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.
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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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