Antarctique

Collège Belgique: l'Antarctique dans tous ses états

2011-09-07T17:05:00.000+02:00

Dear all,
For the French-speaking among you, I am coordinating a series of lessons for a wide audience concerning multiple aspects of the Antarctic research.

L'Antarctique dans tous ses états : session spéciale du Collège Belgique

18/08/2011

Onze chercheurs de différentes disciplines (glaciologie, biologie, climatologie, océanologie, astrophysique, géologie) vont partager leurs connaissances sur l’Antarctique. Avec eux, le public découvrira les questions posées et les pistes explorées pour étudier différentes facettes de ce continent exceptionnel à bien des égards.

Coordinateur : Annick Wilmotte (Fonds de la Recherche scientifique – FNRS ; Université de Liège).
Responsable académique : chevalier Berger (Académie royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique ; Université catholique de Louvain)

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PROGRAMME

Mardi 20 septembre 2011
L’océanologie en Antarctique : le rôle de l’océan Austral dans le cycle du carbone
Par Christiane Lancelot (Université libre de Bruxelles)* et Frank Dehairs (Vrije Universiteit Brussel)
* (en raison d'une indisponibilité de dernière minute, Christiane Lancelot sera remplacée par Frank Dehairs)

Mardi 4 octobre 2011
La glaciologie en Antarctique : la banquise et la calotte glaciaire, des acteurs climatiques multiples
Par Jean-Louis Tison et Frank Pattyn (Université libre de Bruxelles)

Mercredi 5 octobre 2011
Les réseaux d’information pour comprendre et sauvegarder la biodiversité antarctique
Par Bruno Danis (Institut royal des Sciences naturelles de Belgique, Bruxelles)

Les îles sub-antarctiques
Par Bart Van De Vijver (Jardin botanique national de Belgique, Meise)

Mardi 11 octobre 2011
L’Antarctique est un continent microbien
Par Annick Wilmotte (Fonds de la Recherche scientifique – FNRS ; Université de Liège) et Anne Willems (Universiteit Gent)

Mercredi 12 octobre 2011
L’astrophysique en Antarctique : les particules inattendues/Météorites en Antarctique : archives de notre système solaire
Par Georges Kohnen (Université de Mons) et Vinciane Debaille (Université libre de Bruxelles)

Mardi 18 octobre 2011
La reconstruction et les prédictions climatiques en Antarctique à différentes échelles
Par Hugues Goosse (Fonds de la Recherche scientifique – FNRS ; Université catholique de Louvain )
et Wim Vyverman (Universiteit Gent)

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INFORMATIONS PRATIQUES
Palais Provincial de Namur
Place Saint-Aubain, 2 B-5000 Namur
de 17h00 à 19h00
Les leçons du Collège Belgique sont accessibles à tous, gratuitement et sans inscription préalable.

Contact : collegebelgiquenamur@cfwb.be ; aarbw@cfwb.be
+ 32 81 25 68 96

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Meeting on Antarctic Biodiversity, 31 May, Liège, Belgium

2011-04-14T19:37:00.000+02:00

Panoramic view of Yuboku Valley

2011-01-27T22:04:00.000+01:00

Dear readers,
The end of my stay in the Princess Elisabeth station is coming close. Our flight to Novo is scheduled on Monday in the evening. There is a storm at present.

Here, I send you a panoramic photo of Yuboku valley from the NE mountain, that was made by our great photographer, Rene Robert.Zorigto's lakeis in the center (round). There is a small lake near the ski-doos but it does not have a name and we didn't drill it. Gigi's lake is L-shaped,more to the SW from the ski-doos. It's in the deepest part of the valley.

The Japanese geologists have surveyed extensively the area and made the maps that we use. Therefore, many names in this region are in japanese. For example, Yuboku Valley means 'Grassland valley'. Yuboku means "natural area that is used for raising livestock". So probably, the Japanese scientists noticed that the valley had a nice microclimate. And Takano-tume Peak means 'Hawk feet Peak'. It really looks like that from the eastern side.

I have started to prepare the return of the samples, and try to organise this the best possible. The samples must remain frozen during the trip back to Belgium! Elie and myself have already exchanged several emails about the best transport option.

Cheers, Zorigto

The secrets of the lakes in Yuboku Valley

2011-01-24T15:22:00.001+01:00

As I have told you, on the 7th January, Gigi and myself have discovered a lake in a valley, that was not yet explored. The Yuboku valley was exposed to the North, and well protected against the winds. We could sample cyanobacterial mats under the ice, and it was clear that there was life in this lake. It was already quite late, and therefore, we had to leave the Valley without going to a second lake that we had spotted. But, we planned to come back and take the equipment for drilling.
Thus, this Saturday, we went back there with a whole party and the drilling equipment (including the BP-1, the hand-made corer by Bernard and Paul. The weather was bad, it was cloudy, there was drifting snow and gusts of katabatic winds. Therefore, it took us 2H30 instead of 1H to arrive there.

Stefan, Alain, me (with the yellow helmet), René, Joachim (German geologist, just a hand)

It was decided to name the first lake, Zorigto's lake, whereas the second one was called Gigi's lake.
This time, Zorigto's lake was completely frozen, the pH was 9.2 and the water had a temperature of 0°C. We could easily drill a hole in the ice in the middle of the lake and measured a depth of 1,8 meter. We could not find any sediment, but only rocks at the bottom that were covered by cyanobacterial biofilms.

Gigi's lake

Gigi's lake was located deeper in the valley and was L shaped. It was just at the foot of the moraine with a quite steep slope. Probably the lake was formed during the retreat of the glacier on the southern side of the lake.

On the surface of ice, we have found dried pieces of mats frozen in the ice. I have collected these pieces near the southern shore and some wet sand on the western shore.

We have started to drill at the center of the lake but we couldn't reach more than 1.5 m due to the hard ice and problems with the engine of the drill. Then, we moved closer to the southern side of the lake where the ice was thinner. We have manually drilled 3 holes in the ice, close to each others. There, the ice thickness was 58 cm, and the total lake depth was 84 cm. The pH was again quite high, 9.0, the oxygen was 10 mg/l and the temperature was 0°C.

Unfortunately, we could not find any sediments, but the size of the rocks on the bottom was smaller than on the southern shore of the lake. Probably, there was a fractionation of rock material from south to north, with a finer fraction closer to the northern side of the lake. Therefore, on the basis of this hypothesis, we have moved 30 m NNW (to the north where the sediments are finer, but closer to the western shore where the ice is thinner). We have drilled 2 holes. The ice thickness and the lake depth were about 80 cm. During the first drilling on this spot, the drill has hit the bottom and brought the mixture of yellowish clay, sand and gravel to the surface! WOW, we had sediments at least!

Before the last drilling, we have applied some silicon grease on the surface of the plunger and changed the rubber. Finally, we managed to collect a 4 cm length sediment core with wet ice on top of the sediments. It was placed in a plastic film and kept in the half of the plastic tube, marked top and bottom, as you can see.

After coming back to PES, I have immediately put it in the freezer at -60 °C. One conclusion for the future is that a long drill with a good engine should be used to drill in the center of the lake. Moreover, if there is an expedition here in future, it would be practical to bring the drilling equipment in a camp and let it stand for the duration of the expedition. The team could spend hte day in Yukobu and come back to the Station for the night (1-1H30 travel). On the way between Yuboku and the Station, there are small crevasses of 20-50 cm that can easily be crossed by skidoos. There is also a long area with sastrugis (ice ridges made by the wind) that are not very high, but a bit boring to go through. Moreover, we have to cross the Gunnestadbreen glacier on the way to Yuboku valley, and the weather there is always worse than near the PES. The valley itself is quite protected, but there are occasional gusts of katabatic northwards winds.
Anyway, we have only a small idea of the secrets of the lakes in Yuboku Valley, especially for the third lake that we had no time to look at.

Cheers, Zorigto

preparation of the expediton to the 'lost valley' of Yuboku

2011-01-20T17:44:00.002+01:00

The weather is not bad today, the wind speed is up to 10 m/s, but the biological crusts are covered with snow and there is not enough sunlight to melt them. Thus, I cannot work on the ridge.

We are preparing an expedition to the Yuboku Valley this Saturday.

We expect that there will be three lakes in this valley. Elie Verleyen has given instructions how to make a sediment corer. Indeed, we did not expect to find lakes and did not take the coring equipment this year.These samples would be very interesting for the DELAQUA project (see item on this blog).

We are lucky at the station, as we have real craftmen who can build everything (almost :-)). The picture shows Bernard Polet and Paul Herman who are working on the sediment corer. We call this corer "BP-1".

Many thanks to them!

Zorigto

Course (in French) on Astrobiology at the Academy of Sciences

2011-01-18T12:58:00.001+01:00

For those interested by the topics of Astrobiology, the audio files of the courses given by J. Reisse, Y. Nazé, E. Javaux and A. Wilmotte during Collège Belgique are available:
http://www.academieroyale.be/cgi?usr=w5mk7gq5ue&lg=fr&pag=1026&tab=146&rec=5773&frm=290&par=secorig690&par2=Index,2&id=6531&flux=64833886#detail

Interview of Zorigto

2011-01-18T10:57:00.001+01:00

On the website of the Princess Elisabeth Station, you can listen 'live' to Zorigto, who explains his research, daily activities and long-term project:

http://www.antarcticstation.org/photos_videos/video/interview_zorigto_namsaraev/

The fluorometry experiments on the ridge

2011-01-17T20:21:00.003+01:00

I have finished the first part of the fluorescence measurements on the ridge. As you can see on the picture below, I have put plastic squares on the biofilms to mark the place where the fluorometer is located, and I have positioned the temperature sensors just nearby. The fluorometer and the PAR-meter (thanks Elie!) are working well.The PAR-meter is measuring the light of 400-700 nm wavelenght, which can be used by the photosynthetic organisms. The fluorometer measures the photosynthetic efficiency.

The best signal (high Fv/Fm amplitude during day) was on the site 1 (you cannot see it on the photo above because it is under the ice). I have noticed that the temperature and humidity were also the highest at site 1. I get the impression that the cover of ice does not hinder the photosynthetic activity. In fact, when we tried to estimate the snow transparency with the PAR-meter, we found that under 40 cm of snow, there was still enough light.

On the Utsteinen ridge, drifting and blowing snow are the most important sources of water, as you can see on this picture. When there is enough sunlight, the snow is melting and liquid water is present. This melting happens during a relatively short period, and depends on the angle of the slope and other factors (shadows of rocks,…). The sun angle is quite small (up to ~35 degrees) in this part of Antarctica, even during summer. The reflection from the surface of the ice/snow is quite high at such an angle. Therefore, you really need to have a perfect slope orientation to have good conditions for life. Thus, small differences in the relief and topography can make a huge difference in the ‘habitability’ of the sites.

Cheers, Zorigto

Cryoconite Day

2011-01-14T12:51:00.001+01:00

Today was dedicated to the cryoconites. I have the good luck that several colleagues have accompanied me, as the drilling is hard work for the cryoconites at Utsteinen. The ice lid is quite thick. I was with Olivier Francis (professor of geophysics from U of Luxembourg), Stefan Kneifel (meteorologist from the University of Köln) and Jacques Richon (our Swiss doctor and field guide).

On the picture above, Olivier and myself are measuring the size of the cryoconite at the foot of the Utsteinen nunatak. The diameter was 5 meter.

I guess that the picture above clearly shows that the drilling is very difficult, even if the drill has an engine.

Here, Stefan helps me with the oxygen titration. I have already measured the pH and oxygen two weeks ago. It was very interesting to find a high pH (9.6) and high oxygen concentration (12.5 mg/l). This could mean that there is a high photosynthetic activity inside the cryoconites. However, last year when we drilled into the cryoconites with Josef Elster, the oxygen concentration was lower. This could be linked maybe to the weather as it was cloudy at that time. And photosynthesis depends on the availability of sun, which could also influence the water temperature.

Olivier reminds me of the instructions to measure the oxygen concentration using the Winkler method. We have chosen this method because it does not depend on an apparatus with electric batteries. This can be very important at low temperatures, where the batteries are empty in a very short time.

In addition to the measurements at one particular time, we are installing temperature and humidity loggers to register continuously these parameters. Stefan has made a nice design, where the loggers are placed within plastic tubes, so that we can put them and take them out easily. You can see two tubes sticking out of the ice lids on the picture. We will see if this design is working well. I hope to be able to estimate the period of time where the cryoconite communities are active.

Below, Stefan and Jacques are drilling into a cryoconite.

Thanks for all photos to Stefan Kneifel and Olivier Francis.

Cheers, Zorigto

A nice diversity in a cryoconite

2011-01-09T18:49:00.004+01:00

In the past weeks, I have placed temperature loggers in the cryoconites. They are attached to a bamboo pole. I would like to know what is going on in this particular environment (see the blog on 'what are cryoconites?').

I have made a microscopic observation of a sample and was surprised to see one cryoconite where Cyanothece, a nice unicellular cyanobacteria, was dominant.

Cyanothece sp.

Cyanothece and Oscillatoria spp.

Single filaments of a cyanobacterium similar to Tolypothrix are also present. Usually, we find Phormidium and Leptolyngbya spp. in the cryoconites here.

I have started trials to cultivate the Cyanothece.

Cheers, Zorigto

8th January, microscopy of the cryptoendolithic sample

2011-01-09T18:24:00.002+01:00

Today, I was on duty with Karel at the kitchen. Afterwards, I observed the cryptoendolithic sample of yesterday, that René had spotted.

Till now, in the cryptoendolithic samples of Annick and myself, we only had found unicellular green algae. However, this time, it was Chroococcidiopsis!

Chroococcidiopsis is a well-known inhabitant of crypotendolithic communities in hot and cold deserts. For example, Imre Friedmann, a famous Antarctic microbiologist, had been the first to discover its presence in the rocks of the McMurdo Dry Valleys. Therefore, we were quite puzzled that we could not find it in the Utsteinen area.

Could it be that Chroococcidiopsis prefers more harsh conditions than the green algae? I have subcultured the sample in a simplified culture medium (BG11 medium with 1 g/L of KNO3 and "extract" of autoclaved gravel from the Utsteinen ridge).

Today or tomorrow, maybe that I will start the fluorometry experiments on the ridge. Now, it is quite cloudy but the forecast for the future is good.

Cheers, Zorigto

The "Lost valley"

2011-01-09T18:13:00.007+01:00

On the 7th January, in the afternoon, we have discovered the 'lost valley' of Yuboku!

It all started with a one-day trip to the Eastern side of the Gunnestadbreen glacier with Gigi, René Robert and 2 German geologists. There were quite a lot of crevasses and sastrugi (ridges formed by the wind), so that the skidoos were quite shaken, but no big problems on the way. We started to work in Svindlandfjellet near the Takano-tume Peak. This place is in front of the Antarctic plateau, so conditions are more harsh (colder and windier) than in the Utsteinen area. I could find only one lichen (Xanthoria borealis or elegans, I have asked the help of Damien Ertz) on the Northern side of one big old boulder. There was no visible life on the Southern slope.

Microscopic lichen

Microscopic observation of the lichen

René Robert was a very precious help, and I am very amazed by his ability to find interesting things. Maybe that this is thanks to his 'photographic' eye? He spotted one extremely interesting boulder with microscopic lichens and a cryptoendolithic community. The German geologists were very impressed by the rocks also.

The most important discovery was still to come! After the Takano-tume Peak, we entered into the Yuboku Valley. I call it 'The lost valley' because it is so remote and mysterious. It is located in Svindlandfjellet, but on the Northern side. The valley is well protected from the winds, is exposed to the North (thus to the sun in this hemisphere) and has several glaciers. It could be the perfect microenvironment for life. We stayed there with Gigi. René Robert and the geologists went further to the East.

Unnamed lake in Yuboku valley (Northern side of Svindlandfjellet)

And there it was, the first real lake in the Utsteinen area! We were so lucky to discover it! The last two years, Jeroen, Elie and Steve have looked for lakes, but could not find any in the places which they surveyed.

The lake was located in the center of the valley in the moraine. Maybe that there are additional lakes in the valley? We had no time to go further as the evening was coming. The GPS coordinates were 72 04'53.1", 23 47'37.1", 1333 m.

The lake is ~50 m in diameter and ice-covered. On the southern side, there is a 1 m wide ice-free zone along the shore. It is called a 'moat'. I could see bubbles under the ice, which indicates that there is some production of gas, most likely due to photosynthetic organisms. There were thin cyanobacterial mats between the stones on the shore and littoral zone.

Cyanobacterial mat in the lake

The top layer of mat is green, and by microscopy, I could observe that it was dominated by cyanobacteria, particularly Nostoc commune. Thin filaments of Leptolyngbya were also present.

Nostoc and Leptolyngbya spp. in the green layer

The lower layer is red, dominated by Leptolyngbya, Nostoc sp. Filamentous cyanobacteria looking like "Leptolyngbya with thick sheath" or "Microcoleus with single filaments in one trichome" are also present.

Filamentous cyanobacteria in the red layer

The water temperature was +1 C, the pH was 9.3, and the oxygen concentration was 10.5 mg/L.

Probably we'll go back to the lost valley of Yuboku. We'll try to drill the ice in the center and collect some sediments with a tube, if it will be possible. I know that Elie Verleyen will be very interested by this finding (see 'DELAQUA' and 'Elie Verleyen' on this blog).

Cheers after a long and fruitful day, Zorigto

Unexpected finding on Teltet

2011-01-05T18:04:00.002+01:00

Till now, the Teltet nunatak did not show the presence of any colored biofilm. In contrast, these biofilms and biological crusts were observed on the Utsteinen nunatak. However, today, I have taken a gravel sample from a place that looked 'suitable for life', even if none was visible to the naked eye. It was on the northern slope of a gneiss outcrop with available water, because there was a snow bank above it. Looking at the microscope, I have found a quite nice community of Cyanothece and Phormidium autumnale!

The difference of this outcroup with the other sites on Teltet, like the moraines, was the availability of water.

Though interesting, it would not be possible to install an Open Top Chamber here, because the slope is too high and there no flat surface.

Cheers, Zorigto

Tuesday 4th January

2011-01-05T17:44:00.002+01:00

The weather is not very good today. There is a lot of wind and snow, but I still can see Teltet from the window of the station. Yesterday evening, the group of Alain came back from the plateau. They have already found meteorites.

Yesterday, I have collected the data from the logger installed inside of the small Closed-Top Chamber (the one that I want to use with the fluorometer). The ice was molten inside, but there was a lot of ice outside.

During the day, the temperature inside the measurement chamber was 5-6 °C higher than outside.The contrast was high also because the wind was quite strong during the incubation period and the temperature outside was quite low ('chilling effect' of the wind). During the night, the temperature inside of the CTC was 1.5-2 °C higher than outside. This also can be explained by the shielding and protection from the wind.

I was surprised to see that the temperature increased very quickly (4-5 minutes) inside the chamber, as soon as it was positioned. This is too quick in fact, for the experiment that I wanted to make. Indeed, I thought that the temperature rise would be more gradual, and I could measure the photosynthetic efficiency over a large range of conditions. I need to think about it. Maybe I will put the chamber on small stones and will close it gradually or I will just make measurements at several time periods at the same spot, hoping that there will be different temperatures inside the chamber?

Cheers, (a puzzled) Zorigto

3rd January 2010

2011-01-03T15:50:00.001+01:00

This picture shows the area in front of the Station. Left to right: electrical solar panels, snowmelter, 2 tanks for hot water (the solar heated one will be installed afterwards),2 "Prinoth" tractors with sledges, 1st Prinoth with orange fuel barrels, the grey 10-feet survival container and the ski-doos (under the blackcover on the 2nd sledge). a 2nd Prinoth with also a grey survival container,fuel drums with ski-doo on top and a blue container for the crew (beds for 4 persons). 4 white-yellow tents for persons who prefer to sleep outside (it's very nice here because the place is wind protected).

Containers for garbage and containers for science. My scientific container is dark blue. Far on the horizon, you can see the air strip and the oil barrels for airplane refueling.

