Official Team Photo – SANAE 47
February 19th, 2009Here it is – the official S47 team photo. This is a copy of the image that will hang forever at the base alongside the 46 previous SANAE teams, one or two oddities (such as the Borga field team, etc), and hopefully many new and brilliant teams long into the future. There we are, with SANAE IV in the background:
Standing L->R: Gerhard Laubscher (Electronic Engineer), Saziso Nginda (Electrical Engineer), Llewellyn Kriedemann (HF Radar Engineer). Sitting L->R:  Neels Fourie (Diesel Mechanic and Deputy Leader), Ross Hofmeyr (Doctor and Leader), Anton van Zyl (Mechanical Engineer), Richard Duncan (Diesel Mechanic), Santjie du Toit (Meteorologist), Morgan O’Kennedy (Cosmic Ray Engineer).
Click on the image for a large view. For comparison, here is a scan of the team photo of SANAE 2, who overwintered in 1961 (I prefer this one to S1, as S2’s photo has a dog…)
In a few days we go back to the ship and sail for South Africa. I’ll miss this crowd.
Quick panorama
February 18th, 2009Was out to take a final team photograph a little before sunset this evening (around 21h00) and snapped off this panorama from the northern buttress looking back towards the base. Â Click on the image for full size.
Fieldwork at Flarjuven
January 31st, 2009Boy… lots been happening. Will try to make some nice posts soon, but in the meantime, here are some photos from fieldwork yesterday at Flarjuven Nunatak, 42km south of SANAE IV. I was assigned as a field guide to our two geomorphologists, who had to travel to the nunatak to download data from a temperature logger. The logger is situated on the margin of an area of patterned ground – movement of the rock due to temperature changes creates patterns in the surface – and records both air and ground temperatures at various depths throughout the year. We flew in, established an emergency camp (the wind was unpleasant and very cold at that altitude) and completed the data download and maintenance before flying out in a hurry as the weather deteriorated once more. Pictures below:
Field camp at Flarjuven, with the southern peak and mountains to the southwest in view.
Looking north towards Vesleskarvet and SANAE IV (Vesles is the flat smudge on the horizon in the center of the frame).
Aurho, another nunatak near Flarjuven, with its impressive west face.
Self-portrait at the field camp with my beloved MSR Fury tent.
Geomorphologist Mike Loubser retreats from the building weather after checking the temperature logger for the last time. 30 minutes later we were clouded in with snow.