The new ÜWI team has arrived
Good morning, howdy and hello!
Here we are, the 44th ÜWI team at Neumayer Station III. And aside from the station, we’re happy to take over responsibility for the AtkaXpress. Though it’s customary to start with a round of introductions, we’ve decided to wait a bit on that – because even though there are nine of us here, which means we’ve filled all the slots on a classic overwintering team, we’re still missing a few people. Unlike in previous years, this time there will be twelve of us sharing the Antarctic winter; we’ll be joined by a camera team that will make a film about the emperor penguin colony in nearby Atka Bay. They’re not scheduled to arrive until 15 February, so we have to ask for a bit of patience.
After five months of preparations in Bremerhaven, during which we lived together as different flats in the same house, the nine of us left for our great adventure, together with a few “summer guests”, from Bremen Airport on 16 December. After a lengthy flight via Oslo, Prague, N’Djamena and Cape Town, we first set foot on Antarctic soil – or more correctly, Antarctic ice – near the Norwegian research station Troll on 19 December.
And then, after a last feeder flight, just a few hours later we arrived at Neumayer Station, where we received a warm welcome.
At nearly the same time we arrived, shortly before Christmas, this year’s resupply ship, the Malik Arctica, reached the ice shelf edge, 12 km from the station. For the 49 of us working here at the time, that meant a day full of unloading cargo, transporting containers, and getting things stowed away at the station. At first, we new ÜWIs were a bit clueless and were basically tossed in at the deep end. But, that’s how you learn… At the same time, the 43rd overwintering team showed us the ropes for their various tasks. In the meantime, now that we’ve completed our first fire drill and shown that we’re capable of doing our routine tasks, and after the official station handover ceremony, they’ve left on their well-deserved vacation. Currently, thanks to the so-called summer guests, the station is still quite full: from both a scientific and a technical standpoint, much of the work done here is only possible in the Antarctic summer. A few days ago, a group returned from Kohnen Station, which lies more than 750 km south of the Neumayer Station at an elevation of 3,000 m. So, we once again had plenty of things to clear out or stow away. But we’re increasingly getting used to our duties and the station, learning to adapt to changing weather conditions, and enjoying the sunlit days and nights. We had the chance to take sea-ice measurements and help out with tagging penguin chicks for the SPOT observatory. In addition to observations throughout the year using a complex camera system, every year 300 emperor penguin chicks are weighed and measured. We also took blood samples and injected tracking chips under their skin. Since the penguins always return to where they were hatched, all life long, this allows us to draw conclusions on the colony’s development and the potential influences of environmental changes.
Some of us have had the chance to go along on traverses – excursions to various outlying stations – and a lucky few have, in addition to penguins and seals, caught sight of whales. In the months to come, we’ll surely have plenty of opportunities to report on this in more detail.
In the meantime, the Polar Day has come to an end, and at midnight on the evening of 27/28 January, the sun set for the first time since our arrival.
We’re looking forward to the ever-shortening days that will follow. Over the coming months, we’ll give you the chance to accompany us on our journey, to join in our day-to-day work, to glimpse the beauty of the Antarctic, and to share in everything else we want to show you.
So, see you soon!
Your 44th ÜWI team
