The small propeller plane, which is fitted with skis, is making regular trips from our base to a field party who are camping up on the ice shelf to take in supplies and bring out ice cores. The pilot Richie took off with me sat in the cockpit, gave me a brief rundown of the important instruments, and then handed over control, it was so exciting, flying over snow covered mountains, being able to see the ocean on either side of the peninsula, and hearing the weather updates so Richie could plan his descent to land at the Larissa ice camp. The international Larissa team led by Ellen Mosely-Thompson are making cores on the ice shelf, their camp is amazing! They have a canteen tent complete with tables and chairs and a breadmaker, internet and phone access, and even a shower!
The difference in conditions between Rothera and the Larsen Ice shelf was striking, the dry air is at least 10 degrees colder, and it was so nice to stand on proper snow (it's all slush here now). The difference is due to the ice shelf being on the eastern side of the peninsula - air circulates clockwise aound Antarctica, as it hits the mountains along the peninsula it rises, cools, and the moisture precipitates out. Cold dry air then descends over the ice shelf. The team up there were in high spirits despite camping in the cold conditions.
The remainder of the weekend has been spent finishing off an experiment which has gone well (iodine compounds are being produced by Antarctic diatoms), snowboarding (I have whiplash from an impressive faceplant on Friday evening) and celebrating the birthday of two of the girls on base.
This morning I'm going out sampling in the small boat, I go out into the bay once a week to take water and air samples to measure emissions of iodine and bromine compounds from the natural phytoplankton communities. As the numbers of phytoplankton in the water increase (the summer blooom) we expect to see an increase in the concentrations of these compounds.
As the summer season progresses here in Antarctica the scenery never ceases to amaze, this is the view from the bar on Saturday night:
