On Monday evening we had confirmation that the first field team heading to Antarctica this summer season had made it safely to a beautiful setting. Their transport and field logistics are being provided by White Desert, carbon-neutral operators who regularly support climate science, astronomy and astrophysics on the continent.
Drop-off at Untersee by White Desert, November 2023. The team will be camped for 2 weeks to collect data from the surrounding landscape. Photo credits: James Grecian.
James Grecian and Thale Damm-Johnsen will spend around 2 weeks exploring the area, helping us to better understand the interactions between changes to snow petrel diet, sea ice, and glaciation over time. They have joined the field camp run by Dale Andersen from the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Life Institute (SETI), who are exploring the unique worlds beneath the ice which covers the surface of the lake. Dale has been running campaigns to Untersee for many years now (click here for some of his past SETI blog posts).
We’re all looking forward to finding out what James and Thale discover!