Last week and departure from Antarctica for the 2019 expedition

The last week at the station was very intense!
We managed to sample almost all the needed places, yet a lot of measurements and samplings were still on our lower priority to-do list.
The weather conditions were not as favourable as the week before, with strong winds, 'white out' (no visibility) and temperatures reaching -29°C with a strong wind chill. See the differences between Fig. 1 and 2!!

Fig.1: White out - view from inside the station

Fig.2: same picture as before, but in good weather condition, without 'white out'. Do you see what we mean?

We took advantage of the few hours per day when conditions were less harsh to go out and finish our work. More in situ light, temperature and photosynthetic data (on cyanobacterial biofilms/mats) were collected (Fig. 3), and thanks to the remote support of Dr. Jana Kvíderová (University of South Bohemia - Czech Republic) we were able to improve those measurements in the field.

Fig.3: in-situ measurement equipment: fluometer and light meter

 The MICROBIAN field expedition ended on the 12 of February (Fig. 4), when we flew back to Novo Airfield and we spent 4 days there. Weather conditions in Antarctica are so extreme that people can be unwillingly stucked in a station for several days or (if you are unlucky) months, even during the austral summer. But we were lucky, we were hosted at the Russian station only for 4 days, living in containers. From there, we flew back to Cape Town and then to Belgium.

Fig.4: departure from the new airstrip close to Princess Elisabeth station, Perseus airfield.

At the end of the campaign we have sent back 170 samples as well as some cryoconite samples for Dr. Zorigto Namsraev (Kurchatov Institute, Russia) who was at the Belgian Station already twice during the BELDIVA project (for more information, see the blog http://antarcticabelgium.blogspot.com/search/label/2009%20Zorigto%20Namsaraev). Now that the samples arrived in Belgium, we are ready to process them!

We are very grateful for the field support of the guide Raphäel Mayoraz who safely brought us to our sample locations, and took care of us even when working in very harsh conditions. We also warmly thank Prof. Dr. Bart Van De Vijver (Botanic Garden of Meise) who lent us the pH-meter from his laboratory and Dr. Jana Kvíderová who remotely supported Valentina in her in-situ measurements of the photosynthetic performance of cyanobacterial crusts. Many thanks also to the team of the Princess Elisabeth Station!

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The MICROBIAN field team, Valentina, Quentin and Elie