Since Stay 2.0 unexpectedly dropped in to Mawson station at the end of May she has settled seamlessly into station life and is now very much a valued member of our community.
This week at Mawson: 16 August 2024
This week Mawson expeditioners head west drilling the sea ice and we take a look at our newest arrival
Good dog Stay 2.0
Going west
Last week, on a day that proved the weather models can pick them, we turned left out of Horseshoe Harbour and travelled west to drill the thickness of the sea ice several kilometres beyond the Forbes Glacier.
Our ultimate goal was Colbeck Hut on an island near the Taylor Glacier, the site of an emperor penguin colony that has been monitored regularly using photography since the 1980s.
Most years the team manages get to the colony in June, in time to photograph the males incubating eggs before the females return. Counting only males gives the clearest indication of the number of breeding pairs.
Progress west has been frustratingly slow this year as a coastal polyna (an open body of water in the sea-ice), formed by blizzard-strength katabatic winds, developed and persisted during April/May. It has now re-frozen and thickened well past that required to travel in Hägglunds. This trip was to primarily check the re-frozen leads that are commonly developed around glacier fronts and between islands and the coast.
So this year it will be August before we make it to Colbeck. The trip will still provide the seabird researchers with valuable information about the state of the colony.
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