Two Great Excursions.

Sunday I got to spend the day with Susan and Julie, our recently arrived Biologists, watching them work on Bechervaise Island.  After retrieving some tracker units attached to snow petrels at a previous visit, they then split up and began a survey of the 400-odd marked snow petrel nests on the island.

Then, on Monday evening after dinner, I quadded with Dave, Ken and Cotty East along the coast to Welch Island.  After a rather steep walk up, we spent time just soaking in the view.  The height gave us an interesting perspective on the ice-berg calving that took place a week or two ago, and the birds that played on the updrafts around us were quite captivating.

Straight to the Pool Room!

This 150mm brass disc is to be used in the creation of our year's wall plaque, to be mounted in the Bar here at Mawson station.  The image is from the AAD's logo to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Mawson's expedition.  I'll put up a photo of the finished product when the chippies have done their bit!

The birth of a few new bergs.

In the early hours of yesterday morning, a large chunk of an ice-tongue to the East of station broke free and slid into the water.  It seems we were all asleep and missed the spectacle, although some recall hearing a rumbling at about the right time.
There are slabs of sea-ice washed up onto the rocks in the corner of East Bay, and a couple of new tide-cracks, according to the many who travelled over to have a very careful look.  The sounds of crumbling, groaning, and cracking were noted as "ice-cubes the size of cars" find a comfortable position in the wreckage of sea-ice, around the edges of the huge blocks larger than some of the adjacent islands.

Before...

...and after.  

These photos courtesy of Dave Morrison.

I made the news...

Icy News, that is.  I have written a short piece for this week's Mawson Icy News, it gets published on Friday (25th November) and can be found at:
http://www.antarctica.gov.au/living-and-working/stations/mawson/this-week-at-mawson

I hope you enjoy it.

First entry of the Summer.

Greetings all!

Due to a change in access settings at the AAD, the blog I have been writing is no longer able to be updated from here at Mawson.  This is unfortunate, but not the end of the world.

All the content that was there will hopefully remain in place, and I should still be able to put new pics in the gallery, although I might just stick them here as we go...

No pics or other content today, just this to show you have arrived at the right place!

Cheers,  Rolf