What is it really like down in Antarctica?

The weather is very different and the cold is unbelievably so much colder. At one time it may be a cool minus -32 degrees C. At other times the wind chill factor can make it about minus 65 - that's COLD!! The snow is quite different from New Zealand snow too. You can't make a snowball with Antarctic snow - it just goes into a fine dust and blows away like castor sugar or even talcum powder. When you walk it makes really interesting sounds. If you put a whole meringue into your mouth, close your lips and crunch, the noise that it makes is pretty much like the sound of walking in snow in Antarctica. It squeaks differently too when you put your ice axe into it.

Scientists drilling a hole in the sea ice to check how thick the ice is.

A lot of the work is done out on the sea ice, which spreads out from the land in Antarctica. It is very dangerous to work out on the ice unless you know what you are doing, because it often cracks open, and you could fall into the water, which can be quite deep.

Question & Answer

How often do you have to check if the ice is strong enough to hold up all your machines? Have you lost any equipment yet?

Only people experienced in sea ice conditions use vehicles on the sea ice. They will drill anywhere where they feel the ice depth may be changing especially around cracks. The thickness of the ice required to safely support vehicles depends on the sort of vehicle and the time of the year. However for simplicity and safety (as ice conditions can vary greatly over short distances) 75cm is the minimum thickness required at all times. The maximum crack width is one third of the width of the length of the tracks. Tim checked the thickness of ice at his site before setting up camp and he does keep an eye on any changes. He knows from past experience that the area in which his camp is situated is safe at this time of the year. While they have not lost any equipment at their site, (apart from a nut that Pat dropped) there have been 2 separate occasions when New Zealand bulldozers have broken through sea ice and got wet, before being recovered.