Here at Casey station, all cargo that is taken off/on the ship, needs to be moved on the water, (barge etc). At some of the other stations, resupply can be done over sea ice, with the ship positioning itself in solid sea ice, and then everything is offloaded onto the ice for movement predominantly by truck, and sometimes by helicopter. It means that you will see all sorts of things loaded onto the barges/floats for the trip over to the wharf at Casey......
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| Quad track being offloaded from the Aurora
As a result of everything going over the water during resupply, that means that a fuel line needs to be run from the ship, over Newcomb Bay to the station, so the station can receive enough fuel to last for the next year.... there will be about 750,000 litres of diesel pumped from the ship to the station. It will take about 36 hours for this amount of fuel to be pumped, and a good weather window is required for the fuel line to be put out, as it cannot be run across the bay if there is poor weather.
Given the fact that a good weather is required.... and we do not have that at the moment, the Aurora has pulled up anchor and moved offshore until the wind eases. At this time (Sunday18th Dec), most on station are tucked up warm in the 'Red Shed', with a blizzard blowing outside. The winds have been up around the 80-90 knot mark, and earlier this morning it peaked at 109 knots, which is 202 kph.
Another rare event occurred this morning, when most on station were woken by the fire alarm. The alarm had gone off as a result of the 'Green Store' being struck by lightening. Now electrical storms (thunder and lightning) are something that does not normally occur in Antarctica, as the conditions are so dry..... but this morning, during the blizzard, thunder was heard, and several people also saw the lightning as it flashed across the station, and struck the 'Green Store'.
Below is a video clip of a few different moments during the blizzard, where there is just strong winds, and also with blowing snow. The clips was taken from the cold porch area of the building which I work in. I had managed to get up to the building a little earlier when the wind was not quite as strong, and travel between the buildings when the winds are so high, would normally be done with at least one other person. When the video was taken I did not venture too far out in the open, because at over 90 knots, it could easily knock you off your feet, and probably take you on a bit of a trip. The rule of thumb would normally be: a knot for every kilo. So at over 90 knots, it could sweep someone of over 90 kilos off their feet.... now some might think I am carrying a bit of weight, and maybe even a little more than normal (due to all the desserts)... but I am not over 90 kilos.
In the week leading up to the arrival of the Aurora, myself and 3 others headed off from station towards Law Dome, to a camp that had been set up for the Tot-Cal project. This trip was only about 45 klms, but took approximately 2 hours in a Hagglunds, we assisted the 4 guys who had been in that camp for about a week, to dig it out. The camp had a small hut on a sled that was used for preparing meals etc, but the rest of the camp was made up of 'polar pyramid' tents, which, while being put up have snow put around the base of then to help keep them in place, and then with the further build up of snow/ice over the time that they had been there, it means quite a bit of digging to get them out, and collapsed. So a few hours were spent on the end of a shovel, before another 2 hour drive back to station.
  
European Space Agency article about the Tot-Cal project being undertaken in the Casey area.
Aviation in Antarctica story.
Medical Evac and first A319 flight in Wilkins.
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