Lab Museum Design & Interpretation

Temperature: -30.8°C
Wind Speed: 23 knots
Temp with wind chill: approximately -60°C
Sunrise: none
Sunset: none

Character: a grumpy diesel mechanic
Line of dialogue: has anybody seen my chicken?
Sound effect: siren
Prop: mop
Prop: bottle of mouthwash

Every year the international bases of Antarctica are invited to take part in the 48 hour film festival; a continent-wide effort at movie-making!

Last weekend we received the list of elements above, and everyone on base discussed story-lines to incorporate them. We wrangled for hours on whether we wanted something cute and quirky, or a zombie-killing horror! Finally, we hit upon the idea of doing a spoof of Big Brother, the reality TV show in which contestants are locked together in a house and vote against each other for eviction. Jane and I pulled together a loose script and the rest was ad-libbed by the base members-cum-actors!

Lex, our mechanic, being interviewed by a trashy TV presenter - me! © ANTNZ, S Lillicrap

Now all the films from the other Antarctic bases, such as Poland, Germany, Japan and India have been shared and voting has begun! Efforts varied widely from the brave to the baffling to the utterly brilliant! The Norwegian station, Troll, filmed theirs outside in a tent with explosively high winds; the UK’s base at Rothera involved a funny James Bond-style plot with an evil megalomaniac called ‘Dr Meltdown’; and the French contribution from Dumont D’Urville centered around a time-machine and a lost chicken.

The end of our film - Lex’s grand exit through the icy fog. He needed a warm cup of tea afterwards. © ANTNZ, S Lillicrap

All agree that Scott Base has done a grand job - but - will we win? Either way, we’re just pleased to have cut a dash on the Antarctic movie-making circuit and to bask in our 5 minutes of filmic fame!

Temperature: -30.8°C
Wind speed: 23 knots
Temp with wind chill: -60°C
Moonset: 11.39am
Moonset: 5.42pm

Last week I conserved a small cardboard box filled with little gas canisters that were for use in a soda siphon to make sparkling water. Both Sir Ernest Shackleton and Captain Scott took soda siphons with them on their expeditions, and a couple can be seen on the table in the picture of Scott’s birthday celebration in 1911.

The box of soda siphon bulbs which are still all in good condition and filled with compressed gas © Antarctic Heritage Trust

The sparkling water would have been used as a mixer for spirits, and this seems very apt in the week when a whisky crate excavated this summer from under the floor boards of Shackleton’s 1908 hut at Cape Royds was put on display at Canterbury Museum in Christchurch. The crate was kept frozen while it was flown from Antarctica to New Zealand, then immediately placed in a freezer, and it’s now slowly being thawed so that conservators can open it up and examine the contents.

Captain Scott’s birthday dinner at Cape Evans, June 6th 1911. Among the bottles, jugs and glasses are two soda siphons at the far end of the table. © Herbert Ponting / SPRI

We were very lucky to see the crates at Cape Royds when we first arrived in February, and have recently been following progress at Canterbury Museum through the blog on their website which is updated every day.

Three crates of whisky and two of brandy being stored at Cape Royds after excavation from under the hut this summer © Antarctic Heritage Trust

Today we’ve learnt that the ice has sufficiently melted for Lizzie and Sasha to remove the lid and for the first time the top of a bottle in its straw wrapper can be seen. I can’t wait to see what the bottles look like, and if there is still some whisky inside.

Temperature: -25°C
Wind speed: 10 knots
Temp with wind chill: -40°C
Moonrise: above horizon
Moonset: above horizon

Where ever you are on Ross Island you are always aware of the active volcano Mount Erebus sitting on the skyline topped by a plume of smoke. Erebus, and Mount Terror, the extinct volcano next to it, were named after the ships of Captain James Clark Ross, the first explorer to sail into McMurdo Sound in 1841.

Erebus veiled in cloud in April with the plume of fumes above the crater © AHT / N Dunn

From Scott Base Erebus looks serene, as if you could stroll up to the summit in an afternoon, but it’s actually 20 miles away and its slopes covered with crevasses and hazardous ice fields. Men from Shackleton’s 1907-09 expedition were the first to climb Erebus in 1908, taking 5 days. Now the crater is reached during the summer season by helicopter, which takes scientists up to carry out research on volcanic activity, the lava lake and the toxic fumes - carbon dioxide, chlorine and sulphur dioxide that it pumps out.

The effects of Erebus on the local weather patterns were a constant source of interest for Dr Simpson, the meteorologist on Captain Scott’s 1910 Expedition. Here orographic clouds circle the cone. © AHT / N Dunn

Erebus is constantly changing, reflecting the weather and seasons. As the sun disappeared we saw it silhouetted against a sky turning from blue to pink to rich red and finally filled with stars and auroras. But over the last week the sky behind Erebus has gradually been lightening and a faint apricot glow now indicates that with Midwinter over we are heading back towards the first sun-rise on 19th August.

The sun below the horizon is beginning to lighten the sky behind Erebus © AHT / N Dunn

Noah's Ark from Marxchivist

After ages, a meaty debate has been developing on the Group for Education in Museums Jiscmail list. It centred around an initial post by Richard Ellam on the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom (CLOtC) decision to award their quality badge to Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm. On balance the response from list members has been hostile towards CLOtC’s decision, and highly critical of the educational value of Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm. The gist being that, although much of the publicity about Noah’s Ark claims to offer the learner/visitor the opportunity to both consider creationism (perhaps that should be Capital C Creationism?) and evolution as theories/evidence for the origins of Earth, humans and other animals, Noah’s Ark’s real agenda is to promote Creationism over science (perhaps that should be Capital S Science?) or worse, to give the illusion that Creationism is Science. You can read the responses here and other responses here.

My interest in the debate really did not spring from a desire to tell others what I thought of the decision to award a quality badge to an organisation such as Noah’s Ark but to raise the issue of what we as learners and educators (particularly in museum settings) consider to be good learning and education and the problems we have in over-categorising learning, for example, separating Science and Non-Science (e.g. Creationism belongs in Religious Education not Science). To avoid repeating myself, I have posted my contribution to this debate below but it can also be read in the list archives here.

This debate has also reminded me that long ago I promised some posts on museums as sacred spaces, and as such I have thought an awful lot about it but not yet blogged about it. This might be considered a prelude, then. Can museums cope with presenting Knowledge as Belief as well as Belief as Knowledge?

—–
Message sent Thursday 29 July 2010.

Dear all,

I have read this debate with an enormous amount of interest, not for the points about whether Noah’s Ark is a good or bad thing (however you decide to decide this) but for the problem it has raised over how we go about categorising our information into science and non-science. I have very many scientist friends and family, most of them always questioning what exactly it is we _know_ from empirical measurement and observation and what exactly it is we don’t know and just estimate or guess at. And yet the uncertainties of modern western science are not always presented to the public in whatever forum (and we don’t really question this).

Where subjects like creationism (yet another -ism many learning providers deal poorly with of whatever persuasion) ‘fit in’, is to me a non-issue. Fora should exist where scientific, evolutionary elements of human and earth history are discussed with creationisms, beyond the nutsy approach taken by Noah’s Ark. I am sure they have existed in some places, why don’t we see or hear more of them so sites like Noah’s Ark can be shown up for what they really are? We don’t need to patronise all members of the public, young or old, by worrying that they are going to be misled even if they read misleading information.

Where we came from is a fundamental question we have all asked, particularly as children. Empirical science does not know everything and there is no capacity to know what you don’t know. All those unknown unknowns. Similarly, the kind of biblical creationism we most often hear about in the media is only one (and often skewed) interpretation of a world view held by people past and present; what about all the other creation stories (see Sumerian for example), some of which echo has later been discovered through the theory of evolution, or theories of evolution, should that be?

