Antarctic conservation blog

Fran, Monday 30 November 2009

Temperature: -5°C
Wind: 3 knots
Temperature with Wind Chill: -5°C

We have now moved onto the next phase of our work programme in Antarctica. Lizzie, Lucy and I have traversed over 30km of sea ice, through Erebus Bay to the North of Scott Base, to Sir Ernest Shackleton’s expedition base at Cape Royds where we will be working in situ for the next 2 weeks.

We have set up camp in 2 wannigans (containers that work on the principle of refrigerators, but instead of keeping the cold in, they keep the cold out).

Our wannigan with Mount Erebus, the world’s southernmost active volcanon in the background © Antarctic Heritage Trust

There are many considerations to bear in mind when camping in Antarctica, particularly when the aim is to ensure that your presence leaves no mark when you pack up and leave. Scott Base, where we have spent the last three months, is very ‘sustainability’ conscious, with a successful recycling and responsible disposal policy, and we are very much adhering to this standard in our small camp.

We separate all our waste appropriately for later transportation back to Scott Base. It really does make you think how you could be more ‘green’ back home - I do try to do my bit, but often complain that there’s no space for separate bins for differing material in my kitchen back home.

Here in our little camp all 3 of us use the same small wannigan for cooking, dining and relaxing, and still manage to have 4 types of separated waste. It makes my excuses seem a little lame!

The view from our wannigan - an Adelie penguin colony is located about 200m from Sir Ernest Shackleton’s base at Cape Royds © Antarctic Heritage Trust

Posted in Antarctica, Cape Royds, Climate change, Shackleton

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