News in this edition:

18-01. Satellite problems, solar max, could impact on expedition management.
18-02. Further Shackleton filming planned on South Georgia.
18-03. Fourth Antarctic marathon set for February 2001.
18-04. Planetary studies group collects meteorites, visits Pole.
18-05. Pair planning trans-Antarctic journey train in the Arctic.
18-06. New group proposing Heard Island climb attempt.
18-07. Greenpeace program shifts focus to fishing issues.
18-08. 'Pole to Pole 2000' group plans Antarctic traverse for November-December.
18-09. Coming events relevant to non-government activities.

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.

Non-government groups conducting small-scale expedition activities in the interior of Antarctica next austral summer are likely to once again have to rely on high frequency (HF) radio to provide key communications with the outside world following closure of the 'Iridium' satellite-based telephone system, and delays in bringing another commercial space-based system on line. Loss of the satellite communications system has occured at the peak of the solar cycle when HF communications are likely to be severely disrupted in polar regions for days at a time.

Iridium's efforts to continue operations came to an end on 17 March as a result of its failure to attract sufficient financial support. Last August the company filed for court-assisted voluntary reorganisation under U.S. bankruptcy law, and has been struggling to stay afloat since then (ANAN-17/08, 15 March 2000). The Iridium system is now being wound down and is expected to be off the air completely well before the next Antarctic summer.

At least four groups of adventurers are known to be planning crossings of the Antarctic continent in the 2000-01 season (see ANAN-18/05 and 18/08 following for examples), while a number of others are expected to undertake the shorter journeys from the edge of Antarctica to the South Geographic Pole (SGP). Current indications are that at the peak of the season up to ten of these groups could be spread out over a wide area of the polar plateau at any one time.

All these traverses involve people hauling their own equipment and supplies and weight minimisation is a key aim. This is one of the reasons the highly portable, efficient, Iridium system has been widely favoured in recent years for such activities. In addition, mountaineering groups climbing in remote areas such as the Antarctic Peninsula, Ellsworth Land, and other places such as sub-Antarctic Heard Island (see ANAN-18/06 following), could be affected next season.

Iridium provided a very effective way for field groups to keep in touch with their base camps and headquarters, providing quick, generally reliable, access, important to the smooth running of program support, especially in the event of emergencies or when a large number of groups are in the field. It was also a key to ensuring the reliable flow of information that could be used on the web sites that most expeditions now need to maintain as a standard part of the commercial side of their ventures. Many tour operators have also purchased Iridium handsets, as have most national program operators in Antarctica.

Another satellite telephone venture, ICO Global Communications (ICOGC), was scheduled to introduce a satellite-based voice, data, fax and messaging system via small hand-held transceivers later this year. Handsets for this system are not compatible with their Iridium counterparts however.

ICOGC's timetable is now however in considerable doubt as the first of of its satellites was lost on 12 March in a launch vehicle failure. While the company has down-played the loss, it appears unlikely that its system will be operational until sometime in 2001. The ICOGC system needs ten satellites to commence its world-wide service, with another two acting as 'on orbit' spares, while Iridium used sixty-six satellites. In addition to the launch failure ICOGC, like Iridium before it, filed for court-assisted voluntary reorganization under U.S. bankruptcy law last August. The company said recently that it is working toward overcoming the problems involved in this by May 2000, however a number of industry analysists have expressed concern that it may be experiencing the same problems as Iridium.
Globalstar, yet another low earth orbit satellite system only provides coverage over the major populated land masses and not Antarctica at this stage. It too however has problems with investor concerns being reflected in the company's faltering stock price in the U.S. over recent months.

Inmarsat's small portable 'M' system which provides voice and data capability, utilises geostationary rather than polar-orbiting satellites and as a result is not usable within 1200 km of the South Geographic Pole as the satellites are too low on the horizon. In addition the unit is brief-case size and weighs around ten kilograms, its weight and relative size being a further disadvantage for small traverse groups when compared to the units offered by Iridium and ICOGC.

The French-U.S. ARGOS system is suited to small expedition activity in that it allows a group's position and basic 'OK' 'not OK' messages to be sent automatically to its headquarters using a small light-weight package. It does not enable two-way communications with field parties however, often an important factor when problems or complex changes in logistic required more instant connections to help solve unforseen issues.

