blog

Retrieval of a pluviometer

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 08:50:21 +0100

Last time on the glacier we had to dig a 2 by 3m hole about 4m deep in order to retrieve a plastic container and a steel structure.

Being inside the hole wasn't bad until we got out into a snow storm with strong winds in the middle of the clouds. But at least we successfully retrieved the equipment although it took us more than 4 hours.

Sampling and lab-work in Carlini base

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 08:42:57 +0100

Three weeks are gone, the weather is changing very often and the good periods become rare. Good that we took every chance to go out with the zodiacs, sampled water and stayed up several nights to process the material.

Back in Germany, we will use the water samples to analyse iron isotopes. Since the concentrations of Fe in the water are extremely low, we need to take care not to contaminate the samples with dust particles. That´s why here in the base we need to work in our “pink tent”, a clean environment (with filtered air).

Besides the water samples, so far we also completed three sediment stations. We cored 20-40 cm of marine sediment, extracted the pore water and performed a lot of nutrient analyses using photospectrometric methods and a so-called micro plate reader.

When sampling meltwater streams, sometimes we had scua visitors, curiously looking at what we are doing. These birds try to check out everything coming to their interest, e.g. the backpack of Jan. They also accompanied Jan when he was trying to do jogging (no pictures added…).

We had the chance to take some meltwater stream samples at beautiful locations like the “Pinguinera” or at the opposite side of the bay with a great view towards the “Tres Hermanos” and Carlini station. Now we have less than two weeks left to try to get some more samples and to stow all the samples and laboratory stuff for the transport back to Germany. Let´s hope we can go out with the zodiac a few more times!

Muchos saludos de Antártida!

Acompañando a estos “locos” personajes de la ciencia

Sun, 17 Feb 2013 09:06:37 +0100

Me encuentro en la base Jubany desde Diciembre 2011 y en el mes de Enero comienzan a llegar a esta, los primeros científicos extranjeros como nacionales y mi actividad comienza a aumentar y compartir con ellos los trabajos en el agua, yo como operador de bote y técnico en el apoyo de sus proyectos, salíamos al agua a realizar filmaciones subacuas, extracción de sedimentos, limos, redes, CTD, Ictiologia, Oceanografia, etc con proyectos Alemanes a través del convenia Argentina-Alemania (AWI) científicos como Anne Wölfl, Susann Henkel, Michael Staubwasser, Jan Hartmann, (con sus idioma alemán, e ingles y algo de castellano), y mi idioma entrerriano...sacábamos algo…jajajaja

Mis primeras experiencias en el agua con redes, donde el Mono, Luis y Maria Eugenia de Ictiologia, sus bromas hacia a menos el frio…

Va finalizando la campaña de verano y estas maravillosas, raras y muy agradable personajes regresan con sus proyectos cumplidos y quizás el próximo año regresen a continuar con sus actividades, y realmente me pongo nostalgico…por que comienzan a despedirse de este mundo antártico maravilloso y único.

Mientras que ellos se van y finalizan sus estudios y proyectos, yo comienzo mi invernada.

Pasaron los meses, se aproxima el verano y otra vez comienzan a llegar los primero científicos. Ellos comienzan con sus proyectos científicos, yo voy finalizando mi invernada ya por diciembre 2012.

Por enero 2013, con el calorcito ya que las temperaturas oscilan entre los menos 2 a 3 grados, comienzo otra vez las actividades en el agua y compartir esta actividad tan placentera con el pibe Oscar “Nono” Gonzalez acompañando otra vez a estos “locos” personajes de la ciencia.

Ya por Febrero, gente que se va y gente que viene como Jan Hartmann, Jochen Scheld y Valeria Bers de Alemania, parte de las dotaciones nuevas invernantes y más gente de la ciencia.

El Vasco “Juancho” Juan Movilla, en busca del krill perdido…..

Trabajar en el agua con la extracción de agua con botellas niskin y ctd mas el frio, mas el apetit, mas las manos y los pieses frios hacemos un grupo de “locos” antárticos trabajando para la ciencia, con pasión, entusiasmo y alegría se lleva a cabo las tareas, para luego regresar a la base, en los botes y con el deber cumplido.

Summer 2013 in Carlini!!!

