Wednesday 21 January 2004
84 Degrees South
Most of the science work that goes on down here is located within a couple of kilometres of base so that it can be easily maintained, but BAS does operate a few automated stations which gather data from other parts of the continent. These sites are usually solar or wind powered, so only need to be visited annually to collect the data and clear away any snow which has accumulated around them.
Yesterday I got to fly out to a couple of these sites to install some new instruments. We flew over 700 miles across the Antarctic continent, first to 80 degrees south, then 84 and back. It was a beautiful sunny day so we got magnificent views of the Shackleton mountain range, huge glaciers and the base from the air. On the way back we flew via the coast and came in low near the ice cliffs, and saw penguins and seals below. I even got to copilot the plane for part of the journey! It really was a once in a lifetime trip, although not literally - I could be going out there next week to camp for a few days and do some further work.
Posted by simon at 2:48 PM