Latest Email from Antarctica

Going Home (part 3 of 4)
July 2001

Zhong Shan Resupply

As part of the journey home the MV Polar Bird was scheduled to stop off the coast of the Larseman Hills where the Chinese station ‘Zhong Shan’ and the Russian ‘Progress’ stations are located. On board was the new team of Chinese expeditioners along with a fresh supply of food. The trip from Mawson to the Larseman Hills only took just over a day and by the morning of the second day we were entering loose pack ice with the Larseman Hills in the distance. In the morning I spent a lot of time up on the bow of the ship gazing down at the ice as it disappeared beneath the ships’ hull, and purging my stale thoughts with all the new and different visual sights in front of me. The air was crisp and there was only a gentle breeze from the movement of the ship combined with the thud sound as ice crashed against the hull.

A view from the bow of the Polar Bird as we neared the Larseman Hills and Zhong Shan station.

There were no good charts of the waters off the Larseman Hills so the captain stopped the ship about 1km off the coast and the helicopter operations commenced. The barges had to be taken off the foredeck and lowered into the water before the two helicopters could be raised out of the hold and the blades put on.

After a few hours of work, helicopter operations commenced. Every 15 minutes one of the two Squirrel helicopters would come in and hover above the deck with a long line suspended beneath it. The support crew attached the line to a net carrying the food supplies and then the cargo would be lifted off and flown into shore. Cargo was not the only thing delivered. Left over fuel drums from the Australian station at Law Base were returned to the ship and stowed ready for return to Australia.

Over the next 3 days I helped load and ready the cargo on the ship for the helicopters to carry it to shore. This was very interesting work because we had short bursts of exciting activity when the helicopters hovered above the deck mixed with quiet periods as the ship manoeuvred amongst the icebergs off the coast. The noise and wind from the downdraft of the helicopters contrasted with the quiet, peaceful and sunny scenes around us.

A Squirrel helicopter hovers metres above the moving deck as the empty 44 gallon drums are unloaded.

On one night after the helicopters had finished their work we had dinner outside on the rear pergola area of the ship. This was one of the best places to watch the scenery because as the ship was turning around in the ice the view constantly changed like a revolving restaurant.

After the operations at Zhong Shan were finished we headed off in the evening on the overnight trip to Davis, the Australian Antarctic Station located in the Vestfold Hills.

Andy, Judy, Megan and Roger eating tea outside on the back porch of the Polar Bird near Zhong Shan.

The sun sets on the way to Davis, note the speckle pattern from the thin layer of ice forming on the water surface.

Davis

Davis regularly has the largest number of people living and working over the summer and it is also the largest of the 3 Australian Antarctic stations. It is located in the Vestfold Hills on the edge of the continent about 600km east of Mawson. The wind is much milder at Davis compared to Mawson, but the temperature in winter regularly goes below –30degC which is not as common at Mawson. While I didn't think Vestfold Hills were as majestic as the mountain ranges behind Mawson, they are much more complex with hundreds of hyper-saline and freshwater lakes amongst the numerous gorges and valleys.	A view from the bridge as we approached Davis Station located in the hills just to left of the centre of the picture.
The two day visit by the MV Polar Bird was to deliver some supplies to the station and pick up some cargo along with all the remaining summering and 2000 wintering expeditioners. As we approached Davis in the morning we could see that winter was returning as thin sheets of sea ice had begun to form and behind the ship was a channel cut out of the ice.	The ship cut a neat channel through the fresh sea ice as we neared Davis.
The bay near Davis is not as deep as it is at Mawson so the Polar Bird had to drop anchor about 1km off the shore and the barges used to ferry the cargo and passengers to and fro. I was able to go ashore at Davis to have a look around and compare the facilities to Mawson. There are a lot more Atmospheric Space Physics experiments at Davis compared to Mawson, including the new LIDAR (LASER Imaging Direction and Ranging) experiment. The LIDAR was deployed during the 2000/2001 summer and had only just begun operation a few days before we arrived. The LIDAR measures wind speeds and temperatures in the upper atmosphere by firing a high power Laser into the sky and measuring the reflected light. That night the LIDAR was turned on and the green Laser shone skyward illuminating the clouds.	The green Laser beam from the LIDAR reaches skyward.

On the second day I explored the station and pondered what it would be like to spend a winter there someday.

Email concludes in part 4