We had some news about the party that is gone with the meteorites' hunters on the plateau. The weather is quite harsh and I have heard that Steven already suffered a frostbite. They have a 'wind chill' temperature about -40° C (measured temperature + wind speed factor). The group of Alain should come back this evening (they planned to come yesterday, but the weather was not good also).

Here, we have a nice and warm weather, but tomorrow and after tomorrow we should have a storm with blowing snow, may be a 'whiteout'. I have installed a small Closed-Top Chamber on the ridge (to use with the fluorometer). The temperature inside the chamber immediately increased and the snow started to melt. This happened faster than I thought! I will check the data from the temperature sensors in the afternoon.

Yesterday, I had a problem with the connection of my computer and the download of the measurement data from the fluorometer. Our device is a modified version according to our requirements and it has a special firmware. I have contacted Tomas Rataj from the company PSI and he sent me a new firmware and instructions how to install it. Happily everything worked! What I like with PSI is that they try to answer and solve the problems immediately.

Cheers, Zorigto

New Year in a half empty station

2011-01-01T17:39:00.002+01:00

On 30th December, Alain, Steve Godderis and the meteorites-hunters and about half of the station inhabitants went to the Antarctic plateau. They will be back on 2nd Jan 2011. We have wished them a happy New Year and stayed on the station. We'll have a "totally male's party". The weather is very
calm now, so I had to stop the air filtration for several hours.

Today, I have helped to unload some containers with food. In addition, I have worked with the
new PAR meter that Elie Verleyen has given to me, just before the departure. I also have discussed the meteorological data with the meteorologists, Alexander Mangold and his collegues. It was very interesting, I'll write about it later. Being together in the same place, means that we can discuss and interact a lot, and better understand the information and each other experiments.
Tomorrow, I plan to work on the ridge with the fluorometer and the small measurement chambers.

Happy New Year!! Zorigto

Data from the temperature sensors on the Utsteinen ridge and the Teltet nunatak

2010-12-30T18:45:00.002+01:00

I have plotted the data from the temperature sensors of the control sites near the OTCs on the Utsteinen ridge and the Teltet nunatak.

These data show that:
1. The temperature patterns are similar in all these localities (most probably, they follow the changes in the air temperature, it should be plotted also on the graph)
2. The microclimate is very important. If you compare the 2 loggers from the Utsteinen ridge, it is clear that the OTC1 (orange) located south from the cairn is exposed to a lower temperature then the OTC2 (blue) located north from the cairn.
3. The Teltet nunatak (yellow) reaches even a higher temperature than the Utsteinen ridge during spring and summer. This could be explained maybe by the darker colour of rocks on Teltet? The darker, the more heat that the rocks can accumulate.
4. The low abundance of biological crusts on the Teltet nunatak could maybe be explained by the properties of the rocks (gneiss) rather then by the microclimatic parameters.

Temperatures during one year (January to December 2010) of the control sites on the Utsteinen ridge (blue and orange) and the Teltet nunatak (yellow)

Cheers,
Zorigto

28th December: air filtration

2010-12-30T18:22:00.003+01:00

The weather is good, the wind direction is E-NE and its speed is up to 11 m/s. The air temperature is -5 C, and there are some clouds. Today, Alexander Mangold and myself have started the air filtrations with the filters having 0.2 um pore diameters. I keep a control filter in the freezer.

Installing the filtration equipment on the top of the Southern Shelter


Connecting the filtration device

Taking the filters with a pincette sterilized by ethanol

In addition, there were some problems with the download of the data from the fluorometer. However, I have contacted the company PSI and Tomas Hajek (Institute of Botany, Trebon, Czech Republic, see blog on the Preparation of my trip), and they have helped me to solve this problem. Johan Berte and Bernard are kindly ajusting some of our additional equipment for AquaPen.

Tomorrow with Jacques, we will go to Utsteinen to install the temperature and humidity loggers in different places around the nunatak. This will allow us to better understand the microclimatic variations that the organisms experience in one place or the other.

On Thursday, approximately half of the base members will go to the plateau with the meteorite team. Maybe that they will come back this year?

Cheers, Zorigto

Some reflexions on the transects' data

2010-12-27T17:46:00.020+01:00

The ecotopes in the Sor Rondane Mountains can be selected according to five factors:

1.Orientation of the slope (N, S)

2.Availability of a melt water (position close to a snow bank or not, it also

depends on the wind direction and position on the slope)

3.Stability of the rock (the crusts require a long time for development)

4.Type of substrate (rock, soil...)

5.Fertilization (presence of birds colonies)

Interestingly, the availability of melt water on the Northern windward slope of the Utsteinen nunatak strongly depends on the relative position on the slope. At the foot of Utsteinen, there is a high snow deposition, but higher on the slope, the snow deposition is low and on the top of Utsteinen, the snow deposition is high again.

This observation can be explained by the aerodynamic properties of the nunatak. As the wind hits the nunatak, it gets forced upward, which increases its speed and lowers the pressure according to Bernoulli's principle. This is the so called "orographic" lifting. The highest wind speed is observed at the highest levels of the slope, and the wind erosion of the rocks is also the highest there. There is no snow deposition and, as a result, there is no melting water and biological crusts.

In contrast, at the foot of the nunatak, the wind speed is relatively low and we can see an intensive snow deposition here. As a result, there is a lot of melt water and a high number of biological crusts. Such high numbers of biological crusts can also be observed behind the top of the nunatak where the wind turbulence leads to intensive snow deposition. Crusts develop on the borders of the snow banks in the rock cavities. The same situation can be observed also on the Utsteinen ridge. It is relatively flat and there is no strong increase in the wind speed. Snow deposition is high and there are a lot of biological crusts.

Another type of communities develops near the petrel colonies. They are dominated by a green algae (Prasiola) and associated with bird's faeces and dead bodies. The snow deposition is relatively low in this area, so I am not sure which the source of water?

The wind seems to turn, so that I will probably be able to start the filtration tomorrow.

Last Saturday, we have helped to unload the containers with cargo that arrived with the traverse. Today, we have continued to unload them. I still didn't find my box sent from Liège, and it is probably in one of the remaining containers. Alain and his group went to the Antarctic plateau to check the route to the place where the meteorite team will work. Saturday evening, we had a nice Christmas party!

Cheers, Zorigto

Some data from the transects

2010-12-27T17:26:00.010+01:00

1) Transect on the Northern slope of the Utsteinen nunatak

I can distinguish three types of ecotopes on this granite nunatak:
1.The rocks with water (top of Utsteinen at the edge of the snowbanks, or the foot of Utsteinen). Coverage by Biological Crusts is 7-44% (low and medium coverage). The presence is 41/50 “on-point” BSC occurrences in 50 transect points, that means 82%.
2.The rocks without water (middle part of the slope with too high wind
speed and low deposition of snow). Coverage by BSC is 0-0.3% (low), and the presence is 2 out of 30 transect points, thus 6.6%.
3.The areas near bird's nests. The coverage is 0-1% (low), and the presence is 9 out of 30 transect points, that means 30%.

2) Transects on the Northern and Southern slopes of the Teltet nunatak

However, when we have done the same transects on the Northern and Southern slopes of the Teltet nunatak, which is made of gneiss, I did not manage to find any Biological Soil Crust!

The very weathered rocks of the Teltet nunatak

These results show that the type of rocks is very important for the development of BSCs. Ecotopes with similar conditions on Teltet and Utsteinen have absolutely different numbers and coverages of BSCs.

I have also collected and replaced the temperature and humidity loggers on Teltet. Probably, I will be able to replace them again before we'll leave, so we'll have data from this summer also.

Transects on the Utsteinen and Teltet nunataks

2010-12-27T17:07:00.003+01:00

27 Decembre

Together with Jacques (the Swiss doctor of the station and field guide), we have counted the Biological Soil Crusts (BSC) on the Northern slope of the Utsteinen nunatak and on the Northern and Southern slopes of the Teltet nunatak. The BSC presence was calculated according to the paper by Bates et al., 2010 (Bates, S.T., Nash III, T.H., Sweat, K.G., Garcia-Pichel, F. (2010) Fungal communities of lichen-dominated biological soil crusts: Diversity, relative microbial biomass, and their relationship to disturbance and crust cover. Journal of Arid Environments. 74, 1192-1199)

At each site, three 500 m-long transects were sampled. Each transect consisted of 10 duplicate samples taken every 50 m. For each transect, data on the degree of crust cover, the presence or absence of anthropogenic disturbance (both every 10 m, within a m² frame), and ‘on point’ presence or absence of crust (every 5 m) were collected. The crust cover was visually estimated using the following categories: low (below 35%), medium (35-65%), or high (above 65%).

Zorigto handling the ruler to measure the distance, the whistle to signal to Jacques that he has reached the 50 m distance and the GPS to record the position coordinates

At each nunatak, I have selected ecotopes (the smallest ecologically-distinct landscape features in a landscape mapping and classification system) that could be compared between the two different types of nunataks. In addition, I have installed sensors of temperature and humidity in different types of ecotopes.
They will stay there until the end of the summer, so that we can compare the environmental conditions there.

What happened to the Open Top Chambers?

2010-12-25T20:43:00.001+01:00

Since Zorigto has installed Open Top Chambers on three sites, on the ridge near the Station, on the Teltet nunatak and Pinguinane nunatak in January 2010, we were a bit worried that they would be destroyed by the bad climatic conditions of the winter.

In addition, we could expect that the snow would accumulate inside the OTC, whereas the snow would be blown away by the winds in the vicinity. So, the OTC would change the humidity and the length of the snow cover, in comparison to the control areas.

About our worry concerning the 'survival' of the OTC, we already had good news of the one on the ridge. Mid-November, Alain Hubert had kindly been taken pictures of the OTC, closer to the station.

As you can see, there was a lot of snow. When he arrived, Zorigto went to the ridge to observe the OTCs and replace the sensors for temperature and humidity. Then, Zorigto has read the measurements recorded during the whole year by the sensors. Due to the snow, he had difficulties to find the data sensors for temperature and humidity that he had placed in the OTC and in the control area. However, he could read the data. The highest temperature inside the OTC1 was 0°C (19 Dec), and it was +7°C (15 Dec) in the control area. The lowest recorded temperature was -38°C. It was reached on 6 July and 3 August 2010.

24th December 2010

2010-12-24T17:02:00.001+01:00

The weather is good, but the wind direction is still wrong. It is eastward, and goes from the Station to the shelter where we do air filtration. So, I still cannot start the air filtration. In addition, the wind speed is a bit low for the wind turbines and we have to use the old electricity generator. Yesterday, I have found all the boxes that we have left in the station last year and assembled a filtration unit. I need to modify a program.

Such a good weather should be used for field trips, but the sampling in the OTCs should better be done at the end of the season, after one year of experiment. Also it's a good weather to go to the top of Utsteinen and Teltet to quantify and compare the number of biological crusts on granitic (Utsteinen) and gneiss (Teltet) nunataks that are quite close geographically and should be exposed more or less to the same climatic conditions.

The convoy from the traverse will come back this night, and so we'll start the Christmas party without Alain, Gigi and the majority of the station team. Happy Christmas!

Zorigto

The 23rd December

2010-12-23T16:50:00.002+01:00

Here we have a very good weather without wind. Probably too good, because I need a wind from eastern or south-eastern direction to start the air filtration. Yesterday and the day before yesterday, we were busy with the field training (crevasse rescue, etc). Sanne, the army field guide, has developed a much more intensive program for us. We really went into crevasses and other members of the group had to pull us out.
Now, I work with the workshop to adjust some installations (the small measurement chamber for the Fluorpen, etc), and I unpack boxes from the last year (with the vacuum pump etc.).

Travel to Antarctica

2010-12-21T17:27:00.007+01:00

Zorigo has left Belgium just in time, to avoid all the troubles with the weather. He arrived in Cape Town on the 16th. On the 17th, there was the briefing with ALCI, the company that is responsible for the flights.

Alexey Turchin - director of ALCI and Vasily Kaliazin - chief of the Cape Town Office (left to right)

At the briefing, all information on the trip were exchanged, and safety measures were explained. Zorigto was designated as group leader. Indeed, there are too many people arriving at the same time in Novo airfield and not all of them will take the first flight by Bassler to the Princess Elisabeth station. Because Zorigto is Russian and was already there last year, he will be responsible for the second group that will probably overnight at Novo.

Briefing of the group leaders at ALCI Office. From BELARE: Gigi, Michel, Johan and Zorigto. Vladimir Kiryanov - director of the NOVO base is sitting between Gigi and Michel de Wouters.

The flight with the Ilyuchin was planned at 23:00 on Saturday 18 December. The flights happen usually during the night because the wind conditions are generally better.
On Sunday, early morning, they arrived at NOVO airfield in Antarctica. The first group with Gigi departed immediately by Bassler. Steve, Olivier and Zorigto, as well as 2 japanese field guides and 2 geologists from AWI (the German Antarctic Institute) stayed on NOVO for about 6 hours. Then, the Bassler came back and picked them. They arrived at the station around 15H30. The group of glaciologists, around Jean-Louis Tison (ULB) went out by the same flight, to come back to Belgium. They have been working at the coast for about 1 month.

Departure from Brussels National Airport

2010-12-21T17:08:00.004+01:00

On the 15th December, Elie Verleyen (University of Gent) and Zorigto Namsaraev were meeting in the hall of Brussels National Airport. Before Zorigto would leave for Cape Town, and then, Antarctica, Elie has brought additional material that we did not have: a GPS (to determine exactly the location of the sampling points, the experiments...) and a Spectrosense meter. This meter allows to measure the solar radiation that reaches the microorganisms and allows the photosynthesis. Indeed, not the whole spectrum of light can be used for the photosynthesis but only the wavelengths from 400 to 700 nM. This sensor also allows to know how much UV-B (280-315 nM) and UV-A (315-380 nM) will reach the surface. This is important because UV radiations are harmful to living organisms. In the case of UV-B, it is absorbed by DNA and proteins, and damage them. There was some suspens as the Spectrosense only arrived in Gent the day before. In the end, all went well!

Zorigto Namsaraev goes back to Princess Elisabeth station

2010-12-21T16:49:00.006+01:00

Dear all,
Zorigto Namsaraev, the Russian post-doc working with Annick Wilmotte at the Centre for Protein Engineering of the University of Liège, is going back to the Antarctic station. This time, he leaves Belgium on 15th December 2010 and will come back begin February 2011.
Zorigto was already there in January 2010, as you can see if you look at 'BELDIVA 2010' in this blog. He has started several experiments that he will continue this time. Thanks to the experience of the last expedition, we had new ideas, we improved the equipment, and now, we hope to obtain more interesting data on the living conditions of the microorganisms, and when they do photosynthesis during a 24H cycle. Zorigto will also carry out filtrations of the air, to detect if and how microorganisms are transported to this part of Antarctica, and cooperate with the meteorologists (Alexander Mangold and his colleagues, Prof Willy Maenhaut of the University of Gent) to know where the winds that he has filtered come from. And other things as well....

This time, I will again become the 'ghostwriter' of Zorigto, and will write this blog on the basis of emails and pictures.
Zorigto explaining the measurement chambers to his ghostwriter

We are very thankful to the Rector of the University of Liège, Prof. Bernard Rentier, who accepted to give an interim contract to Zorigto because the prolongation of the BELDIVA project is not yet finalized.
I hope that you will enjoy this new set of adventures.
Cheers, Annick

Preparation of the trip to Princess Elisabeth Station

2010-12-19T12:31:00.001+01:00

In October, Zorigto was packing the big box, where several kilos of material were placed. This box was transported to the army logistic center by Marie-José Mano and finally sent by ship. The box contained spare parts for the Open Top Chambers, as we realised last year that they were quite fragile in the cold conditions: the plastic became very breakable. He also took a geologist’ hammer.

Another work for the preparation was the improvement of the experimental device for the measurement of the photosynthetic efficiency of the microbial biofilms with the fluorometer. Two types of improvements were carried out:
1) The company Photon System Instrument has made two changes. The first is to make a special compartment for the batteries linked with a cable to the instrument. This allows to keep the batteries warm under the jacket. Otherwise, in the cold, the batteries empty very quickly. The second change was to add a remote control, so that Zorigto does not need to lie on the ground and push buttons. These were very practical changes, that will facilitate the measurements of the daily cycles.

2) Zorigto decided to make a small measurement chamber, with an opening that would fit the FluoPen. He made two versions, one without walls and one with plastic walls. The purpose of the latter is to obtain a temperature increase in the chamber and study the effect on the photosynthetic efficiency. It all started with a pen and paper, and the chamber was kindly made by the technicians of the General Workshop of Mechanics of the Faculty of Sciences, Michel Leroy et Michel Colin, that we thank for their helpfulness and efficiency!.

Drawing of the chamber and calculation of the surfaces

Model in carboard

Prototypes with the sensors and a coin for the scale

Gradual development of the measurement chambers

To improve the design, we have benefited from the help and brainstorming of Josef Elster (http://www.ibot.cas.cz/index.php?p=lide&id=31) and Thomas Hájek (http://www.butbn.cas.cz/hajek/index.php), from the Institute of Botany in Trebon, Czech Republic. Zorigto and myself have spent there two weeks in August 2010 in the frame of a bilateral cooperation between Wallonie-Brussels-International and the Czech Republic.
Thomas testing the Aquapen on a plant leaf and a cyanobacterial culture
Josef, Zorigto and Thomas brainstorming

The maps of the region of Usteinen and the work of Benoit Lahaye (Ulg)

2010-12-10T21:40:00.003+01:00

A good map is always handy! Therefore, on the advice of Frank Pattyn (ULB), we contacted the geomaticians at ULg: Prof. Jean-Paul Donnay and Yves Cornet (http://www.geo.ulg.ac.be/cms/index.php?page=home) last year. They quickly reacted and proposed two research subjects to undergraduate students in Geography. Benoit Lahaye started a project to make a mid-scale mapping using the available satellite images. Florence de Francquen decided to make a feasibility study concerning the use of a drone to carry out a high accuracy mapping by photogrametry.
For his work, Benoit collected the satellite images available on LIMA (http://lima.usgs.gov/view_lima.php). Then, he had to paste them together, and make complex treatments to add information, like the coordinates, the topographic names…. He also used models for the altitudes. Unfortunately, it happens that the station is on one map, and the Sor Rondane Mountains are on another one.

This summer, Benoit came to discuss with Zorigto, myself and Wim Van Nieuwenhuyze (University of Gent) who was also working in the project BELDIVA. He showed us several versions of the maps, with different constrast levels. With some settings, it was possible to see distinctly the relief of the ice, but the rocks were all black.

With other settings, which we preferred, the relief of the rocks were more visible.

Benoit showing the different contrast levels

Wim, Benoit and Zorigto discussing

In September, Benoit and Florence successfully presented their undergraduate thesis.

Origin of Life and extremophilic organisms

2010-05-19T13:58:00.007+02:00

If you are interested by the origin of life and the extremophilic microorganisms, including the Antarctic cyanobacteria, Prof. Emmanuelle Javaux (Geology, University of Liège, Belgium) was interviewed by 'Semences de Curieux', a radio broadcast of 'The Premiere' of RTBF (http://www.rtbf.be/lapremiere/).
1st broadcast; http://www.rtbf.be/radio/player/lapremiere?id=75312&e=
http://podaudio.rtbf.be/pod/LP-SDC_Semences_de_curieux_09-05-2010_-_Javau_8046465.mp3
2nd broadcast: http://www.rtbf.be/radio/player/lapremiere?id=87372&e=
http://podaudio.rtbf.be/pod/LP-SDC_Semences_de_curieux_16-05-2010_-_Javau_8046769.mp3

A video on the scientific activities at the station

2010-04-08T22:01:00.001+02:00

If you wish to see the scientists in action, there is a video on the website of the Belgian Station:

http://www.antarcticstation.org/index.php?s=no&puid=435&uid=443&pg=1&category=11

Article in 'Le quinzième jour'

2010-03-17T13:35:00.002+01:00

A paper on Zorigto's work in the Journal of the University of Liège: Le 15e Jour (In French):
http://le15ejour.ulg.ac.be/jcms/prod_14543/pole-sud?currentEdition=192&id=prod_14543

Le 15e jour du mois, mensuel de l'Université de Liège

Pôle Sud
Un microbiologiste russe de l'ULg explore l'Antarctique

La Belgique étudie la diversité microbienne antarctique dans le cadre du projet Beldiva de la Police (Note: ce devrait être la Politique) scientifique fédérale, auquel participe l'université de Liège. Zorigto Namsaraev, postdoctorant russe de l'ULg, vient de passer six semaines au pôle Sud. Ce Moscovite de 33 ans originaire de Sibérie a commencé sa carrière au Winogradsky Institute of Microbiology de l'Académie des sciences de Russie. En décembre 2008, il a décroché une bourse mobilité du FNRS et rejoint l'équipe de la microbiologiste Annick Wilmotte, au Centre d'ingénierie des protéines de l'ULg. Il était déjà venu à Liège en 2007, comme boursier de la Politique scientifique fédérale.

