Neumayer – Behind the scenes
Dear readers,
Our more than 8-month-long isolation from the outside world is now officially over! The first aeroplanes have landed at Neumayer! The summer season is just around the bend! But before we fill you in on that, let’s talk a bit more about the winter:
At Neumayer, it’s all about research: gathering data, securing data, collecting samples, taking sea-ice measurements, and continuing decades-long time series. After all, that’s why the station was built in the first place. And we ÜWIs are responsible for maintaining the instruments and taking he readings – but what sometimes gets overlooked are the logistics and engineering behind the research, which are what keep everything running. Our team doesn’t just consist of researchers; there’s also our cook, Eva, who keeps us fed, and the engineering group, which ensures that everything runs as it should. Without them, we’d be in serious trouble out here.
With that in mind, this blog entry takes a break from research, offering a glimpse behind the scenes instead.
Our cook – Eva
During the winter months, we all eat our lunches and suppers together at a big round table in the canteen, which offers just enough room for the ten of us. Eva is who keeps us fed, and she really gives it her all: there are always so many pots, bowls and plates full of delicious food on the counter that we wonder how we’re going to eat it all. In the Antarctic our energy requirements are a bit higher – or you can do as the penguins do and build up a nice, warming fatty layer ;) – there’s also plenty of dessert to be had.
Even bright and early in the morning, you’ll find Eva in the kitchen – busy at work preparing the day’s lunch or soaking the beans for tomorrow’s chili.
Being the station cook at Neumayer is a varied but challenging job. In the winter, you “only” have to cook for your fellow ÜWIs, but the team’s mood greatly depends on the quality of the meals. This aspect can have a major influence on team morale. Thankfully, Eva does a wonderful job of granting our every wish – at least, the best she can; if there’s something we don’t have in our stores, she can’t exactly pop out to the corner shop. Eva has to work with the supplies ordered last year and delivered by the Polarstern this January; that’s all there is. So, if we’re out of your favourite chocolate or tea, that’s just the way it is. When the last fresh onion has been chopped up, there won’t be any more freshly fried onions until the next shipment. This makes ordering supplies a serious challenge, since it involves long-term planning.
If you were looking for Eva during the dark winter months and she wasn’t in the kitchen, she was usually in the large freezer rooms downstairs, taking inventory: the frozen pizzas, fillets, broccoli, bread and rolls, ice cream and cake all had to be carefully counted to ensure that the next order only included what was truly needed. Eva did this very meticulously; even our large stock of potatoes was sorted by hand. After all, it would be a pity for food to go bad after being shipped all the way to the Antarctic.
Thankfully, in the somewhat quieter winter months, despite her various duties, Eva also found time for long walks, a bit of sports, trips to visit the penguins, and to just chill out with the rest of us ÜWIs.
In the upcoming summer, however, her spare time will be in short supply: then she’ll have more than 50 mouths to feed. But Eva is ready; let the madness begin!
But it’s not just about the meals; having a warm and safe station, running water and reliable electricity is also a big part of making our life at Neumayer comfortable. And that’s exactly why we have Motor Martin, the station engineer, and Bernd, our electrical engineer, on the team.
What do they do all day? Just about everything it takes to keep the station up and running.
Our engineer – Motor Martin
At Neumayer, the engineer is responsible for the station’s technical systems throughout our overwintering and is the “go-to guy” for Eva, Bernd and Markus. He has a broad range of duties – like routine maintenance and repairs on our snowcats, which are done on level U2 (our underground garage in the ice). We constantly need the snowcats for various tasks. For instance, they’re used to haul tank containers full of fuel for the station, for aircraft, and for the snowcats themselves from the winter camp. But they’re mostly used to plough snow and keep the trail and airstrip clear.
But most of the engineer’s work – especially when we have bad weather – is done inside the station. Here, Motor Martin is responsible for our block-type combined heat and power plants, the drinking-water purification system and snowmelt, our wastewater systems, hydraulics for the station and ramp, waste disposal, and much more.
He was particularly essential last winter, when the motor broke down on one of our generators. With the support of the whole team, he quickly removed and replaced the faulty motor – job well done!
But even when there are no major repairs to be made, our engineer’s days are fairly long and usually filled to the brim. Every morning, he starts the day by making the rounds, checking that all of the system’s stations are operating within normal parameters. In addition to maintaining and repairing all our technical systems, he also takes care of the technical documentation for water, wastewater and fuel consumption, which of course means he also knows exactly how many operating hours each system has. Placing orders and taking inventory are also on his to-do list.
Motor Martin is also our expert of choice for minor repairs like radiators with their thermostat broken off, clogged toilets, broken showerheads, or broken Nansen and metal sledges that need to be welded back together. Whenever tools and instruments in the scientific observatories break down and there are no backups, it’s time to improvise. And that’s why we turn to our engineer when ice drills need to be sharpened, winches for use in sea-ice measurement need to be built or modified, or we need girder masts for our photovoltaic modules – so basically, whenever something is broken and needs to be fixed.