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 16:25:43 +0100

We left from Buenos Aires the 2^nd of January 2013 and the same day late at night we arrived at Carlini Station! Since we arrived we have been very busy organizing all the samplings and activities in the labs. Our research is dependent on boats and diving support so weather conditions are extremely important for us. January was a cloudy and cold month but in general in was not too windy allowing us to work a lot with the zodiacs.

I am working with the new ice free areas in Potter Cove. Due to global climate warming and a consequent decrease of the glacier, new areas have become available for benthic colonization. We are focusing on the ecology and ecophysiology of macroalgae in these new areas. During this expedition, we’ve performed PAR (Photosynthetic Active Radiation) and CTD (Conductivity Temperature Depth) measurements, monitored long term macroalgae successional experiments and recorded underwater videos and photos. In addition, we are surveying a long term ice scouring experiment to assess and compare the ice disturbance frequency between two different areas.

New ice free island

We came up with very interesting results during this campaign, for example with a long term macroalgae successional experiment in Island D which is an area with high sediment input and ice disturbance. Three years ago tiles were installed at the sea floor and they have been monitored once a month. Over the years tiles have been colonized by diatoms and very few and small macroalgae (a). Surprisingly, this summer tiles were found with a significant increase of macroalgal cover and biomass (b)!

A new and interesting activity was to participate on the Scientific Seminars at Escudero Station, INACH. These seminars are organized every Wednesday and we participated in the seminar with focus in Phycology. It is a great idea and an opportunity to stimulate the contact among researchers working at King George Island.

All these activities are part of the cooperation between the Macroalgae groups of the Instituto Antartico Argentino (Lili Quartino, Gabriela Campana and myself) and the AWI (Christian Wiencke and Katharina Zacher). Carlini is a great and inspiring place to carry out interesting scientific investigations and to collaborate and interact with other people from different disciplines, institutes, countries and cultures!

Green Antarctica...and the first day of sampling

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 14:28:08 +0100

In the first days here at Carlini station, the weather did not permit us to go out with the zodiacs - the wind was just too strong. But as soon as th the sun came out, I went for a walk around the station and was amazed, how green the island gets in the summer, when the snow had melted away.

Wide areas are covered with all different kinds of lichens and mosses, forming a dense green carpet.

Then yesterday, I finally was able to go out sampling for the first time. The wind was still very strong, and going out with the boat was pretty rough. However, we were able to sample along a transect of eight station in the inner cove: Eduardo Ruiz and Marta Sierra from IAA took CTD profiles, while I took water samples for oxygen isotope analysis at the same station in various water depth.

Research Stations at King George Island

Sun, 03 Feb 2013 14:35:38 +0100

Our trip to Carlini took quite some time. From Buenos Aires via Santiago de Chile and Punta Arenas finally with “Antarctic Airways” to the Chilean station Frei.

On Frei, we were welcomed with a hot meal and drinks – and had afterwards the opportunity to take a stroll around Frei and the adjacent Russian station Bellingshausen, with it’s lovely, tiny orthodox cathedral.

In the afternoon we were picked up by staff of the Argentinean Carlini station, but on our way, we stopped at Carlini’s closest neighbors, the Korean Station King Sejong in Marian Cove. Here again, we received a warm welcome with food and drinks, and were shown around the facilities. Finally, after a long day of travelling, we arrived at dinner time at Carlini station. Being involved in the IMCOAST project for almost three years now, it was however the first time for me to visit the station and to be able to work here for a couple of weeks. What a great experience…!

Arrival at Carlini and setup of the labs

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 21:45:34 +0100

After roundabout ten hours of travelling from Buenos Aires, we arrived at King George Island in the evening of January 2^nd. From Frei/Bellingshausen (the Chilean and Russian stations) we were brought to Carlini station by the Argentinian ship Castillo.

Although we arrived in the middle of the night, many people in the station had stayed up and welcomed us warmly at the shore. The first few days here went by comparatively relaxed. Since there were heavy winds already for a couple of days, we didn´t have to hurry with setting up all the laboratories and the equipment. We cannot go out sampling or to the glacier anyway. One day of calm winds allowed us to check on the glacier stations to see that everything was up and running fine thanks to the fine work of the overwinterer Damián López. Today, the wind gusts were forecasted to reach 54 knots. So for safety reasons we do not leave the Dallmann main house. We and all the other scientists in the station (biologists, geologists and oceanographers) desperately wait for good weather conditions to start or continue the research programs.

