international
polar
foundation

Veteran reporter Jos Van Hemelrijck recounts the memorable journey he took to the King Baudoin Ice Shelf. He spent more than a week getting a taste of what life is like for a scientist doing field research in Antarctica.

The team of scientists who spent a few weeks on the King Baudoin Ice Shelf has returned from their field expedition and is preparing to head home in time for Christmas.

Dr Alexander Mangold from the Royal Meteorological Institute (RMI) of Belgium is now on his sixth season in Antarctica. He and his colleague Dr Quentin Laffineur have been busy with some new projects this season.

The scientists at the coast have been extracting ice and firn cores from various sites across the King Baudouin Ice Shelf. The shallow firn core drillings Jan Lenearts has been taking for the BENEMELT project have been very successful. However, as the ULB IceCon team tried to drill deeper into the ice shelf to extract a deep 150-metre ice core, the drill head got stuck...

With most of the scientists at the coast, things have been calm at the Princess Elisabeth Station. In Belgium, preparations are being made for the departure of the cargo ship bringing supplies and equipment to Antarctica.

This Sunday, I learned that Antarctica was in fact a very dry continent and how aerosols and particles were playing a role in that dryness. Ironically, that was in stark contrast with the recent news from the coast, where our friends were​ getting massive amounts of snowfall​ dumped on​ them.

The weather has improved for the scientists at the coast, Denis Lombardi finally has some good news, and Jos Van Hemelrijck learns why covering up properly in Antarctica is important for your health.

Bad weather has moved into the Queen Maud Land, and the BELARE team must grin and bear it while continuing with the work plan of the season.

This weekend, Alain Hubert, Jacques Richon and Jos Van Hemelrijck accompanied Denis Lombardi on several trips to the mountains to check up on and service his seismometers. Later this week, they will take another trip to the plateau before heading to the coast to meet up with the IceCon and BENEMELT scientists. We also celebrated Antarctica Day!

Scientists from the Universtié Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and 2014 InBev-Baillet Latour Fellowship laureate Jan Lenaerts left for the coast on Thursday evening, eager to get to work on their research projects.