The scientific traverse stopped somewhere between Vostok and Concordia Contrast with an old Russian traverse vehicle Kharkovchanka Vostok Station burried under snow The traverse in the middle of megadunes East of Vostok Snow pit digging down to 3 meters of depth Driving on a frozen ocean I work out with the main polar tool : a snow shovel, also called “D1” Stuck in too soft snow, surrounded by white-out The traverse team on the way back to Concordia, at Point Barnola Drilling setup at Point Barnola The firn air pumping system and the SARA laser spectrometer inside the science caravan The firn air bladder, with the “Point Barnola” camp in background The camp and the drill setup at Point Barnola Olivier Alemany testing new drill head cutters 15 km to go and we get to Concordia Station (which shows up on the horizon) ! We know how to behave gentlemanly with women at Concordia Snow dogs over Concordia The scientific traverse stopped somewhere between Vostok and Concordia Contrast with an old Russian traverse vehicle Kharkovchanka Vostok Station burried under snow The traverse in the middle of megadunes East of Vostok Snow pit digging down to 3 meters of depth Driving on a frozen ocean I work out with the main polar tool : a snow shovel, also called “D1” Stuck in too soft snow, surrounded by white-out The traverse team on the way back to Concordia, at Point Barnola Drilling setup at Point Barnola The firn air pumping system and the SARA laser spectrometer inside the science caravan The firn air bladder, with the “Point Barnola” camp in background The camp and the drill setup at Point Barnola Olivier Alemany testing new drill head cutters 15 km to go and we get to Concordia Station (which shows up on the horizon) ! We know how to behave gentlemanly with women at Concordia Snow dogs over Concordia
December 2011 – February 2012
Location : ground traverse between Vostok and Concordia Stations, Antarctica ; between 78°28’S – 106°48’E, altitude 3460 m and 75°06’S – 123°20’E, altitude 3230 m
Mean annual temperature : entre -53 et -56°C
Team members 2011-2012 : Olivier Alemany (LGGE, Fr.), Jérôme Chappellaz (LGGE, Fr.), David Colin (IPEV, Fr.), Alexandre Leluc (IPEV, Fr.), Emmanuel Lemeur (LGGE, Fr.), Martin Schneebeli (SLF, CH), Anthony Vende (IPEV, Fr.). The traverse on its way into Vostok from Concordia involved 8 members.
Activities : the traverse, a First in this sector of Antarctica, aimed at documenting the spatial and temporal variability of snow accumulation and of geochemical parameters of the snow, as well as at performing an intermediate drilling at a site with lower accumulation rate than at Concordia Station.
My work in the field : coordinator of the IPEV project EXPLORE articulated with the VANISH project for this traverse, I conducted the firn air sampling at the drilling site called Point Barnola, and I used during that time a SARA laser spectrometer.
