Mass2Ant at Lokeryggen Ice Rise
During December 2021 and January 2022, a team of four sceintists from the galciology department of the Universite Libre de Bruxelles and one field guide from the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica spent several weeks at the Lokeryggen Ice Rise on the Coast in East Antarctica as part of the BELSPO-funded Mass2Ant project, which seeks to better understand the processes controlling the surface mass balance in East Antarctica, its variability over the last three centuries and, ultimately, improve model projections of surface mass balance changes of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet
During the 4t hand last season of the project, the resarchers collected a 26 km-long ground-penetrating radar transect going from east to west over the Lokeryggen Ice Rise to examine the variations in the surface mass balance of the ice rise from grounding line to grounding line. They also conducted radio echo sounding around the ice rise, did laser scans, and extracted shallow firn cores from the surface of the ice rise to get a rescord of snow accumulation during the last few years.
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Tents from the MAss2Ant project's field camp on the Lokeryggen Ice Rise on the first day of their mission at the coast in December 2021. A week after this photo was taken, a major snow storm hit.
© International Polar Foundation / Marie Cavitte UCLouvain
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Enjoying the midnight sun at camp with a beautiful sundog!
© International Polar Foundation / Maaike Izeboud ULB
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Our tents at the Mass2Ant field camp after the first snowstorm a week into our mission.
© International Polar Foundation / Maaike Izeboud TUDelft
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Drilling a shallow firn core is a good workout!
© International Polar Foundation / Marie Cavitte UCLouvain
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Measuring the snow surface with the laser scanner.
© International Polar Foundation / Maaike Izeboud TUDelft
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Christmas Dinner fondue with the Mass2Ant team on the Lokeryggen Ice Rise!
© International Polar Foundation / Marie Cavitte UCLouvain
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Using ground-penetrating radar on a day when we had beautiful weather!
© International Polar Foundation / Frank Pattyn ULB
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Collecting pRES measurements on a typical low-visibility day.
© International Polar Foundation / Marie Cavitte UCLouvain
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The Mass2Ant team poses in front of one of the modified living containers before starting their journey back to the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica.
© International Polar Foundation / Marie Cavitte UCLouvain
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After a successful field campaign the Mass2Ant team makes the 200 km trek back to the Princess Antarctica, where they will spend a few days before heading home.
© International Polar Foundation / Marie Cavitte UCLouvain