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The 2021-22 season witnessed a groundbreaking research project based out of the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica that will pave the way for future marine biological research in the region.

After some delays brought about the COVID-19 pandemic, the 3rd Arctic Shorts film evening took palce on Wednesday, January 26 at BOZAR Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels.

At PEA a lot of scientific instruments are continuously collecting data for researchers working at different universities or research institutes in Europe and around the world. But have you ever wondered how these data find their way to the scientists who need it for the reserch projects?

It’s been a busy time at the Princess Elisabeth. Scientists from the Mass2Ant, CLIMB, and PEACE projects along with the station cook for mid-season and a few members of the station’s technical team left the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica on Friday, January 14. The 15 people who left were replaced by six new people, including scientists, station engineers, and the final cook for the 2021-22 season.
 

The Antarctic Ice Sheet is contributing approximately 0.5 mm of sea level rise per year. The timing and magnitude of the Antarctic Ice Sheet’s contribution is difficult to assess, partly due to the variability of its surface mass balance and its future evolution. Surface mass balance is the net addition or removal of mass at the surface of the ice sheet.

The BELSPO- funded Mass2Ant research project aims to better understand the processes controlling the surface mass balance in East Antarctica, its variability over the last three centuries and, ultimately, improve model projections of surface mass balance changes of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet.

This 2021-2022 fieldwork season is the fourth and last one of the Mass2Ant project. This year the work was accomplished in three weeks at the remote location of Lokeryggen Ice Rise, which is located near the coast, about 160 km from the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica (PEA) station.

How do aerosol-CLoud Interactions influence surface Mass Balance in East Antarctica?

Find out more with the BELSPO-financed CLIMB project at the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica (PEA), with Andy Delcloo (RMI) and Preben Van Overmeiren (UGent)!

Our team and scientists at the station have been celebrating the Holidays in Antarctica, while continuing their important work to support scientific missions.

As we mentioned in our previous news, the first scientists have finally arrived at the station. Thanks to our professional team at PEA, everything has gone well and the scientists have now headed out into the field to start their research.

Since December 10th, the BELARE team at the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica - the world’s first zero-emission polar research station - has been hosting a team from the Monegasque company Venturi, which manufactures high-performance electric vehicles, to test the world’s first electric polar exploration vehicle, the Venturi Antarctica.

The first teams of scientist arrived at Perseus Airstrip last Thursday after a transcontinental flight from Cape Town, South Africa to Antarctica, and they’re already preparing for their first field campaigns.