Learning and education quality marks are subjective, no matter how many guidelines and parameters you set, as the subject matter is inescapable. I cannot see how you can be neutral about the subject of learning. If one was to give the cliched example of, ‘what about if the BNP had an education programme’… etc… what would those respondents who said that the assessment of learning quality should be neutral think then? Why do we have to think so mechanically about learning and its categories? Surely learning outside the classroom should break out of the constraints of the National Curriculum which itself has been shown to be a more than imperfect way of teaching in many subjects, overly compartmentalised, and lacking the encouragement of individual thought and analysis in some areas.

In short, what this debate so far has shown me is that what really needs discussing is not whether creationism as science is a wolf in sheep’s clothing but whether as learners and educators ourselves we have stopped to question our massive assumptions about both.

I suspect this is a gauntlet that no one will pick up ;-)

Temperature: -20°C
Wind speed: 5 knots
Temp with wind chill: approximately -25°C
Moonrise: above horizon
Moonset: above horizon

After a week of record-breaking cold temperatures, it’s hard to believe that the members of Captain Scott’s (1910-1913) expedition would be out fishing in the middle of an Antarctic winter. But, every copy of a British Antarctic Expedition (B.A.E.) journal in the library at Scott Base (New Zealand’s Antarctic base) suggests this is what they were doing. It interested Dr. Edward Atkinson in particular, as he was the scientist charged with studying parasites and bacteria. While occasionally they did eat the fish, they mostly wanted to advance polar scientific study (and I get the impression the fish didn’t taste that good anyway!).

What is puzzling is how they actually caught the fish. The only hints I’ve found indicate they used a trap made of wire netting. Well, I have no trap here in the lab, but I do have a tin of fish hooks. Hundreds and hundreds of fish hooks – and not one journal reference! Oh well…

Tin of fish hooks before treatment © AHT / M Bell

Regardless, it was very satisfying to treat the artefact by separating the hooks from their semi-concreted mass. As a bonus, this lead to the discovery of a rather cool little lure hidden in its centre. And, in treating the tin of fish hooks we did learn a bit about the early explorers’ choice of ‘sweeties’. In the long tradition of Antarctic thriftiness, they used a ‘Rowntree’s Clear Gums’ tin to keep the hooks in!

Tin of fish hooks, after treatment, with silver-coloured fish-shaped lure sitting on top © AHT / M Bell

Temperature: -23.3°C
Wind speed: 10 knots
Temp with wind chill: approximately -33°C
Moonrise: none
Moonset: none

Herbert Ponting, the official photographer for Scott’s Terra Nova expedition, preferred working with glass plate negatives for their superior image quality – even though photographic film had been in popular use for at least 20 years. The glass plate negatives we are conserving from the darkroom are of different types, and from different companies around the world such as London, France, Sydney and Wellington. Nearly half are by the ‘Paget Prize Plate Company’ which was based in Watford, UK, and happens to be my home town! The company was only in existence for a short time so these packages are very rare indeed!

A selection of glass plate negatives by Paget Prize Plate Company © AHT / G Whiteley

The vast majority of Ponting’s surviving works are in black and white, but the collection shows that he clearly wanted to experiment with colour. There are over 30 packages of colour plates but it seems this process proved too technically challenging for the environment with only a few colour photos ever being published. The processed plates returned to England with Ponting, so the remaining packages and boxes in the hut are unopened – perhaps abandoned as the most unworkable.

3 packages of plates stuck together with mould, before treatment © AHT / G Whiteley

3 packages of plates after treatment © AHT / G Whiteley

Water damage over the years has left these plates in poor condition. Even for Ponting spoilage was a persistent problem. In his biography he describes how he had so many plates he had to store them outside in the snow and then carefully bring them into the hut when needed. This was done gradually as the change in humidity and temperature could damage the sensitive gelatine coating.

Herbert Ponting in the Dark Room, Cape Evans circa 1911 © Ponting / Alexander Turnbull Library

Ponting’s darkroom has been relatively untouched over the years and so provides an intriguing time capsule (or should that be snapshot!) into the working processes of this early Antarctic ‘camera artist’.

