What have we been doing at Rothera for the past month?

I have had a mighty 6 weeks at Rothera where my aim was to keep up the Long Term Data set of the Rothera Antarctic Time Series Data set. I have stepped back in time to my old job which I did from 2015-2017. My main aim is to complete water sampling to capture the start of the plankton bloom and to act as a boat taxi driver for the divers so that we can get the IBIS blocks done! It's great coming back in with a fresh pair of eyes. I have been hired out by my company SAMS to BAS until mid January, which then I will be going back to doing Arctic Science as when I am come I am switching poles to attend an Arctic Conference! Super hectic. Zoe and Marlon are flying back in January to take over from me eek!

I have definitely been getting my hours up on driving the ribs around Rothera! With the boaties moving boat shed this year and me without my valid dive medical I have been driving everyone around.

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Here the two dive officers preparing for their dive to find and measure the mighty sponge. Auerlia is the Dive Supervisor and is in charge of the dive safety.

The visibility is still very good, the bloom hasn't really started yet!

We used through water communication to talk to the divers, it is often crackly

It's been great to be working back with Kate. It's so great to see her to happy after a dive, her face is always like this unless she has hotaches in her hands!

A dingle day!

We have moored up the Shackleton two times, the JCR once and now the massive BAM container ship! We have stood around the wharf alot this season.

I only have 8 daysleft ! ahh

The main reason that I was brought in was to assist with completing the IBIS grids. This is a long term data set looking at sea floor disurbance from icebergs.


The other major project is monitoring the biology and oceanography within Ryder Bay. With the main aim to capture the start of the phytoplankton bloom. Multitasking is a great skill to try and master down here.

I'm very happy when I am outside!!! Here on our way back from completing water sampling.

I have driven this tractor alot in the last few weeks!

Christmas Eve with two of my 2016 winter's and Al's mate from home Steve!

When the JCR was in we completed a ship hull survey to look for invasive species. I was supervisor for this dive so was super stressed the whole time and before we did the dive as I had to go down to the engineers and ensure everything was off and then go to the bridge to check everyone was happy with the commication, what was going to happen and that they had completed their shutdown checklist.

Putting on the full face masks

Once everything was going smoothly it was a good dive! The divers went from Bow to Stern along 12 sections they took samples of what was growing (later preserved in ethanol) and also took photos!

Epic!

Whilst the JCR was in we managed a Rothera Vs JCR football match! We even have Rothera footie tshirts now. We obsviously won (yes we did train) haha! Good craic.

We had lots of messages off schools in December during world Antarctic Day so we took photos of us with their photos all around base and sent them to the schools! They were so excited.

There are 150 people on base which is alot for a summer season here, even with how hectic base life is we are still having alot of fun! Here we played a Christmas match of Quidditch (from Harry Potter) it was hilarious and I haven't sprinted or laughed so much in 40 minutes before! Guess who is the snitch? We basically hit each other with the white balls which was a beater and meant you had to run back to your net, then we scored points by throwing the yellow ball into the goal and then the seeker caught the snitch!

This is me and the Dutch out on our water samping trips. Usually it only takes an hour, but the Dutch need about 3 hours to get the CTD and all of the water they need. So we usually take music, some chocolate and hot squash and have a great time!!

World ocean sampling Day!!

Ella driving the boats more to give her confidence behind the wheel!

There hasn't been much wildlife yet as the bloom has not fully started. There are lots of groups/pods of crabbie seals swimming and playing around. We haven't seen any whales yet. There are however, starting to be a few more leopard seals around!!

These are a few photos by Rich Rowe who has been an awesome helper out and about on the boats!

so many crabbies everywhere

 Checking out a big lep that was about 1 km from base and stopped us diving for the day!

These great photos were taken by Tom a field guide who is wintering here at Rothera! I put this camera set up on Badger buttress back in 2016, it is still there and going strong. It is now a GoPro in a hard waterproof casing with a solarpanel charging it, we are looking at the retreat of the Sheldon Glacier.

It was a faff to programme the GoPro and we need to check it in the next few weeks so check it's still working and swap over the camera SD card.

 Inbetween all of the science I have managed to get my snowboarding back up and have learnt how to use the splitboard. So now prepared for the Scottish Winter when i return !

So before the hectic wharf development here are some underwater photos that were taken by Callum Stronach the new Dive Officer, the Anchorage wall is a no take zone and is brimming with wildlife. It's good to remind yourself of why we come here everynow and again. I love sealemons!!!!!!!

 

A photo from BAS ...Majestic landscape: RRS Ernest Shackleton (in front) guides the DS Wisconsin through sea ice on final leg of month-long journey to Rothera Research Station, loaded with cargo to build new Antarctic wharf. Photo by A.Cziferszky@BAS

 Here we are the wharf team mooring up the ship! It went very smoothly and only took 45 mintues, actually quicker than the Shackelton took to moor up the day before. The still waters helped. However, it does mean that overnight Rothera has turned into a building site. We have to wear high vis all around station and we have to walk in certain areas. This is a massive project with the aim to extend the wharf so that our new ship once ready can moor up along side Rothera! It's an exciting time to be at Rothera but also very hectic and I am glad that I did a winter in 2016, happy to be part of this but also excited to come back in a few years to see what great changes are happening here!

And lastly a very Merry Chistmas and Happy New year from everyone here at Rothera!

Life on base..more about science next time

 After coxing a dive we all piled into the snowcat to get a lift up to Stork Bowl, Julie guided us there! This is evidence of my first time using a split board and yes I put the skins on backwards which is apparently why I was struggling so much....

 After all of the faff of turning it back into a splitboard it was definitely worth it, as the powder was deep and sticky which made for some fantastic boarding. I think once I've mastered the faff of splitboarding it could take us to some awesome places!

 2 days before I arrived, this beauty was caught on camera. Very gutted to have missed it but thanking the base for sharing their photos of it!

 Another fantastic photo on the shared drive!!!

 

This week the RRS Shackelton has been at Rothera, where we spent a few days unloading cargo. Mostly food and drink! 

 One of my favourite places on base, the balcony overlooking Ryder Bay!

 The base has been over run by Elephant Seals.....never stand downwind of them!

 Back home at SAMS by office is being kept safe by a Christmas Tree!! Next time I will actually write about the science that we've been a bit hectic with over the past 2 weeks.