By the way, that’s often easier said than done; he can’t exactly go to the local home improvement store. But, as the saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention.
Martin receives vital support from our electrical engineer Bernd – for example, with the weekly “station adjustment”, during which the station, which rests on 16 hydraulic struts referred to as “bipods”, is repositioned, fully automatically. Because the ice shelf below the Neumayer Station is constantly in motion, there are various forces at work on the bipods; as a result, they can shift slightly over time. And it’s precisely this type of motion that needs to be observed and, if need be, compensated for. In other words, if a bipod’s base starts to lean too much, it has to be raised, the resulting space has to be packed with new snow, and then the bipod can be repositioned.
Our electrical engineer – Bernd
In addition to the duties mentioned above, which our Engineering Dream Team take care of together, Bernd also handles everything to do with electricity and power, not to mention a host of other tasks throughout the station. He tends to describe his work at the station as being like a more flexible custodian. In this regard, safety comes first: once a week, he checks the fire extinguisher system for the combined heat and power plants and fixes any issues he finds; once a month, he does routine maintenance on our lift; and he tests our fire alarm, emergency lighting, and backup heat and power plant at regular intervals.
He also regularly cleans the filter on the wastewater system, which ensures that leftovers and other unwanted debris are screened out before they can reach the system. And since a good team needs a good working environment, Bernd keeps a close eye on the ventilation system to make sure sufficient moisture is added to the dry outside air before it is heated and distributed around the station – which also means he has to clean the humidifier system and replace the filters in all ventilation systems.
As if they didn’t have enough to do inside the station, the engineering team also have a thing or two to take care of outdoors.
For example, if left unchecked, the Neumayer Station – even though it stands on struts – would eventually be buried by new snowfall. Consequently, virtually every window of fair weather is used to plough snow with the station’s snowcats – on a massive scale and, if possible, before the next storm brings a fresh batch of snow. This involves a good deal of action and can be good fun – after all, how often do you get to drive a snowcat?
When the weather is clear, Bernd also checks on the wind turbines. To keep them running as smoothly as possible, their bearings have to be lubricated and any issues have to be fixed; these can include simple ice build-up on components like the wind vane or the wind sensor. He also has to play the station poltergeist from time to time – whenever the air exhaust vents on the roof have become iced over from condensation water and the frigid outside air, and he has to knock off the ice with a hammer. When he does, you can hear it from one end of the station to the other!
When the weather isn’t so clement, you can find Bernd in the workshop, where, besides the various types of welding work that Martin does, our snowmobiles (Skidoos) are repaired. As such, our electrical engineer is also a part-time motorcycle mechanic, since that’s essentially what the Skidoos are, except for the fact that they have snow tracks instead of wheels.
Our radio operator – Markus
And then there’s our radio operator – a job title that might not be entirely accurate in this day and age. Granted, Markus also takes care of the radio links, main radios and amateur radio, but he mainly works on IT and system administration, i.e., on server configurations, data streams, and above all, maintaining a stable internet connection. For small and large IT questions alike, he helps as best he can, with a great deal of patience.
You can usually find him in the radio room – right across from the canteen, where he can keep an eye on everything. If there’s someone or something you can’t find, Markus is the best person to ask. He’s also who answers when anyone near the station or on the sea ice calls Neumayer on the radio. It sounds something like this: “Neumayer for sea ice” – and a few seconds later, Markus’s familiar and slightly distorted voice coming through the walky-talky: “Neumayer here”.
If Markus isn’t in the radio room, it usually means he’s off somewhere working on an antenna – on the station’s roof, or on one of the snowcats down in U2, our underground garage. Then you can often hear him complaining about his cold hands, which force him to take a break from working on the antenna tower – since making repairs with thick polar gloves on is difficult at best.
Last but not least, Markus is who we turn to for the best penguin pictures. Using a large telephoto lens, he’s managed to capture some impressive shots – including one of a tiny chick still nestled in the tummy folds of its parents.
However, with the summer season now beginning, Markus is nearly always in the radio room. Since he’s also responsible for the station’s air traffic communications, the various aeroplanes’ flight plans all land on his desk. If you want the latest information on whether a given plane will land at the station and will need to be refuelled, or if the crew will be staying overnight, he’s the one to ask. Once he knows how many guests will be staying, he passes it on to Eva right away, so she can whip up another big pot of chili. 😉
When another full day at the station has come to an end and all the chores are done – some more successfully, others perhaps less so – we gather in the lounge to talk about our day, complain about the weather or what went wrong, and to discuss what’s planned for the next day, or when, despite all the work to be done, we’ll have the next chance to visit the penguins.
