Field season log

My name is Louise and I am a Geomatics Specialist working for British Antarctic Survey. This is my field log, documenting a month long trip to Antarctica to conduct an aerial photography campaign based out of Rothera Station. These are my own personal stories.

  • Flying around Antarctica

    During the month I was away in Antarctica, I did a fair amount of survey flying. Here it is all mapped out.

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  • Climbing around Reptile Ridge

    My final Antarctic adventure involved an introduction to polar mountaineering.

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  • Skinning to Vals

    Before Saturday night dinner, Emily, Sam, Jack and I went skiing up The Ramp.

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  • Bivvying and midnight skiing

    Last night I was lucky enough to camp off base with 3 friends in the caboose (hut) at Vals. I’d been wanting to do this since I arrived, and having a good excuse (my birthday), a great friend who knows whats she’s doing (Emily) and permission from the Station Leader, we were all set.

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  • Over the sea ice

    This was a fantastic survey flight which took us way out over miles and miles of frozen sea.

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  • Marguerite Bay

    We’ve just finished possibly our last survey flight.

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  • Chasing the weather

    Today we were racing against the weather to get a survey flight completed.

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  • Fresh snow skiing

    Another saturday afternoon and a chance to go skiing again!

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  • Nordic Skiing

    Today I had an introduction to Nordic skiing, and I loved it.

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  • Boat Trip

    There was no flying for us today, as there was too much cloud. Just as I was settling in to work in the office, I got a phone call from the boat shed asking if I wanted to go out and help Sam, the Marine Assistant with some data collection on the water.

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  • Fuchs House

    Fuchs House is probably the coolest building on base. It’s a bit like an outdoor activity centre.

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  • Evening survey flight

    We’ve experienced a few equipment issues over the last few days. However, these have now been resolved, so we were able to get back into the air again this evening for a local survey flight.

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  • Sunset Runway Run

    This evening I went for a short but chilly run around the Rothera runway.

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  • Mapping in the field

    The outputs of our camera system allow us to create elevation models and mapping products. We’ve been doing some of this whilst we’ve been here to support field teams.

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  • The Tower

    The Tower is an operational hub. This is where the comms team are in communication with aircraft, field parties and the rest of base.

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  • Emperor Penguin Colony Hunt

    Today we flew over to Rothschild Island to search for an Emperor Penguin colony. The purpose of this was to provide mapping and imagery to a field team that will shortly be heading out to study the birds on the ground.

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  • Seal walk

    After a busy day in the office, I decided I needed an evening walk around The Point. It was a bonus to see 3 Elephant Seals.

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  • Survey flight to Jason Peninsula

    Once we had confirmed that all systems were operational, we were ready to begin the actual survey flying and I was looking forward to flying to our number one priority area, Jason Peninsula.

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  • Local glacier survey

    The weather was fantastic today, so we took the opportunity to do a second survey flight in the late afternoon.

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  • Test flight success

    Today we flew around the local Rothera area in order to test the camera equipment and make sure our Pilot (Andy) was happy with how we would conduct the survey flights.

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  • Evening nature walk

    There was talk of some Adelie penguins hanging out around the point. So at 8.30pm, Anna and I headed out to investigate. In the end we saw loads of life and we didn’t return for nearly two hours.

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  • The hangar: camera fitting

    Today we’ve been spending our time in the aircraft hangar, fitting the camera equipment to the BAS Twin Otter we’ve been assigned for our survey flying.

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  • Saturday afternoon skiing

    Finally the sun came out! I’ve been enjoying the cold windy weather I’ve been experiencing so far, but seeing Antarctica in the sunshine was pretty good.

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  • Emperor penguin sighting

    Today I saw my first penguin. A lone Emperor decided to turn up at Rothera Station.

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  • The work begins

    Since arriving, I have mostly been busy with training. So it’s been nice to finally get stuck into some work.

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  • The Antarctic divers

    I had a bit of free time today so I asked the divers if I could come and watch them head out into the bay for a scheduled dive. I find it fascinating that these guys have been diving throughout the entire Antarctic winter.

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  • Snow, sea ice and icebergs

    I successfully arrived at Rothera yesterday (phew), and jumped at the chance to take an evening stroll around Rothera Point.

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  • At the end of the world

    I’m in Punta Arenas, and scheduled to leave for Antarctica in about an hours time.

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  • Preparing to travel

    Gloves, check. Hats, check. Massive warm jacket, check. Suncream, check. Flight suit, check.

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  • Extreme first aid

    In Mid October, I am travelling to the beautiful and remote Antarctica to conduct an aerial photography campaign. I will be based at British Antarctic Survey’s (BAS) main research station on the Antarctic Peninsula, Rothera.

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