Hasta pronto!

Uli and me enjoying travelling in the Herkules

Uli and Damián in front of the newly painted “tomatoes”

The morning of departure

Sat, 03 Nov 2012 09:34:50 +0100

There are a lot of unwritten laws in nature and in experimental science. After the one that sais 'what can go wrong, will go wrong' there is the one that sais 'and the probabability that it will happen always is higher towards the end'.

We discovered a problem in the newly installed sensor of the eddy covariance of course on our last trip to the station on the glacier before my departure. It meant we had to take it down again, and also of course there was a snow storm the next day which made it impossible for us to leave the station. So in order to take the sensor down again and bring it back from Antarctica for repair purposes, we left early in the morning of my departure day counting on that the helicopter wasn't going to arrive before 9am. Thanks to the excellent support of Campbell Scientific, we had everything prepared so that setting up our exchange sensor for the interim time. We made good time in a beautiful morning setting of light on the glacier and the Potter cove.

Be back soon!!!

Work and life

Fri, 02 Nov 2012 09:34:50 +0100

Working in such a fascinating environment is a pleasure despite the harsh conditions, like the cold and the strong winds that can blow you off your feet, but also the isolation of the place and the contraints of moving space.

So whenever the weather and work permits, it is of course a pleasure but also necessary to go out and enjoy!

A walk on the ice

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 09:34:50 +0100

In early October, the divers and the overwintering scientist Damián at the Carlini base made an excursion onto the sea ice near the glacier calving front of the Fourcade glacier.

This seemed a perfect opportunity to take some GPS points of the glacier front to use for referencing satellite image data. In the summer campaign 2010/2011, Hilke had done measurements of the front to quantify calving processes. Just from comparing the visual impression with memory, it was impressive how much the glacier calving front had collapsed! The divers had already reported the appearance of three new islands in the early winter of 2012. The colors of the ice are nevertheless really beautiful in their different shades of blue and white. Before the background of the Tres Hermanos, the Three-Brother hill, the red housings of Carlini station give a nice spot of color in these beautiful landscape.

Installation of the eddy covaricance sensor

Sat, 06 Oct 2012 15:26:52 +0200

After six months of preparations and great support by Campbell Scientific and AWI logistics, the overwintering scientist, Damián López, and I finally installed the sensor to measure the water vapor and carbon dioxide content of air back to the eddy covariance system.

Upon arrival, we found the stations covered by the hoar frost of the last storm. At least, we had an exceptionally beautiful day for the installations. There still is a lot of work to be done on the stations, but now we are finally measuring again. The recorded turbulence data is needed for the validation of our modeling efforts.

Arrival at Carlini

Sat, 29 Sep 2012 15:14:51 +0200

This year, the arrival to the Argentine station on King George Island was very smooth. The Chilean Hercules left at 8:20 on September 25. after arriving on the Fieldes Peninsula, King George Island, I just waited about an hour at the landing strip for the weather to clear up so that the helicopter could take of.

It was an amazing flight over the frozen cove in front of the Russian and the Chilean bases, Bellingshausen and Frei. The welcome in Carlini was really warm. The freight was send to KGI with a Brazilian flight and didn't arrive the same day but was brought two days later with a Twin to the glacier.

Science in the pink tent

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 07:40:13 +0200

Back from Antarctica since three weeks, we are waiting for our equipment and the samples to return on the Russian cruise vessel Polar Pioneer. Next to sediment and porewater samples that we collected together with Jan, about 250 kg of filtered water from Maxwell Bay are making their way to Germany.

As mentioned in our previous blog entry, we try to identify the sources of dissolved (bioavailable) iron close to King George Island by using iron isotopes. Iron is discharged into the seawater either in dissolved or particulate form via meltwater streams or as nano-particles/sediment transported via icebergs. Poorly soluble iron particles accumulate on the ocean floor where they may subsequently be remobilized during early sediment diagenesis and recycled to the water column as soluble iron. Alternatively, iron nano-particles may simply be more readily dissolved directly in the surface ocean. You see, the iron cycle (from solid phase to the bioavailable speciation) is anything but trivial. Different pathways lead to distinct iron isotopic signatures and this is the way we try to track them.

