Cold Porches - Antarctica

 

A cold porch?

Medium Sized Cold Porch—Mostly Personal Gear



I'm an Aussie who when home, lives in a climate that is warm to very warm. Shall we say on a hot summers day at least 35 °C. Even the term "porch" is not one we use back home. That big open extension out the front, back or both on an Aussie house is usually called a "verandah or veranda". The verandah is used back home for getting out of the heat of the day and for having bar-b-ques on and is rarely used on a cold day. So, back to the original concept of this post. Our cold porch at Davis Station Antarctica, is an entry room from the fridged outside world where basically you either throw off, or on, all your cold weather gear. This room forms a barrier between the outside world and the nice warm inner world of the living or working quarters. Most of our buildings have an inner temperature of around 19 °C.

The outer door of the Cold porch is like a heavy refrigerator door (200kg +), the inner door is usually a normal fire rated house hold door. An individual expeditioner can have six or more different types of foot ware, hopefully not all in the cold porch at the same time. These range from “Crocs” or inside shoes, hiking boots, winter outside work boots, summer outside work boots, inside workshop boots, glacier boots, and gym shoes. Along with the foot ware you will have outdoor clothing. These range from lightweight outer shell type clothing, to heavy work jackets, overalls, safety helmets, gloves of all kinds, beanies, and balaclavas. Next Blog coming up - I hope.

Large Sized Cold Porch— Personal Gear as well as

Fire Fighting Turn Out Gear, Fire Alarm Panels

and Hose Reels.

 Horse's Shoes L to R

Back Row - Winter Glacial Work Boot ,Winter Glacial non-work

Middle Row - Summer Outside Work Boot,Inside Work Boot with spiked snow chains,Summer Hikers

Front Row - "Safety Crocs", Gym Shoes

 

Spiked snow chains on the bottom of my work boots. I put these on so I can get to the workshop without going "A over T" on the ice. I remove them once in the workshop, otherwise I will go "A over T" on the concrete floor.You can put them on what ever boot you need them on as the "red bit" stretches out and around your boot. They can be a bit of a bother with the larger glacial boot as the stretch of the "red bit" only goes so far before you wear the lot around you face!

 

 

 

 

 

Quad Bikes in Antarctica

Quads lined up heading to Robo's Hut near Casey Station

Can-am 800cc Quad-Trac with Honda 300cc at the rear

 I don't know why I've not mentioned these machines in previous blogs as they form a big part of the equipment list at the Davis and Casey Stations in Antarctica. Up front, I don't really care for them as they are uncomfortable, cold, and potentially lethal. But as I'm in the over 50's yo demographics,I tend to see comfort as a higher priority than the horsepower rating of a machine. 

Honda Quad at Casey Station

The machines we use vary from the baby Honda 300 up to 400 cc quad to the Can-am 800cc quad trac monster. We also have variations of the quad in the form of Polaris buggies.

We use the Quads for search and rescue as well as science based expeditions out on to the sea ice. They are all fitted with handle bar warmers as well as "barmits" for added protection for your hands  against the wind. They also carry recovery gear for the quads,ice drilling equipment, survival equipment for surviving blizzards,GPS, and personal provisions.

Quad-Trac Casey Ski-way with sled

Before you can use them in Antarctica, you need to have attended a two day course conducted by Honda in the use of the Quads.Once that little formality is out of the way you then have to complete a travel training and survival course once you are on station. The video (10mins), Quads in Antarctica,by Antarctic Horse with the sound tracks by snowflake / CC BY 3.0 was part of my re-familiarization you have to also complete every 4 years to ensure your up to date.

The quads for the most part handle all we dish out to them. But like all machines they have their limitations. With about 4 pounds of tire pressure they handle soft snow ok. But the really soft powdery snow they can "bog". On sea ice they are fine for the most part when you have the micro spikes imbedded in the tires. Blue ice up on the plateau can be dicey as the machine tends to skate around sideways.Because they are so light the spikes have no way of biting into the rock hard ice surface. 

The Quad-Trac bikes I never use as they are generally used by the aviation group for towing sleds on the ski-ways at Davis and Casey as well as the ice airstrips.

Polaris Buggies at Davis

Davis is the only Australian Station that has the "buggies" as they are also used primarily by the aviation group during helicopter operations which is limited to Davis. Davis Station also has a more extensive road network. Basically, they're a mobile toolbox. The new ones we have are Polaris 500cc and are RED.

