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NEWS
Brief news items on Antarctic and sub-Antarctic non-government expedition activities.
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Dispatched on Wednesday, 5 January @ 0600 UTC.
News in this edition:
12-01. Record non-government numbers see in the New Year in Antarctica.
12-02. 'Millennium' personnel skydive at Patriot Hills, not Pole.
12-03. Steady stream of tourists, adventurers, reach South Geographic Pole.
12-04. IAATO reacts quickly to brucellosis concerns.
12-05. More research needed on disease transfer issues in Antarctica.
12-06. French solo traverse passes Dome 'C'.
12-07. Private flight planned to Antarctic Peninsula area.
12-08. Heard Island climbers face tight time challenge, difficult ascent.
12-09. Shackleton re-inactment voyage set to commence.
12-10. Greenpeace, whaling fleet, playing cat and mouse.
12-11. Coming events.
IN READING PLEASE NOTE: This newsletter is being produced in the interest of improved information sharing in the Antarctic community. Inclusion of information in it should not be taken to imply endorsement, by the publishers of ANAN News, of any company, program or associated activity that is listed, nor that the activity has necessarily completed all environmental impact assessments required under the legislation of the 'home' nation.
RECORD NON-GOVERNMENT NUMBERS
SEE IN THE NEW YEAR IN ANTARCTICA
Over 3700 people engaged in non-government operations are thought to have seen in the New Year in various locations around and above Antarctica on 31 December, setting a new record for such activities on the southern-most continent.
Initial figures provided by Argentina's Tourism Board of Terra Del Fuego in Ushuaia and other sources indicate that over 3000 people, made up of around 2400 tourists and 700 crew and staff members, celebrated New Year on board some sixteen tour vessels in the Antarctic Peninsula region on 31 December. Confirmation of these figures will not be available until later this year however. The tour vessel with the largest number of passengers is believed to have been 'Ocean Explorer I' (ANAN-11/03, 22 December 1999), while the 'Akademic Shuleykin' was reported to have had the smallest number.
On the other side of the continent a single tourist vessel present in the Ross Sea area had close to 100 tourists on board, while a Boeing 747-400 aircraft flying over Victoria Land as the year 2000 arrived carried 373 passengers and 21 crew.
In the interior of the continent almost 100 people engaged in non-government operations were present. They had been flown into the continent by either air operator Adventure Network International or the Millennium Expedition (see ANAN-12/02 following). Most were in the vicinity of the Patriot Hills, Ellsworth Land, a small number were at the South Geographic Pole, a few dozen on treks in between those locations, and one person was at Dome 'C' (see ANAN-12/06 following).
[ANAN-12/01]
Plans announced by the 'Millennium Expedition' for skydiving and hot air ballooning at the South Geographic Pole around New Year were modified late last month and skydiving operations occurred instead at the Patriot Hills, Ellsworth Land, 1000 km to the north on 1 January. Hot air ballooning is still possible at the Pole however as eight 'snow bugs' carrying two balloons and thirty-one people are reported to be en route there with arrival expected around 7-8 January if surface and general weather conditions permit.
Millennium's original program aims included supporting non-government skydiving and hot air ballooning activities at the South Geographic Pole on New Year's Day using the blue ice runway at the Patriot Hills as a staging point for flights by an Iluyshin-76 (IL-76) aircraft from Punta Arenas, Chile (ANAN-4/01, 15 September 1999). There were hints in late December that the expedition might reduce its program somewhat (ANAN-11/02, 22 December 1999), however it was not until New Year's Day that it became clear that the proposed jumps at the Pole would not occur.
Since arriving in Punta Arenas on 21 December, the IL-76 has made three flights to and from the Patriot Hills. A fourth such round trip is thought to be needed to finalise the withdrawal of personnel and equipment sometime in the next few weeks, although some personnel have already been returned to Chile.