There is one more problem: Iron is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust, but it is present in the ocean in very low concentrations (in the order of nM, which is 10^-9 mole per liter). Therefore, we need to take great care not to contaminate our samples during the sampling itself and the subsequent processing. For taking our samples from different water depths, we used so-called GoFlo-bottles. They open only in a depth of ~10 m, so that a contamination coming from the ship or Zodiac is reduced. All of our equipment is metal-free. And the most fancy thing: we processed the samples in a pink clean tent (the air inside is filtered, too). To avoid bringing dust into the tent, we wore antistatic coveralls. (Some people on Carlini station thought we were “loco”…)

Thanks to many people on Carlini (former Jubany) Station, we successfully finished our program. And we got a lot of material to work with in our home-laboratory.

Winter is coming back

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 09:18:53 +0200

More than a week ago the last scientists and our two AWI colleagues, Dirk and Eberhard, left the station to make their way home.

On the same day, an Argentinean delegation around Dr. Mariano A. Memolli arrived, to inaugurate the new Argentinean laboratory building. On March 19^th early in the morning, Dr. Mariano A. Memolli (director of the Dirección Nacional del Antártico in Buenos Aires), Tcnl. Alejandro Berto (chief of Jubany-Carlini Station) and Dr. Damian Lopez (overwinterer) dedicated this new building during a small ceremony. Since then it has become quiet and calm in and around the station. Only the overwintering team, Paulo and I are left.

During the stay at Dallmann laboratory I continued my studies of metal assimilation in the bivalve Laternula elliptica, especially in reference to geochemical element sources. I sampled several stations in Potter Cove, at which Susann had earlier taken cores for sediment and porewater analyses. Although the weather conditions and turbidity strongly restricted the work of the Argentinean divers, we finally finished sampling at all locations successfully. The determination of the influence of sediment and porewater is improved by the strong spatial correlation between animal and environmental samplings. My work was also in close cooperation with Carlo and Ulises (from the Argentine Antarctic Institute, IAA), who took Laternula and sediment samples from the same locations for the investigation of anthropogenic impact. I would like to thank my colleagues for the nice time on the boat, in the lab and during our discussions.

Today, the last day here, is again sunny and (relatively) warm. Luckily, the last days were similar, without any sign of the upcoming winter. This made it much easier to finish all our work in Potter Cove and in the laboratories – including e.g. cleaning the lab containers, taking stock of the chemical storage and finishing the cargo. Tomorrow the MS Polar Pioneer will pick Paulo and me up and brings us to the Malvinas (Falkland Islands), where the long journey continues.

I stayed here for one and a half months. I arrived at Jubany and now I am leaving Carlini (related to the change of the names, please read the blog of María Liliana Quartino). Now Dallmann laboratory is ready to go to winter sleep.

Short documentations of the opening of the Argentinean lab you will find on

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6NQHU_43eA&feature=share and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tlOy_d-WA0&feature=youtu.be.

Renaming of Jubany Station

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 08:14:59 +0100

On March 5th 2012, the Argentine President Cristina F. de Kirchner announced the renaming of Jubany Station to Dr. Alejandro Carlini by the official Decree 309/ 03.05.2012.

The fateful death of Alejandro Carlini in December 2010 left his friends and colleagues of the IAA with a sad feeling of loss and absence. This led his close friends to suggest the renaming of Jubany Station. This proposal was positively accepted by all without exception as a way of perpetuating his memory in our “scientific station”. Alejandro performed his research for more than 20 years, with responsibility, enthusiasm and always with joy and optimism. He was undoubtedly an excellent scientific researcher who demonstrated incredible enthusiasm for his job, but above all he was a positive and honest person.

It is really very moving to see his name written on our Scientific Station. This is much more than reading a simple name in a map, it is a way to say deeply “thank you very much Ale, you will be in the Antarctica forever”.

My second visit to Jubany

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 09:52:39 +0100

This is my second visit to Jubany. I have already visited the Jubany station in January-February 2010 and that was an extraordinary experience. So I was really excited to find out that also this year our application was approved and that I could leave for another expedition to this wonderful place near Potter Cove on King Georges Island.

