Settling into the Casey life

Well the first week back at Casey Station has been a bit busy. With all the new arrivals trying to get set for the weeks ahead. For many of those who have not been here before, and those who have not been south for some years, heading out on field training. This training began back in Kingston, Tasmania, but is completed after arriving in Antarctica. It involves various aspects of survival and travel in Antarctica, including, travel on sea ice, navigation, vehicle travel, ice slope self arrest training.... along with many other things. You will also spend a couple of nights sleeping out on the ice, one night will be spent sleeping in 'bivvy' bag, and another out in 'polar pyramid' tents.... it can be a long and cold night, especially if the wind is blowing a bit, but what an amazing experience. As I had completed the training the last time I was here a Casey, I did not have to complete it again for this season. But below I have included some photos of my training from 2 seasons ago.

Preparing for some Ice Slope training

Self arrest training

Bedding down for the night

Checking sea ice dept for safe travel

In the past week we have had the 2 Twin Otter aircraft arrive from the South Pole Station, via Dome C (Concordia), and since arriving they have conducted some flights to Bunger Hills, and the Law Dome area, which will form part of the science works to be undertaken this season. This Link has a small article from Australian Geographic, which talks of some of the work undertaken at the Law Dome site, and the findings from Ice Cores taken from the area, and links to drought in the Western Australia region.

One of the Twin Otter aircraft has since made a flight over to Davis station, this flight is to coincide with the arrival of the resupply ship Aurora Australis, which is about to arrive at Davis for the annual resupply of personnel, food, equipment and fuel. The Twin Otter will be used to ferry some personnel from Davis station, over to Mawson station

The second Hercules flight also arrived from McMurdo, which was carrying a further 26 personnel for Casey station. And the number of people now at Casey is up around the 70 mark.

As we are getting further into the summer season, the length of daylight is also extending. At this point (early/mid November) Sunset is listed as about 1am, and sunrise at about 6am, and by early December there will only be about 2 hours between sunset and sunrise. Although the sun actually sets, as the timeframe gets shorter, it does not get much past twilight, and by Mid December, the sun will not set again until early January.

This sunset or twilight period produces some amazing changing colours across the icebergs, turning them from bright whites, to bright shades of blue and pink. The photo below was taken at Midnight from the front of Casey station.

With long long periods of sunlight, it provides great opportunities for travel. Often after dinner, groups will head out to do some cross country skiing, or take a hike over to Shirley Island (across the sea ice). Shirley Island has the nearest Adelie Penguin colony to Casey station...... I went for a hike over to the island a few nights ago, but will save some of the pictures for the next entry........