Happy Christmas

Tragedy at DDU

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

DDU station

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

Antarctic Film Contest

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

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

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

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

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

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.