A walking safari in the Antarctic

After a few tiresome weeks of intense lab activities at the Dallmann Laboratory and occasional field excursions in Potter Cove  on King George Island, my work in Jubany (nowadays known as Carlini Station) finally came to an end. This was November 2007. Antarctic Summer. And just as on all my other expeditions, it’s only at the end that I realized …

Jubany: a research station on King George Island.

Sometimes the most memorable travel memories are made when you least expect them. Even when you think things are completely heading in the wrong direction, something spectacular might happen eventually. In November 2007, I got stuck on an Argentinian military base for almost 2 weeks (all about that unfortunate chain of events here), awaiting a transfer to Jubany, …

Antarctica (5): The Antarctic Peninsula and finally some sampling!

In our previous blog post about this 2016-2017 Antarctic research expedition on the German RV Polarstern, we were stranded in the ice near Neumayer Station II, at the eastern side of the Weddell Sea. After delivering some important provisions to the residents of the base, we could finally leave the area and navigated towards the Antarctic Peninsula in …

Antarctica (2): crossing the Antarctic Convergence

“After a few days on board, I wrote in my diary: “Finally some excitement. The weather has seriously deteriorated (now 8 Beaufort), and that leads to some hilarious situations! Washing yourself in the shower of your cabin has become very impractical and during lunch I almost fell down with my chair and everything after a …