IceCon in Cape Town

Some IceCon team members in front of the new South African icebreaker in the harbor of Cape Town

The whole IceCon team made it to Cape Town on monday morning. All went smooth, no delays, no lost equipment. While the plane that will take us to Antarctica was still at Novo station on Monday (due to the delays of flight D1 and D2, the first two flights of the season), ALCI (the Antarctic flight operator) is very confident that D3 (our flight) would leave on schedule, that is Wednesday night to arrive on Thursday morning at Novo Air Base.

Cargo seems sorted out, so we have the time to linger, although the weather seems not so promising here (no spectacular views of Table Mountain, hidden in the low clouds). We checked out the boots to wear in the field this morning at the warehouse, where the new South African polar vessel was moored. It hasn't been to Antarctica yet.

Planning the field work (left to right): Kenny, Reinhard, Raphaël, Nicolas.

With all logistic operations going so smooth, there is time to plan the scientific activities in more detail: what radar profiles to measure in priority, how to set up the strain network, when to setup the GPS systems, how to setup camp, etc. Slowly but surely, the expedition falls into place.

 

Posted with Blogsy