After the camp team, drilling crew, and half of the science team arrived safely, the camp team and drillers took over camp set-up from the traverse team, completing the heated mess tent and the tent village. By the end of today, the drillers have also set up the drill tent structure, including its cover. The next task will be to fetch components of the hot-water drilling system from another site (a research project supported by the New Zealand Antarctic Science Platform) about 60 km from ICDP drill site. Today the team also completed the excavation of a cavern in the ice to set up a freezer and tent to store frozen and dry foods.
The five remaining science team members arrived in Christchurch over the past week in preparation for flying south. In addition to getting “kitted out” (receiving extreme cold weather gear from Antarctica New Zealand), the team members got to spend some time exploring the area, including visiting the International Antarctic Centre, where one can take a ride on a piston bully!
Eleven members of the SWAIS 2C team made it to the KIS drill site on Thursday! Those remaining at Scott Base celebrated Antarctica Day (December 1st, which commemorates the signing of the Antarctic Treaty) by visiting Vince’s Cross. Here in New Zealand, four of the science party members were kitted out yesterday (got all of our cold weather gear) and our flight south is scheduled for 9am on Monday morning.
While waiting for a weather window to fly to the KIS drill site, some members of the SWAIS 2C took the chance to see pressure ridges where the land meets the frozen ocean outside of Scott Base, with the tour led by Antarctica New Zealand’s Catherine Kircher.
Members of the SWAIS 2C on-ice science team completed their Antarctic survival training in preparation for deployment to the deep field (KIS drill site)!
The traverse team arrived at our Kamb Ice Stream site on 23 November. The traverse team will set up the camp and make the runway in preparation for the drillers and our first scientist to head to the site early next week!
SWAIS2C team members and members of the ICDP support group at the ICDP Sample and Data Management Workshop in Potsdam (GER) at the GFZ end of September. The workshop is part of the preparations for the drilling season on the Ross Ice Shelf during the upcoming summer season in Antarctica.