On its first flight from Punta Arenas to the Patriot Hills and back on 24 December the IL-76 deployed support personnel, a small tent-based field camp, and at least six snow bugs. Personnel from commercial air operator Adventure Network International's (ANI) field camp at the Patriot Hills provided weather reports on local conditions for that flight.
The second IL-76 flight occured on 1 January, and on arrival the aircraft made several passes at 3000 m above the expedition field camp and dropped thirty-two skydivers before landing with further equipment and supplies. All skydivers were reported to have landed without incident. Most of the skydiving group had undertaken at least fifteen practice jumps in the U.S. and Chile prior to the New Year's Day jump, some from as high as 8000 m above sea level (ANAN-10/02, 8 December 1999). A third IL-76 flight undertaken on 3 January was a charter by ANI to carry fuel to the Patriot Hills for its operations, the return leg carrying around fifteen people back to Punta Arenas.
It is understood that a number of snow bugs left the Patriot Hills on 26 December and established a fuel depot at the Theil Mountains in support of the current traverse to the South Geographic Pole. Specifications provided by the manufacturer of the bugs, the Minsk Bearing Factory of Belarus, put their optimum cruising speed at 35-40 kilometres per hour. On that basis a two-day return journey should have been possible for the depoting trip, however it took five days, almost twice as long as planned. No information is available as to why this was so, however sketchy reports indicate that the current traverse to the Pole from the Patriot Hills may take up to a week, rather than the two to three days originally suggested by expedition organisers, and it is possible that surface conditions may be limiting bug performance.
The thirty one people currently en route by snow bugs to the Pole are reported to be citizens of Austria, France, Japan, Russia, South Korea, Spain, and the United States. The 'Millennium Expedition' is believed to have asked ANI to fly a small number of its clients from the Patriot Hills to the Pole although there appears to be some doubt whether this will actually occur. ANI was apparently also asked to fly Millennium's skydivers to the Pole for a further jump there but an ANI spokesman told ANAN that this request had been declined 'for logistics considerations'. Most of the skydivers who jumped on 1 January are believed to have returned to Punta Arenas on the return leg of the third IL-76 flight on 3 January.
Key interest in the Millennium Expedition's program now centres on the successful completion of the traverse to the South Geographic Pole and back to the Patriot Hills by the snow bugs. These vehicles have not been previously been used in Antarctica. Should serious difficulties develop with this operation it would require air support from outside 'Millennium' Expedition resources to assist the thirty-one people involved.
Reports on the expedition's progress over the past few weeks have come to ANAN from multiple sources in Antarctica, South America, and Europe, however it has not been possible, despite numerous attempts, to obtain information direct from the Russia-based organisers of the expedition.
[ANAN-12/02]
STEADY STREAM OF TOURISTS, ADVENTURERS,
REACH SOUTH GEOGRAPHIC POLE
A steady stream of tourists and adventurers have been arriving at the South Geographic Pole over the last few weeks and more are expected prior to the season's end early next month. Current estimates put the number of non-government people who will visit the Pole this season at between 80 and 90, the busiest season of non-government activity ever seen at the world's southern-most point.
The majority of the visitors to the Pole have been taken to Antarctica by the U.K. based commercial air operator Adventure Network International (ANI). To reach the Pole all ANI clients are first flown there by aircraft from Punta Arenas, Chile, to ANI's camp in the Patriot Hills, Ellsworth Land. From there they are either flown direct to the Pole itself, or travel overland from various points between the coast of the Weddell Sea and the Pole after deployment by ANI in the field (ANAN-9/01, 24 November 1999). In addition to ANI, the Russian organised 'Millennium Expedition' is adding to visitor numbers this season (see ANAN-12/02 proceeding).
This season's influx of visitors presented a challenge for managers at the U.S. Amundsen-Scott base at the South Geographic Pole, who are currently engaged in a very busy season of operations (ANAN-11/02, 22 December 1999). Difficulties were compounded by the lack of information available on 'Millennium Expedition' plans in both the lead up to, and during, its operations. Plans for that expedition originally called for skydiving operations at the Pole, and it was not until after jumps had occured at the Patriot Hills that it was clear that no jumps would be made in the vicinity of Admundsen-Scott. ANI staff at the Patriot Hills apparently played a key part in keeping Amundsen-Scott managers aware of 'Millennium' plans.