The Antikythera Mechanism is thought to be a 2nd/1st century BC mechanical device for calculating astronomical positions (and thus a very advanced navigational device of its time). It was made somewhere in the Greek-speaking world. Tom Malzbender, one of the inventors of Polynomial Texture Mapping (PTM), recently gave a Google Tech Talk entitled “Imaging the Antikythera Mechanism“, showing how interactive lighting has helped to identify many previously unknown details on the device. It’s a fascinating talk, about an hour long, and worth watching to learn more about the device, what a PTM is, and its capture methods.

You can download PTMs of all fragments thanks to the HP Labs Antikythera Mechanism website.

Temperature: -23.3°C
Wind speed: 10 knots
Temp with wind chill: -35°C
Moonrise: 1.15pm
Moonset: 5.36pm

At midday Bobbie and I meet at the back door dressed in hats, face masks and goggles. Turning on our head torches and radioing through our intentions, we head out for our daily walk along the snow-covered path which climbs up the hill at the back of Scott Base.

Scott Base from the top of the hill in late April, with the path winding down the slope © AHT / N Dunn

A century ago Captain Scott advocated the physical and mental benefits of regular outdoor exercise during the dark winter months, encouraging the men to take some form after lunch. In his diary he wrote ‘the majority of people seem anxious to get exercise, but one or two like the fire better’. In particular it was difficult to get the photographer Ponting out of the hut and Atkinson ‘only managed by dragging him out to his own work, digging holes in the ice’.

Nicola at the top of the hill in June with Scott Base in the background © Steven Sun / ANTNZ

We started our walks at the beginning of winter as a way of getting some fresh air and to experience the changes in the landscape over the months. And we’ve certainly seen some changes. From the top of the hill the base was first surrounded by pink ice, then gradually the lights began to go on and sometimes it would fade in the blowing snow.

A moonlit Scott Base in June © N Dunn / AHT

Several times the weather has been too bad to go out, and on occasions the dark and the sound of the wind have been less than appealing, but once out we always return reinvigorated.

Temperature: -20.6°C
Wind speed: 45 knots
Temp with wind chill: -55°C
Moonrise: Below horizon
Moonset: Below horizon

We are immersed in a Condition 1* storm today. The wind is howling and the building is shaking. We are confined to Base because of the extreme cold and lack of visibility.

In 1970 similar weather caused a US Navy plane to make an emergency landing. The weather came in from the south, just like today, and the pilots could not make out the runway on the Ross Ice Shelf because of zero visibility. They were beyond the point at which they could turn around or find an alternative landing place. All 80 passengers were uninjured but the plane was badly damaged.

Last Sunday the weather was much better; -25°C and just 10 knots of wind. A group of us drove out to see the plane which has since given its name to the Pegasus Air Field.

Group photo on the tail of the Pegasus. From left to right: Alf, Bobbie, Georgina, Jane. Front: Hayden, Steven © Steven Sun

Steven, Jane and the graffiti on the plane © Steven Sun

Playing with long exposures on the camera in front of the plane © Steven Sun

In keeping with ensuring the continent is kept as pristine as possible, the plane is to be removed this year and work has already begun to collect the debris around it.

I drove us home in the Hagglund - my first time driving one. I switched the lights off to see if I could drive in whiteout conditions using just the satellite navigation. Unfortunately, despite the ice shelf being a big, open, flat area, we thought it best to switch the lights back on!

*Condition 1 is defined as visibility less that 30m or sustained winds over 100 km/h or windchill lower than minus 73°C.

Temperature: -18°C
Wind Speed: 30 knots
Temp with wind chill: approximately -50°C
Moonrise: below horizon
Moonset: below horizon

We’re here for just about seven months all told, living in Antarctica at New Zealand’s Scott Base and working to conserve artefacts from Captain Scott’s Terra Nova expedition hut at Cape Evans. Ever wondered what effect all of this has on the Antarctic environment? You’ll be pleased to know that Antarctica New Zealand has a well-developed plan that directs our activities on ice, with a very clear aim to minimize the environmental impact of our presence here in the Antarctic.

