Dale Andersen's Field Reports

Dale Andersen’s Astrobiology Antarctic Status Report: 18 February 2026: Eclipse Watching And Base Camp Packing

By Keith Cowing

Status Report

Dale Andersen

February 18, 2026

Filed under Analog, anemometer, Antarctica, Anuchin glacier, Away Team, cryoconite, Dale Andersen, Dale Andersen’s Field Reports, Enceladus, environmental DNA (eDNA), exobiology, expedition, Explorers Club, extremophile, Hemiplanet, ISS, Lake Obersee, Lake Untersee, lakebed, Limnology, Mars, McMurdo Dry Valleys, Microbial mat, Novo Station, Novolazarevskaya Station, plume, radiocarbon dating, ROV, Schirmacher Oasis, SCUBA, SETI Institute, Solar eclipse, Star Trek, Ultima Antarctic Airbase, Ultima Antarctic Logistics/Expeditions

Dale Andersen’s Astrobiology Antarctic Status Report: 18 February 2026: Eclipse Watching And Base Camp Packing — Partial Solar Eclipse at Lake Untersee, Antarctica — Dale T. Andersen

Dale: A partial eclipse over Lake Untersee yesterday—an ordinary piece of celestial clockwork that felt anything but ordinary from the icy shores of Lake Untersee in the mountains of Antarctica. Eclipses come around often enough; being in the right place, at the right moment, to watch the Sun take a quiet bite out of itself is the rarer gift!

Keith: Dale and his team are packing up all of their equipment at Lake Untersee. The overland traverse of staff and gear back to the Ultima Airstrip begins on 19 February.

Keith’s note: Astrobiologist Dale Andersen is heading back in Antarctica at Lake Untersee in January-February 2026 for another field season of research.

Dale and I have been proving research updates – from Antarctica – since 1996. We think we actually had the first webserver (located in my old condo) updated from Antarctica. More details here: Dale Andersen’s 1996 Antarctic Field Research Photo Albums

Astrobiology

Keith Cowing

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) 🖖🏻

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