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A further program of filming is to be undertaken on South Georgia in the South Atlantic next month for two documentaries about Sir Ernest Shackleton's 1911-14 'Endurance' expedition. U.S. based White Mountain Films (WMF) plans to use 'Akademic Shulyekin' (Marine Expeditions of Canada), for a two-week program commencing around 8 April.

Last November-December WMF used the 'Akademic Shulyekin' and a second vessel the 'Laurel' for filming for the project at South Georgia and in the Antarctic Peninsula region (ANAN-9/03, 24 November 1999). Next month's program involves work in the Fortuna, King Haakon and Stromness Bay areas and will concentrate on Shackleton's journey across the island in May 1916.

No helicopters will be used from 'Shulyekin' although a WMF film crew of two apparently tried to conducted a program on the island at the end of February using helicopters from the British Navy ship HMS 'Endurance'. Little filming appears to have been accomplished however due to poor weather conditions.

Indications late last year were that filming in Antarctica and nearby regions had been completed, and that further shooting was to continue in North America and the Arctic in the first half of this year with release of the films expected in 2001 (ANAN-6/03, 13 October 1999).

'Shulyekin' is expected to leave Montivideo, Uruguay, on 4 April and operate at South Georgia from 8-23 April before returning to Montivideo on 27 April.

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Up to 100 people are expected to take part in Marathon and half-Marathon running races which are scheduled to be conducted simultaneously on King George Island in the South Shetlands on 5 February 2001. This will be the fourth time such events have been organised commercially in Antarctica, previous races having been held in 1995, 1997 and 1999.

The two races are being marketed by Marathon Tours, a U.S. based company which over the past twenty years has been arranging travel to, and participation in, a variety of long distance running events around the world. Logisitics support in Antarctica for the venture will come >from Marine Expeditions of Canada, whose chartered vessel 'Lyubov Orlova' will be used to transport the participants from Ushuaia, Argentina, to and from King George Island.

'Orlova', which can carry nearly 140 passengers, is expected to spend just over five days in the Peninsula area on the support voyage, the races being held half way through that period. This arrangement will enable staff to be landed on King George Island several days prior to the event to plan and set up the courses and organise general support. Route markers will be cleared immediately the last runner passes each point of both courses and staff involved will return to the ship very soon after completion of both races. Participants will take part in what will be, except for race day, a near 'standard' tourist voyage to the South Shetlands and north-western Antarctic Peninsula region. Normal tourist shore visits will be available both before and after 5 February, publicity material indicating that landings could be made as far south as Paradise Bay during the latter stages of the voyage.

The exact route for the forty-two kilometre Marathon or twenty-one kilometre half-Marathon on King George Island next February will not be known until close to race day. Around five kilometres of the course has normally involved running on the Collins Glacier and as it changes from year to year adjustments have to be made to allow for its condition on race day. According to Thom Gilligan, President of Marathon Tours, both courses loop through the national program stations of Uruguay, Chile, China and Russia. The majority of each race is run on the 'muddy' dirt roads that connect national program stations on the island, the varying terrain challenging the most experienced runners. According to Gilligan, staff from the stations operate way points on the courses, providing water, medical assistance and 'supportive cheers' to participants. In 1999 some twenty people from national program stations on King George Island took part in the two races.

In the three previous events participants have come from many countries, including Argentina, Australia, the Bahamas, Bermuda, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Russia, South Africa, Spain, the U.K.and the U.S. Marathon Tours say that 'great care' is taken to leave behind zero impact on the environment. Races to date have been run in temperatures as low as -15°C with blowing snow and as high +3°C with partly sunny skies. Thom Gilligan says that most runners enjoyed the snowstorm as they were all looking forward to 'extreme conditions'. Despite the sometimes 'challenging conditions' there have appaently been no serious injuries or hypothermia in the three events run to date.

Marathon Tours says that the goal of many marathoners is to run the race on all seven continents and that the King George Island event is the only opportunity for most people to do so "on the Seventh Continent". To date forty-two people are believed to have run Marathons on all seven continents. Forty of these are from the U.S. while the other two came from Japan and the U.K.