So how does this translate into action? As it is winter, we don’t get out in the field much these days but there are many things we can do around base. Wind turbines are working away to generate energy and reduce our fossil fuel consumption but it still makes sense to turn off the lights when we leave the room. Showers are kept short to conserve water, and everyone makes proper use of the recycling system, developed to sort and prepare waste for return to New Zealand.

Disposing of food waste, separated for collection and transportation back to New Zealand © Antarctica New Zealand / Steven Sun

Waste water and sewage are processed properly in our on-base treatment plant. Energy efficient light bulbs are everywhere, including in the photographic set-up in our conservation lab. All these positive actions mean we’re doing our part to keep the Antarctic environment happy and healthy.

Nicola documents an artefact - the bulbs in our photographic lights are energy efficient © Antarctic Heritage Trust / M Bell

Temperature: -31°C
Wind speed: 10 knots
Temp with wind chill: -45°C
Sunrise: none
Sunset: none

I’m always surprised at the similarities between our Antarctic lives and the experiences of the men on the expeditions 100 years ago. But the day after Midwinter with the temperature at -25°C we took part in a Scott Base tradition for which there seems to be no comparison – the polar plunge.

Mechanic Lex begins to cut the polar plunge hole with a chain saw © Matt Morley

This is when we cut a hole in the sea ice, put on safety harnesses and take it in turns to jump into the icy 1.7°C waters of the Ross Sea. As I plunged through the floating slush of ice and saw the dark blue-green waters around me, the cold instantly numbed my skin and fingers, and I forgot how to breathe. For a split second there was a wonderfully thrilling feeling of being in the unknown … and so I did it again!

‘Super Science Man’, Science Technician Steven Sun, prepares for his polar plunge © Don Duke/USAP

Bobbie takes the plunge whilst Tom holds her harness © Don Duke/USAP

Followed up with saunas and hot showers we shared video clips of our plunges – some did it wearing just shoes, some in fancy dress or bikinis; some made a big splash and others dipped a toe in the water then elegantly slid in without getting their hair wet!

Later I remembered that the only time the members of the expeditions had dipped into the water was by accident, putting a leg through the tide-crack, or falling through thin broken sea ice, some never to be seen again.

Why do we do it? Maybe it’s because we all appreciate experiencing the extremes of the Antarctic environment - provided there’s a warm sauna to run to afterwards!

Temperature: -31°C
Wind Speed: 10 knots
Temp with wind chill: approximately -45°C
Moonrise: n/a
Moonset: n/a

Yesterday I had a very special day. A four man team from the American Antarctic Research Station McMurdo and New Zealand’s Scott Base were going on a scientific field trip in a five-seater Hagglund vehicle – a Swedish-built snow tank. They offered the remaining seat to the Antarctic Heritage Trust as the trip aimed to reach Captain Scott’s hut at Cape Evans. After drawing names from a hat, I found myself lucky enough to be packing my ECWs (extreme cold weather gear).

From left to right: Steven, Science technician; Georgina, AHT conservator; Matt, carpenter; John, the man with the drill from McMurdo; Tom, Field Support and Base Manager © S. Sun/Antarctica New Zealand

We travelled out across the ice field, an area of the frozen Ross Sea, winding our way carefully along a marked route using GPS, avoiding known areas of thin ice and tide-cracks. The weather began to deteriorate, and as the wind whipped up flurries of ice and snow around our vehicle we lost visibility.

Contacting the weather people at McMurdo via radio, the forecast was grim, and so we decided against pushing on to Cape Evans, instead setting up the scientific recording equipment where we were. Two test holes were drilled, showing the ice to be a suitable 1.5m thick and then we erected a probe to measure the rate and extent of the growing sea ice which will stay in place for a year.

The newly-erected probe, set up to measure growth of sea-ice over a year. The black box is a recording device. © S. Sun/Antarctica New Zealand

But the weather here is fickle and instead of the predicted blizzard, the wind died down as soon as we began work and everything became perfectly still. It was quite extraordinary being in such an expanse of moonlit ice, and after so many months in the comfort of Scott Base, it impressed on me again what an eerily beautiful and quite desolate place Antarctica can be.

