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CHRISTMAS AT THE HILTON WITH THE EMPERORS. |
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Worked in the lab in the morning, then Saturday duties which involved peeling enough potatoes for 60 people for a week. That took a few hours, meanwhile other people put up the Christmas decorations. Mike and Nigel relaxing after balloon duties. |
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On Sunday woke up to fluffy snow and very poor visibility but it cleared up in the afternoon so we rode off on Skiddos (light oversnow vehicles for 2) to meet Cath on the way back from Robbos and gave her a tow. |
They were going to Jack's hut for some downhill skiing so we tagged along. On the way back to Casey we saw an Emperor penguin sitting on the moraine line. The Emperors come in from the sea at this time of year and choose a spot to moult. Then they have to stay put until they have a new set of feathers.
Cath and I started an inhibitor experiment in the lab which ran from 8am Monday until 11pm that night, with the final samples collected on Tuesday. As part of our radiation screening experiment we are trying to see what mechanisms the moss have to deal with excess light. The inhibitor treatments will help us distinguish between the various possibilities. Joanne and Ric who are from the University of Wollongong Faculty of Engineering are here working on the Human Impacts programme testing the water quality at Casey. There are testing intake water from the melt lake behind the station, the stuff we drink and wash in, and then the effluent and water in the bay. |
The melt lake behind the Red shed is where the water for Casey Station comes from and moss grows around the edge of the lake. This is our Red shed site for the screens. Joanne tested some of the water from around the moss for us today and found that it has hardly anything in it, no ammonia, no phosphorus and no heavy metals. This means that the high copper content of our drinking water is because of the action of the soft water on the copper pipes. and not due to high copper in the soil. It also means that the moss is probably growing under a pretty poor nutrient regime. |
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In the evening we gave the gym a try out. This is situated inside the green store and has a bike, rowing machine and various weights machines. Some serious machinery to negotiate first though! |
Tuesday 23rd Dec we finished the inhibitor experiment and then drove over to Wilkes Station to deliver a fin to Ian from the WA museum. He is working on a project to look at the use of freeze drying to preserve artefacts. They have set up a trial at the Wilkes Station site.
Adrian the Bureau of Meteorology technician and Ian were making some alterations to the "Venturi project" building at Wilkes. |
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Wilkes was an old US base and was handed over to the Australians in the 1960s. The site is a good example of where not to build an Antarctic Station. It is permanently ice covered and was abandoned because it was feared it would become totally iced up.
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At Wilkes the ice builds up to the top of the buildings and then stops so there is still access through the roof of the buildings. |
The old recreation room at Wilkes contains a piano and there is still lots of food in the mess. There is an old radio room with equipment, lots of old bulldozers lying dead in the snow, crates of old caterpillar parts and a huge tip full of 44 gallon drums and half burnt rubbish. The site has been declared a heritage site. |
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The Wilkes "Hilton" is the largest field hut at Casey. |
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It sleeps 6 comfortably and has a woodburning stove which means it gets very cosy and warm. |
Spent Christmas Eve morning in SSSI17 looking for moss samples. This SSSI is much bigger than the one at Casey and has large penguin colonies along its seaward side plus valleys of moss and an extensive lichen community. Unfortunately the weather was getting a bit doubtful so we had to head back to Casey early to avoid being marooned at Wilkes for Christmas.
Christmas Day was a windy snowy day at Casey, festivities started at 11am with a late breakfast and then we all waited for Santa to arrive. |
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We had expected him to arrive by quad but the wind was too strong. Helped by elves, Santa distributed presents to all on station, the only problem was you only got a present if you sat on his knee. The weather was too cold and windy for the traditional Christmas day swim. |
Dinner was a scrumptious feast cooked by Gerbil and Meredith, seafood starters were piled up buffet style at one end of the mess, there was the traditional turkey and ham for the main course and of course Christmas pudding. |
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There was also a selection of wines which had been hidden away for Christmas because the station has almost run out of alcohol and there isn't any more until the boat gets back (except for homebrew of course)
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The weather on Boxing Day was still bad, and worst of all, everything was covered in a layer of snow. |
We couldn't get to the moss until it melted out again and none of the moss people could do any work, a bit tricky when you only have a month for field work. The strong winds were a good test of the screens, and we were happy to see that they all stayed securely in place despite the wind gusting up to 73 knots (highest wind speed for December on Christmas eve). The boats were also confined to base because of the wind. Indoor bowls replaced the traditional cricket game, but the cricket pitch looked lovely covered in fluffy snow.
Saturday saw more unusual weather with 22mm of rain falling at Casey. In the morning the fluffy snow made a great ski surface so we took a couple of turns around the red route. Saturday duties were helping out in the field store and the trip to clean up Shirley Island was postponed due to poor weather.
Still not quite warm enough to melt the snow on Sunday so another day of data crunching and preparation. Mike had a great day skiing to Jack's hut and back with Rachel, John and Trevor.
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| December 1997 Direct site & design comments to: Andrew Netherwood |