Zorigto Namsaraev s'intéresse de près aux bactéries photosynthétiques dans les milieux extrêmes. L'été 2009, il a passé une semaine en Arctique, dans une station tchèque sur l'archipel du Svalbard, au nord de la Norvège. A la mi-février 2010, il est revenu cette fois du continent antarctique, où il est resté un mois à la station belge Princess Elisabeth et deux semaines à la station russe Novolarevskaya. Ces périples lui permettront de comparer les cyanobactéries (bactéries réalisant la photosynthèse) des deux pôles. En effet, le microbiologiste russe a collecté des échantillons de biofilms -communautés de micro-organismes (bactéries, algues, hampignons, etc.) repérables à leurs pigments colorés servant à la photosynthèse. Ces organismes dits autotrophes subsistent sans apport de substances organiques : l'eau, le soleil et l'air (le dioxyde de carbone) et des éléments minéraux suffisent.

Le chercheur a installé au-dessus de biofilms des open top chambers (OTP). « Il s'agit d'un hexagone avec des parois de plexiglas -pour laisser passer la lumière et les ultraviolets et protéger du vent -ouvert sur le dessus », précise-t-il. Les mesures prises par des micro-capteurs permettront de comparer la température et l'humidité à l'intérieur et à l'extérieur des OTP. La température ambiante varie de -12° à 0° -c'est actuellement l'été -, tandis qu'à l'intérieur de l'OTP, elle peut augmenter de 7 dégrés. L'évolution de la biodiversité sera suivie par photos et échantillonnages à long terme.

Le chercheur moscovite a également filtré de l'air (pour étudier la composition et la provenance des particules biologiques transportées par les courants aériens), mesuré l'efficacité de la photosynthèse avec un fluorimètre et prélevé des échantillons de cryoconites (poches d'eau fondue à cause de la présence de poussières sombres absorbant la chaleur du soleil isolées sous la surface de la glace). « Les cryoconites intéressent l'astrobiologie qui s'interroge sur la possibilité d'une vie sous la glace sur des planètes comme Mars. »

Les données récoltées sur le long terme montreront comment la biodiversité antarctique réagit aux changements climatiques. Zorigto Namsaraev espère retourner là-bas l'année prochaine afin d'approfondir ses recherches.

Eddy Lambert

Informations sur le site http://antarcticabelgium.blogspot.com

© Université de Liège -http://le15ejour.ulg.ac.be -17 March 2010

Impressions from Josef Elster

2010-03-09T19:36:00.012+01:00

Dear colleagues, and friends,

Annick has asked me to write my personal observations during our Princess Elisabeth and Schirmacher Oasis stays. When I was in Antarctica, we have been so busy for most of time that it was quite difficult to do this chronicle. Finally, we are at home now, and I will try to give you a small account of our expedition. I would like to thank Annick who has invited me for the expedition, and BELSPO who has financed my participation to BELDIVA, as well as Zorigto, Elie and Steve with whom I have been working.
The team in action

I also appreciated the friendship and collegiality of all members of the Belgian Antarctic expedition, mainly Alain and Gigi. I really appreciated it. I have learned a lot. Science, management and technology of the Belgian Antarctic activities are quite unique. I have been several times doing research in the Arctic and coastal Antarctica, but this was my first experience in a really continental place. I have brought home a lot of experiences which I will use in my future Arctic and Antarctic research.

I am also very glad that I could work with Zorigto on all the experiments. I am very interested by the experiment with the OTC, which simulates a climatic warming.

In addition, I also appreciate that we decided to measure the photosynthetic activity of soil crusts by fluorometry.

I believe that the combination of fluorimetry together with the molecular analyses of soil crust and the estimation of cyanobacteria and microalgae cell numbers and biovolumes will help us to understand the reaction of microbial communities to climate change. The study of cryptogamic soil crusts under a slight warming in continental Antarctica is really important.

The cryoconite study that we have performed was quite impressive. We have visited a lot of localities, where we have drilled cryoconite sediments from various depths, cryoconite sizes, etc.

I am really wondering how many strains we will be able to isolate and if the single strains will differ from each other? At this moment, we can only speculate that cyanobacteria occurring in cryoconite sediments can originate from different geographical areas and could be stored in ice for different time periods (from one year to several thousand years).

The experiment of air pumping and the collection of dust transported by air for microbial DNA analyses is also very interesting.
Here, Zorigto is on the top of the shelter and installs the pump outlet.

I am really interested in these results. A few years ago, we have shown that there is a special group of pigmented bacteria which is transported at very large intercontinental distances. Special pigments probably protect these cells against UV radiation.

Finally, both our laboratories are interested in the origin of the Antarctic cyanobacteria. We know from our previous studies that a large part of cyanobacterial communities differ from their counterparts from other parts of world. In addition, we have been working for several seasons in the northern part of Antarctic Peninsula (South Shetlands, James Ross Island). How do these cyanobacteria differ from each other? There are many questions we would like to answer. I collected many samples from various habitats, 36 samples from the Princess Elisabeth area, and 28 from Schirmacher Oasis
Black crust near the PE stationLeptolyngbya antarctica, Schirmacher OasisSoil crust in Schirmacher OasisEndolithic community, Schirmacher Oasis

We will isolate cyanobacterial strains from these samples in my laboratory and together with my Belgian colleagues, we will perform a collaborative study of their diversity. A good thing is also that we benefit this year from a bilateral cooperation between Wallonie-Bruxelles International (WBI) and the Czech Republic, to visit each other.

Best regards, Josef

Last email from Schirmacher Oasis and trip to Cape Town

2010-03-02T15:44:00.007+01:00

Thursday 12 February
Dear all,
Here is my second and last email from the Schirmacher Oasis. When the wind speed has decreased enough, we have started to go the glacier near the Oasis, and we continued to drill cryoconites. The glacier bordering the Oasis, where you can see a lateral view of the cryoconites

It is a kind of 'addiction': once you start drilling, you cannot stop anymore;).

In contrast to the cryoconites in the Sor Rondane Mountains, here, the ice lids were much softer and to drill them was a real pleasure. Not more than 5-10 minutes of work. Moreover, the quantity of water, sediments and biofilms was also higher here!

Then, I started to understand why Andy Hodson had advised us to drill a dozen cryoconites, at minimum. He probably was used to 'normal' cryoconites, whereas the permanently cold conditions near the Belgian base were quite extreme and resulted in cryoconite holes with a deeper ice lid and less good conditions for the microorganisms.
The size of the cryoconites in the Schirmacher Oasis is in general smaller than in the Sör Rondane Mountains. This is probably due to the different origins of the cryoconites. In the Mountains, a large fraction of the cryoconites originate from stones and boulders falling from the rocks. There is not so much dust there. In contrast, on the glacier above the Schirmacher Oasis, they can originate only from the dust transported by winds from the Oasis.

The window of good weather that was predicted by the meteorologists was relatively short and the Ilyuchin Il-76 could arrive on each of the days. We were informed that, at any moment, we could be asked to go with all our luggage to the Novo Runway. The only problem was with the feeder flights with the smaller Basslers. Contrary to the giant IL-76, the Basslers were more sensitive to high wind speeds.
Indeed, it was quite windy on the Novo Runway when we arrived there on the 11th. Our friends from the Princess Elisabeth, who had to fly back with us to Cape Town, were lucky to be in time on the Novo Runway. However, a big group of Germans from the Neumayer station could not make it. The weather on Novo was too harsh. ALCI decided to change the route. Instead of a direct flight to Cape Town, we went first to Troll station. There, we picked the German team and only after that, we left to Cape Town. We landed safely, and on the 14th, we took a flight to Frankfurt. Josef left there, to go back to the Czech Republic. I arrived in Belgium on the 15th.

The expedition is not finished until all the samples have arrived in the laboratory to be analysed, but for us, the field work is done.

After all these days in Antarctica I would like to thank the personel of the stations "Princess Elisabeth", "Novolazarevskaya", Novo Runway, "Maitri" and "Troll" for their hospitality.

Special thanks go to Alain Hubert, Gigi, Rene Robert, Alain Trullemans, Sanne Bosteels, Koen Verschraegen, Jurgen Van Obberghen, Olivier Diez, Kristof Soete, David Gladsteen, Pierre Soete, Sylvain Doucement, Johan Berte, Dominique Corbisier, Sven Kerremans, Karel Moerman, David Rigotti and Irina Gorodetskaya. Sorry if I forgot to mention somebody. It means that I didn't find your name in the list with e-mails.

Our work and life on Novolazarevskaya would be much more difficult without the help of Valery Lukin, Viktor Venderovich, Dmitry Fedorov,Mikhail Shorkin, Maxim Chistyakov, Alexander, Ivan, Yaroslav and Nadya. Our transportation would be impossible without efforts of ALCI members: Alexey Turchin, Oleg Sakharov, Vasily Kaliazin, Vladimir Kiryanov, Vladimir Baranov. Last but not least, the pilots of Basslers and IL-76, led by Ruben Esayan.

Many people in Belgium supported us before and during expedition: Maaike Vancauwenberghe (BELSPO), all members of the laboratory of Dr Annick Wilmotte, Alexander Mangold, Andy Hodson, Willy Maenhaut, Laurence Vanlede.

The work of the BELDIVA team was supported by the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office. Zorigto Namsaraev is supported by a post-doctoral fellowship from the Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique - FNRS.

Cheers, Zorigto

Work in Schirmacher Oasis

2010-02-08T18:11:00.001+01:00

Dear all,
Finally, the weather has improved enough, so that Josef and myself could start our sampling expeditions and Elie and Steve could start the coring of lake sediments.
We have sampled near Lake Melkoye, spied by a curious skua.
The skuas are very daring and if you turn your head, they can steal things in your backpack, a bit like the magpies. The Commander told us that he has found in their nest, metallic pieces that they just had stolen from him! So, beware!

We have observed much more 'green flakes' and biofilms in this Oasis than at the Belgian Station. The conditions are clearly milder and better for the development of the microorganisms. In addition, the abundance of the mosses is striking. It seems that they occupy the terrestrial biotopes as soon as there is a bit of humidity.

On the stones that are under water, we can see a thick biofilm, with a quite orange colour, a bit hairy-like.

The hardest work was still to come. In order to core, Steve and Elie needed a lot of heavy equipment. As the Oasis is ice-free, there was no possibility to go with a skidoo and a sledge to the lakes. Everything had to be transported in the backpacks. Eventually, Steve and Elie lured us into helping to transport their material in exchange for a honorary membership of the Belgian Society of Paleolimnology! We could not resist such a great honour, and sweated happily for this reward!
Very tired, I wish you a good night! Zorigto

Arrival at the Schirmacher Oasis

2010-02-04T13:50:00.001+01:00

Wednesday, 3 February 2010
Hello again,
We have arrived on the last day of January to the Novo airstrip, after saying good-bye to the Princess Elisabeth. Everything was well organised. We were first transported from the plane with big, fancy Toyota. People told me that they had been used for a traverse to the South Pole last year. Now, they serve as transit vehicles.
But the best was to come..... an orange transformed Russian tank!

We arrived smoothly to the Station of Novolazarevskaya, made of prefab buildings. I notice that the Belgian flag is floating there, as it is a custom to display the flags of the nationals who are hosted by Antarctic stations.

We are lodging in a guest house of ALCI, it is quite cosy. We eat with all other people at the mess of the station, and we can enjoy some sporting facilities, like the local billiard.

We have met with the Director of Russian Antarctic Expedition, V.V. Lukin and thanked him for his support and the hospitality of the Station. He was there and, in fact, he took the same flight as Francois who was also flying with us from PES. I did a presentation about our project and about the Princess Elisabeth station. Everybody was very interested in their closest neighbour from the eastern side (410 km).

People are very friendly and hospitable. As we discover this new place, the scientists present help us with the orientation and the choice of the right spots for analysis.
Elie and myself speaking with a Russian scientist, Dimitry Fedorov

Unfortunately, at present, we cannot use their advices because the wind is about 20 m/s (72 km/h) and will not decrease soon. It's too windy even for the sampling of lithophytic cyanobacterial crusts which are very abundant here. Any sampling on the ice sheet or coring from the boat is, of course, absolutely impossible. The only experiment that we could start is air filtration. Fortunately, we have transported with us the air pump from the Princess Elisabeth. Moreover, Denis Lombardi who arrived with the same Bassler with which we left, has brought the anemometer that Nicole van Lipzig has given to him. We have installed the vacuum pump on the meteostation in the Eastern part of the Oasis. The wind is coming directly from the East. In fact for such expeditions, it is good to have 2 types of experiments: one for good weather and one for bad conditions. So at least, half of experiments will be done!

Waiting for better weather, we decided to pay a visit to the neighboring Indian station, Maitri. From there, I send you this blog!
Elie with the Maitri station Commander

Cheers, hopefully with some pictures of the Oasis! Zorigto

Climatic changes simulation and « Open Top Chambers »

2010-02-01T15:38:00.001+01:00

Hello,
Maybe that you wonder what are the Open Top Chambers, that Zorigto is placing at different locations in the region of the Station?

For the projects ITEX (http://www.cevl.msu.edu/ael/projects/tempmanip.html) and Tarantella (http://www.ipy.org/projects/item/410-tarantella-terrestrial-ecosystems-in-and-Arctic-Antarctic), the Open Top Chambers (OTC) were developed to simulate the impact of climate change on terrestrial ecosystems in the short and long term in polar regions (Arctic and Antarctica). OTC are small greenhouses that increase the temperature (average of 2 ° C) and humidity, and decrease the wind strength.
The establishment of a long-term experiment in polar regions request a simple, strong experimental procedure, that does not depend on a energy source because of harsh climatic conditions. For example, at Signy Island (Sub-Antarctic Island), a OTC was blown away by the wind. The choice of the structure and especially its fixation on the rock surface are very important because, during the austral winter, the station is closed and nobody can repair damages.
Thus, the selected OTCs have the form of a hexagonal pyramid with an open top allowing exchanges with the outside and a limited temperature increase.
Microprobes measuring temperature and humidity are placed in these structures in order to monitor these parameters during time in the OTC. Controls sites are also selected with similar initial conditions to assess the modifications due to natural environmental changes. This allows to distinguish between natural variations and those due to conditions present in the OTC. Annual monitoring of diversity and coverage of communities will be carried out.

Our OTC have been built by the technicians of the General Workshop of Mechanics of the Faculty of Sciences, Michel Leroy et Michel Colin, that we thank for their helpfulness and efficiency!

We have ordered the screws, the ropes to anchor them, and other accessories. Here, you see Zorigto and myself testing the first prototype of OTC built at the Workshop.A real Légo!!

Here, you see Zorigto placing two OTCs on the Teltet nunatak.

While building them, we were dreaming about the possible effects of the OTCs on the Antarctic biodiversity!

Marie-José Mano (PhD student)

Simulation de changements climatiques et les « Open Top Chambers »

2010-02-01T15:37:00.001+01:00

Bonjour, au cas où vous vous demandez ce que sont ces 'Open Top Chambers' que Zorigto a placé dans différents sites près de la Station, voici une description.

Dans le cadre des projets ITEX (http://www.cevl.msu.edu/ael/projects/tempmanip.html) et Tarantella (http://www.ipy.org/projects/item/410-tarantella-terrestrial-ecosystems-in-arctic-and-antarctic), les « Open Top Chambers » (OTC) ont été développées pour simuler l'impact des changements climatiques sur les écosystèmes terrestres à court et long terme en région polaire (Arctique et Antarctique). Les OTC sont des petites serres qui augmentent la température (en moyenne de 2°C) et l'humidité, et diminuent la force du vent.
La mise en place d’une expérience à long terme en région polaire demande un procédé expérimental simple,très résistant et ne dépendant pas d’une source d’énergie à cause des conditions climatiques difficiles. Par exemple, à Signy Island (Ile Sub-Antarctique), une OTC a été emportée par le vent. Le choix de la structure et surtout de sa fixation, ici sur une surface rocheuse, est très important car durant l’hiver austral, la station est fermée et personne ne pourra réparer ce qui aura été endommagé.
Ainsi, les OTC que nous avons sélectionnées pour BELDIVA ont une forme de pyramide hexagonale avec une ouverture au sommet permettant des échanges avec l'extérieur ainsi qu'une augmentation de température moins forte.
Des microsondes mesurant la température et l’humidité sont placées dans ces structures de façon à suivre l’évolution de ces paramètres au cours du temps dans les OTC. Des sites contrôles sont aussi sélectionnés, présentant des conditions initiales similaires pour pouvoir évaluer les modifications dûes aux changements environnementaux naturels. Ceci permettra de faire la distinction entre variations naturelles et celles dûes aux conditions présentes dans les OTC. Un suivi annuel de la diversité et de la couverture des communautés sera effectué.

Nos OTC ont été réalisées par les techniciens de l'Atelier Général de Mécanique de la Faculté des Sciences, Michel Leroy et Michel Colin, que nous remercions pour leur serviabilité et efficacité!

Nous avons commandé les vis, les filins pour les ancrer, et autres accessoires. Ici, vous nous voyez, Zorigto et moi-même, en train de tester le premier prototype des OTC construites à l'Atelier. Un vrai Légo!!

Voici le résultat: Zorigto installant deux OTCs sur le nunatak de Teltet.

Tout en la construisant, nous avons rêvé aux effets possibles de l'OTC sur la biodiversité Antarctique!

Marie-José Mano (doctorante)

27 January, Wednesday

2010-01-28T20:07:00.005+01:00

Hello,
Today we went to Pingvinane and Tanngarden. We collected the data from the loggers placed in the granite outcrop on the Northern side of Tanngarden (couple of km to the SW from Pingvinane) and from Pingvinane nunatak. The highest temperature outside of the OTC was observed in Tanngarden and it was +17 C!!. The highest temperature inside the OTC was also observed in the same site. It seems that the windskoop at this site is the most interesting place from a biological point of view.
Interestingly, the mean temperature in Teltet was higher than in Tanngarden, despite the fact that we cannot see biofilms. Thus, the absence of visible life is not due to the meteorological conditions, but some other factors, maybe linked to the rock structure and stability? In addition, I collected some biomass from the OTCs and the control sites outside.
Moreover, we have collected dust from the aerosol traps (pancake forms) in Tanngarden and Teltet.

Back at the station for a snowbath!

Karl, Olivier and Sylvain working on the electric installation of the SSS, with Koen and John (not on the picture).

At the station, Johan and the guys have done their best to equip the Southern Scientific Shelter with electricity and drill 2 small holes to insert the tubing of the pump. As the wind is stable (SE or E), we have started the filtration of air. Tomorrow, we will drill again into the cryoconites.

19-24 January

2010-01-28T19:42:00.008+01:00

Hello,
The last week has been so busy that it was difficult to find time and energy to write the news. Now, I am trying to make a small synthesis of our activities.
We have installed all the OTCs with their microsensors and data loggers.

The OTCs on the Teltet nunatak

Zorigto reading the data loggers on the Teltet nunatak

We have visited the Vengen ridge, the Teltet nunatak, the small "japanese" lakes near Kanino-tume Peak near the Ketelersbreen glacier, the tertiary moraine at the beginning of the ‘dry valley’ between Ketelersbreen and the Southern slope of Vikinghoda massif.

