Larramendi : vehicle (sled-vessel) damaged…

Published on 01.01.2012 - Acciona Windpower Antarctica 90°S

Fo the first time their revolutionary vehicle has been damaged

After having described in details how his sled vessel was behaving on the ice, Ramøn Larramendi wants to assure his sponsors that the scientific mission of the expedition is unfolding without a hitch.

Excerpts (01 January 2012) : "Two weeks have gone by since we landed on the Antarctic Plateau not far from Novolazareskaya, at the 80º S parallel, leaving behind the frenetic activity involved in assembling the sled-vessel and after the snowstorms, and my notes on our scientific experiments and projects can’t be put off any more. I can now report that the sampling activity for to the three scientific projects related to the Grenoble Institute of Glaciology and Geophysics (France; Dr. Jean-Robert Petit), the Institute of Environmental Diagnostics and Water Studies-IDAEA, part of Spain’s CSIC national research center in Barcelona (Dr. Jordi Dachs y Ana Cabrerizo), and the Department of Biology of Madrid’s Universidad Autónoma (Drs. Antonio Quesada and David Velazquez), is all well and truly under way."

"To date, we have taken 19 x 2 snow/ice samples at nine different locations along our route to enable Dr. J.R. Petit to determine the stable isotopes of the snow and ice (O18/O16 and D/H) at the Polar Cap as a tool to establish the origins of the air mass that led to its melting This project has been problem-free and sampling is going ahead according schedule."

No problems either with the project for Drs. Antonio Quesada and David Velázquez for whom we have taken samples of surface snow/ice in almost sterile conditions (see picture). For the time being, the only setback (and a minor one at that) cropped up in the Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) project, led by IDAEA-CSIC, owing to the blockage of the special measuring device caused by strong snowstorms. Even so, we’re going ahead with the sampling with new absorbent materials and everything is going well."

"I can safely say that we expect that all the sampling activity for the ACCIONA ANTÁRTIDA 2011 Spanish Expedition to the Antarctic to be completed without a hitch."