Chicks and Balloons

We have had another exceedingly busy week. It was certainly noticeable that some of us had walked or run half a mountainous marathon on Sunday. There were more than one or two of us with limps or who found it trickier than normal to get up out of chairs or in my case out of bed. 

We started the week by taking the three soil beakers (or microbial scientists as they would normally be called) to Sorling so they could sample the lower end of the Barff peninsula. They are going to have a bit of a slog over to St Andrews Bay which is a 6/7 hour walk or so. It was tougher on the way back than on the way there because they had soil samples in their packs as well. Oh the joys of being a scientist. The Commissioner, Nigel Heywood, who has been visiting for the past week, made an announcement at our Monday Morning Meeting declaring an increased level of protection for the MPA (Marine Protected Area). There are increased spatial and temporal restrictions, especially on the krill fishery, to avoid competition between the fishing vessels and the predators  such as penguins and fur seals which depend on the krill. This makes South Georgia one of the most protected areas in the world. 

On Tuesday the Agulhas II came into the cove on a good will visit. She is South Africa’s new research vessel and by all accounts is state of the art. Unfortunately I was running boating and so couldn’t go aboard but according to the people who did she is pretty impressive. I managed to slightly twist their new boarding ladder (not permanently) and shouted sorry to the officer  at the top. He told me not to worry and that it needed testing anyway, not quite the answer I was looking for but at least I was useful.

 On Tuesday we also temporarily lost two members of base. Sue, Daniel and Katie (who is now working for the government) went on board the Fishing Vessel Sil to do a groundfish survey around the island. The data that they get from this fishing survey will go to CCAMLAR (Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources) and from this CCAMLAR will give the South Georgian government quotas for the three commercial species: Patagonian Toothfish, Icefish and Krill. The quotas are then reduced again slightly (to ensure sustainability) and this final number is given to the vessels which fish in these waters. So as you can see the groundfish survey is very important to the government and to the continued sustainability of the fishery. An interesting development has just arisen over this survey. Argentina does not recognise the South Georgian Government and has declared to CCAMLAR that it intends to do its own groundfish survey in our waters.  They will not come into King Edward Cove as every fishing vessel must for inspection and clearance and according to the laws of South Georgia they will be fishing illegally. Now this not only appears to be a deliberately provocative act by the Argentinean government but also could have huge implications on the fishery since CCAMLAR has to take the latest data to decide the quotas. This means that if the Argentineans use different protocols to our survey their data could be drastically different, and could massively reduce CCAMLAR’s quotas based on that data, thereby damaging the fishery and the main source of income for the South Georgian government. If the Argentineans do conduct their own survey we will probably have to conduct one even later (probably just before the deadline for data) to ensure that the correct data gets sent in to CCAMLAR and the fishery is properly managed. The Argentinians have declared that they will be doing this at exactly the same time as the Falkland Islands will be holding their referendum on whether they want to stay British or become independent. We are avidly awaiting developments. 

On the Sil were also 5 meteorologists who came off onto base. They are here to do some experiments and observations. They release a balloon with a radiosonde (a piece of kit that measures location, height, humidity, windspeed, etc) attached. These balloons are made of latex and filled with helium till they are about 1.5/2m in diameter. They are released and increase in size with the decrease in pressure as they rise. They generally burst at the 32,000km region when they are about 11m in diameter. It is a fairly impressive thought. The team also hope to fly a UAV (essentially a small plane) with a whole load of instruments on board to gain a more detailed local view of things. Unfortunately they haven’t yet managed to launch the plane due to technical difficulties but these are being worked on as I write. 

Paula and John release a balloon

 On Saturday we awoke to a very surprising 3.5inches of snow on the ground and more falling. It is summer for pity’s sake!! It was quite warm with the snow so it very soon turned to slush and we all had to get the wellies out to reduce wet feet syndrome. In the afternoon we went to collect the soil beakers and the sun had come out by then. It was incredibly and austerely beautiful seeing the snow on the hills and having to make our way slowly through pancake ice (from the freeze the previous night) and brash ice (from the bergs breaking up in the warm weather we have been having in the past few days). As we went along there were Wilson’s Storm Petrels (a black and white bird the size of a swallow) all around us. I am not entirely sure what they were doing but they would get very close to the surface of the water and then put their legs down and seemingly dance on the surface as if they were practising steps for a ballet. It was wonderful. That and the deep deep blue of the inside of the bergs where cracks were forming just made my heart sing and not for the first or last time I found myself amazed that I actually get paid to do this job. 

On Saturday we also gained the last member of our wintering team. Hazel Woodland came in from the JCR. She has been the doc on board since October and swapped yesterday to become our doc while John has gone on board to become the JCR’s doc till the end of the season. Poor Hazel, who has been waking up at 0200 for the past few days to help with science going on at that time, arrived to a big Saturday Night. Sarah made reindeer pate and Joe then BBQ’d reindeer and it was absolutely delicious. That was all fine but then when we moved from the dining room to the bar things began to get a little rowdy and though suffering a fair amount of sleep deprivation she battled cheerfully on, trying to hear conversations with the music creeping ever louder, but in the end had to admit defeat and go to bed. I thought she did very well since it must have been remarkably overwhelming. 

On Sunday morning I led a team (some bright eyed and bushy tailed, others, slightly less so after the bar last night) over to Maiviken to do Gentoo chick weighing. I was in charge of it because Daniel, who should be in charge, had to go on the groundfish survey. Luckily at this stage of their lives the chicks all crèche for safety and so they were very easy to find. Unluckily however they were crecheing in the muddiest, foulest part of Maiviken. We got into oilies and joined the fray. We decided to try and catch them the old fashioned way: choose your penguin and then try and catch it, gently pinning its wings to its side to minimise damage both to you and it. It was so foul and so slippery that I found myself at one point with a penguin in my arms, holding it off the ground, as we both skidded about 2/3m in the mud. When we stopped the penguin and I just looked at each other. I was covered from head to foot in glop and didn’t realise quite how bad my face was till I returned home and had a shower. In the end we found it much easier to use the small corral that Daniel had made to catch a group and then pick some out of that group. It was much less stressful for everybody and Daniel should be proud of his invention. 

So another packed week has passed and another one is just round the corner. We missed Burns Night on Friday and I am on cook tomorrow so I think we might have a belated Burns Night dinner, complete with haggis. Happy late Burns Night and have a safe week.