View from the Vengen moraine in the direction of the Kanino-tume peak and the Ketelersbreen glacier (note of Annick: this peak is really impressive. Last year, when we went there with the Japanese geologists, the weather was grey and foggy, and when discovering the peak, it looked like a middle-age fortress garding the passage to the valley, with something frightening about it)
In the Vikinghoda massif, we have found a quartz block on a ridge, measuring 5x5 meters approximately. If we look at the place where the block is entering into a thin layer of sand, there is a green layer of photosynthetic organisms.

The Petrelnutten windskoop

We have visited all the granite oucrops in this area until Petrellnuten (last nunatak behind Pingvinane).
When we come back, there is always a small emotion to see the characteristic shape of Utsteinen raising above the ice.

It appeared that the diversity of algae in Ketelersbreen was only due to the fertilisation by birds living on Kanino-tume Peak. In fact, this area is not good for further studies. We didn't installed OTC there because there were no biofilms, except for the cryptoendolithes.
There are clear differences between the gneiss ridges with nonstable moraines and low number of biofilms on one side and between the granite nunataks with stable surfaces and a high number of biofilms on the other side.
Probably, the distribution of biofilms can be explained by the stability of substrates (granite vs. gneiss) and the low growth rate of biofilms. Except granite, there are 2 other types of rocks which are stable. It's Tonalite and Cyanite, but their outcrops are quite far and it is not possible to go there this year.

We measure currently the daily cycles of fluorescence measurements on the ridge. As they were difficult to interpret, I have sent them to Bart Ghysels and Fabrice Franck who study photosynthesis at the University of Liège. As we will have all meteorological data that was recorded by the meteostation here, we'll be able to compare them with temperature/humidity that we measure on the surface of rocks.
Cheers, Zorigto

Pictures from René

2010-01-24T18:20:00.008+01:00

As Zorigto is probably too busy to make a new message for the blog, I was very pleased to receive a mail from René Robert, from the Station. Last year, René has been our field guide for the first excursions that we did, but he did many more things: setting up our tents, showing us how to use crampons, skidoos, how to walk on ice, etc… in a very friendly way. He knows the mountains very well, as he is from Chamonix (Alps, France), and he is a skilled photographer (rene@photorobert.com). The pictures that are on the official blog of the Station (http://www.antarcticstation.org/?&lg=en) are generally made by him. So, I cannot resist to share with you his beautiful pictures. Merci René! Annick
Here you can see Josef scratching the green material on a stone into a sterile bag. By microscopy, it will be possible to identify which organisms are present, but there could be lichens, algae, cyanobacteria, bacteria, etc.

Zorigto is walking in a windscoop.

This year, they returned to Ketelersbreen. Last year, René and Jeroen had made nice pictures of a mother Petrel with her chick. At the same place, this year, René found again a mother and child. In his blog of 2009, Jeroen was describing the petrels, and I include his text again here. "The area was a breeding site for Snow Petrel and we found many dead chicks, it seemed a feast for hungry Skua’s, cause here and there we saw the traces in the snow of feeding Skua’s. The Snow Petrel chicks that were still alive were so cute in their grey down feathers, a pity that many will not survive either, because it was already late in the season and the weather became too cold and snowy. I was fortunate to spot an adult bird between the stones and I could photograph it easily. What a beautiful bird it is, completely white apart from the black eyes, beak and foot. It is a magnificent view when you see the white silhouettes of these lovely birds against the azure skies, while flying above the mountains". (from the blog of Jeroen Van Wichelen (18/02/09)

In the places where Petrels are nesting, their guano is enriching the soil with nutrients and it is possible to see green algae with the naked eye. It is probably a kind of Prasiola, but this should be confirmed by microscopy.

Here, Josef is installing the OTCs. There are always two OTCs, and a control area without OTC but within the same biotope. Then, the microsensors are installed, to measure temperature and humidity.

Zorigto is taking samples, maybe from a mat. He is using sterile tubes with blue caps, and is busy writing all information in his field logbook. I recognize that he is using my green bag.

18 January, Monday : briefing and plans

2010-01-23T19:41:00.004+01:00

At 9 o’clock, we had a briefing with Alain Hubert and the field guides. The weather is expected to be a bit cloudy, but without strong wind.

The plans for the following 2 weeks are the following:
19 January, Tuesday - Elie, Steve, Alain Trullemans, Sanne and Irina go to Brattnipane with a Prinoth.
19 January - Zorigto, Josef and Rene will go to the Teltet nunatak to install the OTC, loggers, pancake traps and to carry out sampling
20 January - Alain and Irina come back with a Prinoth
21 January - Zorigto, Josef and Alain go to Ketelersbreen to install the OTC, loggers, pancake traps and to carry out sampling
23 or 24 January - Alain goes to Brattnipane with a Prinoth to pick up Elie, Steve and Sanne
26 January - Alain, Elie, Steve and Sanne come back from Brattnipane
27 January - All BELDIVA/DELAQUA team goes to waypoint Ping01 with 2 field guides. Zorigto, Josef and Alain go to Pingvinane to collect data from the previously installed loggers and set it to a recording periodicity of 3 h so that they can record for one year. After that, we want to go to the remaining nunataks of Pingvinane that we have not yet visited. Elie, Steve and Sanne go to the lake (Northern Vikinghoda).
28 January - Zorigto, Josef and Alain take a one day trip to Ketelersbreen and Teltet to collect the data from the already installed loggers and set them to a recording periodicity of 3h, so that they can record measures for 1 year.
29 January - final packing, arrival of a feeder flight from Novo
30 January (Saturday) - flight to Novo.

This maps shows you some of the places where we intend to go. Brattnipane is about 50 kms from the station and it is useful to go there with a Prinoth.

Of course, everything depends on the weather.

After that, we had a meeting with Johan Berte about the SSS (Southern Scientific Shelter) and the installation of a pump there. Our purpose is to install a pump to filter the air there, because this shelter is well situated. We would like to know which types of organisms can be found in the air, and whether they resemble the ones that we observe in our terrestrial samples. This afternoon, there will be a planning meeting and after, Johan will tell us when approximately we could start.

Irina Gorodetskaya gave us a plot of the meteodata from the ridge. It's very interesting and we can try to find a correlation between the surface temperatures (that we measured) and the meteorological conditions. Also, we'll do fluorescence measurements on the ridge and in an "oasis". For us, an ‘oasis’ is a spot that allows for the growth of algae, cyanobacteria, mosses, etc.
After reading the data from the loggers installed on the ridge, we have chosen the periods where we should take measurements to have a complete daily cycle: between 7-9 h (night-day transition), 11-13 h (peak of incoming radiation, but rocks are still cold), 16-17 h (highest temperature of rock surfaces), 19-20 h (day-night transition), 21-23 h (night). Between these records, we'll continue to sample the cryoconites behind Utsteinen. And we shouldn't forget the installation of passive aerosol traps (pancake) on the ridge.

I think that the coming week will be very busy, and probably, I will not have much time for the blog before Sunday!
Cheers, Zorigto

What are cryoconites?

2010-01-18T17:47:00.007+01:00

The name comes from “cryo” = ice et “conite” = dust (Nordenskjöld, Greenland 1870. These formations can be observed on both poles and in glaciers of mountains. When dark matter (rocks, sediments...) falls on the white surface of ice, it takes up the heat of the Sun in summer and melts locally the ice. The dark matter goes down, as more ice is melting. The hole can vary very much in length and depth, Zorigto tells us that he has found 5 m long ones, for example.
www.people.cornell.edu/pages/bhk8/undergrad1.htm

In summer, when the hole is open, microorganisms can fall in it, and a small living community can develop. In winter, an ice lid is formed, enclosing the inhabitants but some liquid water can remain. In summer, the lid is melting and the community can continue to slowly grow, years after years. It is now realised that, if cryoconites are very numerous in glacial regions (difficult to survey), that could change the nutrient balance of these biotopes as there would be more carbon, nitrogen, etc.. than thought.
The Canada glacier (Mc Murdo Dry Valleys is melting, and shows a kind of 'transversal section' through the cryoconites (A. Fountain)

The ice is flowing to the sea or following the glacial streams. When the cryoconites arrive at a zone where the whole glacier is melting, they melt away and disappear. However, the microbial communities are then released and act like a 'seed population' to colonize the soil that has just been deglaciated. Zorigto was this summer in Svalbard with the Czech colleagues and Josef, and he could witness how a cryoconite that he spotted and into which he had inserted a sensor, vanished within a few days, due to the high melting speed in the Arctic.

Storm, a bit of rest, and reflexions

2010-01-17T18:24:00.005+01:00

16 January, Saturday.
The storm has started in the night. The wind speed in the first half of the day was 20 m/s, and in the Afternoon, it decreased to 18 m/s.

The visibility is about 10-15 m. The tents are covered with snow and the fine powdery snow gets everywhere (pockets, toilets etc.).

We move along ropes. The ropes were installed by the people of the station and connect all important buildings. So, by following them, you can be sure that you will not get lost. Last year, Pierre almost went lost in a white out. The air temperature is about -4, -5 C, and the humidity is high (probably about 90%). The forecast is not good; tomorrow, the wind speed will be lower, but the storm will only really end on Monday. Probably, we will only be able to go to
the field on Tuesday. Elie and Steve will go to Brattnipane with the 2 field guides, we will go with Rene to Ketelersbreen and Teltet.

After a week of non-stopping work, we were pleased to have a rest, thanks to the storm. I even slept half an hour after lunch (siesta!) and took a bath. It gives a good feeling. Josef slept before lunch and was late for it, so we were worried. We started to look for him, asking people who has seen him and when? From the windows of the station, the storm looks quite strong, but our tents are very good and the whole territory is properly marked with ropes.

We had a problem with electricity in the dry lab. The -80 freezer consumes 4.7 A and it is a lot. In the night, it switched off an interruptor (6 A) and temperature increased from -60 to 0 C. In the afternoon, the problem was solved.

Looking to the weather conditions and analysing the data obtained during this week, I think that it would be interesting to estimate the length of the period that allows cyanobacterial activity during the year in Antarctica and the probable number of cell divisions per year.
We will have meteorological data from the station, microclimatic data for rock surfaces in areas well and less protected. In addition, we'll have the fluorescence signal that will show us whether photosynthetic apparatus is active or not and we'll have information about the dominant organisms. With this data, we can try to define the meteorological conditions during which the cyanobacteria are actively growing and extrapolate it for the whole year. The second part of the work is to estimate a doubling time for the cyanobacterial cultures isolated from Sor Rondane at different conditions (T°, maybe humidity). Also we'll need to test the fluorescence of the cultures in these conditions and see how it changes in laboratory conditions. For this type of work, the temperature gradient table should be working.

17 January, Sunday

Due to the storm, we cannot do much. Thus, we started the day with a quiet breakfast. Steve is photographed here with his BAS tee-shirt, having an English breakfast and reading the Sunday Times. A real British gentlemen!

Cheers, Zorigto

Pingvinane and installation of two new OTCs

2010-01-17T17:57:00.014+01:00

15 January, Friday

Sunny, mild wind SE. At 9 o’clock, we met with our field guides at the base and at about 10, we went to Pingvinane on 4 skidoos with 2 sledges.

We were a party of 6 people, the 2 field guides (Alain and Sanne) and 4 scientists. In the morning, we broke one of the OTCs, so we took a third one.
After about half an hour driving, we arrived to the Ping01 waypoint, that was marked with 2 bamboos with flags. There, we separated into 2 groups: Elie, Steve and Sanne, Josef, Alain and myself. There are several nunataks in Pingvinane, situated on a straight line. When you see them from far, it looks like a series of pinguins following each other. I guess that this is the reason of their name? But there are really no pinguins here, it is too far from the sea.

At 11:30, we arrived at the 1st Pingvinane. Probably, it was not visited by Annick last year. A small valley at the Northern slope of the nunatak attracted our attention. It seemed to be well protected from dominant SE and E winds. It was well exposed to the sun and there were patches of snow on the slope above. We took 3 OTCs but broke them all!! So, when we tested the construction in Liège, it seemed really good, but the device seems quite fragile at low temperatures. They were also maybe shaken too hardly on the sledge, as the ice can be a bit bumpy. It is quite a problem that we did not expect!
In the deepest part of the valley (eastern corner) and most protected from the winds, we found a black biofilm on the gravel under a patch of snow. The rock surface temperature was +4.5 C, but there was only -1.8 C in the air. For Damien Ertz (lichenologist at the Belgian Botanical Garden), I have collected a red lichen, 2 m to the East in cracks of a big stone. This area could be good for an OTC installation, but the best place is located on a slope and thus, is not suitable for OTC installation, as we need a flat surface.

At the eastern side of a nunatak in a windscoop, under a big stone on the North side, there were big green patches of Prasiola sp (a green algae). In addition, there were many bodies and skeletons of snow petrels that fertilise this area and stimulate the growth of Prasiola. That was already observed in 2007 by Damien, concerning the areas of the Utsteinen nunatak that were situated below the nests of petrels.
Again, we found a nice cryoconite (making a long stream under the ice. 0.5-1 m width). It is located at the entrance to the blue ice field and Alain broke its lid just by tapping with the foot. Indeed, the lid was only 1-3 cm thick, the total depth was 14 cm, and there grew a biofilm above a thick layer of sediments. The temperature inside on the surface of the biofilm +1.1 C. There was not a lot of water, but the sediments and sand were wet.

Then, we visited the 2nd Pingvinane nunatak, located to the North from the 1st. It has relatively small size and doesn't have a well protected area behind. We collected samples on the North-Eastern slope. It is exposed to the wind E-SE, and thus, only the areas between stones are more or less protected. This place was visited by Annick according to Alain, who was here with Karolien and Annick last year. Here I collected a black biofilm on gravel between stones. The weather is sunny, but windy.

We continued with the survey of the 3rd Pingvinane nunatak. It was also visited by Annick last year. They worked on a SW-W slope that is big and relatively flat.

It is protected by a big snow ridge and have long blue ice field behind. Alain’s scooter had crampons to be able to ride on ice, but mine didn't. Alain went first on the ice and managed quite well, but I and Josef started to rotate on ice, then we stopped. Alain came back with sledges and took us. Josef was sitting on a sledge and was moving to the right or left side of a skidoo, when we were turning.
Then, we went to the Northern slope of the nunatak that was not visited by Annick. There were very well protected and flat areas composed of gravel and a lot of sun. Surprisingly, we didn't find any visible biofilm on the surface. There was even a pool of a liquid water (+5.8 C), but no visible living communities! Probably this area is not stable enough for the formation of surface biofilms. However, when we started to dig 3-4 cm below the surface of the gravel, we found a big piece of fine matter. I have collected this sample, as it could be a very fine soil with sand or it could be a former biofilm that was later covered by gravel during snow melting.
Under the gravel (10-20 cm depth) there was ice.
We can add a fourth condition for the formation of a visible biofilm in this area in addition to first three - the substrate must be stable. The possible period of time for active life is not long in Antarctica and if the area is regularly disturbed, biofilms cannot recover.

Then, we started to repair the OTCs. In fact, it was good that we broke one in a morning because we could use its parts for repairing the other 2 OTCs. We went first to take the skidoo that was left behind, in the middle of the ice field. I was sitting on mine and Alain was sitting on his skidoo and was pulling mine with a cord.

After that, we returned to the SW-W slope to install the OTCs there. This area is mostly exposed to the sun during the second half of the day because it is oriented to the W. The temperature of the surface before installation was up
to +12.1 C whereas the T air was -2.4 C. We marked it in Josef’s GPS as a waypoint OTC 3&4. A microsensor for temperature was installed inside OTC3, and a humidity one inside OTC4. An additional microsensor to record the temperature was installed outside the OTCs in the control area. This area is marked with 3 spikes, each side of the control area is about 1 m long. The distance between the OTCs and the control area is between 2.5 and 1.4 m. I collected a black biofilm on the gravel.
At about 17 h, the sky started to become covered with clouds.

We went by skidoos to a waypoint Ping01 and waited there for Elie, Steve and Sanne. They had switched off their radio because it was interfering with the ground penetrating radar. As we did not have any news, at 18 h, Alain and Josef went to see them. When they returned, they told me that the other group was still working and will come back later.

We started to ride and at 19-19.30, we were back at the camp.

The weather is becoming worse and we expect a snow storm in the night. Only after coming back, I realised that we didn't install pancake forms anywhere. We want to use them as passive traps for aerial particules, in the hope that we can find some living material. This type of ‘equipment’ (in fact, used for cooking cakes!), is used by American colleagues in the Mc Murdo Dry Valleys. At the SCAR meeting in 2008, Annick discussed with Marie Sabacka of the lab of John Priscu, who gave some information. Of course, there is probably more transport of aerial matter in the Mc Murdo Dry Valleys, because of the numerous lakes, seasonal rivers, microbial mats… Anyway, we will install them after the storm. It is better, as they probably would become immediately covered with snow.
Cheers, Zorigto

DELAQUA in Vikinhogda

2010-01-16T20:46:00.003+01:00

Yesterday, Steve Roberts and myself went sampling in Vikinhogda within
the framework of the DELAQUA project. We went there on a skidoo and the
trip was quite bumpy. It took us 40 minutes to get there. The weather
was nice and sunny. We successfully surveyed an ice contact lake using
the ground penetrating radar. These lakes are permanently frozen, with
the exception of a small area near the littoral zone which periodically
becomes ice-free during sunny and warm days. The water from these lakes
is derived from melting snow in the catchment area. To date, it is not
know which kind of organisms inhabit these lakes and whether they can be
used to reconstruct pas climate changes, comparable with the lakes near
the Antarctic coastline (e.g. in Schirmacher Oasis). There, each year
the organisms living in these lakes fossilize and become part of the
sediments. If the different layers in these sediments are dated and the
fossils analysed, we can reconstruct past changes in the environment or
climate. On our way back from Vikinhogda, the weather was changing.
During the evening, the mountains surrounding the Princess Elisabeth
station were covered in clouds...

During the night winds were blowing stronger and in the morning we had
our first white out here.

This means that visibility on the ice sheet is nearly 0 due to snow being blown away by the wind and additional snow falling from the sky.

We had to remove the snow from our tent in order to get out. In the picture above, you can see Sanne trying to dig out his tent.
I am very happy the people here worked so hard during the past years, so we are now able to work inside the very comfortable environment of the base. Everybody is very friendly and supportive by the way.

According to the forecast, the bad weather conditions will remain until
Tuesday. Hopefully, we can subsequently go out for our next sampling
campaign to Bratnipane, where we hope to find some interesting moraines.

Cheers, Elie Verleyen

Heavy drilling, and microclimate study

2010-01-15T19:00:00.001+01:00

14 Jan, Thursday.

It was a bit windy in the morning (SE-E) and mostly cloudy. After the successful finding of cryoconites yesterday, we wanted to go back. It was much-much-much harder today!! The ice was thick and hard and the drill easily blunted. For one of the cryoconites, it took us about an hour to finish the drilling! Three men were pressing on the drill and a fourth was rotating.

We went with Rene and David. David installed a microphone under my windproof jacket and filmed us. But when they saw how we were suffering with the drill, they participated to help us. Without them, it would have been much more difficult.

In total, we have drilled 5 cryoconites. The temperature of water was 0.5 C. The pH was around 7.6. However, we need to measure again because the battery of the pH meter died during the first measurement. The short life of batteries is a real problem in this cold environment!

We discovered that the higher cryoconites had a thinner ice lid but contained no water anymore. The ones lower on the slope had a thicker lid and more water.

Then, we went to a kind of "oasis" on the Northern slope of Utsteinen. It is well protected from SE and E winds, directed to the North and has a snow field above.There are even streams of liquid water. All good conditions to find Life and indeed, under a big black flat stone with water flowing on its surface, I have found cyanobacterial biomass on the gravel. The temperature at the surface was +4 C , whereas it was -7.1 C in the air. By curiosity, I have installed a temperature microsensor on a bamboo stick at 2 m altitude, to compare the conditions between this ‘oasis’ and the ridge (where I also have installed a sensor at 2 m altitude). In addition, we will be able to compare the cyanobacterial diversity in these two sites with the same rock type, but different microclimates. Something like "Cyanobacterial diversity in relation to microclimatic conditions".

