabilities in energy management.

Vinciane Debaille is a Research Associate at the Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique (FNRS). This year, she will head to Antarctica to head the SAMBA project with her colleague Steven Goderis (Vrije Universiteit Brussel). As was the case for the JARE 51 project from last year, the aim of the SAMBA project will be to bring back meteorites to Belgium for study.

This video goes over the different steps of the construction of the Princess Elisabeth Station. The International Polar Foundation would like to thank MDW Productions for making this movie in a very short timeframe.

Led by an expedition team from the Princess Elisabeth Station, the SAMBA crew with Steven Goderis (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) and Vinciane Debaille (Université Libre de Bruxelles), as well as their counterparts from the Japanese National Institute of Polar Research, reached their base camp on the Antarctic Plateau. Join them on their ski-doos as they cross the blue ice to find meteorites.