Internet Banking In Antarctica

Who would have thought about internet banking in Antarctica and the hassles one can have in transferring funds to someone else. On the Australian Stations there is nothing to spend cash on, everything is supplied. However, there is always T shirts and other garments that are usually on sale that will require payments to an account so that they can be purchased back in Australia and be ready for pickup by cargo for transport to Antarctica on the next ship or plane.

So before you leave Australia, ensure that you talk to your bank about where you are going, and the need to transfer funds to an outside account without the need of SMS security codes going to mobile phones for verification.'Cause guess what, no mobile phone coverage in Antarctica. I know they tell expeditioners you do not need cash in Antarctica, which is true, but you do need to have the ability to transfer funds for those souvenir T Shirts.

Staying Busy in Antarctica

Emperor Penguin Sculpture

One of the many challenges when working in Antarctica is not getting bored. Although we work 5.5 days a week, there are still 1.5 days of free time and after hours. Well one would think you'd be able to fill your time going on walks, photography, reading, watching movies and writing blogs.  

This of course is all true, but for a lot of the time the weather out side is not great for walks and photography, and movies and reading is good for some, but not others.  The important thing is to get into a project that not only burns up time but lessens the chance of spending to much time thinking about home and finding yourself in the bar.

As a tradesman who can work metal I have found that fashioning sculptures is a good way for me to pass time both on bad weather days and at night after work. Others on station knit, form bands, make models, make jewelery, clocks, sew, read,go to the gym and leather work to name but a few.

Something about models is that they can be fragile and getting them home can be tricky. So before you buy that "Golden Hind" wooden model, think about how you are going to pack it up to get it home, or where it is going to be displayed on station. Also, stations do not supply much in the way of materials, so bring your own if it is specialized.

What Type of Camera Should I Take as an Expeditioner to Antarctica

A question I get asked frequently about Antarctica is," what type of camera gear should I take?" The short answer is as little as possible.What you see here to the right is a portion of what I take. It doesn't show the video camera or the monopod, tripod, and a gorilla pod, flash unit, laser triggers, and a mired of battery chargers. Also I have to have large cases to keep it all in for transport.

 The fact is that it depends on whether you're a photographic tragic like me who was into photography long before going to Antarctica, or your someone who basically takes happy snaps when at home and only on holidays.The short and curly of this is that you will only need a good quality point and shoot or mirrorless camera for Antarctica. If your a "photographic tragic" , you will already have all the gear you need.

To get the full benefit from DSLR's and their associated  lenses, you need to have a full understanding of what all the dials and buttons are for, have an understanding of processing software, and or are prepared to find out.My advice is if your a happy snapper, then get yourself a good point and shoot (compact) or better still a mirrorless camera that has better quality than a compact due to its sensor size being that of popular DSLR's. 

There will be times when you wished you had a bloody big lens for an obscure bird flying around,and the auto focusing capabilities of the DSLR, but in reality you will probably just frustrate yourself because it takes more than a big lens to capture birds on the wing. Mirrorless cameras will capture high quality images for most "happy snappers".

I would be reading all the camera reviews online about the various types and brands. I do not recommend phone cameras as they have very limited abilities in coping with the extreme light contrasts of Antarctica and their sensor size is so small that the quality of the image is poor. They are fine for "selfies" and party shots, not Antarctic landscapes. 

If you do decide to go with the DSLR's, buy yourself a bloody good cleaning kit. This should include a "jumbo" bulb blower, cleaning wipes or "pen" and a bucket of patience. A sensor magnifier with light is also handy. I suggest this as surprising as it may sound, Antarctica is very dry and dusty during the summer months. Dust will get into every thing including the insides of lenses which usually can not be fixed other than by a professional camera cleaning service.Removal or exchanging lenses out in the open is fraught with danger down here as dust will cover your sensor and doesn't make for good images.In terms of lens focal lengths the "zooms" are more practical to carry, though they don't give as good a quality images as a fixed focal length, but not of importance to most amateur photographers. So I take a 18-55mm,24-70mm , 70 -200mm ,75-300mm,150-500mm zooms.I could in fact leave the 18-55mm and 75-300mm zooms at home, but they are my back ups if the wheels fall off the cart so to speak with one of the other lenses.If weight and a budget is a consideration, then go with two lenses,an ultra wide, say 10-20mm or there abouts for big landscapes, and a telefocal that goes up to 300mm or 400mm for wildlife.

