http://www.66s-140e.net Thu, 05 Mar 2009 04:58:28 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Titre: Water It has been one year since yours truly set foot on îles des Pétrels: and now the loop has been looped, with the third return of the Astrolabe to the now almost completely sea-ice-free archipelago of Pointe Géologie. It is more difficult than ever to try and convey an idea ... http://www.66s-140e.net/?p=88 Eight months after they left us alone, two species made a spectacular return to the archipelago in these past weeks: Adélie penguins and human beings. Paradoxically, the birds came by ice - hundreds of black dots spread over the ice-sheet in a much messier and more frenzied way than the ... http://www.66s-140e.net/?p=87 Two hundred and fifty nine: that is the number of Weddell seals that have been spotted during a "seal counting expedition" at the scale of the archipelago. Seals have been around all the time, but their number has increased dramatically in the past few weeks and they can be seen ... http://www.66s-140e.net/?p=86 Such an ice conflict is undeniably a stupendous spectacle. One feels one's self to be in the presence of titanic forces, and it is easy to understand how timid souls may be overawed as if nothing could stand before it. For when the packing begins in earnest it seems as ... http://www.66s-140e.net/?p=85 With the ice sheet safely withstanding the many recent storms so far, and thanks to the longer days, hikes on the ice are leading further away from the base. Everyone gets the opportunity to feel like a proper explorer; no new rocky mountains nor rocky islands are to be discovered, ... http://www.66s-140e.net/?p=84 Hidden by one of the many storms that swept Terre Adélie in August, then revealed on the following clear day, a dramatic fate struck one of the familiar silhouettes of giant icebergs to the East. Unbalanced by the loss of an underwater ice chunk, the waves, the tides or the ... http://www.66s-140e.net/?p=83 What is the author of these lines doing in Antarctica, by the way ? Among the many instruments working at Dumont d'Urville, a laser-based optical instrument called 'lidar' is used to sound the atmosphere. Because it operates in the visible spectrum, the instrument can only be used at night (if you ... http://www.66s-140e.net/?p=82 http://www.66s-140e.net/?p=81 Blue, White, Green, Gray, Orange, Red, Yellow, Purple, Brown... Plates, Cracks, Ridges, Chaos, Blocks, Blades... Walls, Cliffs, Mountains, Castles, Caves, Valleys... Down on the ice. **** Bleu, Blanc, Vert, Gris, Orange, Rouge, Jaune, Violet, Marron... Plaques, Fractures, Rifts, Chaos, Blocs, Lames... Murs, Falaises, Montagnes, Châteaux, Cavernes, Vallées... En bas, sur la glace. Frozen grounds **** Sols glacés Rivers **** ... http://www.66s-140e.net/?p=80 Humans ? Yes, we do have noticed them; it would seem that they've been around for some generations. **** Les humains ? Oui, nous les avons remarqués; il semblerait qu'ils sont dans le coin depuis un certain nombre de générations. Two of them appear to come to the colony every day, and ... http://www.66s-140e.net/?p=79