Operation 'Chillout' pair Peter Treseder and Tim Jarvis, who had been at the Pole since 21 December following the abandonment of their trans-Antarctic crossing (ANAN-11/01, 22 December 1999), were flown back to the Patriot Hills by an ANI aircraft on 30 December after a nine-day stay at Amundsen-Scott. They were eventually flown from the Patriot Hills to Punta Arenas on 3 January on that day's 'Millennium' Expedition Iluyshin-76 flight (see ANAN-12/02 proceeding).
An ANI flight which arrived at the Pole on the evening of 31 December performed a number of pick-up and deployment tasks in the vicinity. On board this flight were nine tourists who returned to the Patriot Hills after just enough time to see in the New Year at the world's southern-most point.
En route to the Pole on that flight the aircraft landed some fifty kilometres north of Amundsen-Scott to deploy eight people who subsequently skied to the Pole, arriving there on New Year's Day. That group is expected to be flown back to Patriot Hills on a flight which arrived at the Pole late on 4 January bringing a propellor for the Cessna 185 that has been there since 23 November (ANAN-11/07, 22 December 1999). Plans apparently call for the Cessna to be repaired immediately and the incoming flight will not depart from the Pole until the 185 is ready to fly.
Four Singaporian expeditioners completed their traverse at the Pole on 31 December were flown from there on 3 January by another ANI aircraft. They had left the Patriot Hills in Ellsworth Land in late November and were resupplied at the Theil Mountains en route to the Pole by ANI (ANAN-11/08, 22 December 1999).
Seven clients and two guides involved in Adventure Network International's guided 'Ski to the South Pole' program are due at the Pole around 5-6 January. This team, which includes two women and a husband and wife team, commenced the journey from Hercules Inlet at the edge of the Ronne Ice Shelf on 17 November. They are expected to be flown back to the Patriot Hills later this week as weather allows.
The eight 'Millennium Expedition' snow bugs are due at the Pole around 7-8 January carrying thirty-one people (see ANAN-12/02 proceeding). If conditions are right flights by two hot air balloons being carried by the traverse are expected be made somewhere in the vicinity of Amundsen-Scott, the first such operation ever attemped at the Pole. An ANI flight may fly four to six members of the 'Millennium' group to the Pole around the time the snow bugs are there, although it is not certain that this will actually occur.
About the same time the 'Millennium' balloon flights are likely to take place, a U.S. television film crew with two former astronauts are scheduled to arrive via an ANI flight. The astronauts are Jim Lovell who flew four times including as the Commander of Apollo 13, and Skylab and Shuttle crewmember Owen Garriot. Garriot visited the Pole three years ago as a tourist, but this time it is understood that he and Lovell will be welcomed as distinguished visitors.
The end of the tourist and adventure season at the Pole is expected towards the end of January with the arrival of five British women trekking there from Hercules Inlet on the coast of the Ronne Ice Shelf. This group were some 330 km from the Pole on 3 January. Since they commenced their journey on 24 November they have averaged around sixteen kilometres per day, which is slow by most traverse standards. Current expectations are that they will reach Amundsen-Scott sometime around 23 January. ANI is expected to fly them from there to Punta Arenas, Chile, via the Patriot Hills.
[ANAN-12/03]
The International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) has reacted quickly to advice from the scientific community on the finding of antibodies to the Brucella bacteria in Antarctic Fur and Weddell seals in the Antarctic Peninsula area.
While full details of the Brucella finding are not available and the risk of disease transfer is still the subject of considerable debate in international scientific circles, IAATO has advised its members of the finding and emphasised the need for operators to ensure that they follow recommended quarantine procedures between each shore visit (see ANAN-12/05 following).
