Sophie Moittié

Departure

2011-01-23T00:47:00.000-08:00

After 14 months spent here, we are now about to leave this wonderfull
white continent and go back to the "real" world...
It's quite sad to think it's probably the last time I see this fabulous
place, its animals and landscapes...I know I'll miss it.
As soon as the weather improves we'll embark for Tasmania. I'm looking
forward to lying on the Australian beaches!

I didn't write many posts on this blog during this year, we had so many
things to see here that it's not always easy to sit at the computer...

Happy Christmas

2010-12-24T10:31:00.000-08:00

Tragedy at DDU

2010-11-02T06:18:00.000-07:00

COMMUNIQUÉS DE PRESSE des TAAF

· Le vendredi 29 octobre 2010, 16h (heure île de la Réunion)

Accident d’hélicoptère en terre Adélie

Suite au déclenchement hier de la balise de détresse d’un des deux hélicoptères qui assurait la liaison entre l’Astrolabe et la base Dumont d’Urville en terre Adélie, des survols ont pu être effectués aujourd’hui par des appareils de l’US Air Force et de la RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force).

Les équipages rapportent qu’ils ont constaté des débris éparpillés sur 150 mètres, ce qui indiquerait un impact important avec le sol. Le C17 américain est maintenant retourné à Christchurch (Nouvelle-Zélande). L’AP3 australien a largué des équipements de survie à proximité de l’épave. Il fait état de l’observation de trois corps dans la zone d’impact.

La visibilité étant très limitée pour cause de neige, le second hélicoptère, présent sur la base de Dumont d’Urville située à une centaine de kilomètres du lieu de l’accident, n’a pu se rendre vers la position repérée par les reconnaissances aériennes. Il devrait y avoir une fenêtre météo compatible avec le vol de cet appareil demain matin.

De son coté, le Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC) Australien, responsable des opérations de secours dans cette zone en étroite coopération avec les autorités françaises, a demandé à l’Astrolabe de continuer à progresser vers cette position malgré les conditions difficiles de navigation dans les glaces. De même, l’Aurora Australis, brise-glace de l’Australian Antarctic Division, fait également route vers la zone.

· Le samedi 30 octobre 2010, 10 h (heure île de la Réunion)

Crash d’hélicoptère en terre Adélie - aucun survivant

Ce matin, profitant d’une fenêtre météo favorable, l’hélicoptère basé à Dumont d’Urville a pu décoller à 12.45 locales (UTC + 10) pour se rendre sur les lieux de l’accident situé à environ 100 kms. Le pilote était accompagné par le médecin de la base et un secouriste confirmé.

L’équipe de secours a malheureusement constaté qu’il n’y avait aucun survivant et ont rapatrié un premier corps. Lors d’une deuxième opération, les trois autres corps ont pu être rapatriés sur la base.

Une chapelle ardente a été mise en place sur la base pour accueillir les dépouilles.

Ces missions délicates ont bénéficié de l’appui aérien d’un Hercules C130 (guidage, transmissions) dépêché sur zone par les autorités australiennes.

Some pictures

2010-09-29T04:40:00.000-07:00

DDU station

Alone in the snow
Are you sure ???
Emperor penguin

Antarctic Film Contest

2010-07-27T18:28:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody!

The DDU station is participating at the "48 hours filming" Antarctic film
contest.
We had to make a 5 minutes movie in only 48 hours, with 5 required
elements (a grumpy mechanic, an alarm sound, a mop, a bottle of mouth-wash
and the phrase "Has anybody seen my chicken?"). The movie is already
online at the following site
http://bapt.h29.fr/dr_strange_and_the_incredible_machine.mp4
Thanks to IPEV we could make a special internet connection in order to
upload the film on the web (wich tooks 4 hours!)
So enjoy the film!
The films of the other 22 bases are available on
http://cid-143586e833b2f7ce.office.live.com/browse.aspx/2010%20Winter%20Film%20Festival
We are unfortunatly not able to watch those movies because of our poor
internet connection, so if you have some comments to give about them,
you're welcome, it will help us for the vote!

The winter sky

2010-07-15T01:59:00.001-07:00

In winter on the antartic coast, the sun is shining for a couple of hours
around midday.

