4/14/2023 0 Comments Antarctica flashfrozenOur caravan is pulled by five tractors specially modified for Antarctic traverses. The main components of our science caravan are: Really, it’s almost impossible to get a group of scientists traveling together without some form of sampling and research happening! The EAIIST caravanĪlthough this journey to Concordia station was not officially the EAIIST campaign, our caravan was largely complete and in the same composition as our later actual mission. While the primary goal of our science traverse was simply to drive and get our caravan to Concordia, we also took the opportunity to do some science sampling along the way. For this, we embarked on our own “science traverse” on 23 November, two days after the first supply traverse of the season also left for Concordia. However, as mentioned in my previous blog post, we packed and organized the majority of our equipment for EAIIST at Cap Prud’homme, and all the tractors, sleds, and gear for EAIIST have to get to Concordia from Prud’homme somehow. The official research traverse of our EAIIST mission covers our departure from Concordia station to the Megadunes site, as well as the subsequent return to Concordia. The ocean and icebergs can be seen in the distance. The initial ascent from Prud’homme is steep and requires multiple tractors to carry each sled, so each sled is brought to the staging zone individually before being hooked together as a caravan. ![]() EAIIST members and Cap Prud’homme staff watch as sleds are pulled from Prud’homme station to this staging zone several kilometers away from the station. The first of these supply traverses leaves Cap Prud’homme in mid- to late November, with two additional traverses completed before the summer season ends in February.įigure 2. These supply traverses are staffed by around 10 people from Cap Prud’homme, and some of these workers have decades of Antarctic experience. (See map of study area, as discussed in the first post.)Īfter loading up heavy duty sleds with gear and filling the fuel tank sleds, a caravan of two snow plows, six tractors, and twelve to twenty sleds sets off for Concordia, 650 miles (1100 kilometers) away. These traverses start from the Cap Prud’homme base near coastal Dumont d’Urville (DDU) station in Adélie Land, where supplies can be delivered to Antarctica by icebreaker boats and planes. The French-Italian Concordia station high on the plateau at Dome C supplies itself in part through a series of “supply traverses” that carry fuel and heavy equipment on sleds pulled by tractors. This means that each station requires the import and transfer of thousands of tons of supplies, all made during a short summer window. ![]() Additionally, the stations are always in need of new or replacement vehicles and maintenance parts. ![]() The year-round stations deep in the interior of the ice sheet need vast amounts of fuel and food to support their scientific missions, all brought in from outside the continent. As soon as you leave the coast and head inland onto the snow and ice, you are entering a region where no higher lifeforms can survive other than a few passing birds and very well-equipped humans. Snow from horizon to horizon: pretty much what you will see anywhere inland in East Antarctica.Įast Antarctica is one of the, if not THE, most inhospitable places on Earth. After all, it’s still six long days until you reach Concordia.įigure 1. With no other notices coming through the radio, it’s time to crank the music back up and continue your steady march across the windy moonscape of the East Antarctic plateau. You downshift your tractor into seventh gear from your current eighth and check to make sure your engine RPM and exhaust temperature are still good. “Ah”, you realize ,“the second half of the traverse caravan must be getting a little too close to the sleds ahead and now your group needs to slow down.” The crackle of the radio abruptly snaps you back to reality from whatever trance you’ve developed while gazing for a couple hours at the dual monotony of Antarctic snow and the sled directly ahead of you. “Convoi, convoi! On va sept.” ( Convoy, convoy! We go seven.) See Pete's author page for other posts in the series. Pete is writing about the project in a special series for Category 6. Several images were taken via an EAIIST research drone.)Įditor's note: Paleoclimate researcher Pete Akers (Institut des Géosciences de l’Enivironnement or IGE in Grenoble, France) is a participant in the 2019-20 East Antarctic International Ice Sheet Traverse (Project EAIIST). (All images by Pete Akers unless otherwise credited. ![]() Above: Our science caravan stopped for the evening on the East Antarctic Plateau, backlit by the sun exhibiting sun dog and halo effects from heavy diamond dust in the air.
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