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A field program organised by a private, non-profit organisation, collected twenty 'stony' meteorites in the Ellsworth Land region of Antarctica during an eighteen day expedition last January in an operation which also included a brief visit to the South Geographic Pole (SGP). The meteorites are currently being examined in a U.S. laboratory and it is anticipated that they will go on public display later this year.

The group involved in last January's meteorite search were from the U.S. based Planetary Studies Foundation (PSF), an educational organisation whose aim is to involve students in the study of planetary science and astronomy. The Foundation, which was established in 1989, sponsors field programs aimed at providing students around the world with direct access to science via the internet. It is also working towards building a planetarium and research centre and has established a meteorite exhibit at a NASA facility in the U.S.

Meteorites fall all over the earth however the Antarctic ice sheet offers the best location on the planet for their preservation and recovery. Over the past forty years researchers from the national programs of France, Japan, Russia and the U.S., have collected in excess of 16,000 samples from a range of locations in Antarctica. A large number of research papers have been written about the composition and origin of these space objects, and there has been considerable scientific controversy as to whether or not one collected from the Allan Hills in Victoria Land contained evidence of primitive life on the planet Mars.

This year's PSF's expedition cost around $US400,000 to conduct, logistics support for the program being obtained from commercial air operator Adventure Network International (ANI). After arrival at the Patriot Hills by air from Punta Arenas, Chile, on 9 January, the PSF group were deployed to the Thiel Mountains on the 11th, reached the SGP four days later via ANI's Basler 67 aircraft (ANAN-1/06, 4 August 1999), and were flown back to Chile on the 27th. Snowmobiles provided by ANI were used for the meteorite searches.

Of the twenty meteorites collected by the group, one was from near the Patriot Hills and all the others were found in the vicinity of the Thiel Mountains. Ice samples were taken from both of those locations and at the SGP. To date several of the ice specimens have revealed the presence of microorganisms.

Ten people took part in this year's program. The Leader was Professor Paul Sipiera a planetary geologist at a U.S. University, Richard Hoover an astrobiologist with NASA was science team leader, and retired astronauts Owen Garriott and Jim Lovell, school teacher Sharon Hooper, and field personnel David Butts, Bill Gruber, and James Pritzker, made up the group. Personnel from a U.S. Cable TV outlet, Amanda Onion and Adam Petlin, also took part.

Most of PSF's 200 members are from the U.S., although a small number also come from Australia, Canada, France, Germany, New Zealand and the U.K. Funding for the PSF progams comes from corporate, personal and membership sources. To date the Foundation has organised six expeditions to various parts of the world, three of which have been to Antarctica.

The first PSF visit to the region occured in 1994 when some members took part in a tourist voyage to the Antarctic Peninsula. Attempts were made to communicate from the ship with classrooms in a number of countries via the internet, however PSF says that this met with limited success. The second program in January 1998 involved a small group flying to Antarctica with ANI. During eight days on the continent visits were made to the Patriot Hills, the area around Vinson Massif, and the SGP. The aim of that program was to communicate directly into classrooms in various countries, and to find meteorites. PSF says that the educational objective of the program was met, however no meteorites were found.

The Foundation currently envisages organising activities in Antarctica every two years, the next being scheduled for January 2002.

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Two women who are proposing to cross Antarctica in the 2000-01 summer season are this month undertaking training in the Canadian Arctic as part of their preparations for what they are anticipating as a 100-day, 2,950 km trek from Queen Maud Land to Ross Island in Victoria Land via the South Geographic Pole (SGP). Liz Arnesen and Ann Bancroft, who are from Norway and the U.S. respectively, have each skied to the SGP previously, and expect their crossing to be the first such journey by an all-women team in Antarctica (ANAN-9/07, 24 November 1999).

Bancroft and Arnesen have a heavy schedule of training and public appearances in the lead up to their planned departure from Cape Town, South Africa, in October. Apart from their present two-week training program on Great Slave Lake in Canada in -40°C temperatures, they have already conducted field trials in Norway in February, and have further visits planned there in mid-April and again at the end of May. A range of publicity events and public appearances ar also planned in the U.S., Norway, Japan and Taiwan between now and October.

