Related News
This pages lists all related news for the chosen entry.
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BELARE 2007-2008: Waiting for Better Weather
25.01.2008
The C-shaped wooden side beams have now all been mounted. Next step involves tackling the exterior metal panels, as soon as the weather permits to do so.
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BELARE 2007-2008: The Team Earns a Sleep In for Fast Progress
21.01.2008
The building team spent just 5 days building the station's floor. That's roughly 500 m² of pine wood resting upon the metal struts. This rigid progress puts the building team a few days ahead of schedule! Progress has been such that the building team earned a day's rest over the week-end.
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BELARE 2007-2008: The Ivan Papanin Ship Leaves Cape Town
04.12.2007
At the end of November, the Ivan Papanin arrived in Cape Town for a last stop-over before leaving for Antarctica. The ice-class cargo ship filled up on fuel and food supplies for the crew and loaded the last containers full of frozen goods, fresh fruits and vegetables, gas for the vehicles at Utsteinen, wood and other small elements of use on the building site. The Ivan Papanin left South Africa on 1 December.
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BELARE 2007-2008: The Floor Goes In
18.01.2008
It is snowing lightly, the sky is overcast, but the sun still pierces through the clouds. A fresh breeze rises now and then upon the Utsteinen ridge, cooling any extremity that has not been covered. It is -12°C, but who knows what the wind chill is.
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BELARE 2007-2008: Summary of Activities
15.11.2007
In our last report, it was mentioned that all the containers had been recovered from Breid Bay and that the camp site was slowly filling up with equipment. The building team is preparing the Utsteinen Ridge for the station's anchoring points and making progress on constructing the wind turbines.
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BELARE 2007-2008: Stormy Weather Hits East Antarctica
24.12.2007
The second convoy reached Utsteinen on December 21st (7 30 pm), carrying part of the crane and frozen food to last through mid-March 2008. Strong winds and heavy snow falls are coming down on the Eastern region of Antarctica, announcing a white Christmas for the BELARE 2007-2008 team.
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BELARE 2007-2008: Securing the 5th Traverse
28.12.2007
Seven people left the base camp on December 27th to start the 5th traverse. Meanwhile, the rest of team is working on re-assembling the cranes and finishing the garages and the station's foundations.
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BELARE 2007-2008: Reaching for the Sky
16.01.2008
Building on site continues, no matter what the weather is like. When one activity slows down, another one picks up speed. There are always more than 20 people working up on the ridge and round abouts, and 6 who are out on a traverse between Utsteinen and Crown Bay. More than half the containers are now in Utsteinen.
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BELARE 2007-2008: Mounting the Metal Structure
09.01.2008
Seven people have left on another traverse. The rest of the team is either working on the ridge, filming those working on the ridge, building new bathroom facilities or cooking away to feed the team.
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BELARE 2007-2008: Merry Christmas
26.12.2007
Christmas was celebrated on the night of December 24th, close to the way it is feasted in Belgium. The coast team made it back to the base camp on time, after several hours of severe weather.
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BELARE 2007-2008: Last Module Goes In
12.02.2008
We just lived a historical moment here in Brussels, as we received a phone call from Utsteinen base camp. Alain Hubert phoned to say that the last exterior module was mounted on the Station this afternoon.
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BELARE 2007-2008: Ivan Papanin Soon to Reach Breid Bay
12.12.2007
The Ivan Papanin ice-class cargo ship carrying aboard the 120 containers of the Princess Elisabeth Station reached 5° East on December 11th. She is progressing smoothly towards the South and is expected to come into Breid Bay around December 14th.
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BELARE 2007-2008: Interview with Stéphan Dubois, Back from Utsteinen
02.01.2008
Stéphane Dubois, building coordinator for the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica Station, returned to Belgium earlier than foreseen. Mr. Dubois, an inhabitant of the Rochefort region, was supposed to stay in Antarctica until March 9, 2008. The atmospheric conditions, particularly the extreme dryness, forced him to return prematurely: he was back in Brussels on December 21, after having spent 52 days on the white continent.
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BELARE 2007-2008: Hammar Side Loader Back on Track
13.11.2007
Yesterday, the Hammar side loader had gotten stuck in a small crevasse. It is has now been successfully freed.
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BELARE 2007-2008: Flooring Goes On
21.01.2008
The building team spent just 5 days building the station's floor. That's roughly 500 m² of pine wood resting upon the metal struts. This rigid progress puts the building team a few days ahead of schedule! Progress has been such that the building team earned a day's rest over the week-end.
