Author: Admin

Meet the team – part 1

The Subglacial Lake Ellsworth science team are due to arrive at the remote site in early December but before they do, the field team have been working hard to set up camp and prepare everything for the main event. Team profiles and further information.



Setting up camp

The second wave of the field team have arrived at the Lake Ellsworth camp. The first wave did a superb job in setting up the camp in pretty adverse conditions. The weather has been cold and windy but is starting to calm down and the last three days have been absolutely dingle.

All the tents are erected and the heater in the main Weatherhaven is working to provide a reasonably comfortable living space. A rudimentary kitchen is set up and a communications area established to make calls and access email.

Some of the team have decided to live in traditional pyramid tents whilst others have opted for the slightly roomier Endurance (Clam) tents. Although these give more space, comfortably sleeping four people, the larger volume takes much longer to warm up with body heat. On the plus side, you can stand up to get dressed in the morning.

So the camp is established and the team are waiting for the traverse to arrive. The traverse is essential as it brings the last of the cargo to site and the larger vehicles are required to move the containers we already have from the depot to the drill site.

The traverse also brings the final member of the advance team – Ed Waugh. Ed has been ‘babysitting’ the sampling probes at Union Glacier. The probes need to be kept close to zero degrees in transit to protect some of the oceanographic sensors on board and so their cases are fitted with heating blankets which need monitoring.

One significant task was to survey the site and to place flag markers at key points which will help to locate all the equipment once we start moving it. A key marker is, of course, the drill hole itself.

The science team are due to arrive at Lake Ellsworth in just over a week’s time.

Still on schedule!


Team arrive in Antarctica

On Friday 9th Nov, the BAS Dash-7 aircraft flew into Rothera Research Station on the Antarctic Peninsula with six members of the Lake Ellsworth team – Andy Tait, Pete, Riet, Scott, Robin and Chris. The flight took five hours and was pretty comfortable with some stunning views as we approached Rothera.

On Sunday 11th Nov, a weather window opened up from Rothera all the way to Lake Ellsworth, and the call went out to prepare the Twin Otter load for input. This load contained all the vital cargo items to start up the camp (space heater, generator control panels, etc) and, of course, three members of the team. It made sense for the three members with the most field experience to input first and so Riet, Scott and Ian got their kit together in just over two hours and we loaded the plane for the first input.

The Twin Otter left Rothera just before 3pm local time and routed past Union Glacier to pick up Andy Webb to put four people on the ground at Lake Ellsworth. Ed will remain at Union Glacier and travel with the tractor traverse to monitor the temperature and condition of the sampling probes along the route. The tractor traverse will move the remaining 30 tonnes of equipment through the Ellsworth mountains and out up to the lake site approximately 250km away, and should arrive around 18th Nov.

Later in November our science team – Martin, David, Dom and Martyn ? will join us to begin the operational phase of the programme.

So, apart from a few minor delays, everything is actually right on schedule!