International Polar Foundation systems engineer Aymar De Lichtervelde is seen here working with some tubing that makes up the new, custom built water treatment system, which has been installed at the Princess Elisabeth Station during the 2023-2024 season. 

Here a member of the IPF team and a visiting scientist install the CIMEL sunphotometer (CSPHOT) which is a multi-channel, automatic sun and sky scanning radiometer that measures the direct solar irradiance and sky radiance at the Earth's surface.  The Cimel sunphotometer (CSPHOT) is a multi-channel, automatic sun-and-sky scanning radiometer that measures the direct solar irradiance and sky radiance at the Earth's surface.

This past season a new water treatment system was implemented at the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica, with this new system the capacity to treat and recycle water more than doubled. The station can now comfortably treat and recycle the water needs of up to 50 visitors. The system was completely custom, designed and built in house and quite an accomplishment for our team!

A rare phenomenon is seen here, a rainbow of sorts.. ice crystals refract light and cause this visually appealing bow close to the ice sheet. Also in the picture are scientists setting up a new automatic weather station on the King Baudouin ice shelf as part of Dr. Eric Rignot's research project. 

During the end of the summer season in Queen Maud Land Antarctica there is only an hour or two where the sun dips below the Sør Rondane mountains. This photo was taken at Perseus International Airfield around midnight at the end of January, 2024. 

Pictured here are a number of IPF engineers and scientists from various institutions that all partook in 'Live from Antarctica' a webinar organized with the University of Colorado at Boulder and some other schools that allowed scientists to talk about the research they are carrying out, as well as allowed the engineers an opportunity to share the renewable aspects (energy production and water treatment) that the station itself is notorious for. 

The Princess Elisabeth Antarctic polar research station is run completely on renewable energy sources. Nearly 70% of total energy needs is supplied by our wind turbines. However, thankfully the wind isn't always blowing which allows time to service and carry out necessary maintenance to ensure that these windmills continue to reliably deliver a fossil free source of energy. 

2 proud IPF system engineers happily posing in front of the newly completed water treatment system. 

During the 2023-24 BELARE season, Dr Valentina Savaglia from the University from the University of Sevilla samples microbes from open top chambers for the BELSPO-sponsored ExPoSoils project, which seeks to understand how microbial communities might be affected by climate change.