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BELARE 2007-2008: First Progress in Utsteinen
12.11.2007
A first report was received from Alain Hubert and the building team in Antarctica. Twenty-one people are now on site, working away on the wind turbines and getting started on the station's anchoring points.
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BELARE 2007-2008: First Convoy Reaches Utsteinen
20.12.2007
The first convoy of containers reached the base camp in Utsteinen today (December 19) at 5 pm. The most needed equipment was brought first, comprising of the remaining wood to complete the garage construction.
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BELARE 2007-2008: Exploring, Measuring and Drilling around Utsteinen
06.12.2007
Alain and Dieter have been measuring geodetic points for the National Geographic Institute of Belgium, and are happy with their results to date. Geodesy is the study of the size and shape of the Earth, its field of gravity, and such varying phenomena as the motion of the magnetic poles and the tides. Apart from having measured existing points that were left by the Japanese expedition of 1985, they have also installed new measuring points for a satellite survey.
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BELARE 2007-2008: East Façade Up
30.01.2008
The Utsteinen workaholics have now completed mounting the exterior modules on the Station's East side.
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BELARE 2007-2008: Drilling and Fixing Anchoring Bars into the Ridge
11.12.2007
Working on top of the Nunatak is not an enviable job: the wind comes in from the east and constantly blows your way. Some time ago, the thermometer on top of the rocks indicated -24 degrees Celsius, with gusts of wind reaching 50 km/hour.
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BELARE 2007-2008: Daily Life at Usteinen
29.11.2007
Another day in Utsteinen, another day of work. Greeted by the sunlight early in the morning, the working men climb out of their tents as early as 6 am.
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BELARE 2007-2008: Containers Parked up on the Ice Shelf
21.12.2007
The coast team has now finished unloading all the containers and machines from the Ivan Papanin. Everything has been neatly arranged in rows up on the ice shelf. The ship is due to leave Crown Bay today, Friday December 21.
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BELARE 2007-2008: Cold Winds, Chilly Tents
14.01.2008
Since the metal struts have been mounted on the Utsteinen ridge, work on the station has been advancing fast. Neither the weather nor the hard physical work has slowed the workmen down.
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BELARE 2007-2008: Christmas Menu
27.12.2007
The party began with, in stead of the usual hot chocolate that is served on the working grounds, warm wine from "Château Migraine" vintage.
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BELARE 2007-2008: A Visit to Asuka Station
23.11.2007
The building team has been working away securing the anchoring points of the station and making headway on constructing the garage. Alain Hubert and a few other team members have retrieved some useful material from the abandoned Japanese station, Asuka. The Ivan papanin should arrive at Breid Bay in less than a month.
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BELARE 2007-2008: A Trip through the Mountains
20.11.2007
With a work schedule ranging from 7 am to noon and 1 pm to 7 pm, work is progressing at a fine pace in Antarctica. Sunday, however, is a day for relaxation, laundry and travel.
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BELARE 2007-2008: A Sixth Traverse for the New Year
02.01.2008
This Ivan Papanin arrived in Cape Town during the night of December 28. Unloading operations lasted through December 29. Several waste containers and a few heavy drilling pieces were brought back to Cape Town to be disposed of or stored.
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BELARE 2007-2008: a “Comfortable” Base Camp
19.11.2007
Four new team members have reached Utsteinen Base Camp: Gaëlle, Toto, Daniel and Francis. Twenty-four people are now on site, bringing the team to a fully operational number to complete the first phase of the expedition.
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BELARE 2007-2008: “The Nieuwe Blanc”
04.01.2008
The Utsteinen crew had a costume party on New Year's Eve. Everyone took part in the fun.
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BELARE 2007-2008 Take Off
18.11.2007
On October 15th, the new BELARE (Belgian Antarctic Expedition) team gathered in Brussels for an informative meeting at the Belgian Military Hospital. BELARE 2007-2008 will build the new Belgian research station in Antarctica: Princess Elisabeth Antarctica.
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BELARE 2007-2008 : Expedition Program
29.11.2007
Scheduled over 4.5 months, the BELARE 2007-2008 expedition aims to build the Princess Elisabeth Station's outer shell and set up the seven remaining wind turbines.
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BELARE 2007 2008: Ivan Papanin Has Made it to Breid Bay
17.12.2007
The Ivan Papanin cargo ship started making its way through the sea ice on Friday December 14. She was anchored to the sea ice near Breid Bay around 7 pm that night. The exact location has been named Crown Bay (70°S 23°E), because of the shape of a nearby iceberg.
