The time has come to migrate South, back to my winter work at Signy. I fly on Sunday 6th November, from RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire. The flight takes us directly to the Falkland Islands, where we arrive on the evening of Monday 7th. There we will join the BAS ship, the James Clark Ross (JCR), which will take us down to Signy. This year the ship is calling at Signy first, before the other research stations, so we should only be on board for about three days.
The JCR webcam can be found at:
https://www.bas.ac.uk/data/our-data/images/webcams/rrs-james-clark-ross-webcam/
The ships tracker can be found at:
http://www.sailwx.info/shiptrack/shipposition.phtml?call=ZDLP
Once we arrive at Signy it will take about 3 days for us to get the research station opened up and ready for the season. After this, assuming all is well, the ship will leave us to get on with our season.
See you in the Spring!
Friday, 4 November 2016
Tuesday, 29 March 2016
Home Time.
The RRS Ernest Shackleton is due on Thursday lunchtime. It will be taking us away (probably on Saturday) when we have finished closing down the station for the winter. We have spent the last week or so boxing up cargo, recording everything we have here (so we know what needs to be ordered for next year), and starting to close the station down.
We are travelling home via South Georgia and Bird Island- you can keep track of my progress by looking at the Ships webcam which is updated hourly and can be found at: https://www.bas.ac.uk/data/our-data/images/webcams/rrs-ernest-shackleton-webcam/ and on the ship tracker website which can be found at: http://www.sailwx.info/shiptrack/shipposition.phtml?call=ZDLS1
It has been a long and busy season, but a good one. I managed to keep up with the blog until nearly the end- apologies for the lack of posts in the last few weeks however! The recent weeks have flown by. My penguin chicks (and most of the adults) have all gone, and many of the seals have departed for the winter too. Every creature that needed counting/weighing/measuring has been counted/weighed/measured and I am all finished and ready to start my northwards migration.
I will leave you with a few seal pictures to complete my Signy Season. A big pile of snoozing elephant seals.
A small Antarctic fur seal.
And finally, a very content elephant seal, using his companion as a pillow.
I am looking forward to getting home in time for Spring! See you all then!
We are travelling home via South Georgia and Bird Island- you can keep track of my progress by looking at the Ships webcam which is updated hourly and can be found at: https://www.bas.ac.uk/data/our-data/images/webcams/rrs-ernest-shackleton-webcam/ and on the ship tracker website which can be found at: http://www.sailwx.info/shiptrack/shipposition.phtml?call=ZDLS1
It has been a long and busy season, but a good one. I managed to keep up with the blog until nearly the end- apologies for the lack of posts in the last few weeks however! The recent weeks have flown by. My penguin chicks (and most of the adults) have all gone, and many of the seals have departed for the winter too. Every creature that needed counting/weighing/measuring has been counted/weighed/measured and I am all finished and ready to start my northwards migration.
I will leave you with a few seal pictures to complete my Signy Season. A big pile of snoozing elephant seals.
A small Antarctic fur seal.
And finally, a very content elephant seal, using his companion as a pillow.
I am looking forward to getting home in time for Spring! See you all then!
Friday, 26 February 2016
A day out
On Saturday the RRS Ernest Shackleton came to visit. She was on her way down to Halley, and stopped off to help out with a few bits and pieces on the way. One of my tasks this year was to visit Moe Island and Lynch Island. These are two small islands, just off Signy, that are ASPA sites (Antarctic Specially Protected Areas). They are designated for the pristine nature of their flora and fauna. One is particularly noted for the abundance of grass!
Visiting the islands is normally not allowed, but every few years the condition of the islands has to be assessed and we were issued a special permit to land. Their condition largely does not change, but the steady increase in the number of Antarctic fur seals around Signy is considered a threat to the vegetation as they spend a lot of time hauled out on land, and can cause a lot of damage. To visit the islands we needed boats, so we boarded the Shackleton, then used their small inflatable boats to reach them. It was great to visit some new islands- here is Signy, looking across from Moe Island.
We had a fantastic day out boating over to each island, landing, completing the survey and then boating back to the ship. Whilst on board we circumnavigated the whole of Signy, caught up with familiar faces and had a couple of nice meals. Most notable was the presence of things such as cucumber, tomatoes and grapes- none of which I have seen since November!
For me, the highlight of the day however was the boat trips to get us to there. The icebergs around Signy are incredible, and from a small boat, the icy pinnacles seem to stretch right up into the sky, in shining shades of silver, blue and grey. Here are just a selection of the best, but they sadly still do not do justice to what it was really like.
Note the small boat for scale in these two...
I find icebergs utterly mesmerising. To be able boat around these beautiful towering giants made this day one of the definate highlights of the season.
Visiting the islands is normally not allowed, but every few years the condition of the islands has to be assessed and we were issued a special permit to land. Their condition largely does not change, but the steady increase in the number of Antarctic fur seals around Signy is considered a threat to the vegetation as they spend a lot of time hauled out on land, and can cause a lot of damage. To visit the islands we needed boats, so we boarded the Shackleton, then used their small inflatable boats to reach them. It was great to visit some new islands- here is Signy, looking across from Moe Island.
We had a fantastic day out boating over to each island, landing, completing the survey and then boating back to the ship. Whilst on board we circumnavigated the whole of Signy, caught up with familiar faces and had a couple of nice meals. Most notable was the presence of things such as cucumber, tomatoes and grapes- none of which I have seen since November!
For me, the highlight of the day however was the boat trips to get us to there. The icebergs around Signy are incredible, and from a small boat, the icy pinnacles seem to stretch right up into the sky, in shining shades of silver, blue and grey. Here are just a selection of the best, but they sadly still do not do justice to what it was really like.
Note the small boat for scale in these two...
