Dale Andersen's Field Reports

Astrobiologist Dale Andersen Antarctic Status Report 15 December 2018: Back at Novolazarevskaya Station

By Keith Cowing
Dale Andersen
December 15, 2018
Filed under
Astrobiologist Dale Andersen Antarctic Status Report 15 December 2018: Back at Novolazarevskaya Station
Novolazarevskaya Station
Dale Andersen/Garmin

“The camp at Lake Untersee is now closed, we pulled the last three tents down early yesterday morning and completed packing our cargo into the sea container with the remainder going onto the other two cargo sleds.”

“The traverse back went well and we are all back at Novolazarevskaya Station, now at the ALCI operated “Oasis Huts” just adjacent to the Russian Station Novolazarevskaya. We have stayed in the Oasis Huts many times over the years so it is like returning to our home away from home – warm beds, good food and hospitality and a place to wash off the last six weeks of wear and tear we have all accumulated. These huts, refurbished a few years ago, were built in the early 1960’s by the Russian Antarctic program – the initial Novolazarevskaya Station – so it is always nice to be staying somewhere with an interesting history.

We will work with our cargo here for a couple of days making sure it all properly stored for future use during the next field season. On the 18th we will fly to Cape Town on an ALCI chartered Boeing 757 that will land on the ice runway. Barring any problems we should be in Cape Town around 7am on the 19th, and once there we will prepare for flights back to our respective homes in the USA and Canada. Our Russian colleague, Mikhail, will remain here at Novo Staton, continuing his field work in the Schirmacher Oasis, and then continuing around the Antarctic continent to Progress Station, where he wil investigate lichens in the Larsman Hills before returning home in Saint Petersburg.

All in all a great field season and we accomplished most of what we set out to do. Now it is time to head home, relax a bit over the holidays and then begin working on returned samples, analyzing data and planning for future work in this region.

Cheers,
Dale”

Current webcam image Novo Runway 70°49 S 11°37 E View from 2000 m mark to Rwy11 direction (West)

Dale’s current location (Larger image)

https://media2.spaceref.com/news/2018/oodale15dec.jpg

Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Station Payload manager/space biologist, Away Teams, Journalist, Lapsed climber, Synaesthete, Na’Vi-Jedi-Freman-Buddhist-mix, ASL, Devon Island and Everest Base Camp veteran, (he/him) 🖖🏻