No information is available at this time on just how the pair will travel to and from the continent prior to, and at the end of, their proposed trek. The pair's web site indicates that they will start their journey from the coast north of Adventure Network International's (ANI) 'Blue -1' blue ice runway in Queen Maud Land on 1 November, travel up and across the plateau to the SGP, then down the Axel Heiberg Glacier and across the Ross Ice Shelf to Ross Island, where they are due in mid February 2001.

During their journey they each expect to pull a sled with enough food and equipment to sustain them during their trek. When winds are favourable para sails will be used to assist the skiers on their journey. This technique has enabled some groups in the past to travel up to 150 km across the polar plateau in a single day when wind conditions are suitable.

Both participants are former teachers and like similar expeditions in recent years they plan to correspond with students in many countries during their journey using satellite phones, a Web site, and e-mail. Base Camp Promotions, the U.S. company planning and promoting the expedition, is working full time to raise corporate sponsorship. A report in the US Newspaper 'USA Today' last year put the budget of the proposed venture at around $US1.5M.

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A new group from Australia is planning to climb the 2745 m summit of sub-Antarctic Heard Island in the South Indian Ocean next December. If successful this would be the second time the peak has been climbed in two seasons, a four person party from Australia having successfully completed what was the third ascent last January (ANAN-14/01, 2 February 2000).

The route planned for next austral summer's attempt is similar to the one used in January this year. According to Norman Bradshaw, one of the organisers of the new expedition, the climbers involved in that venture are assisting his group with planning. Last January's ascent involved establishment of a base camp at Atlas Cove in the north-western part of the island, and a route to the summit in the general region of the Abbotsmith Glacier at the western end of the main island. The first two climbs to reach the top in 1965 and 1983 used ridges in the south-eastern and north-eastern parts of the island respectively to make their ascents (ANAN-4/03, 15 September 1999).

Bradshaw says that the expedition has yet to finalise arrangements for transport to and from the island. He appears confident however that matters are well in hand and has indicated that details will be announced in due course. Current plans call for up to twelve people to be on the island for the climb attempt, four of whom would operate a base camp near sea level, probably in the area of Atlas Cove.
The expedition anticipates leaving Australia at the end of December this year and being away for around six weeks. One of the group's main aims will be to attempt to put the first all female team on the summit, something that is said to be very important for the 'female focussed' charity with whom the group hopes to have links. One of the group's aims is to raise money for the as yet unnamed charity through sponsorships from the corporate sector and other sources.

The Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) is currently well advanced in preparations to conduct a major scientific program on Heard Island next austral summer, and is carefully monitoring developments with the climbing expedition to ensure it does not affect its operations. Management plans for Heard Island require that all activity proposed there, whether governmental or non-governmental, prepare environmental impact assessments and receive approvals before programs are permitted to commence. The non-government group will also need to clearly show that it is a self-sufficient operation which does not rely in any way on the presence of the AAD group. Heard Island and the nearby McDonald Islands were given World Heritage status by UNESCO in December 1997.

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Following its campaign against whaling in the Indian Ocean sector of the Southern Ocean north of Antarctica late last year (ANAN-14/08, 2 February 2000), the Greenpeace vessel 'Arctic Sunrise' is now undertaking its second voyage of the 2000-01 season, this time focussing on illegal fishing activities in the same general region.

Reports from Greenpeace in recent weeks say that 'Sunrise' has shadowed a fishing vessel inside the CCAMLR management area near Kerguelen, and found at least three abandoned pieces of 'long line' fishing gear, one of which was said to be five kilometres long. According to the environmental group some sixty fish up to one metre in length and averaging twelve kilograms in weight were released from 'the many thousands of hooks' attached to the abandoned lines. The latest images available on the Greenpeace web site show some of the equipment found.

Management of fish stocks in sub-Antarctic and Antarctic waters, which is carried out by States who are Parties to CCAMLR (the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources), is being significantly compromised by large numbers of boats who conduct illegal fishing operations in the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) of CCAMLR Parties in the sub-Antarctic and, or, in contravention of the conservation measures agreed to under the CCAMLR management regime.

