Winter is here
Last week, the RSV Nuyina appeared in the waters off Davis research station. After a successful resupply at Mawson Station and collecting their summer and winter teams – some of whom left Australia in December 2024 – the ship arrived here to drop off and pick up some essential cargo and collect the remaining Davis summer team. Forty-three people who were part of Davis's summer are now northbound on the ship, returning to their loved ones in just days. The final four members of our wintering team also joined us, making our team of 26 complete.
The ship was waved off, and then headed off behind the icebergs and the islands. Almost immediately the signs of winter arrived. Sea ice has started to form in the water around station – large sections of grease ice, and even some pancake ice is starting to form. We were also visited by iceberg C39, an iceberg so large that it is difficult to comprehend its size, even when you are seeing it with your own eyes. C39 broke off from the Scott Glacier area of the Shackleton Ice Shelf almost five years ago, and has been floating the hundreds of kilometres towards Davis, arriving at the same time as Nuyina. In 2022 it measured 15 nautical miles (27km) on its longest axis and 8 nautical miles (8km) on its widest axis.
While the ship was here, our wintering team had the opportunity to see some of the (much) smaller icebergs near station from IRBs (inflatable rubber boats). Dressed to the nines in our cosy and warm kit we launched in IRBs and took a closer look at some of the features of our waterfront over the last few months. It is amazing to think that in a little while these areas will be accessible on foot again as the sea ice forms.
Tomorrow we will have equinox, the day the sun crosses the celestial equator, heading north for our winter, and from Sunday the nights will be longer than the days, before our ‘long night’ begins on June 2nd.
Winter is here, and it is amazing!