Regardless of what camera you purchase, get a good protective carry case or bag. Also make sure you are familiar with the software that comes with you camera, before you leave home and it is loaded onto the computer you are going to bring with you, not the one you leave at home on your office desk. A gorilla pod is also useful as a small lightweight tripod that is used for "selfies" or self included group shots.

Another style of camera which is worth considering is an extreme sports camera. These cameras are great for capturing video and stills. The HD quality of the video component on these cameras are great and due to their construction can take a fair beating. Drift and Gopro both produce great cameras.

I could go on for ages about this subject and sometimes I do, but hopefully you will be able to come up with what bests suits you between my excessive amount of gear and a mobile phone.

Basler BT 67

The Basler BT 67 is old school external design meets new technology. Based on a DC-3 body these old birds have had their lives extended. Basler Turbo Conversions have re-powered them with turbo - prop engines and made fuselage modifications. 

They fly down each summer from Canada through the northern and southern continents of America and then on to the Antarctic continent. We as Australians, use them to transport cargo and people between our Antarctic stations. They can land on both sea ice airstrips as seen here at Davis Station, and snow airstrips when the sea ice blows out.

See also the Australian Antarctic Division for more specifications on this aircraft. I personally have not flown in one as of yet, but certainly look forward to that day. 

Crossing the Southern Ocean - by Horse

Icy Cargo on the foredeck

Finding Open Streams Close to Bergs

Nothing Keeps a Good Photographer Below Deck

 

I haven't sailed on many of the oceans of the world, in fact technically only three. Those being the Pacific, Indian and the Southern Ocean.For me, the Southern Ocean is as wild and unhospitable a place that any sailor could venture. It offers you beauty and splendor in the wildlife that follow you, the majesty of icebergs that you pass, and the full voracity of mother natures wind and sea.   The Southern Ocean was only defined as recent as the year 2000 as that stretch of ocean below 60° S that surrounds the continent of Antarctica and does not come into contact with my home continent of Australia. Anyway, regardless of the exact geographical locality of the ocean that stretch between Australia and Antarctica is "bloody" rough and once your past the 60°S mark, cold. This year I traveled down as usual on RSV Aurora Australis. The trip took a more southerly route this time to avoid a low that was driving strong winds and seas directly into our normal path. So we headed pretty much due south towards Antarctica rather than sloping off to the west soon after leaving Tasmania. The seas weren't too bad this year compared with other years (A Voyage to Antarctica by Horse) a maximum of 6m this year. The main difference this year was how quickly we came into sea ice, and how tightly packed it was around the 60°S mark. With overcast  days we were not able to launch our helicopters early to direct us to open "streams" (open water between ice packs) thereby allowing us to maintain good speed. On a few days we were only able to put 1 or 2 Nm(nautical miles) behind us.This in turn put us a week behind schedule in making it to Davis Station. 

Up Close and Personal with Ice Bergs

Ice Closing in Behind  Showing Little of Where We've Come From

The ice did however allow for some spectacular sights and the cold never keeps keen photographers below decks for long. Ice this year was they tell me some 6m thick  in places which is just amazing given this is yearly ice and not ice that has built up over a number of years like the Northern hemisphere. The RSV Aurora Australis is only a baby icebreaker and while it is a capable ship, she lacks horse power and size to handle that thickness of ice. Of course that is only my opinion as any old salts with years of maritime experience might care to disagree.With the weather not being on the side of photographers this year with cloudy conditions for the most part, my personal endeavours were limited as I find my images appear flat and not to my taste. The weather also limited the number of birds we saw. However, there were many whale sitings this year and crab-eater seals were abundant. Photographing whales from the ship and in those water a little uninteresting with my images looking like those of a slug on a board. Whales don't get up close and personal with ice breaking ships for long.

A Horse on the Helideck during one of our routine musters to explore our fashion sense on the Southern Ocean.Hey I don't pick the colour or style. The water was 1 to 3°C at this time opposed to -1.3°C when we got into the ice.What I have on here would be only good for 5 min. in the ice water before I went into shock. The yellow goretex outfit here is only good for windy days as an outter shell on land or on a helideck.