Live from Antarctica: Wednesday 3rd December
No news feed yesterday: it took us half of the day to clean up the base camp's PC. Indeed, forget about Antarctica being all pristine and germ-free: there were about 4 viruses, worms, Trojans and other creatures slowing down the processing, and spreading to our personal laptops through the memory sticks.
With the dear help of our home base in Brussels (thank you Laurence and Jérôme!), the intruders were defeated at last and communication can resume.
Our Base Camp Manager left this morning to join the scientists. This should allow Alain to get on with the coastal reconnaissance. So there was some more waving this morning, despite the fact that it was 05.00 AM, which defined the event as a very exclusive and "happy few" moment.
The team of glaciologists has collected some very interesting radar data from the shelf profiles: they will start the drilling today and then retrieve the first ice core samples.
The experiment on sleep and physical activity is running smoothly at the base camp. The food is as satisfying as ever. As for the building work, we have just finished making the last adjustments to the designs. Everybody is trying to identify what could be a missing piece here and there while it is still time to order another tool or kit.
Nathalie Pattyn
Picture: First Scientific Camp Site Along the Coast - © International Polar Foundation