Blog 6 February 2009

We soon forgot that the unscheduled early departure and flight had robbed us of our sleep when we took our first breath of Antarctic air, and were given a very warm welcome by base commander John Withers and members of his staff. The arrival of a flight at one of the British Antarctic Survey's bases means post and long-awaited spare parts, so everyone who arrives here is automatically greeted by happy faces. This is something I recognise from serving in the Navy, and that's what life on Rothera feels a little like. Working closely with the others, and respecting them for what they are doing and their reasons for coming out here, creates an atmosphere that closely resembles what I experienced on board ship. The real English breakfast of bacon, sausages and baked beans summoned up images of my school days at Atlantic College, and made it crystal clear that this was a British research station.

Rothera station, operated by BAS since the mid 1970s, is on the west of the Antarctic peninsula, one of the world's three hotspots (the others being northern Siberia and northern Canada/Alaska), where the average temperature has risen by three degrees Celsius over the past fifty years. This is thus the right place to study the effects of warming on the environment. For that purpose, BAS has set up a large biological laboratory, where many studies are being conducted. I'll report on them tomorrow, after our visit there. Rothera also serves as a home base for a number of British research stations on Antarctica, staffed permanently or semi-permanently. Field expeditions are supported from here. Researchers stay in the field for anything from a few days to three months. This summer, fifty teams have already gone into the field, including a few Dutch expeditions. This is a huge responsibility for Rothera's logistics staff.

After emergency procedures have been explained to us and we've been given the necessary safety briefings (in an emergency, you have to rely on each other - you can try calling 112, but no one will answer your call), we get to know the BAS staff and take a walk around Rothera. That would have been a very short walk if there had been no wildlife around. We were very fortunate, though, and saw three types of seal (Weddell seals, Antarctic fur seals and crab eater seals), an unusual number of Adélie penguins and a couple of humpback whales parading around the icebergs. During this short, two-hour walk, we experienced changes of temperature you rarely encounter. Even if it is warm, it can turn cold literally seconds later. Apart from the cold, the sun, or rather the sun's rays, are an invisible threat. Due to the hole in the ozone layer, you have to protect your eyes and face all the time, even if it's completely overcast.

Our first day was long, but it was worth it. Because it's light more or less all the time, you don't feel sleepy, and there's something to interest you every single minute.

Willem-Alexander