Zorigto

Discovery of cryoconites and heating by OTCs

2010-01-15T18:38:00.002+01:00

13 January, Wednesday.

It is sunny, with a moderate wind. In the morning, we decided to go first to the ridge and to check the fluorometer in field conditions. Our plans for the afternoon, is to go to the cryoconite field and try to open some of them. After 16.00, we will need to go and read the data from the temperature and humidity loggers. In addition, we need to develop a system that will allow to mark a selected area of biofilm for measurement with the fluorometer.

Why do we want to use this hand-held fluorometer? It can measure the chlorophyll fluorescence (OJIP) and thus, the ‘in vivo’ photosynthetic activity. As we are interested in photosynthetic organisms (cyanobacteria, algae, mosses, lichens), we can measure how efficient is their photosynthesis and understand whether they are stressed or happy under their Antarctic life conditions. This kind of apparatus is used, for example, in agriculture, to know if plants in the fields are stressed.

We have insulated the fluorometer but still, the battery runs out very quickly. I have to put it after each OJIP measurement under my jacket to warm the battery a little. Also, it would be better if this fluorometer would have the buttons and display on the upper side, because now it is not convenient to work with it. Results of fluorescence measurements were quite bad. Thanks to earlier measurements, I know that the apparatus works well. Thus, probably, the reason of the weak signal is due to the low temperature during measurements. The conditions are likely more extreme for the fluorometer than for the organisms! We will try in warmer conditions.

After lunch, we went to the blue ice field behind the Utsteinen nunatak (approxim 1 km from station). There were 4 cryoconite fields, mostly located within 100-200 m from slopes or moraine. We had a usual manual drill (4.5 cm diameter, 1 m length). There were cryoconites up to 5 m in diameter .

We didn’t drill the biggest but 4 of the small ones. Still, it was a lot of work. The thickness of a lid is between 2 cm and 20 cm. The ice lids had a lot of cracks and in one big cryoconites, we could clearly see bubbles inside.

The thickness of the liquid water phase was about 1-2 cm, the sediments were mostly composed by a big sandy grains about 3-4 mm diameter.

In the biggest opened cryoconite (60 to 30 cm size and 2 cm lid), there were patches of biofilms on the sand. The thickness of biofilms was up to 0,5 cm. Microscopy - dominated by the cyanobacterium Phormidium sp.

It seems that these cryoconites were formed once and long time ago, because we havn't seen any modern cryoconites without lid and the temperature was -3 C.
The surface of the blue ice field was clear, there was no deposition of sand coming from the nunatak. Nearby located cryoconites were connected to each other. When we drilled the lower located cryoconite after the upper one, the water was going out from the lower and decreased in the upper hole.

On the way back, I have checked the Southern shelter. There were 2 cm of snow on Alexander’s box in the corner, but in general everything was OK.

At about 17.30, we went again to the ridge to read the data from the microsensors. I was curious: will the OTC have a big effect on the temperature and humidity of the rock surface, compared to the control conditions? I took the Toughbook computer where the reading programme is installed to see how it works if the whole installation is put in environmental conditions. It works well but the problem was the low light intensity of the screen. It was still possible to work anyway. Major results: the OTC increases the temperature up to 10 C compared to the control (10 and 0 C) during the day. However, during the night, the surface temperature goes down to -11 C. So, it means that direct sunlight is necessary to increase the surface temperature. More information can be obtained from my diagrams, but I don't have any time to work on it.

We have also worked on the marking of biofilms without disturbing them. This is necessary because we want to make multiple measurements at different times, of the same part of the biofilms or living communities. We have installed several systems to mark a biofilm sampling position on the ridge, to compare them. There might be problems with snow deposition etc.
Today, electricity was installed in the 2 dry labs. They are 2 six meter containers with a lot of equipment. If I had known about it, we could have done better plans for the expedition. It's calm here and I work with my notebook here. The atmosphere in the station is too much ‘office like’. From the lab container, I can see Pingvinane and the people going for supper to the kitchen tent.
The sentence of the day is the exclamation "I don't have this equipment in my lab", each of us is repeating it with some hint of jealousy. Let’s dream! We have decided with Elie that we need here a 454 sequencer, because the more classical Sanger sequencing is not for a 21th century station!

Major results of the day: the test of the fluorometer, the discovery of cryoconites with liquid water and cyanobacterial biofilms, the reading of temperature data from the loggers and the finding that the OTC increase strongly the temperature
.
In the evening, I have talked with my parents. They say that it has become much warmer in their city in Siberia (Ulan Ude), it is now -32 C instead of -38 C. Here, it is about -11 C in the night and it makes them laugh!

Cheers, Zorigto

The first two OTC are installed!

2010-01-15T17:56:00.002+01:00

12 January, Tuesday.

It is sunny, with no wind in the morning. I cannot believe it, but it is +24 C in my tent in the morning!
Then, a moderate wind starts to blow from the South-East during the day and in the evening, it changes direction to the West.

A part of the Station people has left for the traverse to the Coast, including our guides Sanne and Alain. During a recognition visit to the ridge we have found the square marked by Steve Roberts last year in the area 18 marked by Damien Ertz in 2007. We would like to make it as a reference area. It starts right after the 2nd antenna for the GPS and finishes before the cairn on top of the ridge. I saw several microscopical slides installed by Annick last year. We have selected 2 places for OTCs. Around 11 o’clock, we went to the ridge to install the OTCs. David Gladsteen was already waiting for us with a camera. He will use the videos from a briefing. He intends to use the OTC installation for a short video that will be placed on the Web-site of IPF in a few weeks. In addition, Josef collected some gravel from various sites around OTCs (integral soil sample).

OTC 1 was installed before the cairn in the middle of the square marked by Steve last year. The temperature inside was +3.2 C, and outside, it reached +0.3 C. However, the air temperature was freezing, -7.2 C. The contrast between the temperatures of the air and the rock surfaces is amazing! The rocks can really accumulate a lot of heat during sunny days!

We have installed a temperature microsensor inside the OTC, and one outside, about 30 cm further as a control. Readings of the temperature started at 16.00 and will continue each 10 minutes. We have surrounded the area with OTC 1 with 3 bamboo poles fixed by stones between rocks. All of them were connected with a red 3 mm rope. One of bamboos have a red flag from JARE 51. It can be easily seen from the station. We'll see whether they will survive a winter. We had fantasies that a webcam could be installed at a window of the station and we dreamt of being able to control in real time if the OTC was still OK.

The OTC 2 was installed behind the cairn, near the number 19 painted by Damien in 2007. The temperature inside was +4.9 C, and outside, it was -0.3 C. We installed also a humidity sensor. All sensors started to read at 16.00 o’clock, with an interval of 10 mins. We surrounded the area with bamboo poles also.

Looking for the places where living communities could be seen (like the black biofilm above), showed that these places should be protected from the wind, exposed to the sun, below a snow deposit that will give melt water.

Thus, when we went back to the Station, we had reached important results with the installation of 2 OTCs and data loggers, and protective barriers (bamboo poles and red ropes).

Tomorrow we need to :
1) go to the ridge after 16.00 (one day of functioning), collect the data loggers where temperatures and humidity are recorded, and read the data from the loggers. If everything went well, we will install them again, so that they can function till the end of January. Before leaving Utsteinen, I will set them for a longer sampling period (one data per 3 hours, that will enable records for more than a year).
2) In the morning we'll go to the cryoconite field with a drill to test the depth and size of cryoconites. Don't forget: drill, pH-meter, Winkler test, ruler.
3) Insulate the fluorometer that allows to test the photosynthetic efficiency.
4) Develop a system that will allow to mark a 1 cm area of biofilm without disturbing it. It will be necessary for the fluorometer observations (idea of Josef)
5) Test of the fluorometer in a field conditions with a good weather.

The weather forecast is good for next days, but starting from Friday, the weather will become worse. It will be bad on Saturday and may be Sunday. We need to find what to do during these days, probably we'll not be able to go to Pingvinane. In Antarctica, the weather has the final word about a lot of things.
Cheers, Zorigto

Arrival and two first days at the Station

2010-01-15T17:12:00.005+01:00

9 January, Saturday.

After 2 hours of flight from Troll, we have arrived to the Princess Elisabeth Station.The Bassler airplane is not pressurized, so that some passengers suffered from the lack of oxygen and the high temperature inside the cabin.

Before the arrival to PES, I have taken air pictures of Pingvinane and Utsteinen.

We arrived quite late at the station (around 23.00 of local time).

Our tents were already installed, the supper was ready, and wine and beer were waiting for us on tables. The temperature inside my tent was +3 C, and in the morning, as the sun is very fierce, it raised up to +17 C.

10 January, Sunday.
There was a moderate wind at the end of the night and the first half of the day, and it was cloudy. The second half of the day was better. However the forecast for the following days is good. For us, the weather forecast is very important and it is made by a meteorologist at the German Neumayer Station. The people at the station are very friendly. They have shown us where all the facilities were located, how to use them etc. It is a Sunday, so the majority of people doesn't work.

Me and Josef have assembled the OTCs. In total, we has 10 OTCs, but one of them broke. In fact, we had brought two additional ones as back-ups. For example, they could serve if one OTC is flying away with strong winds. We were a bit worried about this possibility, as we know that it has happened in Signy Island (Sub-Antarctic Island). It took us about 4-5 hours in total to complete the assembly. I wanted to look at the scientific hut, South of the Station, where the apparatus of Alexander Mangold was placed. The door was frozen so I couldn't open it alone.
I have built a snow wall at the most windy side of my tent. I have enjoyed this. Probably it was the first time that I was doing it, since my childhood, when we loved to build snow fortresses! It seems that I did not forget the skills. A bit later, I was able to check my e-mail box from the station.

11 January, Monday
There was no wind today and the Bassler left the station this morning. We had a briefing with Alain and Gigi, the field guides Sanne and Alain Trullemans (both from the Belgian Army) and the 5 scientists (Elie and Steve, Irina, Josef and me). David Gladsteen (cameramen of the expedition) filmed us. We have discussed about plans. We get important information ; that the field guides leave the base from 13 to 14 Januray for the traverse to the sea coast, Alain and Gigi are going to meet the Japanese expedition from 27 to 29 or 30 January, and the electricity for the 2 scientific containers will be installed on 13 January. Gigi showed us the pictures of a non-frozen lake. This is great news, as last year, Jeroen and Steve spent a lot of time trying to find lakes. Gigi will be able to collect more samples during the trip to the Japanese scientists. I will do the microscopy of already available sediments. It is also decided that if the weather is good, we'll go to Pingvinane on Friday (15 Jan).
A less good news is that this year, there is a lot of snow (probably more than in 2007). This means that we can expect some difficulties in locating the microbial communities, because we would be buried in snow.
After this briefing, we had a field training with the guides: all about the camp, Prinoth, ski-doos, radio, Inmarsat, Iridium phones, GPS, climbing, crampons, safety on glaciers, installation of tents. I was very proud as my tent was shown as a good example of wind protection with a snow wall. With a radio, we have learnt to use the following system (if I call to Josef): Josef, it's Zorigto, over. Zorigto, it's Josef, over. Josef, it's Zorigto, radio check. Zorigto, it's Josef, radio check. To conclude the conversation, at the end - Josef, it's Zorigto, out. It is a bit long and fussy, but avoids misunderstandings.
We went around the nunatak on ski-doos and now I understand why people pay money for that!

A very important finding of this day was a field of cryoconites at the foothill of Utsteinen. The closer to the slope, the bigger and more numerous they were. Some of them are very big, probably more than a meter in diameter. All of them have frozen lids, that are quite soft and are composed of big cristals of ice. Lids could be broken, but they are deeper than 20 cm, so we will need to use a drill. On the surface of snow, there were cryoconites also.
This is very promising, and with this nice discovery, we went back to the camp.
Cheers, Zorigto

Antarctica is a small world

2010-01-10T19:06:00.004+01:00

Usnea antarctica,hi.is
antarctica.ac.uk
In the Antarctic summer 2006, I was establishing a new research project in James Ross Island (at the eastern side of the Peninsula). We had been working on the messa (table mountain) at Bibby Point with my PhD student, Olga Bohuslavova. We have established there 6 Open Top Chambers and 3 snow barriers. The messa was covered with the lichen Usnea, it was really amazing to see such a cover! This species produce a very dense community, which looks like grass. The aim of our study was to learn how this community will react during a slight warming or slight cooling. Indeed, it is well known that the Open Top Chambers induce a small temperature increase, whereas the snow barriers increase the deposition of snow and cause a cooling and increase in meltwater in summer. When we were working, far from any human settlement, we were surprised to see two silhouettes against the horizon. They just came as from Mars. We had not listened any helicopter. They came in our direction. Who could they be? We were happy to see human beings in this desolated area. They spoke to us, and now, I realise that one of them was Steve! So, this is our second meeting, and it will last longer than a just a chat!

Steve and I appreciate to share the spirit of a Belgian Antarctic expedition!

Josef Elster

Saturday: a long journey

2010-01-09T19:55:00.005+01:00

Saturday 9th January,
At 5.00 this morning, we have got a small breakfast at Hotel Lady Hamilton and took a taxi to the airport. There, among the flights to Paris, Vienna, Frankfurt, a strange name is standing: 'Antarctica'. And indeed, we have to check the luggage as one does for a regular flight! There is even a gate where 'Antarctica' is written.
Finally, the Illiouchin started to fly around 8.30. After 6 hours of flight, we arrived at the Troll station. One hour before landing, we were asked to put our warm clothes on. When the door opens up, the contrast is almost schoking. All white and blue. It is sunny, with a temperature of -2°C. The expected departure to the Princess Elisabeth Station is expected around 18 or 19H.
See you soon, Zorigto

PS.
1) more information on the Logistic Center of ALCI that is running the DROMLAND network and produced the map above : http://www.alci.info/
2)If you want to see the weather in Troll, try : http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/89504.html
3) There are also nice pictures of the Troll Castle at : http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/countries/queen-maud-land-antarctica-photos/#31519_600x450.jpg

Zorigto Namsaraev

2010-01-08T17:22:00.005+01:00

Zorigto Namsaraev is a microbiologist working in the Center for Protein
Engineering of the University of Liege (Belgium) (www.cip.ulg.ac.be) and the Winogradsky Institute of Microbiology from the Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow). Extremophilic bacteria are at the center of his scientific interests. Zorigto has joined more than 15 expeditions in Siberia, Mongolia, North America, and the Arctic. Currently he has a 2-year FNRS funded post-doc fellowship to study the biogeography and ecology of polar cyanobacteria in Ulg with Annick Wilmotte (www.bipoles.ulg.ac.be).

Zorigto Namsaraev and Marie-José Mano (PhD student working on BELDIVA) showing a satellite map of the Sor Rondane region, sent by Dr Yves Cornet (Geomatics Department, University of LIège)

During the 2010 expedition to Antarctica, Zorigto plans to carry out several
experiments: installation of Open-Top Chambers for local simulation of global warming; sampling of rocks, biofilms, cryoconites and sediments; filtration of air to estimate the potential of aerial transport of cyanobacteria; study of a daily cycle of photosynthetic activity using a fluorometer; and measurement of microenvironmental conditions using temperature and humidity sensors.
The goals are to estimate the potential of microbial communities to respond to climate change, to study the biodiversity and the factors driving it, and which are the real environmental conditions experienced by the microorganisms in their microniches.

DELAQUA

2010-01-08T15:58:00.006+01:00

The DELAQUA project is funded by the Antarctic Inbev Baillet Latour Fund Award and aims at studying the deglaciation history and past changes in ice-sheet thickness and climate in the Sør Rondane Massif (East Antarctica) during the late Quaternary. Elie Verleyen has won this 2-year fellowship, starting in 2010. In 2010, Elie and Steve Roberts (British Antarctic Survey) will work for the DELAQUA project and collaborate to the BELSPO BELDIVA project.

More information?
http://antarctic-station.org/index.php?/news/recherche_a_la_station_princess_elisabeth_delaqua/&uid=407&lg=fr

http://www.inbevbailletlatour.com/media/misc_media/PB%20IBL%20Polar%20Foundation-fr%20dec%2008.pdf

http://www.inbevbailletlatour.com/index.cfm?ee=3|336

Elie Verleyen

2010-01-07T20:25:00.003+01:00

Elie Verleyen is a member of the laboratory of Protistology and Aquatic Ecology of the University of Gent. He has been involved in the LAQUAN project during his PhD research, which was mainly focused on the reconstruction of past climate changes and variations in sea-ice extent and ice-sheet thickness in coastal Antarctic regions using biological proxies in lake-sediment cores.
Elie was the recipient of the Antarctic Baillet-Latour fellowship award in December 2008 and will work on the DELAQUA project.
http://www.inbevbailletlatour.com/media/misc_media/PB%20IBL%20Polar%20Foundation-fr%20dec%2008.pdf

The Schirmacher Oasis

2010-01-07T20:10:00.006+01:00

Dear reader,
Maybe that you are wondering what the BELDIVA team is going to do in the Schirmacher Oasis? Indeed, when they will leave the Princess Elisabeth station at the end of January, the four scientists will go to the Novolazarevskaya Station (abbreviated “Novo”, I guess you imagine why :)). It is located in the Schirmacher Oasis, an ice-free plateau of about 35 kms2. In Antarctica, ‘oases’ is the name of ‘ice-free’ regions. It is one of the smallest one, with a width of around 3.5 km, a length of about 20 km and an average altitude of 100 meters above sea level. The average annual temperature is -10.5 C, ranging from -0.9 C in summer, to -22 C [2] in winter. A number of theories exist about the formation of the oasis that include geothermal heating, intense insolation, or the ice flow being blocked by a geological feature such as a mountain (see Wikipedia). The Oasis contains Maitri (India's second permanent Antarctic research station) and Novolazarevskaya Station (a Russian research station).

When we were waiting in Novo last year, Irina organized a small excursion for the group with a Russian guy. He took us to a small deglaciated area, from which we had a nice view of the Schirmacher Oasis. We could see a big blue lake, an amazing view in the middle of the white ice cover!

In fact, there are about 100 freshwater lakes in this Oasis. So, this is a very interesting region to study from the point of view of its microbial diversity. Moreover, sediment cores taken in the lakes could probably give information on the past climate.
Cheers, Annick

7th January

2010-01-07T19:33:00.004+01:00

Thursday 7th January

Dear all,

Though the weather is very nice and hot in Cape Town, it is quite bad in Antarctica and we could not leave today, nor tomorrow.

Today we had a meeting in the ALCI office concerning the transportation of the
BELDIVA group and their work in the Schirmacher Oasis.

The participants were Vasily Kaliazin (ALCI), Oleg Sakharov (operation manager ALCI), Josef Elster (USB, BELDIVA group) and myself.

Josef was especially pleased to meet Oleg, who was a overwintering chief of the Russian Bellingshausen Station on King George Island (South Shetland Islands). Josef visited the Bellingshausen Station in 1997 and 2004, and thus they had shared memories.

We informed ALCI about our plans. On the 9th January 2010, we will fly together with all
the other Belgians to Troll and then to PES. We will stay at the Princess Elisabeth and the region around the Station till the 30th January. At that date, Elie, Steven, Josef and myself will fly to Novo (the Russian airstrip). The airstrip is about 10 kms from the Russian scientific station, Novolazarevskaya, which is in the Schirmacher Oasis. We will work there till the 11th February, when we will take the flight back to Cape Town.

I was wondering if we will be able to carry out an air filtration experiment during our stay at the Russian station. I was pleased to hear from Vasily and Oleg that this will be possible. Indeed, the area where the meteorological instruments are installed (~100 m from a station) has a 220V plug. The precise organisation of the experiment will be discussed with the personnel of the station. I will communicate with Alexander Mangold (Meteorological Institute of Belgium) who is also involved in this experiment and wanted to send us some special quartz filters. Maybe that we can ask if somebody can bring them, at the following trip from Belgium to Antarctica?
There remained the problem of the filtration pump, that we have sent from Belgium and is among the equipment that will go on the plane with us. We decided that the best was to bring it from the Princess Elisabeth station with us to Novolazarevskaya. When we leave, we will organize with the chief of the Novo basis, its coming back to Princess Elisabeth station. An important information is the weight, because the cargo of the Bassler is limited. But there is no worry, as the pump should only weight about 12 kg.