Panoramic view with Mt Erebus and Hagglund © Tom Arnold/Antarctica New Zealand

Temperature: -38°C
Wind Speed: 5 knots
Temp with wind chill: -45°C
Sunrise: None
Sunset: None

Last week Georgina, Alf and I spent an evening with Bobbie learning how to make bread, and after all the kneading, proofing and baking we were very proud of our beautiful loaves.

George proudly showing her first ever bread loaves © Alf Shinkelshoek / Antarctica New Zealand

Clissold the cook kneading dough to make bread © Herbert Ponting / SPRI

It would have been an endless job for Clissold, the cook on Captain Scott’s 1910 expedition, to make bread for 25 men. To save time he put together an alarm from scavenged bits and pieces to let him know when his dough had risen. Scott mentions the mechanism in his diary and describes how the risen dough would complete an electrical circuit setting off a bell and lighting a red lamp.

Clissold‘s inventiveness is not so surprising as he was an artificer in the Royal Navy by trade and had learnt to cook to qualify for a place on the expedition. His knowledge was to be appreciated when he advised on the motor vehicles and supported them on several depot-laying journeys.

The little device that could be part of the dough-rising alarm © AHT

We are trying to work out if a small device found in the galley, where Clissold would have made his bread, is part of Clissold’s dough-rising alarm. Griffith Taylor (the expedition’s senior geologist) in his memoirs gives a little, but not very detailed, drawing of the mechanism and describes how Clissold put the dough in a big pot on a trolley and wheeled it to his bedside to rise under the contraption. ‘When the dough rose sufficiently it pushed up a disc which over balanced a gutter. Down this ran a lead ball which made contact and rang a bell!’

The jury is still out; with so many scientists on the expedition it could be any number of pieces of equipment – what do you think?

Temperature: -37°C
Wind Speed: 5 knots
Temp with wind chill: -45°C
Sunrise: none
Sunset: none

The sun set weeks ago, but this weekend, as our friends in the Northern hemisphere watch the light begin to fade, we at the bottom of the world celebrated its return– even if it is not going to fully return for another couple of months!

Mid winter celebrations have taken place all over the continent and greetings have been exchanged between international bases. Extravagant meals were the order of the day, not least here at New Zealand’s Scott Base.

Midwinter dinner at Scott Base on June 19th 2010 © Steven Sun

13 of the Scott Base crew and 23 guests from the United States McMurdo station attended our Mid-Winter dinner. We kept our chef in the kitchen to work her magic on the food, whilst we feasted under the fairy lights and decorations.

Midwinter dinner on June 22nd 1911 © SPRI / Herbert Ponting

In the speeches homage was paid to the early explorers such as Scott, Shackleton and Amundsen, who were among the first to celebrate this special occasion in the Antarctic calendar.

A similar celebration took place at McMurdo station on Sunday with a flamboyant buffet and dancing, which many of the team from Scott Base attended. They even had what must be the biggest bowl of salad in Antarctica straight from the hydroponics greenhouse!

As I mark off the dates on the calendar, it is becoming clear that we are half way through the long Antarctic night. Only two more months of darkness before the sun pops out for a quick peek!

Temperature: -34.5°C
Wind speed: 0 knots
Temp with wind chill: approximately -34.5°C
Moonrise: above horizon
Moonset: above horizon

You’d think that an international soccer (sorry, football) championship over 5000km away would be the last thing on our minds here in the Antarctic – but that can’t be further from the truth! FIFA World Cup mania has solidly hit Scott Base, the New Zealand Antarctic research station. The marvels of modern technology ensure that matches are available via satellite, so we are able to catch every game we want to see. More specifically, we are interested in following the ‘All Whites’, the New Zealand national team. While many of us wintering at Scott Base are from countries other than New Zealand, we are united in our support of this Cinderella team.

Scott Base shows its support for the All Whites’ 2010 FIFA World Cup campaign © Steve Williams

It’s amazing that the love of a sport like soccer (sorry, football) can transcend nations and even centuries of time. Apparently even Captain Scott and the lads of the British Antarctic Expedition were quite into the game, playing as often as they could until they lost the light. Current day Ross Island inhabitants are fortunately able to play indoors every week in a small gymnasium at McMurdo, the nearby United States research station.

