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Politics1 min ago
Mm Links June 2014 Week 3
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'King Penguin' is off on his travels once again and this week's game comes to you from Brighton.
Here is episode three of my polar experiences:
After the first winter at South Georgia, holders of some posts were lucky enough to be allowed to apply for a transfer to a different base and broaden their Antarctic experience. I did just that and was granted permission to transfer to Adelaide Island which is down the Antarctic Peninsula close to the Antarctic Circle.
That base was different in many ways. Colder, bleaker and in particular, manned by just eight over-winterers. It was situated on a small rocky outcrop where an ice piedmont met the sea. Up on the piedmont there was a runway marked out for summer use by a couple of De Haviland Twin-Otter aircraft fitted with skis. During winter, the sea froze solid but I was always very wary whenever I walked on it. In summer, we had daily changes in the view as currents moved the calved ice past the base. In winter, these became trapped and so the scenery was more constant.
Behind the base were a number of huskies – the breeding stock of the working dogs used to haul sledges on other bases. Nowadays, huskies have been banished from Antarctica. Their work is more economically undertaken with the help of aircraft and Skidoos.
The base was heated by imported coal. A coal-fired range for cooking, A coal-fired boiler to melt ice and heat water (which was rationed) and two coal stoves for heating the living accommodation. Electricity was provided by one of a pair of diesel generators but disaster struck just a day after the ship left on its return to the UK. The generator in use suffered irreparable breakdown on April 1st 1973 and thereafter, electricity was rationed to be available only from 8:30am to 9:30pm. Tilley lamps provided lighting around the bar after that time.
Wildlife around base was different too. Crabeater seals instead of elephants. Adelie penguins instead of gentoos but quite remarkable were a colony of blue-eyed cormorants. The cormorant eggs hatch into naked chicks, still to grow any feathers, just like their more temperate cousins. I believe this is the only Antarctic nesting bird to do so. The brown skua was also present, as it was on South Georgia constantly harassing all the other birds.
Another set of photographs will be found here:
http://
Here is episode three of my polar experiences:
After the first winter at South Georgia, holders of some posts were lucky enough to be allowed to apply for a transfer to a different base and broaden their Antarctic experience. I did just that and was granted permission to transfer to Adelaide Island which is down the Antarctic Peninsula close to the Antarctic Circle.
That base was different in many ways. Colder, bleaker and in particular, manned by just eight over-winterers. It was situated on a small rocky outcrop where an ice piedmont met the sea. Up on the piedmont there was a runway marked out for summer use by a couple of De Haviland Twin-Otter aircraft fitted with skis. During winter, the sea froze solid but I was always very wary whenever I walked on it. In summer, we had daily changes in the view as currents moved the calved ice past the base. In winter, these became trapped and so the scenery was more constant.
Behind the base were a number of huskies – the breeding stock of the working dogs used to haul sledges on other bases. Nowadays, huskies have been banished from Antarctica. Their work is more economically undertaken with the help of aircraft and Skidoos.
The base was heated by imported coal. A coal-fired range for cooking, A coal-fired boiler to melt ice and heat water (which was rationed) and two coal stoves for heating the living accommodation. Electricity was provided by one of a pair of diesel generators but disaster struck just a day after the ship left on its return to the UK. The generator in use suffered irreparable breakdown on April 1st 1973 and thereafter, electricity was rationed to be available only from 8:30am to 9:30pm. Tilley lamps provided lighting around the bar after that time.
Wildlife around base was different too. Crabeater seals instead of elephants. Adelie penguins instead of gentoos but quite remarkable were a colony of blue-eyed cormorants. The cormorant eggs hatch into naked chicks, still to grow any feathers, just like their more temperate cousins. I believe this is the only Antarctic nesting bird to do so. The brown skua was also present, as it was on South Georgia constantly harassing all the other birds.
Another set of photographs will be found here:
http://
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