Vasily and Oleg ask to know our plans in advance, so that they could make the necessary arrangements. It is very nice to hear that they will help us as much as they can.

Best wishes,

Zorigto

PS. Latest news: On the 8th January, we will drop our luggage at ALCI, to include in the cargo of the Illiouchin. This contains all our things, except a set of warm clothes. The later will be taken in another hand bag in the plane, so that we could change in the plane. Indeed, we will start the trip from Cape Town in tee-shirt! On the 9th January at 5.30, we will leave the hotel to go to the airport. The plane will leave at 8.00.

Josef Elster

2010-01-06T18:00:00.009+01:00

http://www.sinicerasy.cz/

Josef Elster is a polar ecologist at the Botany Institute of the Academy of Sciences. He also teaches at the University of South Bohemia and the Masaryk University in his country. He is interested in the ecology and ecophysiology of algae in natural, extreme and man-made environments.

Josef Elster has already carried out 15 research expeditions to the Polar Regions (The Arctic – Svalbard - 1988, 1997, 2001, 2003, 2004, Ellesmere Island 1991, 1993, 1994, Northern Sweden – Abisko – 2006, Antarctica 1996, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007). He had a 26 months postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Toronto, Canada, and has spent 6 months at the National Institute of Polar Research, Tokyo, Japan,. Moreover, he made several short stays at various institutions.

However, it will be the first time that he will work in continental Antarctica, as he generally went to more coastal areas, like King Georges Island or Ross Island where the Czech Republic is running a Research Station.
http://www.radio.cz/fr/article/86310

Annick Wilmotte

Steve Roberts

2010-01-06T17:27:00.007+01:00

Steve est un scientifique travaillant pour The British Antarctic Survey à Cambridge,
Royaume-Unis.

Il travaille sur le climat et sur le projet Climate and Chemistry Pole Equator (CACHE-PEP). CACHE-PEP est un projet de recherche de 5 ans étudiant des relevés faits dans des lacs ou des carottes de glace en rapport avec le changement climatique (niveau de la mer) passé (paléo) depuis les 20,000 dernières années et cela depuis la Péninsule Antarctique jusqu'au Sud de l'Amérique.

Au cours de ces dix dernières années, nous avons collecté des carottes de sédiments de plusieurs lacs de la Péninsule Antarctique. Nous avons l'intention de relier ces relevés à d'autres, similaires, provenant du Sud de l'Amérique et d'intégrer ces informations du changement climatique passé avec des modèles de changement régionaux et globaux et avec des changements climatiques et du niveau de la mer.
Cette recherche contribue à un programme de recherche de reconstruction climatique internationallement coordonné réunissant des données sur le climat le long d'un transect latitudinal depuis le Nord jusqu'au pôle Sud, en passant par le Nord et le Sud du continent américain.

Monday and Tuesday, waiting in Cape Town

2010-01-06T17:23:00.005+01:00

Monday 4^th January

We arrived well in Cape Town on Monday. The air temperature was +28 C, with a nice blue sky. Josef merged with us in Frankfurt, and Steve in Cape Town. At the arrival, Michel de Wouters met us and we also collected some equipment from him. The Zarges box with our equipment has arrived and will be put on the plane. The briefing at ALCI will happen on Tuesday, and the flight should leave on the 7^th January early in the morning. The arrival in Troll (Norwegian Station) is planned around 13.00. Arount 15.00, we will fly to the Princess Elisabeth Station with the Bassler. We all hope that the weather will be good.

The whole BELDIVA-DELAQUA team:

Tuesday 5^th January

Today, we had the ALCI briefing. The flight will be on Friday or Saturday morning. We are waiting for information. In fact, we cannot really complain. Steve says that Cape Town as well as Tasmania are the best sites to go to Antarctica. Steve has worked several times in Antarctica, but was waiting for the flights in the Falkland islands. The weather there is much worse by comparison to Cape Town and waiting for the BAS flight to Antarctica is not so pleasant as here.

In addition, we had a small meeting of the BELDIVA team. We discussed our plans and tried to establish a coordinated action. I will start with the installation of the Open Top Chambers on the Utsteinen ridge, to get an experience of the installation of these devices in real conditions. It is the first time that we will install them, and hope that we designed them well and that they will be easy to fix in the rocks. We also must install the sensors (linked to loggers registering the data) into the OTC, to monitor the environmental parameters. Then, we want to go to Pinguinane all together. Josef and me, we will make sampling and install other Open Top Chambers. Steve and Elie want to work there for several days. We can use their rock saw (with engine) to install the Open Top Chambers J!

After that, Josef and me, will visit Ketelersbreen and Teltet. These places are not too far, and it could be easier to install the Open Top Chambers, because there are more stones that could be used to fix the OTC. We will see on the spot.

During the second week, we will stay at the Station and make some measurements, like a daily cycle of the photosynthesis of biofilms and mosses. In addition, we will start to filtrate the air, to get an idea of the aerial transport of microorganisms in the air. Then, before leaving the Station, we will go back to all the OTCs to collect the data from the loggers.

Zorigto Namsaraev

The new BELDIVA expedition!

2010-01-05T19:37:00.004+01:00

Dear all,

The BELDIVA-DELAQUA expedition for 2010 has left ! In Brussels Airport, Elie Verleyen (University of Gent) and Zorigto Namsaraev (University of Liège) took a flight in the evening of the 3^rd January.

They joined a party of 5 persons, including a very important figure, David the cook! From my experience, I can tell that they will have nice meals! Moreover, Irina Gorodetskaya, a meteorologist from the University of Leuven, also departed. Her supervisor, Nicole Van Lipzig was waiving her goodbye, before going herself to Utsteinen on the 26^th January. In addition, Wim Van Belle from Schneider, Luc Marot and Michael Durdu were going to work on the electronic installation of the Station.

In Frankfurt, they will be joined by the third BELDIVA member, Josef Elster (University of South Bohemia) and in Cape Town, Steve Roberts (British Antarctic Survey) will arrive directly from London. Then, the team of four will be complete and will wait in Cape Town for the flight to Troll and then, to Usteinen.

So, with this blog, we will try to keep you informed about the BELDIVA 2010 expedition, the activities and daily life of the four scientists involved. Cheers, Annick Wilmotte

Samples collected near Princess Elisabeth Station -- BELARE 2009

2009-06-16T11:42:00.014+02:00

The samples collected near the Princess Elisabeth Station during the BELARE 2009 campaign were distributed among several Belgian and European laboratories. Part of the samples collected by Dr Annick Wilmotte are studied at our lab, in the Center for Protein Engeneering of the University of Liege (Belgium). We use a polyphasic approach which includes a molecular study using 16S rRNA gene sequences, an isolation of cyanobacteria in culture and a microscopic observation of environmental samples and isolated cultures. In the slides below, we present some preliminary results of the study of cyanobacterial diversity and several other groups of microorganisms.

Zorigto Namsaraev

Enquête - Onderzoek - Survey

2009-03-31T21:16:00.005+02:00

Pour mon stage de dernière année d’études en Relations Publiques, j’ai réalisé ce blog sur la mission BELDIVA en Antarctique.
L’objectif de ce questionnaire est d’obtenir vos avis sur ce blog. Je désire analyser la mise en place d’un tel outil et l’impact qu’il peut avoir en termes de communication.
Était-ce un outil de communication efficace ?
Je vous remercie de prendre le temps de répondre à ces quelques questions et de me faire parvenir le document à l’adresse suivante : carolyne.heynen@hotmail.com

Questions

Voor mijn stage in vorig jaar in Public Relations, ontwikkelde ik deze blog over de missie BELDIVA in Antarctica.
Het doel van deze vragenlijst is uw mening over deze blog te bekomen. Ik wil opzetten van een dergelijk communicatie-instrument en het effect in termen van communicatie analyseren.
Was de blog een doeltreffend communicatie-instrument?
Dank u om de tijd te nemen om deze vragen te beantwoorden en om mij het document op het volgende adres toe te zenden : carolyne.heynen@hotmail.com

Vragen

For my internship of last year of studies in Public Relations, I designed a blog on the BELVIDA mission in Antarctica
The aim of this survey is to obtain your opinion on this blog. I wish analyze the implementation of such a tool and the impact it can have in terms of communication.
Is a blog an effective communication tool?
I thank you to take the time to answer the questions and to send me back the questionnaire at the following address: carolyne.heynen@hotmail.com

Questions

Jeudi 19 février 2009 - Annick Wilmotte

2009-03-10T11:44:00.009+01:00

Ce jeudi, notre dernier jour à Cape Town, nous décidons d'aller à Kirstenbosch, le jardin botanique (www.sanbi.org). Il est situé à quelques kms de la ville, au pied de la 'Table Mountain' et est très connu pour sa richesse botanique.

Nous découvrons un site très diversifié avec des jardins à thèmes et une réserve naturelle le long de chemins vers la 'Table Mountain'.

Près de l'entrée, nous admirons des sculptures en 'moonstone', des colibris colorés butinant des knifophias oranges,...

Il y a beaucoup de plantes aromatiques dans cette région, et elles sont rassemblées dans le Jardin des Parfums. Tout cela me rappelle l'Observatoire du Monde des Plantes de l'ULg, où il arrivait que je guide des groupes en anglais et néerlandais. J'aimais cet endroit et j'espère qu'il sera sauvé de la fermeture complète. Une des serres contenait la végétation de type méditérranéenne, qu'on trouve près de la Mer Méditérranée, mais aussi au Cap et en Californie.

Un jardin des plantes utiles, employées couramment par les peuples autochtones, entoure une hutte construite en argile. Je suis touchée par un jouet pour les enfants, un village en vannerie qui est offert à la naissance. Ce village invite à imaginer des histoires, tout comme nous jouions avec les villages construits en briques Légo.

Un peu plus loin, il y a un chemin 'Braille' où les aveugles peuvent suivre une grosse corde. Il y a des plaquettes explicatives en Braille, incluant des invitations à toucher des feuilles ou des surfaces.

Je remarque une Anchusa capensis, dont j'aime le bleu profond. Je n'avais pas réalisé qu'elle venait d'ici, et pourtant son nom 'capensis' l'indique bien. Il y a aussi des achillées, sauges, agapanthes, un buisson avec des 'ballons', des Cycadales, etc... Plus haut, une partie du jardin est dévolue au 'fijnbos'. Il s'agit d'un type de végétation typique de la Région du Cap.

Par habitude, je dirais presque 'par réflexe', mon regard examine les surfaces et les rochers. Il y a tant de choses à voir, des mousses, lichens, pellicules noirâtres qui sont sans doute des cyanobactéries, ... Tout est incroyablement riche, par comparaison avec l'Antarctique. Quel contraste!

Jeroen cherche à observer de nouveaux oiseaux qu'il identifie grâce à son guide ornithologique, tandis que Cyrille retourne les souches pour y trouver des insectes, qu'il nous montre. Les autres quittent les jardins et se dirigent vers la réserve naturelle.

Je retourne vers les jardins car les fleurs restent mes préférées et je ne me lasse pas de les contempler.

Je retourne en ville juste à temps pour racheter une pile pour ma montre et pour visiter les 'Jardins de la Compagnie', un parc en pleine ville, dans lesquels je suis passée rapidement en me disant qu'il fallait revenir pour prendre le temps de bien les regarder. C'est la dernière occasion.

Annick Wilmotte

Mercredi 18 février 2009 - Annick Wilmotte

2009-03-02T09:55:00.006+01:00

Se retrouver ce mercredi à Cape Town est un chouette moment de détente, qui fait comme un 'sas' après notre expédition. Prendre une douche, se coucher dans un lit confortable, mettre un tee-shirt, sentir l'air chaud sur la peau, prendre son petit-déjeuner dehors,... Trop occupée par tout ce qui se passait à Utsteinen, cela ne m'a pas manqué, sauf la douche, mais c'est bien agréable! Evidemment, il y a le bruit, la pollution, et autres problèmes liés à notre civilisation.

En Antarctique, le silence était souverain. Sur la base, il y avait bien le bruit des générateurs en journée et parfois, les éoliennes bourdonnaient en faisant comme un bruit lointain d'hélicoptères. Le froid était supportable grâce aux nombreuses couches de vêtements, la nourriture bien calorique et le fait que nous bougions beaucoup. L'IPF nous avait prêté quatres couches de polaires et coupe-vents, ainsi qu'une sorte de duvet synthétique à capuche, des lunettes de ski, un pantalon coupe-vent, une cagoule, des gants et moufles, un bonnet, et de grosses bottines de marque canadienne qui contiennent une bottine interne en feutre. Ainsi, on peut dissocier la bottine interne et la faire sêcher séparèment. Je dois dire que tout était si serré que je n'ai jamais su enlever la bottine interne, et c'est aux pieds que j'ai parfois eu le plus froid.

Ce n'était pas non plus évident d'enlever les gants pour prendre les échantillons, et d'ailleurs, Cyrille avait attrapé des crevasses au bout des doigts. Pour compléter notre équipement, il a fallu que nous achetions les sous-vêtements thermiques (tee-shirt et collants), les chaussettes et sous-chaussettes, tour du cou, sous-gants et des lunettes solaires avec la protection la plus haute, 4. J'ai aussi réutilisé du matériel acheté lors de mon expédition sur la Péninsule Antarctique, veste, pantalon, chaussures fourrées, ...Nous devions aussi amener un thermos, à remplir de liquide chaud avant de partir sur le terrain, pour nous réchauffer. Pour nous laver, il y avait un container 'Bath room' avec 4 cabines sur caillebotis. Des résistances chauffaient l'eau et l'air, mais il fallait bien penser à remettre des blocs de glace à fondre pour les suivants. Deux petits bassins ou bien un grand dans lequel on pouvait se tenir, permettaient de se laver. Notre guide, Alain, utilisait un système avec une espèce de pulvérisateur pour imiter une vraie douche. Quant au container 'Drying room', il contenait une jeanine qui faisait également fondre les blocs de glace qu'on y déposait et réchauffait l'air (en partie), des seaux dans lesquels on faisait sa lessive et un sèchoir avec des fils. Cela marchait bien pour les vêtements fins ou en synthétique, mais si on s'éloignait de la jeanine, les vêtements gelaient. C'était comique, ces tee-shirts devenus solides et qui tenaient tout seuls! Quant aux toilettes, cela me rappelait les toilettes sêches, avec sciure, sauf qu'après 8 usages, il fallait détacher les sacs plastic et les jeter dans un fût vide qui serait rappatrié à Cape Town dans 1 ou 2 ans, et remettre deux nouveaux sacs. Les messieurs avaient en plus, droit à un bel urinoir caché par un arbre en bois. Que vont devenir ces facilités? La station étant trop petite pour tous, je suppose que le camp restera?

Après un petit tour sur un marché artisanal, les autres vont en excursion à Robben Island, où est la prison où Nelson Mandela a séjourné. N'ayant pas encore vu le 'Waterfront', je préfère l'explorer.

Thomas et Sébastien travaillent sur le montage de leur film. Cela fait bizarre de se retrouver ici, mais sans Alexandre, Irina, Jean, Wim, Dries, Dominique, Jacques et Protect 77.
Je vois enfin le fameux poteau indicateur montrant la distance vers le Pôle Sud, et ne résiste pas à demander à quelqu'un de me prendre en photo en-dessous, comme Karolien à l'aller.

C'est la dernière soirée de Grégory, Steven, Dominique, Benoit, et Alain qui partent ce jeudi matin très tôt.

Annick Wilmotte

Mardi 17 février 2009 - Annick Wilmotte

2009-03-02T09:46:00.007+01:00

Ce mardi 17 février, après le petit déjeuner, nous rangeons les sacs de couchage et faisons nos valises. Puis, c'est l'attente dans la tente mess en discutant.

Thomas photographie la mascotte de son fils à côté du skua, qui vit à côté de la tente mess et est sans doute nourri avec les restes. Une nouvelle niche écologique pour cette espèce, qui est sans doute plus facile que la capture des pétrels des neiges et autres oiseaux.

Vers 11h, un premier avion atterrit et les occupants viennent nous rejoindre. Mais très vite, le logisticien russe vient nous dire qu'il faut montrer vite dans l'Ilyuchin, et que celui-ci décole dans 20 mins! Hum, le reste de l'histoire nous montrera qu'on n'avait pas besoin de se presser! Je saute dans le traineau avec Hugo, Jacques, et les journalistes.

Une fois dans l'avion, où un autre groupe d'invités est monté directement sans même pouvoir aller se désaltérer au mess, commence une longue attente. La porte est toujours ouverte et il fait désagréablement froid. Les pilotes ont commencé à faire tourner les moteurs, puis tout s'arrête. Nous attendons. On nous dit qu'un moteur est gelé. Puis, que c'est une fine tubulure amenant le kérosène qui est gelée, mais on ne sait pas y accéder. Les russes démontent une tôle, amènent quelquechose qui ressemble à un sêche-cheveu, puis un canon à chaleur qui ne marche pas. De l'arrière, on crie 'La porte'... comme si quelqu'un l'avait oublié, mais hélàs, nous resterons deux heures dans le froid à attendre que le fameux tuyau soit dégelé et qu'on remette la tôle (sans quelques vis qui n'ont pas pu être replacées!). Entretemps, l'équipage essaie de nous réconforter avec des sandwiches, du café et du chocolat.

Je demande à Jacques Brassine, assis dans la même rangée, s'il va prendre des vacances en rentrant en Belgique? Il répond qu'il a promis certaines tâches et qu'il n'aura guère de repos. Quelle énergie! Il est arrivé avec notre groupe et a beaucoup travaillé à la préparation de l'inauguration mais ce n'était qu'une partie de ses activités: il a vidé plusieurs containers, protégé des boiseries avec du vernis, fait les lits des invités à la Station, aidé à vider les containers d'ameublement.... et d'autres choses sans doute. Nous voudrions être aussi bien que lui quand nous aurons son âge! Il m'a raconté qu'il avait récemment passé son doctorat honoris causa en Sciences Politiques sur le sujet de l'assassinat de Lubumba. Il a fallu attendre que les militaires soient mis à la retraite pour qu'ils puissent raconter ce qu'ils ont vécu dans cette période troublée.

Après 6 heures de vol, nous atterissons à Cape Town. Il y a une caméra dans le nez de l'avion, et nous voyons les lumières de la ville et du champ d'aviation en direct. C'est impressionnant car nous avons eu l'impression que l'avion voulait atterir alors que la piste commencait plus loin. Effet d'optique. Nous récupérons les bagages et retrouvons avec plaisir le Lady Hamilton Hotel. Il est très tard, à cause du retard à Novo et nous partons de suite chercher à manger dans Long Street.

Annick Wilmotte

Lundi 16 février 2009 - Annick Wilmotte

2009-03-02T09:39:00.005+01:00

Voici notre dernier jour à Utsteinen! Que tout est vite passé!
Jacques conduit un petit groupe intéressé par les activités scientifiques vers le lac situé en face de la base, au pied du nunatak. Là, Jeroen et Steve doivent faire une démonstration de forage dans la glace.