Prime focus for these illegal and unregulated operations at the current time is the Patagonian toothfish, a species that is sometimes marketed as 'Deep Sea', or 'Chilean', bass. CCAMLR's main concern in recent years has been in illegal and unregulated activities targetting this species in the south-west Indian Ocean around the sub-Antarctic islands of Kerguelen and Crozet (France), Heard (Australia), Prince Edward and Marion (South Africa), and nearby areas. That region is highly vunerable to such operations due to the difficulties of mounting and maintaining regular fishing patrols so far from ports in the Africa and Australia.

'Arctic Sunrise' arrived in the Western Australian port of Fremantle to end its whaling-related voyage on 25 January, leaving there to conduct its current program on 12 February. In addition to the normal replenishment of fuel and supplies, repairs were made to the damage Greenpeace says was sustained to the vessel when the whaling factory ship 'Nishin Maru' "deliberately rammed" 'Arctic Sunrise' last December (ANAN-11/06, 22 December 1999).

Apart from a brief landing made at Atlas Cove, Heard Island, on 28 February, 'Sunrise' has spent all of her time since leaving Fremantly at sea. Most of its time appears to have been in the vicinity of Kerguelen and Heard Islands. Given her capabilities it is estimated that the vessel should have enough fuel on board to continue its current voyage until around mid-April. It is not known what port she will return to at the end of the voyage and no details of plans for the vessel beyond that are available.

This is the second consecutive season that 'Arctic Sunrise' has operated in the Southern Ocean in support of Greenpeace's campaign on illegal fishing. She made two voyages in 1998-99, one to the Ross Sea, and a second to the south Indian Ocean area (ANAN-11/06, 22 December 1999). She first operated in the Antarctic in 1996-97.

Greenpeace originally planned to operate two of its vessels in the Southern Ocean this season, their second vessel "Greenpeace' having left Cape Town, South Africa, on the same day 'Arctic Sunrise' left Hobart, Australia, last November to undertake its whaling voyage. Some analysts have suggested that the plan was for the two vessels to work in conjunction in locating and tracking the whaling fleet, however 'Greenpeace' suffered damage in a storm in the early weeks of its voyage and had to head for Fremantle for repairs.

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Members of the 'Pole to Pole 2000' expedition, which is planning to undertake a nine-month expedition involving travel from the North to the South Geographic Pole (SGP) via the Americas, are currently training for their journey in the Canadian Arctic. The last leg of their journey from the top to the bottom of the world is expected to involve a traverse to the SGP from the Ellsworth Land area next November-December.

The expedition's schedule calls for them to start from the North Geographic Pole around 1 April. After travel across the Arctic Ocean to northern Canada, over the following six months the group plans to work its way southwards through North, Central and South America undertaking a variety of what are described as 'environmental and humanitarian projects' along the way. According to the expedition web site arrival at Punta Arenas, Chile, is planned for 10 November, and from there indications are that the group will be flown to the Patriot Hills, Ellsworth Land, by Adventure Network International (ANI). From there they plan to ski overland to the SGP with arrival listed for 29 December.

The group consists of ten 'young adults' from Argentina, Brazil, Canada, France, Japan, South Africa, South Korea, the U.K. and the U.S. Leader of the expedition is Canadian Martyn Williams who has considerable expedition experience in remote areas, including participation in an overland traverse to the SGP last December. 'Mentors and expedition advisors' listed in expedition documentation include a number people with significant non-government Antarctic experience.

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17-19 April 2000 (London, U.K.)
Antarctic Treaty Meeting of Experts - Guidelines for Antarctic shipping and related activities.

4 May 2000 (Hobart, Australia)
The 1999-2000 mountaineering expedition to Heard Island (presentation).
Contact: tourism@aad.gov.au

25-28 June 2000 (Hobart, Australia)
IAATO year 2000 annual meeting.
Contact: iaato@iaato.org

9-15 July 2000 (Tokyo, Japan)
COMNAP (including the sub-committee on Tourism and Non-Government Operations).
Contact: jsayers@comnap.aq

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