Antarctica's Denman Glacier is one of the most remote places on Earth. This is what it's like to work there

[BootinUp]

ABC Science / By Anna Salleh
Posted Sat 3 Feb 2024 at 11:00amSaturday 3 Feb 2024 at 11:00am, updated 19h ago19 hours ago

Kate Selway is in a helicopter on Christmas Day, roaring over a vast expanse of snow-covered moving ice.

Beneath her, the Denman Glacier stretches across the Antarctic horizon as far as the eye can see.

Riddled with crevasses — giant gaping cracks in the ice — it is spectacular, wild and treacherous.

"It's really stunning," she recalls. "You can see ice is flowing and cracking as it does."

She had been looking forward to seeing this view since she arrived earlier in December, after two years of hard work and planning to get to one of the most remote places on Earth.

Even though she's been to Antarctica twice before, this is her first glimpse of the glacier from the air.

And this is no ordinary joyride. It's part of a project to discover what lies beneath, and how this mass of ice might behave in a warming world.

continued https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2024-02-04/east-antarctica-denman-glacier-melting-australian-climate-change/103353980

[CrispyQ]

1. Interesting read! Great images!

snip...

As she chats to me via a voice messaging app, the internet signal pinging from a satellite, a helicopter thunders overhead.

This one isn't ferrying people, but is emptying waste from the camp toilets.

The scientists must protect Antarctica's special ecosystem from non-native microbes, pathogens, and contaminants.

"You can't just pee on the rocks," Dr Selway says.

"It's all got to be dealt with properly for environmental reasons. Quite a big part of life here is dealing with human waste."

[sinkingfeeling]

2. Even landing from a Zodiac on an Antarctica tour, they

take emergency supplies and tents. Just in case the ocean gets so rough the Zodiac can't get people back to the ship.

[love_katz]

3. Kicking for visibility.

I love science. And climate change should be front and center on everyone's radar screen.

[coprolite]

4. I imagine working in the Antarctica is a challenge

I spend 45 years working in remote areas of Alaska's Arctic. Winters were especially a challenge, keeping; equipment warm enough to start and operate, drilling fluids from freezing, staff warm enough to perform duties. At 40 Below tools and equipment don't always work like they are supposed to.

Logistics is always an issue, you can't just run down to the local industrial hardware store to get parts and tools.

On the bright side, with winter work you didn't have to deal with the mosquitoes.