Malheureusement, l'extrémité de la vrille est couverte de glace et Jeroen doit remonter à la Station pour casser la glace avec un marteau. Entretemps, Cyrille présente les collemboles et acariens, à la fois sur une pierre ramassée à Utsteinen et dans ses petits pots d'alcool. Il explique aussi leur biologie et leur évolution. Entretemps, Jeroen revient et le forage peut commencer. De l'eau jaillit, mission accomplie! Ensuite, je parle de la diversité des microorganismes et du projet BELSPO BELDIVA, pour lequel nous sommes venus. Il y a des journalistes de plusieurs organes de presse qui sont venus: Reuter, AFP, Al Jazeera, VRT et La Première... et des interviews ont lieu. Pascale, la journaliste de la RTBF et le caméraman du service média de l'armée m'accompagnent sur le début de l'arête rocheuse pour que je puisse montrer des boules noires de mousse et répondre à des questions. J'aurais voulu mieux trouver les bons mots, mais étant fatiguée, je n'ai pas trouvé l'exercice facile. Encore une discussion avec le journaliste de Reuter, puis je cours finir mes bagages. Tout va si vite, que je n'ai même pas le temps de relire son texte, qu'il voulait taper en 20-30´mins pour que je vois si j'étais bien d'accord. Finalement, nous n'avons rien su de ce qui s'est dit sur les ondes et antennes en Belgique et ailleurs. La connection satellite de la station ne marche toujours pas, et les journalistes galèrent un peu pour envoyer leurs reportages. Heureusement, la solidarité joue et le journaliste de l'AFP me dit que c'est grâce à son concurrent de Reuter qu'il a pu envoyer sa contribution. Quand à moi, je cours pour ramener mes sacs pour 14H15, heure de départ des traineaux, et nettoyer le container scientifique. J'oublie mes chaussettes en train de sêcher dans le 'Drying room', évidemment.
Olivier a mis deux grands traineaux en face de la tente bureau pour prendre les bagages et les personnes avec le Prinoth vers le terrain d'aviation. Michel distribue un tee-shirt commémoratif de l'inauguration et une bouteille à remplir avec la glace de la Station. Peut-on en attendre des miracles? Après tout, avoir vécu cette expérience du travail de terrain à Utsteinen me semble un privilège exceptionnel, comme je le dis à Alain en lui disant merci et au revoir.. Un miracle de la Vie!
Dans la tente bureau, je vais vite demander à Gigi le tampon de la Station sur mon passeport et elle me remet un certificat de participation à la cérémonie d'inauguration.
Et voilà, le traineau s'ébranle puis stoppe car on crie, Steven n'est pas encore monté, arrêtez!

Nous sommes 13 à partir, BELDIVA, Conrad, Sébastien et Thomas, Benoit, Dominique, Steven et nos guides de haute-montagne Alain et Benoit. Deux des bâches de l'exposition Protect77 nous accompagnent ainsi que notre congélateur.

D'autres personnes sont venues de la station pour dire au revoir et donner un coup de main. Vers 16H, nous arrivons à l'aéroport de Novo, où la neige qui enterrait presque les tentes à l'aller a complètement disparu. Le logisticien russe nous fait mettre des autocollants de couleur sur le 'cargo', et nous guarantit qu'il connecte le congélateur au réseau.

Nous faisons un brin de conversation avec Jan, notre pilote favori. Il dit que le vol en Antarctique requiert pas mal d'expérience et qu'il est difficile de trouver des jeunes pilotes, bien qu'ils soient bien payés. Il y a plein des problèmes spécifiques dûs aux basses températures, et qu'il faut connaître. Par exemple, il nous explique qu'à l'atterissage, les skis s'échauffent très fort. C'est pour cela que l'avion s'arrête une minute près de sa place de 'parking', puis repart quelques mètres plus loin. Entretemps, les skis ont refroidi et ne vont plus provoquer la fonte de la glace autour d'eux, glace qui les emprisonnerait dès qu'elle aurait regelé. Vu qu'on parle beaucoup au Comité de Protection Environnemental des problèmes liés au nombre croissant de touristes et de la diversification des activités (kayak, alpinisme, ...), et du fait que cela augmente les risques d'accidents, je lui demande s'il a déja dû intervenir pour une opération de secours. C'est le cas, mais pour un membre de l'expédition Shackelton. Jan s'est rendu sur les lieux, trop distants pour y aller avec un seul plein. Il devait donc reprendre du fuel en chemin. D'abord, il ne voit pas les fûts, puis en tournant, il repère un peu de couleur orange et verte et reprend du carburant. Arrivé au-dessus des blessés, il trouve que le terrain n'est pas suffisamment plat pour un atterissage. Il retourne à l'aéroport, en épuisant les derniers fûts de fuel. Entretemps, l'expédition s'est déplacée vers un terrain qui semblait meilleur. Après un nouveau dépôt de fuel, l'avion re-décolle, s'arrête au dépot puis finit par atterir près du blessé qu'il reprend. Jan dit que c'est parfois tentant de vouloir essayer d'atterir en comptant sur la chance, mais qu'il y résiste car s'il arrive quelquechose à l'avion, la personne à évacuer a encore moins de probabilité de s'en sortir, et il y a des blessés en plus et un avion cassé! Ensuite, Jan repart pour la station norvégienne de Troll où il va chercher trois personnes le soir. L'une d'elle parle français et s'avère être un italien qui travaille pour une société wallonne pour le réseau européen de GPS, Galileo. Il allait inspecter si les travaux faits à Troll étaient adéquats, et parcourt ainsi le monde. Il dit que ce nouveau réseau GPS pourrait commencer l'an prochain.
Nous occupons la tente mess et profitons du séjour à Novo pour échanger des photos, finir des blogs, etc... En parlant avec Benoît, je réalise que c'est lui, la personne qui avait publié dans Valériane une étude montrant qu'isoler un batîment permet des économies plus importantes que les panneaux solaires. J'avais lu son article en trouvant intéressant que quelqu'un ait fait une étude là-dessus, puis avais entendu son interview le matin par Sophie Brems qui avait ajouté qu'il partait justement pour la Station antarctique. Benoît me dit qu'il a pris une pause carrière pour pouvoir venir travailler à Utsteinen, chapeau! La TV russe marche de manière permanente dans la tente mess à Novo. C'est comique, car même sans comprendre le language, les images attirent l'attention. Ce doit être une fascination pour les images qui bougent.

Annick Wilmotte

Dimanche 15 février 2009 - Annick Wilmotte

2009-03-02T09:29:00.006+01:00

Le dimanche, le temps est superbe et nous attendons le premier vol des invités vers 9H. Je revois avec plaisir Hugo Decleir, un glaciologiste de la VUB, qui a beaucoup travaillé pour que la station soit concrétisée, et Alexandre de Lichtervelde, qui est responsable de l'aspect 'protection environnementale' au Ministère de l'Environnement. Tous les trois, nous avons assisté en juin 2008 à la réunion annuelle du Traité Antarctique à Kiev en Ukraine. Pour moi, c'était la première fois que je faisais partie de la délégation belge et j'ai surtout été présente à la réunion du Comité de Protection Environnementale (CEP). Les discussions sur la bioprospection me concernaient aussi mais comme les deux réunions, celle du Traité et celle du CEP avaient lieu en parallèle, impossible de se partager en deux. La bioprospection concerne l'exploitation des ressources biologiques et génétiques des organismes antarctiques, avec des questions comme 'Est-elle compatible avec l'esprit du Traité?', 'Y a t'il un impact environnemental?', 'S'il y a des bénéfices, faut-il prévoir des processus de partage comme prévus dans la Convention pour la Diversité Biologique (CBD)?'. Ceci dit, le mot de 'bioprospection' lui-même est sujet à différentes interprétations et il y a un certain flou par rapport aux activités de recherche fondamentale, qui produisent parfois aussi des résultats utilisables par l'industrie.

Pendant qu'un brunch est offert aux invités, Cyrille dit vouloir encore chercher des collemboles et il est d'accord d'aller sur l'arête rocheuse, dans la parcelle qui pourrait servir de référence pour le futur. Je suis contente car nous n'avions pas encore de données sur les invertébrés à cet endroit. Je cherche les petites bêtes avec lui, mais je ne suis pas douée pour les repérer. Cyrille trouve des acariens en quantité, mais pas de collemboles. Il pense que c'est trop sec.

Dans la tente mess, les cuisiniers et leurs aidants se préparent au souper, qui aura lieu à la Station et montent les mets avec les skidoos.

Ensuite, des groupes d'invités font une visite guidée des installations extérieures à la Station, les abris pour les appareils de monitoring, la station météo, ... Je rejoins le groupe guidé par Alain près de la Station qui explique la construction et combien l'isolation est importante.

Ensuite, nous arrivons sur la terrasse où aura lieu l'inauguration officielle à 13H. La ministre Sabine Laruelle et le ministre Pieter De Crem font des discours enthousiastes et dévoilent chacun une plaque commémorative.

Benoît est sur le toit de la Station pour filmer.

Une première réception a lieu dehors sur la terrasse. Nous rencontrons le Prof. Shiraishi qui dirige l'Institut japonais de recherches polaires. C'est lui qui a élaboré les cartes géologiques de la région que nous utilisons tous les jours! J'ai dû mettre l'une ou l'autre photo de ces cartes sur le blog. C'est intéressant de rencontrer la personne qui a réalisé un travail dont nous avons bien profité! Il explique qu'il est venu 4 ans de suite dans la région pour réaliser cette cartographie. Une année, ils ont eu l'appui d'hélicoptères. Nous spéculons aussi sur les raisons pour lesquelles les blocs de granit semblent plus favorables à l'établissement d'organismes que d'autres roches. D'après le Prof. Shiraishi, le fait que l'érosion se fait de manière particulière, en découpant des blocs presque rectangulaires, semble important. Il informe aussi Alexandre Mangold qu'ils ont des données météorologiques continues pour plusieurs années pour la station d'Asuka, qui est relativement proche. Il lui demande s'il serait possible de faire une comparaison avec Utsteinen? Tout au long du séjour, il se montre intéressé par les activités scientifiques et discute avec les uns et les autres. Ensuite, les invités sont enfin autorisés à découvir l'intérieur de la Station, la cerise sur le gâteau! Ils sont divisés en plusieurs groupes qui font une visite. L'une des haltes a lieu dans le futur bureau où nous les attendons de pied ferme pour 'Sciences expo@Utsteinen'.

La première série d'exposés se passe bien, le public est quand même super, super fatigué après deux nuits en vol, sans presque dormir. Mais la deuxième série est interrompue car le courant défaille. Le circuit électrique est celui du chantier et n'a donc rien à voir avec celui de la Station proprement dite. L'honneur est sauf! Après cela, il est proposé aux nouveaux arrivants de prendre un peu de repos ou d'aller faire une promenade. A ce moment, Sven me rappelle que je leur avais proposé de reprendre la conférence grand public que j'avais donné le dimanche à Tour et Taxis, lors du prémontage de la Station. Pourquoi ne pas le faire maintenant, vu que nous avons tous un peu de temps libre? .

Nous nous retrouvons donc dans le container scientifique avec Sven, Raphael, Dries et Karolien. J'utilise l'écran de mon ordinateur pour montrer les dias. Après, a lieu une vraie bonne discussion avec des questions très pertinentes et des échanges qui font réfléchir chacun. Je trouve vraiment très agréable ces dialogues avec des personnes intéressées, c'est même carrément gai! Sven me remercie, mais en fait, le merci est réciproque. Il y a une dizaine de jours, il était venu voir les cyanobactéries au microscope avec d'autres, et nous avions parlé des pigments photosynthétiques. En plus de la chlorophylle, qui est capable de capter l'énergie d'une partie du spectre de la lumière visible, les cyanobactéries se sont dotées de pigments supplémentaires qui peuvent utiliser justement les photons qui ne sont pas pris par la chlorophylle. Sven fait le parallèle avec les panneaux solaires où on ajoute des récepteurs. Plus tard, je lui dit que j'ai fait le lien entre sa réflexion et les nouvelles activités de Gauthier Chapelle, qui travaillait pour l'IPF mais est maintenant dans une autre association (biomimicry, ou un nom qui ressemble à cela) dans l'esprit d'imiter les solutions que la Nature a trouvé depuis bien longtemps. Je dois dire que je suis admirative du travail des membres de Laborelec pour la Station, tout comme celui de Jean et Wim de Schneider Electric qui montrent la même motivation et travaille vraiment beaucoup. Dominique nous avait expliqué qu'elle et ses collègues avaient été sélectionnés sur leur motivation et après un séjour en mai à Chamonix. Ils sont sept ingénieurs de Laborelec à la station maintenant, car Conrad est venu les rejoindre pour une semaine.

Entretemps, un buffet dinatoire commence à la Station. Je discute avec un pilote, d'origine hollandaise mais émigré au Canada. Les avions qui ont amené les VIP sont restés à Utsteinen et les pilotes sont évidemment invités à la réception. En fait, les Bassler sont loués à ALCI mais la Société qui s'en occupe est canadienne. Il a amené son appareil du Canada en novembre et le ramèra en 6 jours début mars, quand la saison Antarctique sera terminée. En été, il vole alors dans l'Arctique! Quelle vie! Il trouve cela passionnant, car il a l'occasion de rencontrer bien des personnes de pays différents et souvent des scientifiques avec qui il a des conversations intéressantes. Il me cite Dale Andersen, qui plonge dans les lacs polaires recouverts de glace. C'est une belle coincidence car justement j'intègre des photos prises par Dale dans le lac Hoare dans mes présentations sur les cyanobactéries antarctiques. Dans ce lac constamment couvert de glace, le fond est couvert d'un tapis microbien rougeâtre assez épais et remarquable.

Jan me dit aussi qu'il a fait récemment 6 voyages pour un projet de recherche américain qui concerne le lac 'Deep lake' près de Novo. Le projet est financé par un mécène de Chicago et la NASA est impliquée. J'en ai entendu parler par Zorigto Namsaraev, un post-doc russe, actuellement dans mon laboratoire. D'après Jan, ce projet a apporté plein de matériel flambant neuf et il se demande s'il n'y a pas de duplications des efforts en recherche antarctique. Je lui explique que les budgets aux USA sont sans commune mesure avec ceux des projets belges, et que grâce à cela, les chercheurs américains n'ont pas besoin de chercher de collaborations et se suffisent à eux-mêmes. Par contre, les belges ont plutôt une tradition de collaboration, par besoin de complémentarité, me semble t'il. Pour l'Année Polaire Internationale, j'avais contacté le Prof. Berry Lyons qui dirige le programme du Long Term Ecological Research Network dans les Vallées Sêches de Mc Murdo. Il m'avait répondu qu'ils avaient déjà leurs spécialistes à pied d'oeuvre dans le domaine de l'écologie microbienne et l'étude des lacs (limnologie). Je suis plutôt jalouse de ces sites LTER, où les recherches sont faites à long terme, de façon multi-disciplinaire et qui sont financés par le National Science Fondation (NSF) des USA. Peut-être réussirons-nous à mettre quelquechose de ce genre en route grâce au projet européen CAREX, sur les extrémophile? Jan me recommande également la lecture de 'The shelfish gene' de Richard Dawkins.

Alexandre me dit que le workshop sur la bioprospection, qui a eu lieu début février, s'est très bien passé et que des 'papers' vont être introduits par différents pays sur ce sujet. En fait, les 'papers' à la Réunion du Traité Antarctique sont, soit des textes d'information simplement cités mais pas discutés, soit des 'Working papers' avec des propositions concrètes qui sont discutés par tous. La banque de données, soutenue par la Belgique et réalisée par l'UNU/UNEP a aussi reçu bien des appréciations positives. Elle a pour but de répertorier les cas où l'exploitation des ressources biologiques et génétiques d'organismes antarctiques a donné lieu à des produits commerciaux. Elle est très utile pour se rendre compte de l'importance de ce type d'activités et il faudrait pouvoir la rendre permanente, et que les membres du Traité fournissent eux-mêmes les informations.

Un petit film est projeté avec un message du Prince Philippe et sa fille, la Princesse Elisabeth qui a donné son nom à la Station. Il exprime sa fierté de voir la Belgique construire une base scientifique sur des concepts nouveaux et durables. La princesse a fait un collage concernant la base, qui est maintenant suspendu au mur.

Le repas est vraiment excellent, fruit des efforts de David et Grégory, et de l'équipe qui les a aidé à préparer. Grâce aux pilotes qui vont de station en station, on saura bientôt partout en Antarctique que l'inauguration de la Station Belge valait la peine d'y participer!

Annick Wilmotte

Samedi, 14 février 2009 - Annick Wilmotte

2009-02-27T17:33:00.011+01:00

Pour pouvoir donner un coup de main l'esprit tranquille, je commence la matinée en m'occupant de mes échantillons. Avec le cargo de l'Ivan Papanin, est arrivé un petit congélateur commandé par Elie Verleyen, du labo de Gand qui est coordinateur de BELDIVA. Après des discussions téléphoniques l'an dernier avec Jean-Louis Tison, pour savoir comment il faisait pour transporter ses carottes de glace congelées sans risques, j'avais retenu son idée de faire le transport dans un congélateur. Je pensais que le risque était réel que nous soyons retenus à Novo par le mauvais temps, par ex. (l' intuition féminine me semble de bon conseil!). Faire un trou dans la glace pour y placer nos échantillons semblait fort compliqué, alors que connecter un congélateur au réseau électrique semblait plus réalisable. Jean-Louis me disait qu'il n'y avait pas besoin d'attendre longtemps pour remettre un tel appareil en marche, après qu'il soit descendu de l'avion, et qu'il n'avait jamais eu de problèmes. Donc, Jeroen et Cyrille sont allés chercher le congélateur dans le container 29, où tout le matériel scientifique arrivé en bateau est rassemblé et ils l'ont raccordé dans le container-bureau, à côté de notre container scientifique. Je vais donc chercher mes sachets et tubes dans le trou fait dans la neige à côté de ma tente et où j'ai précieusement conservé mon butin. Je colle une étiquette avec le numéro pour avoir deux manières d'identifier l'échantillon, un numéro sur le plastique et l'étiquette. De plus, les paquets sont mis dans un sachet plus grand, pour éviter la mésaventure que nous avions eu il y a 10 ans lors du projet MICROMAT. Il y avait eu de l'humidité et certains sachets avaient collé à la carboglace au point de se déchirer quand on les prenait ou de rendre les identifications illisibles. Je remplis finalement 2/3 d'un tiroir. En même temps, j'ai fait des préparations microscopiques de certains échantillons intéressants, car il est possible que des visiteurs passent par le container lundi matin pour voir des organismes au microscope. D'ailleurs, pour cette éventualité, j'avais demandé à Gigi s'il serait possible d'avoir du vernis à ongles. Non pas pour une séance de manicure (bien que ce serait utile, mes ongles partent en morceaux ici), mais pour sceller les préparations et pouvoir les garder plus longtemps. Nous n'avons pas reçu à temps la caméra commandée, et donc, j'essaie de faire des photos rudimentaires en plaçant l'objectif de mon appareil le plus près possible de l'oculaire. Je vois notamment des Coleodesmium (gros filaments avec gaines brunes, des mousses et filaments de champignons provenant de lichens, ainsi qu'un tardigrade (petit invertébré).

En outre, Alain a demandé aux scientifiques de se concerter pour faire une courte présentation dimanche vers 14H sur tous les projets et en ce qui me concerne, de faire aussi des dias sur le projet de glaciologie qui a eu lieu en novembre-décembre. J'écris un courriel à Jean-Louis Tison et Frank Pattyn en leur demandant une courte description mais pensant, que probablement je n'aurai pas la réponse à temps, je reçois des photos de René Roberts et un texte écrit par Jean-Louis pour un blog par l'intermédiaire de Nathalie Pattyn. Avec ces matériaux, je fais deux dias, en espérant que cela reflète bien leur projet. Je me rends ensuite à la station pour aider à décharger un container de mobilier, chaises, tabourets, coussins.... La station devient de plus en plus confortable et donne envie de s'y retrouver!
Ce matin, Gigi m'avait donné une pierre qu'elle a trouvé sur l'arête rocheuse et qui est couverte de boulles noires un peu caoutchouteuses. J'ai vu au microscope que ce sont des mousses! Nous pensons essayer de retourner à l'endroit durant une pause de l'après-midi. Or, je voudrais aussi reprendre des photos de la surface qui me semble intéressante à utiliser comme point de référence pour le futur. Et je me dis que le ridge est sans doute encore bien plus libre de neige que lors de ma dernière visite dimanche dernier.

Je n'y ai aussi encore jamais regardé s'il y avait de l'érosion et la possibilité de cryptoendolithes. Il me faudrait vraiment compléter ces lacunes avant l'inauguration! Du coup, vers 18H30, je pars vers le ridge en me disant que c'est maintenant ou jamais. Je prends des photos, quelques échantillons et utilise mon couteau suisse pour l'insérer sous les marques d'érosion et voir s'il y a des communautés vivantes. Ces écailles apparaissent d'ailleurs plus jaunes que le granit intact. Parfois, effectivement, il y a des lignes vertes, noires ou blanches en-dessous.