Soccer action at McMurdo Station © M. Bell

Team photo - soccer enthusiasts of Ross Island © Gabriel Cartwright, U.S.A.P

Here at Scott Base we’ll continue to watch the FIFA drama unfold. The All Whites are having a great tournament and we wish them all the best. We’ll definitely be watching their upcoming match against Paraguay. Go All Whites!

Temperature: -37.6°C
Wind Speed: 5 knots
Temp with wind chill: -45°C
Sunrise: None
Sunset: None

A few of us at Scott Base, New Zealand’s Antarctic research station, had been waiting for a still night when we could walk up Crater Hill and look at auroras (natural light displays in the sky, usually observed at night, particularly in the polar regions). For many days we watched the weather. The temperature would be about -20 to -25°C with no wind, but by the time we finished work in the evening the wind would pick up to about 20 knots which means that it would feel as if it was about -50°C or colder, even worse on top of the hill. But on Monday the temperature was a balmy -25°C, with no wind and no clouds - perfect conditions!

Aurora hunters - Sandy, Jane and Steven lying on the ice lake at the top of Crater Hill © Steven Sun

We were dropped off at the base of the hill and climbed up the scree slopes. At the top of the hill there is a crater with an ice lake. The frozen lake has humps in it where the ice has been compressed by pressure and big and small cracks lead out from them. A torch on the ice showed up the huge ice crystals and cracks that were forming. It was really beautiful!

At the edge of the crater we looked down on Scott Base and as we did so a faint aurora became visible. As we started to walk back to the base the aurora became stronger and seemed to dance over the base. The display was so amazing that we had to radio back to Scott Base to advise that we would be back later than the sign out time we had given We were even too distracted to think about taking out our cameras!

The aurora dancing over Scott Base © Steven Sun

I had been contemplating whether or not to go out as I was quite tired after work, but I am so glad I did. It is very easy to become complacent about where you are and not take full advantage of this wonderful place. We are a bit blasé about the auroras now. We have the opportunity to see them nearly every day. We just need to remind ourselves every now and then that we are privileged to have the opportunity to see them at all. This was a fantastic night, one of those nights that reminds me of how lucky I am to be here and what an amazing place this is.

Temperature: -26.5°C
Wind Speed: 10 knots
Temp with wind chill: approximately -42°C
Moonrise: below the horizon
Moonset: below the horizon

This season we are working on artefacts from Herbert Ponting’s darkroom at Cape Evans (Ponting was the official photographer on Captain Scott’s 1910 expedition). Amongst the items are 130 unopened packages of glass plate negatives, all of which have been affected by mould. Mould is highly damaging to paper and card, making it weak and brittle. In previous years the darkroom has experienced high levels of relative humidity at times, due to the build-up of snow and ice melting during the summer months, when temperatures can go above freezing. Add to this, a room with limited air circulation, and you have the perfect breeding ground for mould! The mould looks very interesting, like a creeping carpet of fluff, and is a type of mildew more commonly found on wood.

Steven making agar © AHT / J Hamill

Before beginning conservation treatment, our science technician helped me to try and find out if the mould is still alive. All our attempts at cultivating the mould on agar plates proved negative, which would imply that the spores (even the dormant ones) have been killed by the natural freeze-drying process of the Antarctic environment. Very good news!

To be on the safe side though, in treatment, we removed all the mould that could safely be accessed, and treated the items with 70% ethanol solution. Sometimes the packages are stuck together and have to be carefully separated. Almost all are badly degraded and some need extensive repairs and consolidation.

Before treatment - some of the packages are stuck together with mould and have to be separated © AHT / G Whiteley

After treatment © AHT / G Whiteley

It is great to think that in a few months’ time these packages will be returned to their shelves in the hut, which is also undergoing conservation. The next job will be to ensure they remain fungal-free for many years to come!