The rest of the time we can enjoy the wonderful winter sky,
with amazing auroras, millions of stars and multiples faces of the moon.
Here are some pictures of the winter sky...

The fishing hole

2010-06-23T07:01:00.000-07:00

To allow Jean, the marine biologist, to do his job, a hole was dugged for
him in the sea-ice, at the end of April. This was not an easy task because
the ice was already 50 cm thick at the time. This hole will be used till
the end of spring.

So, when the weather is nice, we can spend a few hours with Jean at the
hole and help him with his work. He mainly performs carrots of ice to
study the organisms trapped in it. He also measures water salinity and
temperatures at different depths, and, of course, he catches fishes to
carry on differents studies.

His job is not easy because of the cold, but luckily after a couple of
hours the job is mainly done. And we can often enjoy the company of a
weddell seal who comes to breathe at the hole, to disappear a few minutes
after under the ice.

The arrival of the emperor penguins

2010-05-20T09:16:00.001-07:00

At the end of March, while Adelie penguins and all the other birds of the island are leaving, a new inhabitant of our neighborhood arrives: the emperor penguin. We can see them coming from the sea, in large colons, to reach the area of sea-ice near the station, where they form the rookery every year.

During April, more than 6000 emperor penguins arrive at the site and couple. Some of them choose the same partner as the year before, some of them change, depending on the couple’s reproduction success and other factors. To find one another, they choose a song so that they can recognize themselves among all others.

Copulations are frequent during April and May, and the first eggs are laid at the beginning of May. The males will then incubate the egg while females return to the sea to feed. In July, they will come back right in time for the hatching, and males will go back to sea, after 4 months without any food. If the egg hatches before the female returns, the male will be able to feed the chick for one day with a special substance they keep in their stomach.

The emperor penguins are very curious animals. When we go to the rookery, we try to sit or lie at a correct distance to observe them in order not to disturb them, but some of them always come nearby to see what kind of animal we are. It's always an amazing moment, watching the behavior of the biggest penguin on earth.

The birds of the antartic coast

2010-04-23T00:09:00.000-07:00

The location of DDU station on the coast ensures that we are surrounded by
animals all year long.7 species of birds are nesting on the island during summer:

-The adélie penguin.

Thousands of couples come to nest on the island from october till march. They usually have 2 chicks, who leave the nest about 2 or 3 months after birth and spend their first 3 or 4 years at sea. After that, they come back every summer to the island for reproduction (they often come back to their birth rookery).They eat mainly krill and can dive down to 100m deep.
Their predators are sea-leopards and orcas.

-The antartic skua.

It's the main predator of Adélie penguins' eggs and chicks. The couples have one chick each summer. In winter they go back to the ocean to feed.

-The snow petrel.

It's a snow-white bird, who eats mainly krill and small fishes. The couple have one chick in nesting cavities (in cracked cliff rocks). During winter they migrate to the edge of pack ice because the sea near the breeding sites gets frozen.

-The cape petrel.

Like the snow petrels, they have one chick during summer, they eat mainly krill and fish and they migrate northwards in winter.

-The giant petrel.

It's the biggest flying bird of the Antartic (more than 2m). They are opportunist scavengers and predators, in summer they scavenge primarily penguin carcasses, in winter most of them go to the sea to eat fish and krill but some adults remain near the emperor colonies to predate on penguins' chicks or eggs. Only a few couples are nesting near DDU during summer, because they are very affected by human presence.

-The antartic fulmar.

Around 40 couples are nesting on our island during summer. Their nests are located on cliffs. They eat fish, krill and squid.

-The wilson petrel.

It's the smallest antartic bird. They eat mainly krill. They nest in the antartic and subantartic areas during summer, and during winter they migrate to the north of equator (they can travel up to 40000km!).

