Taking snow accumulation measurements across a 770 km traverse from the Antarctic coast to the plateau - Fyntan Shaw.

Last November I took part in a biennial traverse to open and prepare Kohnen station for scientific work, this season including the Kohnen-Thermometry project. The traverse involved an 11-day journey from the coastal Neumayer Station III, via the Kottas mountains and across the plateau to Kohnen. It also served a second purpose, to measure snow accumulation over the route, a task given to myself and another AWI colleague. With us were 6 technicians, each driving a pistenbully, dragging behind them multiple containers filled with food, fuel and equipment, as well as a cook and a doctor.

We began the traverse on Wednesday 22nd November with beautiful weather, and temperatures almost above freezing. We followed an established route with over 1000 co-ordinates marking the position of bamboo poles that my colleague and I were to measure. Every year, new bamboo poles are placed in the snow at each co-ordinate, spaced roughly 500 m apart. The height above the snow surface is measured and recorded for all visible bamboos, including any newly placed bamboos, as well as their tilt, colour (denoting the year they were placed) and new GPS co-ordinates. 

After a relatively warm and smooth start over the first two days on the flat ice shelf, we reached the grounding line, where the ice shelf meets the land of Antarctica. The surface here was significantly bumpier, and the wind picked up a lot, greatly reducing visibility and dropping the temperature. The next day the cook and doctor very kindly offered to help with the bamboo measuring, with the four of us taking two-person half-day shifts. Thanks to the extra help, we reached the Kottas mountains by the end of day 5, approximately 410 km from Neumayer Station III.

Given the tough 1000 m ascent up the mountains and onto the plateau, we spent a full day to rest and prepare, during which we took the opportunity to do some sightseeing around the mountains.

We continued the traverse and began the climb the next day, but unfortunately we had very problematic snow. The top 50 cm were very soft and sticky, and after an hour the skidoo managed to bury itself into the snow and get stuck, which took over 40 minutes to dig out. The pistenbullys were not any more successful, as they all got stuck and had to leave containers behind to reduce the load and escape. The day was easily the most physically difficult day of the traverse, despite the beautiful weather, as the soft snow made even the short walk off the skidoo to the bamboo sled very tiring. Combine this with the difficulty we had driving in the very uneven, soft snow and the fact that the sudden increase in altitude made everything more physically tiring, and we were both exhausted by the time we reached our camp spot on the plateau. Thankfully, all containers were retrieved by the pistenbullys by the end of the day.

Day 8 was a half day, due to a pistenbully needing repairing in the morning, which gave us a bit of a rest after the mountains. From this point onwards the bamboos for measuring were only every 1 km, and a new one was only required every 3 km, so we were quite a bit faster than the pistenbullys, which were still struggling a bit with the snow. Days 9 and 10 were also fast, as we took shifts with the doctor and cook again. This was greatly appreciated, as we had reached an altitude of about 2500 m, and the temperature was sitting around -25 C despite the sunshine and relatively little wind. I had 7 layers on, and 4 pairs of socks, but my toes still went numb by the end of my morning shift!

On Sunday the 3rd of December, the 11th and final day, my colleague and I drove the remaining 70 km, arriving at Kohnen station around 4pm. On the traverse we measured over 1500 bamboos at 1124 locations. A very challenging journey, but we got incredibly lucky to have such nice weather and such a great cook and doctor who were willing to substitute in and give us breaks.