Dale Andersen's Field Reports

Astrobiologist Dale Andersen Antarctic Status Report 28 November 2017: Last Week at Lake Untersee

By Keith Cowing
Press Release
Dale Andersen
November 28, 2017
Filed under
Astrobiologist Dale Andersen Antarctic Status Report 28 November 2017: Last Week at Lake Untersee

This message was received via Iridium on 28 November 28, 2017 8:13:28 AM EST “We are in our last week of work here at Untersee before heading back to Novo on the 6th. Hope to get in a few more dives for sample collection and imagery beneath the ice, and we have to pull experiments that are ongoing in the lake right now. Unfortunately our weather is likely to change tonight and tomorrow and Thursday may not be great for work.”

“See the current forecast below. All for now! Dale”

Novo Station/Novo Runway/Maitri:

TODAY, broken/overcast by mid-level clouds, upcoming low-level clouds in the afternoon, risk of light snow, easterly winds 15-20kt.
TONIGHT, overcast by low-level clouds, at times light snow, easterly winds up to 30-35G45kt/light blowing snow.
WEDNESDAY, overcast and white out conditions, at times light snow, easterly winds 30-35G45kt/heavy blowing snow.
THURSDAY, overcast and white out conditions, risk of light snow, increasing easterly winds 40G50kt/heavy blowing snow.
FRIDAY, mostly sunny, winds from south-east, in the morning up to 25kt/drifting snow, decreasing during the day to 10-15kt.

Update: Received 28 November 2017 4:24:44 PM EST: “Keith – Thanks for the news! All ok here right now and for the moment our winds are calm; but that will probably change over the the next few hours – maybe we will get lucky and we will miss most of the bad weather forecast for Novo. I am hoping the new met station is up and running but there may be one or two other things we need to do to get it online; once I get confirmation I will let you know and will send you a web link so you can see a daily download of the data. Hopefull it will work. Will check in with you tomorrow with an update. – Dale”

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) 🖖🏻