Temperature: -26.5°C
Wind Speed: 10 knots
Temp with wind chill: approximately -42°C
Moonrise: below horizon
Moonset: below horizon

“Tuesday, June 6 [1911] - … It is my birthday, a fact I might easily have forgotten, but my kind people did not. At lunch an immense birthday cake made its appearance and we were photographed assembled about it…” (Captain Robert Falcon Scott)

Revelry continued that night with a fine dinner of “…seal soup, roast mutton and red currant jelly, fruit salad, asparagus and chocolate…” (Scott). By all accounts it was a festive occasion. Sadly, this was the last birthday Scott would celebrate, as he and 4 other British Antarctic Expedition members perished returning from the South Pole in early 1912.

Captain Scott’s last birthday dinner, 6 June 1911 © Herbert Ponting / Scott Polar Research Institute

Fast-forward nearly 100 years to present day Scott Base, where we also spent the 6th of June celebrating Scott’s birthday. We all take turns preparing dinner on Sundays, and coincidentally I had volunteered to cook supper that night. Hardly anything as fancy as Clissold, cook for the British Antarctic Expedition, had prepared – just a humble spaghetti and meatball dinner. And, despite having the night off, our chef Bobbie agreed to make the dessert. Scott’s 2010 birthday cake was decorated as a “Union Jack” – ceremoniously cut by Tom, Scott Base Winter Base Manager.

Tom, Scott Base Winter Manager, makes the first cut in Scott’s birthday cake © AHT / M Bell

Glasses raised, our modest celebration closed with a toast to Captain Scott. The sentiment was plain and simply stated – “…to Scott”.

Temperature: -32°C
Wind Speed: 15 knots
Temp with wind chill: -45°C
Sunrise: None
Sunset: None

While conserving objects from Captain Scott’s 1910 expedition base at Cape Evans, we recently found a number of objects made of layers of wood. We are often fortunate enough to see the objects we are conserving in historic photos from the expeditions, which can help us identify them or associate them with a particular activity. Unfortunately, this is not the case with these elusive objects. Some of them had what appeared to be a bellows at one end and a paper diaphragm inside.

Mysterious wooden objects with bellows from Cape Evans © Antarctic Heritage Trust

Mysterious wooden objects with bellows from Cape Evans © Antarctic Heritage Trust

We pondered over their function in the lab, consulted experts and even asked some of the guests on one of our open evenings. But, we are still not sure. It has been suggested that they may be part of the telephone system installed at Cape Evans which connected the hut to Discovery Hut (the expedition base associated with Captain Scott’s 1901 expedition at Hut Point) and two of their scientific observation posts. Another suggestion was that they could be parts of one of the two pianolas brought to the Ice.

Cecil Meares at the pianola in January 1912 © Herbert Ponting

Could the objects be from the pianola?

We would welcome any suggestions as to what they could be, as we are at a loss!

Temperature: -31.9°C
Wind Speed: 15 knots
Temp with wind chill: approximately -55°C
Moonrise: above horizon
Moonset: above horizon

‘The moon on the breast of the new fallen snow gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below…’ (Clement Clarke Moore, ‘The Night Before Christmas’).

I know it’s strange to be quoting Christmas stories in June. Still, it seems appropriate - it’s exactly what runs through my head when I step outside at this time of year to find the moon shining as bright as the sun. On clear days with an almost full moon, I don’t usually have to turn on my head torch when I’m out and about. When the landscape is brightly lit by the moon’s reflection, you can see as clearly as anything for miles and miles.

Parked at the base of Castle Rock © AHT / M Bell

On a recent recreational trip, the view from the base of Castle Rock was just this perfect. Climbing the hill to overlook the low-lying clouds that blanketed the ice shelf, we were treated to an expansive snow-covered landscape illuminated by the moon.

A Pistenbully and a great view out over the Ross Ice Shelf © AHT / M Bell

It’s one of the scenes of Antarctica that enchants me the most, and a breathtaking reminder that Antarctic winter isn’t always dark and forbidding. The sun may be gone for a few months and the days generally cold, but there’s no reason we can’t enjoy amazing scenery, care of ‘Old Man Moon’.