Dale Andersen's Field Reports

Astrobiologist Dale Andersen Antarctic Status Report 30 October 2019: Novolazarevskaya Station

By Keith Cowing
Press Release
Dale Andersen
October 30, 2019
Filed under
Astrobiologist Dale Andersen Antarctic Status Report 30 October 2019: Novolazarevskaya Station
Novolazarevskaya Station Airstrip
Garmin/Google

After a very easy, uneventful flight south on the IL-76, we made it to the ice runway at Novolazarevskaya Tuesday afternoon.

Novolazarevskaya Station Airstrip – larger image

We were greeted with blue skies and relatively calm winds so a great day to get started. We moved into one of the huts/bunkrooms here and once we collected most of our gear and cargo from the aircraft we turned in for a good nights sleep.

Today we pulled out our snowmobiles out of storage, got them up and running and are having them checked by Julio, the ALCI mechanic to ensure we have no significant issues over the coming weeks. Julio will also work on my dive hole melter tomorrow to correct a few problems we had with it last year.

All in all, a productive day for us today, sorting gear and cargo, getting the skiddos and sleds pulled from storage and preparing for the traverse to Untersee. We now have the sea container that we use to store and transport much of our cargo next to the hut so we have started preparing it for the traverse as well.

Tomorrow we will head to Novo Station to pull a few items for storage there, and if all goes well and the weather holds, perhaps we can head to Lake Untersee this Saturday. Winds are predicted to pick up (40 knots or so) tomorrow and Friday which may slow us down a bit, but perhaps the weather will not be so harsh we cannot work.

Earlier reports

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) 🖖🏻