The plan was to run two more experiments on meiofauna and to sample for the macrofauna community structure and stable isotopes analysis. Most of this work is in the framework of Francescas Pasotti’s PhD. In 2010 I went together with her to Jubany, while she returned in 2011, whereas this year it was my turn again. This time Ulrike Braeckman is joining me, a young post doc from our lab at the University of Ghent. She has a lot of experimental experience and she speaks fluently Spanish, so an excellent companion for me on this expedition. We left as planned on the 14^th of February from Palomar, the military airport at Buenos Aires, and we arrived already the next day in Jubany where we were welcomed by the chief of the station, Alejandro Berto, and many other enthusiastic Argentinian, Spanish and German scientists as well as other people working at the base. Until today I never came across somebody who did not like to stay in Jubany, and also now the atmosphere is again very friendly and relaxed. We were immediately introduced to the different people of the station who were going to assist us during the field work, in order to get the necessary samples which would allow us to do our work her in the optimal conditions.

It took us one and half days to install the labs. Especially to test the thermostatic baths was at some point a true challenge, but at the end we had two of them working perfectly at 2° C, which is about the temperature of the water at 15 m depth in the bay. On friday night we were ready to start the first experiments the next day. For that we needed assistance from the divers who had to collect 27 sediment cores from one point in the cove, which we called our experimental station since we started to work here in 2010. However, when we woke up on Saturday the weather seemed to have changed completely over night. A very strong storm was active over the bay and of course with this weather diving was out of the question. So it meant we could have one day of rest, since catching up with emails was also not an option because the internet was down too due to the bad weather. Finally we were able to get our samples on monday morning and we could start our first experiment. Since one of the main aims of the IMCOAST project is to understand the impact of climate change on the Antarctic coastal ecosystems, we want to get insight with our experiments what the main food source is for the meiofauna, and if they are flexible in their diet. The meiofauna represent the group of smallest but also the most numerous animals that live in the soft seafloor such as roundworms, but also many crustaceans. In this way we hope to understand better the consequences of possible changes in the primary producers, which serve as food for higher trophic levels such as the benthic organisms, for the whole marine ecosystem including the meiofauna.

On Tuesday the second group of samples were collected and now our experiments are incubating and we can only wait for the next moment of processing some of the samples. I also would like to take the opportunity here to acknowledge sincerely the hard work of especially the divers who work in the cold from early in the morning until late evening, providing high quality samples in these extreme conditions.

News from the glacier group

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:07:16 +0100

After our rather late arrival at Jubany station, we first had to deal with several problems connected to the last overwintering crew like missing or broken equipment. But after a two weeks of reorganization and a lot of help of the present station's crew and commander, we find ourselves in the middle of a very nice and smooth campaign.

Our glacier group consists of Hilke, Gunter and me from University Bonn and Eugenio and Hernán from the IAA in Buenos Aires. Our work went really smooth due to our great group work, the extensive help from the Jubany station mechanics and other crews, and last but not least to the exceptionally good weather! Sunshine on Potter glacier - it is really amazing! So, we found ourselves in the midst of a very successful campaign although with a reduced program, and now we are about to finalize our work for the winter time.

Sediment traps and other obstacles

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 09:30:07 +0100

About one and a half months ago, Jöran and I (Sanja) started our trip to Antarctica. Everything went different than planned. Actually we should have arrived at Antarctica before New Year’s Eve, but the Argentinean logistics thwarted our plans.

We had to wait for about 3 weeks at the military airport of Rio Gallegos before we could organize another flight to Antarctica by the Chilean commercial airline DAP. Coming to King George Island, we were very lucky that the Argentinean military ship "Castillo" had just arrived in the local waters and could pick us up. So we finally arrived at Jubany on the 12th of January. For me it was a feeling of coming home (because I had been able to spend two and a half month here in the past), for Jöran pure fascination. But the bad luck was on our heels and therefore we had to deal with many problems in the beginning. During winter there had been a longer cut in electricity of the Dallmann which probably caused a frost damage of the pure water plant. For this reason we had to wait until Susann arrived, because she brought almost a whole lab and with that - a Millipore plant! In between we could go for a first sampling trip along the coastline of Potter Peninsula. One of our tasks here is to analyze the water of the glacial meltwater streams for nutrients and suspended sediments to calculate the input of these into the cove. So, at low tide we take samples of four of these streams and back in the lab we have to do a lot of filtration work and then analyze the nutrients via photometric methods. Unfortunately, just after finishing the preparations for our first nutrient measurement, bad luck struck again. We had to learn that our micro titer plate reader only produced error messages. It was broken, unrepairable under these conditions. Thankfully, we could once again rely on the comprehensive lab equipment of Susann, who also brought a photometer. After a few changes in our methods and with a lot of borrowed materials we could finally start measuring.

