Panoramic view of Yuboku Valley

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

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

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

Interview of Zorigto

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

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

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

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

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"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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