IAATO was only advised of the finding in late December but within a few days it had issued its precautionary note to tour operators.
The report of antibodies to Brucella in seals in the vicinity of Cape Shirreff, Livingston Island, in the South Shetland Islands, was prepared by Chilean scientists and tabled at the annual meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources held in Hobart, Australia, last October.
Brucellocis is a bacterial infection that causes abortion and sterility in both terrestrial and marine mammals. While it can be transferred to humans, medical researchers contacted by ANAN have indicated that the chances of transmission to tourists in Antarctica appear very small, although the risks might be higher for researchers working directly with animals. Brucellosis is normally found in rural areas of other continents and is an occupational disease of meat packers, veterinarians, hunters, farmers and livestock producers. While it can be serious, in most cases only mild, non specific symptoms occur, and the number of cases reported world-wide has been small over recent decades.
While it is not clear if problems do exist, IAATO is taking the precautionary approach to the situation. It has asked operators to ensure that passengers, staff and crew going ashore from tour vessels take extra precautions to disinfect boots, gloves, backpacks and any other items taken with them. The tour operator's body has also asked that people be advised to be extra careful not to touch dead seals, seal faeces, carcasses or skulls, and that company medical coordinators be advised that the Brucella antibodies exist and that if the bacteria should be present it has the potential to cause medical problems in humans.
[ANAN-12/04]
MORE RESEARCH NEEDED ON DISEASE
TRANSFER ISSUES IN ANTARCTICA
The reported finding of Brucellocis antibodies in Antarctica will add to the debate in international scientific circles about the potential for the transfer of delibitating diseases to Antarctic wildlife from outside the region.
IAATO's precautionary approach to the latest finding is seen by many as being appropriate given the many unknowns that exist, however some researchers are questioning just how critical the risks of disease transfer really are. The whole question of disease transfer to Antarctic wildlife is seen by others as an issue that the international community as a whole needs to resolve as a priority in the near future.
Although first recognised as a concern in the early 1960s, the issue of disease in Antarctic wildlife has only recently received any attention and there is still disagreement amongst the international scientific community about the seriousness of the risk. The question is important for all human activity in Antarctica, not just those of non-government programs, although the tourist industry with its frequent visits to multiple wildlife colonies over a short period of time has the potential to transfer diseases across wide areas in short periods of time should outbreaks ever occur.
Research carried out near Australia's Mawson station, Mac.Robertson Land, in the mid 1990s suggested that Adélie and Emperor penguins at some locations nearby had been exposed to Infectious Bursal Disease Virus (IBDV). Whilst the presence of IBDV is of specific concern, its discovery highlighted other more general issues for the Antarctic community as a whole. These include the increasing risk of disease being introduced into the fauna because of the increase in the numbers of people travelling to and within Antarctica, and that there is a need to develop internationally agreed measures to limit disease introduction and to control outbreaks should they occur.
Australia presented an information paper on the Mawson findings at the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM) held in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1997, and was subsequently asked by the meeting to host a workshop to discuss the issues involved. The 'Workshop on Diseases of Antarctic Wildlife' was held in Hobart, Australia, in August 1998. It was attended by fifty-two registered participants from Australia, Brazil, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Sweden, the Netherlands, and the United States. IAATO received a special invitation to attend as its member's activities are particularly relevant to the issues discussed.
As a result of discussions at the Hobart meeting, IAATO developed a recommended set of actions for its members designed to reduce the risk of disease transfer between landing sites. The recommendations, which were adopted at the tourism body's annual meeting held in Germany last June, are regarded by a number of senior scientists with knowledge of disease issues as being very thorough given current knowledge and an appropriate reaction to potential problems that might occur.