I find icebergs utterly mesmerising. To be able boat around these beautiful towering giants made this day one of the definate highlights of the season.
Saturday, 20 February 2016
Suns, Moons and Clouds
I have got a little behind with my blog in recent weeks, so here are a few random images to keep you entertained until I get time to give a proper update!
On a sunny day at Signy, we sometimes get halos forming around the sun. These occur when there is a thin layer of cirrus clouds in the upper atmosphere- cirrus clouds are made from tiny ice crystals, instead of raindrops, and these refract the light to form the halo. According to the internet the correct term for it is the 22 degree halo, as apparently this is its radius of the circle- I've never actually tried to measure it!
Sometimes we get low lying layers of mist at Signy. These occur when the air at ground level is colder that that above it, and are known as temperature inversions. Some days it looks like a dull grey day down by the sea, but if you climb up onto the icecap you can look down upon the top of the fog bank, and the islands peaks all stand out above it, in bright sunshine.
This is the moon in Anarctica. Yes, it is exactly the same one as at home, however, as we are at the bottom of the earth, it appears upside down. If you look at the moon at home, then turn around and look at it upside down, through your legs, you can see how we see it here. The stars also appear to be upside down, and we largely get a different set of constellations, although we do see a few familiar ones such as Orion (upside down), low down in the sky near the ground. Higher in the sky we get different constellations such as the Southern Cross.
All of these however require clear skies! In reality, all too often here it is exceedingly windy, cold and snowy. On these days I tend not to take my camera out with me, so my pictures are always misleadingly biased towards the sunny days!
On a sunny day at Signy, we sometimes get halos forming around the sun. These occur when there is a thin layer of cirrus clouds in the upper atmosphere- cirrus clouds are made from tiny ice crystals, instead of raindrops, and these refract the light to form the halo. According to the internet the correct term for it is the 22 degree halo, as apparently this is its radius of the circle- I've never actually tried to measure it!
Sometimes we get low lying layers of mist at Signy. These occur when the air at ground level is colder that that above it, and are known as temperature inversions. Some days it looks like a dull grey day down by the sea, but if you climb up onto the icecap you can look down upon the top of the fog bank, and the islands peaks all stand out above it, in bright sunshine.
This is the moon in Anarctica. Yes, it is exactly the same one as at home, however, as we are at the bottom of the earth, it appears upside down. If you look at the moon at home, then turn around and look at it upside down, through your legs, you can see how we see it here. The stars also appear to be upside down, and we largely get a different set of constellations, although we do see a few familiar ones such as Orion (upside down), low down in the sky near the ground. Higher in the sky we get different constellations such as the Southern Cross.
All of these however require clear skies! In reality, all too often here it is exceedingly windy, cold and snowy. On these days I tend not to take my camera out with me, so my pictures are always misleadingly biased towards the sunny days!
Sunday, 31 January 2016
Ice
One of my favourite things about Antarctica is the ice. People frequently say to me "well I'd love to see Antarctica, but I don't think I'd like the cold". It is cold, but without the cold none of the ice would exist, and the beauty of the place would be completely lost. Ice comes in beautiful shapes, forms and colours. The ice at Signy changes daily, moving with the large ocean currents, the winds and the tides, and for me is a constant source of wonder.
Ice plays a significant part of our lives here. If there is too much ice in the bay the ship can't get in and we have to find another way to drop off people and supplies. Here is the bay, still full of sea ice when we arrived this year. Too thin to walk on, yet too thick to drive boats through.
The salty sea ice tends to break up fairly quickly in the spring, which allows the larger freshwater icebergs, carved from glaciers on the Antartic continent to drift northwards to us instead. This creates new challenges because bergs can ground in the bay, squashing our water inlet pipes, meaning we cannot generate fresh water.
On a sunny day, the ice turns various shades of blue.
Generally, the clearer the ice, the older it is. Some of it will have fallen as snow on the Antarctic continent thousands of years ago, slowly getting compressed over the years until all the bubbles have been squashed out of it, forming completely clear glassy lumps.
The action of the waves then forms beautiful scalloped surfaces on the ice, which can create lovely patterns.
Even small chunks of ice can look pretty. This one is only a couple of inches high. The water in these is very pure, and if placed in a gin and tonic (or other drink!) will pop and fizz as the compressed bubbles escape.
The wildlife enjoys the ice too. Weddell seals can frequently be seen sleeping on the ice, and penguins use them as a place to haul out of the water or as a means of travel.
A good iceberg sunset is hard to beat.
Ice plays a significant part of our lives here. If there is too much ice in the bay the ship can't get in and we have to find another way to drop off people and supplies. Here is the bay, still full of sea ice when we arrived this year. Too thin to walk on, yet too thick to drive boats through.
The salty sea ice tends to break up fairly quickly in the spring, which allows the larger freshwater icebergs, carved from glaciers on the Antartic continent to drift northwards to us instead. This creates new challenges because bergs can ground in the bay, squashing our water inlet pipes, meaning we cannot generate fresh water.
On a sunny day, the ice turns various shades of blue.
Generally, the clearer the ice, the older it is. Some of it will have fallen as snow on the Antarctic continent thousands of years ago, slowly getting compressed over the years until all the bubbles have been squashed out of it, forming completely clear glassy lumps.
The action of the waves then forms beautiful scalloped surfaces on the ice, which can create lovely patterns.
Even small chunks of ice can look pretty. This one is only a couple of inches high. The water in these is very pure, and if placed in a gin and tonic (or other drink!) will pop and fizz as the compressed bubbles escape.
The wildlife enjoys the ice too. Weddell seals can frequently be seen sleeping on the ice, and penguins use them as a place to haul out of the water or as a means of travel.
A good iceberg sunset is hard to beat.
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