The antartic summer

2010-03-14T11:26:00.000-07:00

The antartic summer

Summer is ending at DDU station. On the antartic coast, the summer months(from november to february) are very nice. The sea-ice has thawn and we can see hundreds of big icebergs floating ashore. It's always bright in summer, and sometimes we miss night a bit. Only when the sky is cloudy at 1 oclock in the morning does it start to be a little darker..but only for a couple of hours. The temperatures aren't too extreme: around 1 or 2ºC. The highest temperature we had was 7,8ºC during a very sunny afternoon! Sometimes you can even lie on the rocks and enjoy some sunbathing while watching the Adelie penguins going for a swim or jumping out of water. You can also sit beside a huge Weddell seal having a nap before going to fish.They aren't afraid of humans so you can stay very close from them. On the early summer, when some ice-pack remains, you can go down to the emperor penguins rookery and watch already grown-up chicks flocking together in"creches", waiting for their parents to bring some food back from the ocean. A lot of bird species are nesting on the island during summer: the snow petrel, the antartic skua, the cap petrel, the antartic fulmar, the giant petrel, and of course, thousands of Adelie penguins. Everybody on the station is pretty busy, taking advantage of time when the weather is nice to do their job. Between 70 and 90 people are living on the station during summer, and the dining room is crowded at lunch and dinnertime...The ship"L'Astrolabe" makes 4 rotations between Hobart and DDU during summer: the first one at the end of october and the last one at the end of february. On February 28th, the ship brought everybody back to Australia except the 26 winterovers. Because of the formation of the sea-ice, the Astrolabe won't be able to come back till next october.

Dumont Durville Station

2010-02-06T11:19:00.000-08:00

The french antartic station: Dumont Durville
On 9 of January, after 7 days on the boat, we finally flew by helicopter to our new home: Dumont Durville Station (DDU). The station is quite big and now in summer can accomodate around 80 people. And it provides all the facilities to spend a confortable winter: big winter dormitory building with 42 places, small hospital, living room and kitchen building,laboratories (geophysics, biology, glaciology and meteorology),electricity and water supply building, post office... The station is located on the french antartic territory, Terre Adélie, on a small island, 5 km far from the continent. During winter and spring the sea is frozen so it allows to go for long walks around the archipel, but during december and january the pack thaws and we get stuck on the island, till the end of march. In summer the island is unhabited by a large colony of Adelie penguins: around 8000 couples are here now for the reproduction season.

Landing at DDU

Biology and veterinary laboratory

Emperor penguin chicks and dormitory building

Dormitory building

DDU Station and Adélie penguins colony

DDU Station and Adélie penguin

On the boat to Antartica

2010-02-06T11:03:00.000-08:00

Astrolabe

Last view of Tasmania

My first icebergs

Crabeater seals

Through the ice pack

Weddell seal running from the boat

Preparing the helicopter

My new friends

2009-12-27T16:55:00.000-08:00

First news from the white continent!

2009-12-12T00:04:00.000-08:00

Here I am, in my quiet room at Dumont Durville station, Terre Adélie,
Antartica...
The journey was long and not really confortable, but exciting as well.
After an 11 hours flight from Paris on 1st of december we visited
Hong-Kong for a day. Honk-Kong is an amazing city, mixing modernism and
tradition. After walking 10 hours through the city we flew to Sydney were
we had a short stop (but long enough to have a drink on a terrasse,
enjoying australian summer...) and finally we took our last plane to
Hobart, Tasmania. There the boat was waiting for us, and the day after we
started with our final journey, a 7 days-long trip through the agitated
antartic ocean... I got terrible sea-sick and spent 4 days in bed. But
when I got up, I could see the first icebergs, penguins, and seals from
the boat wich was slowly making his way through the ice... Amazing...
The boat finally got stuck 30 miles from the coast and we had to finish
our journey by helicopter to reach the station.
And we got to know our new home, with the thousands of Adelie penguins
nesting on each single rock of the island, the amazing landscape we have
from our dormitory, the nearby emperor penguins colony...The sea-ice is
about to disapear around the station so we enjoy the last walks around
before beeing stuck for the rest of the summer on our small island. We
have to be carefull on each step, few people already had a cold bath this
week..

Pictures are to come in next posts...

Hong Kong

2009-12-02T02:30:00.000-08:00

My future antartic family

2009-09-30T03:21:00.000-07:00

Here we are, the future 26 selected to spend one year at the french antartic base, Dumont D'Urville.

Seal Rehabilitation and Research Center

2009-06-26T09:53:00.000-07:00

Hola amigos!
Para empezar con este blog, pondre algunas fotos de mi estancia en Holanda con las foquitas...