15.12.2007: Visiting Neumayer

Saturday, 15 December 2007: We all got up early to see the Pistenbullys of Neumayer-Station approaching. It was some minutes after 8am, when they arrived to manage all these containers.
All scientists were invited to Neumayer for today and therefore I waited for my helicopter-shuttle to the station. I never went in a helicopter so far and it was a great and thrilling experience. The view on icebergs and the Polarstern from above and also on the big colony of breading emperors was overwhelming. Neumayer Station was build as an under-ice construction and consists basically of two tubes. In these tubes are living- and laboratory containers. During winter eight people live there to keep long time studies in geophysics, air-chemistry and meteorology running. During summer, several more people from different countries live there to do research. They have additional over-ice camps. At the moment, the
"overwinterers" from the last season is still there, while some of the new team already have arrived. Mentally it is a very hard struggle, I think, to live in Antarctica for one year, especially as the winter is so long, cold and lonesome. Because of this we had to keep quiet and not to disturb the privacy of the people there. But we got an insight into people's life in the station and got a guided tour. We also saw, why there is the need for a new station: in some places, the tubes are already heavily deformed because of the heavy load of snow. At the beginning, 15 years ago, the station was close to the surface, but every year 80-100cm of new snow buries the station and it is by now about 10-12 m under the surface.
Outside Neumayer it is very beautiful. Despite of the windmills and antennae coming out of the surface, the glacier seems to be endless and totally flat. The sun was shining and we c ould see Polarstern in the Bay. And there was absolute silence, when you went off for just some hundred
meters.
Later on, when I was already back at the Ship's place, I had a meeting with two Adelie Penguins. I was lying on the ice when they came closer and closer. Finally one of them was even closer than 1.5m when the helicopters arrived and scared away the penguins.

We, of course, also invited the station's people to Polarstern. They came and got some tours through all the facilities and labs of the ship. Today is Judith's birthday. Therefore I will have some fun tonight. It was a really beautiful day!