Tabular tapestry at Mawson
Following on from one of our mid-May stories, we’ve had such good weather over the last month that Mawson’s community has continued to enjoy frequent off-station exploits on our strengthening sea ice. While May was colder than most previous years (which is great for growing ice I’m told), Mawson’s supposed high winds have been on holidays. Couple this with recent clear skies, a low-hanging sun and even a “Blue Moon” event, and you have a perfect recipe for travel. At least this breaks up the monotony of all the auroras we’ve been having lately!
Last weekend saw two groups head out to survey a tabular Iceberg not far from station (normally viewed through our upstairs living quarter windows). A magnificent feature such-named because ‘tabulars’ are normally colossal (with this mini-version only a kilometre long), and reasonably flat on top, with nearly vertical sides. These giant structures form by breaking off (or ‘calving’) from ice shelves around the continent’s coastline. And while our tabular isn’t as big as some, it’s still a massive block of ice when you consider only 10 to 15 percent of the iceberg is above the water…or sea ice in our case.
Anyhoo, after a quick visit to Bechervaise Island, we headed further west until dwarfed by this behemoth. We’re not allowed to get too close for safety reasons, but there was no need to. This majestic ice-sculpture’s grandeur was better surveyed from a distance. What was equally impressive was the depth and quality of the sea ice supporting our over-snow tracked Haggland vehicles on this trip – more than 85 cm across all tested drill sites. (Seems we are gaining in excess of 5 cm of good quality sea ice every week.)
But those lucky enough to live in Antarctica know that beauty isn’t found in just one direction. The stunning pink-violet hues of the sky as we looked back at Terra Firma, coupled with that lingering moon, made this a very surreal visual experience indeed. And to cap things off, some decided to throw a few ‘shangz’ at our field-deployable darts board for good measure.
Dave Buller
