Boomerang!!

After 6.5 hours in the air we stepped out of the plane and back into Christchurch. Antarctic flights that get turned around are known as a 'Boomerangs'. In a sense, a Boomerang is something of a rite of passage for long-term Antarcticans, but this was my first ever as I head into my eighth season on ice.

Usually, the reason for flights to be boomeranged is because the weather at Phoenix Runway (60 mins drive from Scott Base and McMurdo Station) has closed in and is no longer suitable for landing. Less frequently, flights are turned back due to mechanical or technical issues. Such was the case for us yesterday. We understand that the issue is 'minor' and will get fixed today, so that we can be on our way again tomorrow (Wednesday).

It'll be exciting to finally get to Scott Base and catch up with Brett and Neill, who have been busy getting the containers ready to go. They've also been able to get out onto the sea ice to take some measurements of sea ice, snow, and platelet layer thickness which will guide our decision on where to place the camp. However, all of our equipment is still waiting to fly south since it can only go on the C-17. So there'll only be so much we can do before that arrives - Saturday evening at the earliest!

In the meantime, we'll get stuck into training and gathering our necessary field equipment ready to move out as soon as possible.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Meet the team

Image
We’ve got a team of 12 people heading to the ice this season to complete a wide array of interdisciplinary science, with platelet ice at the heart of all the activity. There’s also another five team members who have completed all of the pre-deployment certification just in case anyone is turned back at the last minute (for example if someone is injured or tests positive for covid). Who are these people? Here’s a wee intro to the main team, in alphabetical order: Adam : I’m a camera operator and film producer, specialising in remote and extreme locations. This year I’ll be working alongside Vanessa, collecting documentary footage for The Climate Canary. In my spare time I’m keen to take the underwater ROV for a spin! Brett : I’m a marine instruments technician, and this will be my 14 th trip to Antarctica. In the field camp I’m primarily responsible for overall running of the camp and recovering the oceanographic mooring we installed last year. I’ll enjoy creating a curling sheet s...
Read more

Woop woop! We got the mooring back!

Image
Updated 8-11-2022 with photos during a short visit back to Scott Base Happy days! A major and ambitious milestone has been achieved! Last season, when we were here to test the platelet coring system, we deployed a brand-new type of oceanographic mooring with an experimental design. A 'mooring' just means a string of instruments suspended through the water column and programmed to keep collecting data for as long as possible. This is standard operating procedure for ship-based oceanography but is rather a different prospect in our situation, primarily because we have non-permanent sea ice cover to contend with. It is usual for us to deploy a mooring, but to only leave it in the water for the period that we're actually in Antarctica conducting the science. We'll drill a hole in the sea ice, mount a tripod over it, then suspend a weighted line with instruments attached down into the water column. When we've completed the rest of the work, we return to the mooring sit...
Read more

3rd time's a charm!

Image
Just a quick note to say we have finally arrived at Scott Base. The flight was a little late getting away this morning as there were new rules in place as to what people could include in checked luggage. But otherwise, the flight was completely without incident. It was an absolute treat to be able to enjoy the view all the way in to landing on a beautiful, still, and cloudless day. Absolutely perfect weather to arrive to. Since arriving at Scott Base around 4.00 pm, we've already been busy with an arrival brief and tour (for those who are new). Then time to find our rooms and set up beds before dinner. A meeting with the Scott Base engineering leads to plan tomorrow's deployment of the container camp followed by a team get together and a tour of our extra containers. We'll be getting straight into training tomorrow morning so that we're all set to head out to the camp on Monday.
Read more