Donc, il y a des organismes sous une couche minérale ici aussi! Ce qui aurait été intéressant de discuter avec Imre Friedmann, c' est 1) la définition précise des cryptoendolithes car ici, quand je les trouve, c'est qu'il y a déjà des lignes de fragilité dans le rocher. Donc, les organismes auraient pu utiliser ces microfissures existantes pour s'introduire, et non pas dû s'insérer entre des cristaux ou vraiment pénétrer une roche compacte, 2) l'interaction entre microorganismes et l'érosion. On parle parfois de 'bioérosion', et suppose que les communautés peuvent fragiliser la roche encore plus fort que s'il n'y avait que les conditions de gel et climat. Le soir, il fait très froid et venteux, car le soleil est proche de l'horizon à cette heure là, et les températures descendent sensiblement. Quand Gigi vient me proposer d' aller sur le ridge juste avant le repas, je suis vraiment trop fatiguée et ait envie d'un bon repas chaud.
Le soir, les scientifiques se retrouvent et Steve centralise les dias pour faire une présentation la plus homogène possible. On nous donne 10 mins mais cela semble bien difficile avec 9 sujets!

Annick Wilmotte

Le Soir, 14 février 2009

2009-02-24T15:29:00.003+01:00

La Station Princesse Elisabeth a été inaugurée hier en Antarctique. Plusieurs programmes scientifiques, dont ceux conduits par les chercheurs de l'ULg dans le domaine de la diversité microbiologique, y seront menés.

La station de la visibilité polaire belge

DU BRULLE,CHRISTIAN
Dimanche 15 février 2009

Entretien Sabine Laruelle, ministre en charge de la Politique scientifique fédérale, se trouve ce week-end en Antarctique pour l’inauguration de la nouvelle station scientifique Princess Elisabeth. Elle nous a détaillé auparavant la nouvelle stratégie polaire belge.

Combien a coûté cette station ?
Au départ, on parlait d’un budget global de 6 à 7 millions d’euros. L’Etat belge, via la Politique scientifique, devait prendre à sa charge 2,2 millions, le reste étant assuré par la Fondation polaire et des sponsors privés. Au bout du compte, la station Princess Elisabeth aura coûté 21 millions d’euros. La Politique scientifique prend au total 6 millions à sa charge. Il faut ajouter à cette somme 1,5 million versés par la Loterie Nationale et un demi-million par les Affaires étrangères. La Défense intervient aussi mais en ressources humaines et matérielles. Le reliquat étant toujours du ressort de la Fondation polaire et de ses mécènes.

Comment sera-t-elle exploitée ?
Elle sera gérée par le Secrétariat polaire. Il s’agit d’un service d’Etat à gestion séparée. Une structure mixte publique-privée, le partenaire privé étant la Fondation polaire. Cette structure sera responsable de la maintenance et de la gestion de la station ainsi que des programmes scientifiques qui y seront menés et de la diffusion de leurs résultats. Le Secrétariat polaire entrera en fonction le 31 mars prochain. À ce moment-là, quand la base sera terminée, la Fondation versera la station dans le patrimoine du Secrétariat. En ce qui concerne le budget de fonctionnement du Secrétariat, 1,5 million sont prévus pour les années 2008 et 2009 pour lui permettre d’accomplir ses missions. Il faut y ajouter le budget supplémentaire pour la recherche de 500.000 euros par an.

Toute la politique scientifique polaire belge passera-t-elle par ce Secrétariat ?
Certainement pas. D’autres programmes continueront à être gérés directement par la Politique scientifique. Pour les deux années à venir, nous avons par exemple déjà des moyens à disposition pour le programme Belatmos de monitoring de l’ozone et des gaz associés dirigé par l’Institut royal météorologique (193.000 euros), le programme Giant Lisa de géodésie pour le bilan des glaces antarctiques, structure de la lithosphère et sismicité intra-plaque en Antarctique dirigé par l’Observatoire royal de Belgique (229.000 euros), le programme Belissima portant sur l’étude des interactions de la calotte glaciaire avec les glaces flottantes de l’Université libre de Bruxelles (333.000 euros), le projet Hydrant, étude de l’empreinte atmosphérique dans son cycle hydrologique de la KUL (244.000 euros), et le projet Beldiva d’étude de la biodiversité microbiologique des universités de Liège (ULg), Gand (UG), le Jardin botanique national de Meise, le British Antarctic Survey et le Japon pour lequel un budget de 451.000 euros est prévu.

La nouvelle station est située à l’intérieur des terres. Les chercheurs belges spécialisés en biologie marine vont-ils aussi y trouver leur compte ?
Bien sûr. Cette station va nous procurer une meilleure visibilité en ce qui concerne la recherche polaire. Elle pourra accueillir des équipes étrangères. Nos biologistes marins devraient bénéficier de cette ouverture et obtenir plus d’invitations d’autres pays actifs dans ce domaine et disposant de navires polaires. Les collaborations seront plus efficaces, les échanges plus importants. Seuls, nous ne pouvons pas tout faire. Je n’ai pas d’argent pour aussi construire un brise-glace. Mais peut-être un jour, pourquoi pas ?

Zondag 15 februari 2009 - Karolien Peeters

2009-02-19T11:52:00.004+01:00

Gisteren was het een zeer drukke dag. Heel de basis moest opgeruimd worden en eigelijk was het nog een werf. Aangezien ik me had opgegeven om te helpen met de opkuis was ik heel de dag in de basis. Begonnen met een hele hoop afval naar beneden te brengen en daarna een berg plankjes verhuisd naar een opslagruimte. Pas na een dik uur kwam er mij iemand vertellen dat ze ook een soort karretje hebben waarmee ik er meer tegelijk kon vervoeren. Na de middag heb ik dan heel de basis gestofzuigd. Ik maakte kennis met het energieprioriteiten systeem, wat wil zeggen dat als je geen prioriteit hebt, je geen energie hebt, wat er vaak op neer kwam dat ik zat te wachten op energie! Er moesten ook nog een paar kleine werkjes gebeuren die de boel natuurlijk weer vuil maakten, kwestie dat iedereen aan het werk blijft...
Tegen de avond raakte alles zowat opgeruimd en werden de meubels naar boven gebracht. Dat was opeens een heel ander zicht! Het blijft verbazingwekkend hoe het station op één dag tijd van een werf in een echte woonplaats verandert is, natuurlijk met de hulp van heel veel handen! Ondertussen maakten wij wetenschappers een presentatietje klaar voor tijdens de rondleiding, zodat we de mensen een beetje konden inleiden over wat er allemaal al gebeurt dit jaar.
Vannacht was het zeer koud, bijna min 20 C. Het lijkt dat sinds we terug zijn van Brattnipane het echt veel kouder is geworden in Utsteinen. Het einde van het seizoen is blijkbaar op komst.
Vanmorgen dan toch een klein beetje kunnen uitslapen want de VIP's kwamen met een uur vertraging aan. Met drie vliegtuigen, twee Baslers en één Twin Otter kwamen ze aan met en klein half uurtje verschil. Zij kregen een eerste rondleiding met het vliegtuigje dat een mooie toer maakte over het kamp en de basis en dan langs Utsteinen nunatak scheerde om uiteindelijk te landen. De meesten van hen waren blijkbaar ongeduldig en kwamen al te voet naar het kamp. Ze ondervonden dan meteen dat alles hier verder is dan het lijkt. Na registratie kregen ze een ontbijt aangeboden. Rond 11 uur begon dan een wandeling door het kamp, rond de ridge, langs de achterkant van de basis, langs de shelter van de klimatologen om te eindigen op het dak van de garages. Daar vond de eigelijke opening plaats met een woordje van Alain Hubert, Minster Laruelle (Federaal wetenschapsbeleid, o.a.) en Minster De Crem (Defensie) waarna de herdenkingsplaten werden onthuld. En toen was er champagne...
Uiteindelijk werd de hele bende in een vijftal groepen gedeeld waarna ze aan een rondleiding door de basis begonnen. Wij wetenshappers hadden ons opgesteld in het bureau, een grote ruimte aan de zijkant van het gebouw, en gaven onze presentatie. Deze was natuurlijk eindeloos veel te lang en aangezien de mensen al twee nachten niet behoorlijk hadden geslapen (vrijdagavond vertrokken in Brussel en zaterdagavond in Cape Town) waren er een aantal die in slaap vielen... Tijdens de tweede presentatie viel plots de stroom uit, presentatie zonder slides, niet echt handig. Er is dus een nieuwe afspraak gemaakt, de geïnteresseerden krijgen vanavond opnieuw de kans onze presentatie te zien. Wij gingen ook eens luisteren naar wat de mensen van Laborelec te vertellen hadden over hun installaties. Na twee weken weten we nu tot in detail wat allemaal de bedoeling is. Ze maken gebruik van een zeer ingenieus systeem om energieproductie en verbruik te regelen. Iets dat door Laborelec zelf ontwikkeld is en hier in het station voor het eerst wordt toegepast. Daarna zal de technologie de hele wereld veroveren. Iets later die middag kwamen de mannen van Laborelec eens naar de wetenschappelijke container waar Annick hen een beetje uitleg gaf over de microbiologie. Er ontstond een heuse discussie over de bedreiging van bacterieën voor de mensen die zelfs evolueerde naar de mogelijkheid van verhuizen naar Mars nadat bacteriën de omgeving er voor ons aangepast hebben. Op deze manier waren we beiden verwonderd over elkaars werk.
Ondertussen hebben de mensen hun kamer/tent toegewezen gekregen. Een aantal mensen gingen wel degelijk een beetje rusten, anderen gingen met Benoit naar de windscoop of met René naar Teltet. Vanavond is er dan nog een walking diner. Morgen zullen wij een beetje wetenschap in de praktijk tonen. Annick zal een paar dingen laten zien met de microscoop en Steve en Jeroen zullen een gat boren in het dichtsbijzijnde meer.
Rond drie uur morgen middag vertrekken wij dan richting Novo waar we weer één nachtje mogen blijven tot de VIP's ons vervoegen en we samen naar Cape Town terug gaan.

Maandag 16 februari 2009

Gisterenavond is er maar één iemand komen opdagen voor de presentatie, dus hebben we hem in het kort uitgelegd wat hij wilde weten. Daarna toonde Michel de Wouters de boodschap van Prins Filip. Hij kon zelf niet aanwezig zijn, maar stuurde een boodschap mee om Alain Hubert te bedanken en geluk te wensen. Daarna was er receptie die zo uitgebreid was dat we daarna niet meer konden eten van de echte maaltijd! Voor sommigen werd het vrij laat!
Vanmorgen dan begonnen met alles te pakken. Snel ontbeten en rond negen uur met de minister en een aantal geïnteresseerden vertrokken naar het windscoop meertje vlakbij het kamp. Daar toonden Jeroen en Steve hoe ze te werk gaan als ze een boring doen. Zoals het in het echt ook gebeurt, kregen ze de twee stukken van de boor niet uit elkaar omdat ze vastgevroren waren, dit maal ook niet met warme thee... Om de mensen niet te vervelen, gaf Cyrill ondertussen uitleg over zijn beestjes. Na een tijdje slaagden Jeroen en Steve er toch in de boor te monteren en konden ze beginnen boren. Ze lieten ook iedereen eens proberen om aan te tonen dat het wel vrij zwaar werk is. Na een 70 tal cm ijs bereikten ze dan het water, dat ze dan iedereen lieten proeven!
Daarna was het snel verder inpakken, nog iets eten en dan afscheid nemen van iedereen. De VIPs zullen we morgen hier in Novo nog zien maar alle anderen niet meer...
En dan vertrokken naar Novo. Deze keer is het hier veel rustiger en kunnen we zelfs in één van de containers in plaats van in een tent slapen! Stilletjes aan dus weer naar de bewoonde wereld. Vandaag kunnen we al slapen in een verwarmde ruimte op echte bedden en kunnen we wc’s gebruiken waar je echt kan doorspoelen! Morgenochtend komen de VIP’s hier dan ook aan en normaal vertrekken we rond 12 uur richting Cape Town, waar het volgens Michel nu 30°C is, plus 30°C!!!
Tot hier het verslag van een lange reis. Nog enkele daagjes Kaapstad en dan keren we terug naar het echte leven.
Graag wil ik iedereen die deze expeditie heeft mogelijk gemaakt bedanken. Allereerst Prof. Dr. Anne Willems die mij eerst de kans gaf om op het zeer interessante AMBIO project (BELSPO) te beginnen werken en er nu voor gezorgd heeft dat ik de omgeving die ik bestudeer ook eens in het echt kan zien. Verder wil ik ook mijn ouders en mijn vriend bedanken voor de steun en het doorsturen van de mailtjes. Ook dank aan mijn collega’s en zij die mijn werk in het labo draaiende hebben gehouden. En natuurlijk nen dikke merci aan mijn collega wetenschappers die mee waren op expeditie en de andere inwoners van Utsteinen, de mensen van Laborelec, Schneider, Defensie, ... en uiteraard ook Alain en Gigi.
Ook u wil ik bedanken voor het trouw lezen van de blog. Ik hoop dat u allen veel plezier heeft gehad aan de verslagjes en dat jullie allemaal mogen voelen dat de wetenschap leeft in België en ongelofelijk belangrijk is. De bouw van het Princess Elisabeth station is dan ook een zeer belangrijke stap en zal hopelijk een grote bijdrage leveren aan het onderzoek op Antarctica.

Vele groetjes

Karolien

Vendredi 13 février 2009 - Annick Wilmotte

2009-02-19T11:47:00.003+01:00

Ce vendredi, c'est Benoit qui nous éveille en criant, vu que le générateur ne marche plus. Vite, nous dégageons la cabine. Le vent s'est calmé par rapport à hier, et nous décidons de nous rendre à un endroit repéré hier par Benoit, car il semble assez abrité et moins couvert de neige. Nous allons jusqu'à un ancien camp japonais où nous laissons les skidoos et le Prinoth. Steve va parcourir et charactériser les deux dernières lignes de la moraine qui lui manquent encore. Il a trouvé que la moraine la plus large et prominante était constituée de rochers qui étaient bien plus petits et beaucoup mieux triés que les autres moraines qu'il a visité jusqu'à présent. Le triage se fait lors du déplacement des rochers par les glaciers. En chemin, je m'arrête près de très gros blocs de rochers rouges, comme ceux d'hier, et y trouve de nouveau plein de choses sous les fragments qui s'écaillent, lichens blanchâtres, lignes vertes ou noires, etc...

Puis, je remarque qu'un rocher voisin, bien moins érodé et qui a toujours une couleur assez claire, est lui aussi couvert d'écailles sous lesquelles il y a aussi des tâches de couleur. Donc, ce ne sont pas uniquement les rochers les plus érodés qui abritent ces communautés. Je n'ai malheureusement plus de batteries pour l'appareil photos. Qu'à cela ne tienne, Alain prend des photos avec son appareil et me donne la position GPS. Entretemps, nous voyons les autres qui grimpent dans une sorte d'éboulis et Cyrille nous avertit par radio qu'il a trouvé des collemboles.C'est chouette car cela lui donne une population bien isolée et distincte de celles récoltées plus près de la Base.

Nous revenons au Prinoth, et je fais un dernier échantillonage en attendant le retour des autres. Sur le chemin du retour, nous allons chercher Steve en train de faire ses dernières photos de moraine et de prendre ses échantillons de pierres à dater. De retour à la 'maison', Alain prépare des pâtes avec une sauce tomate. Karolien émince une partie d'un bloc de gouda, pour imiter le fromage rapé. Je fais ensuite la vaisselle alors qu'on lève le camp et ajoute le traineau des japonais au nôtre. Encore 3 heures de carosse et le camp d'Utsteinen est en vue. Je ramène les vivres en trop et la vaisselle à la cuisine. Puis, vient le plaisir de se laver et mettre des vêtements propres.

Le soir, dans la tente mess, Alain Hubert nous donne la liste des tâches à faire le lendemain pour préparer l'inauguration. Nous apprenons aussi que les membres de BELDIVA quitteront la station lundi après-midi au lieu de mardi, car il n'y a pas assez de places pour tout le monde dans les Bassler. Nous passerons donc la nuit de lundi à mardi à Novo et attendrons les VIP pour prendre le même avion qu'eux vers Cape Town.

Annick Wilmotte

Jeudi 12 février 2009 - Annick Wilmotte

2009-02-19T11:41:00.006+01:00

Le matin, Alain nous réveille en mettant en route le groupe électrogène qui donne de l'électricité et du chauffage à la cabine.

Il faut vite ranger nos sacs de couchage, bagages personnels.., car déjà les gars veulent rentrer pour le petit déjeuner. Il a fait très froid, les sacs de couchage sont mouillés par la condensation et le vent a fait claquer les toiles des tentes la nuit. Bref, Karolien et moi avons eu bien de la chance.

Brattnipane a la forme d'un homard, dont les pinces s'ouvrent en direction de la côte. Gigi nous avait prévenu que l'endroit était très venteux. Elle a mille fois raison! Le vent continue, et va nous accompagner toute la journée. Il soulève des nuages de neige, parfois même comme une petite tornade qui se déplace. Ces rafales nous font chanceler, rapent la peau comme du papier émeri (un peeling gratuit!), et introduisent des flocons dans tous les instertices des vêtements et sacs. De plus, cela complique la prise des échantillons, il faut tout tenir en même temps pour ne pas les voir s'envoler. Or, il faut enlever les gants, sortir les pincettes, la pissette d'éthanol, le sachet ou tube stérile, prendre une photo, écrire le numéro et une description dans un carnet..

Le matin, nous allons près d'un lac où Jeroen fait un forage. Cependant, tout est vraiment très gelé et je prends juste un échantillon de gravier, par principe. En allant voir où en est Steve, Alain glisse malencontreusement et force quelquechose au niveau du mollet. Nous revenons à la cabine vers midi, pour reprendre des forces. L'après-midi, nous allons de l'autre côté de la moraine.

Je me dis que les conditions sont vraiment trop hostiles et glacées pour qu'il y ait de la vie à la surface, et je commence à regarder sous la surface des rochers. Je cherche des rochers où il y a des morceaux qui s'écaillent un peu. Je remarque que des roches de couleur rouge foncé ont une concentration plus forte de telles 'écailles'. D'après Steve, il s'agirait de rochers de gneiss qui sont plus érodés que la majorité des autres rochers de gneiss. Avec les pincettes, je détache les 'écailles' et j'ai la bonne surprise de découvrir des lisérés verts ou noirs. Certainement, des cryptoendolithes.

Dommage que Imre ne soit plus de ce monde, pour lui envoyer les photos/échantillons et en discuter. L'échantillonnage est compliqué car les tâches colorées sont poudreuses et adhèrent au rocher. Il faudrait une sorte d'aspirateur, comme celui que Cyrille utilise pour ses collemboles. Il me dit qu'il faudrait cependant l'adapter pour empêcher que j'avale l'alcool!
Je suis très contente de cette idée de détacher les morceaux de rocher, c'est probablement le seul environnement supportable dans cet endroit si glacé et venteux! Malheureusement, le générateur d'électricité ne fonctionne plus car la pince pour changer la bougie n'est pas celle qui convient. Donc, je ne pourrai pas tester le microscope de terrain que nous avons emmené pour l'essayer, et nous n'aurons plus de chauffage.
Le soir, Benoit réussit à réchauffer la délicieuse blanquette de veau sous vide sans faire brûler le fond. Jeroen et Cyrille retournent au lac pour nous ravitailler en eau, et essayer un truc pour essayer de voir si les invertébrés sont réellement absents, comme tout semble le montrer. Cyrille veut mettre un échantillon de sol dans l'eau et voir si des petites bêtes en sortent pour flotter à la surface. Cependant, il fait déjà sombre et l'eau gèle immédiatement. Entretemps, les filles ont déjà transformé la cabine en couchette.

Annick Wilmotte