Preparing the sediment traps on board of the Zodiac

Sanja is showing the sampling point - a glacial meltwater stream

Sanja is measuring pH and Salinity of a water sample

Another point of our campaign is to install sediment traps at two locations in the cove and recover the settled sediments once per week. Of course, here we had to struggle with some problems as well. Bad weather conditions, no physician available in case of a diving accident, the search for weights which would keep the sediment traps at their place, this all delayed the installation for 8 days. But with the help of the well-trained Argentinean divers we could finally manage this as well. To complete our sampling strategy, once a week we also go out by boat and sample the water column of the inner and outer cove at different locations in different depths. The success of this work depends a lot on the weather conditions. For example, our first sampling trip had to be aborted after 4 of the planned 6 stations because the waves on the outer cove were too high. On the other hand, our second trip was pure beauty. The whole area was nearly windless, the sun was shining in the beginning and no problems occurred until the Niskin bottle wouldn't close any more for our last sample. Meanwhile, the weather had freshened up a little and while Jöran and our CTD-man Ale were trying to fix the bottle it started snowing. After half an hour of try and error we could manage to get our last sample. When we came back into the cove we could see that the wind had blown small and big chunks of ice from the glacier in the direction of Jubany station. Antarctica definitely knows how to make up for all the troubles it causes.

Iron in the water...

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 09:32:20 +0100

We arrived in Jubany (Isla 25 de Mayo) on Tuesday, 15.01.2012. The temperature difference to Buenos Aires, where we started our travel, was about 25°C and the both of us directly caught a cold.

Our aim here is to assess the sources of dissolved iron, an important nutrient for phytoplankton, in the Southern Ocean. Possibly, the iron is introduced by glacial meltwaters. Therefore, climate change might drive phytoplankton growth which in turn would have consequences for the food chain. Our methods include pore water, water, and sediment analyses (especially Fe-isotopes).

Jan and me on the zodiac during sampling

Sampling pore water directly onboard without disturbing the cores during transport

Our first week was dominated by installing and preparing the labs for sampling and analysis. Now, everything is set up and we already got some sediment cores to work with. Yesterday, we had great success in recovering four cores, part of which we directly sampled in the Zodiac. The day was sunny and calm and penguins jumping out of the water were joining us. Today we’re busy with analyses, but the nice view at the “Tres Hermanos” (a non-active volcano), seals, whales, and icebergs passing by in the Potter Cove definitely rewarded our efforts.

Working and living in Jubany is awesome: the wonderful landscape, the (so far) good weather and lab conditions, the great atmosphere, and the fruitful discussions with foreign colleges are complemented by tasty lunch and dinner. :-)

Hasta pronto!

Whales in Potter Cove... Video profiles... Christmas... Farewells, or not...

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 09:26:23 +0100

Last week we were able to work five days in a row. Every day the video recordings improved a little bit more and at the end of the week, we managed to drive the first video profiles from approximately 90 m to 3 m depth.

One really cold and early morning, it was Thursday I think, we spotted a humpback whale with its cub in the cove. During the whole trip it remained difficult to decide whether to look on the sea floor and its diversity or to look at the whales, when they came up to the water surface in order to breath.

Spending Christmas on the base was a really nice experience, but very different from the Christmases I usually spend at home. It also gave me the time to relax and process some of the data – on Friday evening we held a talk about our work for the people from the base in order to let them know what kind of work we are doing here. On Christmas Eve after a nice dinner and giving out the presents we brought from Germany, we had a party in the ‘cinema’ that was turned into a bar just a few days ago.

Two days later, on December 26th, Ilona and Jule from the University of Hamburg were supposed to leave Jubany with 15 other people from the base to fly to Buenos Aires and then back to Germany. They left on Wednesday evening for the first time – since then they have been going back and forth between the base, the argentine ship and Frei. The airplane already left twice from Rio Gallegos, a small city in the South of Argentina, but had to turn around due to bad weather conditions. At the moment, we are all sitting in the kitchen and waiting for the airplane to finally arrive. It looks like that we might also spend New Years together.

I wish everybody a Happy New Year – ein Frohes Neues Jahr – Feliz Año Nuevo! I hope you all are having a great evening and a good start into 2012!