Rothera, Antarctica

Rob coming up to join us at the belay just as it starts snowing.

Rothera, Antarctica

Climbing on North Stork with Tom Weston and Dr Rob doc. With down jacket, handwarmers in my chalk bag and socks over my climbing shoes, it was very cosy on the belay ledge.

Rothera, Antarctica

A large part of the work for Mairi (our wintering marine assistant) is to collect weekly CTD (conductivity, temperature and depth) data of the seawater. This requires heading out in a boat with some willing volunteers to collect a water sample. A flask is lowered to 500m where it collects a sample before being winched back up. Mairi then takes the sample back to the lab to do some science on it. While we were out on the water today this incredible iceberg crept up on us.

Rothera, Antarctica

While others not so (even if they are very pretty).

Rothera, Antarctica

And the location of each nest is noted. Some nests look very comfortable.

Rothera, Antarctica

Any unhatched eggs are measured.

Rothera, Antarctica

Sharon weighs each chick and measures their wing span.

Rothera, Antarctica

On top of marine biology, there is also a lot of terrestrial biology conducted at Rothera. Part of that work is to conduct a weekly survey of the skua population around base. This weekend I accompanied Sharon (the Bonner lab manager) as she completed the weekly survey.

Rothera, Antarctica

My favourites- the adele penguins.

Rothera, Antarctica

Rothera, Antarctica

Walking around the point is incredible at the moment for the shear volume of wildlife. There are weddell seals (shown), crabeater, leopard and fur seals, adele penguins, skuas, blue-eyed shags, Wilson's storm petrels, and if you're really lucky, whales- orcas, humpback and minke.

Rothera, Antarctica

From the wharf, looking south. Jenny Island on the horizon.

Lagoon Island, Antarctica

Lagoon Island, Antarctica

There are huge colonies of elephant seals around at the moment. They are adolescent males, and, like adolescent males, they mostly lie around farting, burping, smelling pretty bad, and half-heartedly fighting. Despite that, it was really incredible to be able to be so close to them.

Lagoon Island, Antarctica

A few kilometers to the south of Rothera are several islands, one of which, Lagoon Island, has a small wooden cabin. Six of us (from left to right), Ash (this winters marine biologist), Simmo (last winters marine assistant), Laura (the forecaster's forecaster), me, Mairi (this winters marine assistant) and Tom took a boat over one Friday evening to stay the night. Thanks to Tom for the photo.

Rothera, Antarctica