The focus of the Hobart workshop was disease of birds and seals breeding within the Antarctic Treaty area however consideration was extended to sub-Antarctic animals and migratory species and to both endemic and exotic diseases. The initial report of the Workshop was presented to the Lima, Peru, ATCM in May 1999 and considered by the Committee for Environmental Protection (CEP). The CEP agreed that an open-ended contact group be formed to further examine the issue, and it is scheduled to report back to the CEP at the next ATCM. Unless a host for the 2000 ATCM is soon found, however the report may not be considered or implemented until 2001.
[ANAN-12/05]
Frenchwomen Laurence de la Ferriere reached Dome 'C' on 30 December after a thirty-seven day, 1500 km trek from the South Geographic Pole during which she averaged close to forty kilometres travel per day with the aid of parasails. After a few days rest she left the French-Italian station Concordia at Dome 'C' on 2 January and made fifty-two kilometres that day en route to France's Dumont d'Urville station 1000 km away on the coast of Adelie Land.
Laurence's five week trek to Concordia had two distinct phases. In the first two weeks very difficult surface and weather conditions were experienced and less than 200 km was made from the Pole (ANAN-10/04, 8 December 1999). Weeks three to five however were much different as conditions improved, and winds enabled parasails to be used. Her best day was on 20 December when 101 km was made. While excellent progress was achieved, for several days the wind blew from a direction at right angles to her route, with the result that the harness put great strain on her arms and chest causing her considerable pain.
de la Ferriere is scheduled to travel from Dumont to Hobart, Australia, on board the French Antarctic Expedition vessel "L'Astrolabe" early in February.
[ANAN-12/06]
Four private tourists plan to fly in a Cessna Caravan aircraft from Punta Arenas, Chile, next week to spend three to four days flying in the the Antarctic Peninsula region.
The four, Dick and Pip Smith, and Gerard and Margi Moss, all from Australia, anticipate flying from Punta Arenas to the Chilean station Eduardo Frei on King George Island in the South Shetland Islands, from where flight operations over the Peninsula are planned. Indications are that Chilean authorities will provide accommodation for the four at Frei as well as fuel for their aircraft for its operations from there.
The main reason given for the flight is to overfly the grave of pioneer Antarctic pilot Giles Kershaw which is located close to the Jones Ice Shelf. The ice shelf is on the western coast of the Peninsula opposite Adelaide Island and is some 650 km by air from Frei station.
Giles Kershaw and Dick Smith flew to many parts of Antarctica during the 1987-88 season in Smith's Twin Otter aircraft, but Kershaw was killed in Antarctica the following season in the crash of an autogyro. It is understood that in addition to the Jones Ice Shelf flight, a landing at Argentina's Marambio station on Seymour Island has been requested by Smith. It is not known at this time however whether permission has been given by Argentinian authorities for such an operation.
The $US1M Cessna Caravan is a single-engined, tricycle undercarriage aircraft capable of carrying between eight and fourteen people, depending on the version used. It is a proven aircraft, the prototype having first flown in 1982. A number of versions of the aircraft have been produced since then, although it is not clear at this stage which type will be used for the Antarctic flight. The Caravan normally cruises at around 160-180 knots at 3000 m and has a range of around 1800 km depending on winds and other atmospheric conditions. The flight distance across the Drake Passage from Punta Arenas to Frei is close to 1200 km.
Departure from Punta Arenas is currently scheduled for 12 January if conditions permit, with return from Frei to Ushuaia, Argentina, planned for as early as 15 January. Exact timings will depend on weather conditions.
[ANAN-12/07]
HEARD ISLAND CLIMBERS FACE TIGHT
TIME CHALLENGE, DIFFICULT ASCENT
The four Australians who are attempting to climb Heard Island's 2745 m summit were landed on the island on 1 January. Given the route they will have to use and the limited time available to them however, they face a particularly difficult challenge in their attempts to complete the ascent.
The group were landed at Atlas Cove at the western end of the island by the fishing vessel 'Southern Champion' (ANAN-11/09, 22 December 1999), where a small base camp was established. Advice from the vessel is that the climbers have been given until 17 January to complete their activities on the island as it needs to return to Western Australia to deliver its catch. This is very tight timetable for the climbers, made worse by the fact that they will have to make their ascent in a part of the island considered by many to present particularly severe difficulties for climbers.
