international
polar
foundation

Simon Steffen works on an automatic weather station in the workshop at the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica. During the 2024-25 season, Simon and colleagues have maintained the six existing weather stations in the PEACE project network and added two new stations.

A meltwater pool forms in the Utsteinen Nunatak windscoop not far from the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica.  During the height of the austral summer, temperatures at the staton can climb above freezing for several days in a row.

During the last week of December 2024, temperatures at PEA went above freezing for some time. In this photo, members of the BELARE team clearing snow from the roof of PEA on a warm day to avoid metlwater pooling on the roof of the station's annexes.

During the last week of December 2024, temperatures at PEA went above freezing for some time. In this photo, members of the BELARE team clearing snow from the roof of PEA on a warm day to avoid metlwater pooling on the roof of the station's annexes.

A meltwater pool forms in the Utsteinen Nunatak windscoop not far from the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica.  During the height of the austral summer, temperatures at the staton can climb above freezing for several days in a row.

During the last week of December 2024, temperatures at PEA went above freezing for some time. In this photo, members of the BELARE team clearing snow from the roof of PEA on a warm day to avoid metlwater pooling on the roof of the station's annexes.

This is the typical appearance of a meteorite found in the blue ice area surrounding the Belgica Mountains. Meteorites are found concentrated in blue ice areas, where the flow of ice is obstructed by nunataks or mountain ranges and where katabatic winds ablate the ice, bringing buried samples to the surface.

Micrometeorites recovered from the Belgica Mountains. Micrometeorites between 50 micrometer and 2 mm in diameter are very important to understand the origin and evolution of the solar system. They contain information different from that provided by larger meteorites and may derive fromunknown asteroids.

When a meteorite is found in the field, its GPS position and a provisional number are noted, after which the rock is put in a plastic bag. The meteorites are kept frozen for their journey to the Royal Belgian Institute for Natural Sciences and are then defrosted with care to avoid any alteration of the samples.