An experienced group of Austrian mountaineers who were part of the non-government 'Cheynnes II' Ham radio expedition of 1982-83, attempted to climb to the peak in the general area of Atlas Cove but were forced to retreat after encountering difficult terrain, very soft snow and poor weather. The north-western and south-western faces of the peak are particularly exposed to the weather and consist in the main of steep buttress which descend from the summit.
The only successful climbs of the island to date have been along ridges in the north-eastern and south-eastern corners where the terrain is relatively speaking, easier. The successful climb via the north-eastern route for example occured over the the same time period the Austrians were attempting their ascent. The current climbing group do not have the time to travel around the island to easier areas as coastal conditions themselves make movement difficult and would use up significant amounts of time.
Given the often poor weather normally experienced at Heard Island, and that conditions on any one day can vary from very bad to good in separate parts of the island, expedition plans were flexible in that contingencies had been developed for wherever 'Southern Champion' could deploy the group.
It is not known what conditions were like away from Atlas Cove in other parts of the island on 1 January, and whether any options existed elsewhere for deployment. Reports indicate however that the vessel, which was conducting fishing operations until just before deploying the climbers, was only close to the island for a few hours, and that it resumed fishing operations the next day.
If successful this year's party will be only the third to reach the island's summit (ANAN-4/03, 15 September).
[ANAN-12/08]
Four people who plan to re-inact Sir Ernest Shackleton's 1916 open boat journey from the Antarctic Peninsula to South Georgia are scheduled to leave Ushuaia, Argentina, tomorrow for Antarctica, with the journey proper expected to commence by mid-January (ANAN-9/05, 24 November 1999).
The four, Arved Fuchs and Martin Friederichs, Sigridur Ragna Sverrisdottir and Henryk Wolski, are to travel with their boat the 'James Caird II' from Ushuaia to the vicinity of Antarctic Sound at the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula on Hapag Lloyd's tour vessel 'Hanseatic'. Plans call for them to be deployed from the ship in the Antarctic Sound area around 14 January, and from there they are to sail and row the boat to Elephant Island and on to South Georgia. On arrival at South Georgia an attempt will be made to cross the island >from King Haakon Bay in the south-west to the former whaling station at Stromness in the north.
During its journey the 'James Caird II' will be shadowed by the sailing vessel 'Dagmar Aaen', which left Germany in late October for Ushuaia. A film crew from a German television network will be on board 'Dagmar Aaen' to make a documentary about the re-inactment voyage.
[ANAN-12/09]
The Greenpeace vessel 'Arctic Sunrise' continues to harass the four-ship whaling fleet operated by Japanese company Kyodo Senpaku Ltd. in the Southern Ocean north of Enderby Land despite attempts by the fleet to shake off the environment group's vessel.
'Arctic Sunrise' first encountered the fleet some 500 km north-north-east of Proclamation Island, Enderby Land, on 20 December (ANAN-11/06, and 11/16 of 22 December). The Greenpeace ship endeavoured to stop whaling operations by using inflatable rubber boats to try and interfere with whale catching operations. Reports from the ship indicate that they were successful on a number of occasions, although no information is available from the Japanese company as to whether the environment group's actions is having an effect on their overall voyage activities.
The whaling fleet managed to shake off 'Arctic Sunrise' for a few days around 27 December, however the environmentalist's ship located it again on 29 December after a search that included use its helicopter. During the last two weeks the fleet has moved generally south-westwards and at last report was some 400 km north of Australia's Mawson station in Mac.Robertson Land on New Year's Day.
The whaling fleet has a permit from the Japanese government to catch up to 440 Minke whales in the general Indian Ocean sector of Antarctic waters (ANAN-11/16, 22 December 1999).
[ANAN-12/10]
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