Here’s the link! forms.gle/2RCEci8FfLwb...

We now have a well cavity, and well pump installed. The well pump is vital – circulating water through the system, pumping an endless supply to drill our main borehole right through the 580m ice shelf. It was all hands on deck to ensure a safe and successful install! 📷Ana Tovey

❄️Our mascots still need names! ❄️
 
🐧They’ll be doing seriously cool 😎science 🧪& we’re inviting students to help name them!
📝 Deadline extended to Dec 31
💡Get involved in real science & learn about what’s happening at the end of the Earth.
#antarctica #STEAM #scienceeducation #scienceed

Our Antarctic Intermediate Depth Drill team have been hard at work with our ‘big rig’. They’ve assembled the geological drill that has weathered a long Antarctic winter here at KIS3. To prepare for drilling they’re using the rig to put together the drill pipe. 📷Ana Tovey

Running out of clean socks on the Ross Ice Shelf? Camp mini-washing machine to the rescue! We’re making hot water from snow to drill through the ice shelf, so we can use this ready supply for our camp washing machine. Hot water driller Hedley Berge took the machine for its first spin.

Oh yes we Kamb! The first of our science team have made to to KIS3, our deep-field drilling camp on the Kamb Ice Stream, nearly 900 km from Scott Base. They spent their first few hours at camp meeting the rest of the team & getting their homes-away-from-home set up in “Tent City”. 📷Ana Tovey/SWAIS2C

We’re on an ambitious mission for sediment core, but even getting to our site is a mission! Our scientific drilling camp is incredibly remote – KIS3 is 860km from the nearest base. Getting there requires some serious logistics, specialised polar transport, and of course – a weather window.

It’s flubber feeding time! Over the past few days at KIS3 something big, yellow and hungry for snow, has been growing in size – our flubbers. They’re a crucial step in our efforts to access sediment below the ice shelf – providing the water we need to start hot water drilling.
🧪

When you gotta get your steps in, but you like napping…We’re celebrating Antarctica Day by sharing this Weddell seal that our science team met today (keeping at least 10m distance!). It’s the anniversary of the 1959 Antarctic Treaty, which designated the continent to peace and science.

Ever wondered what it’s like to fly to Antarctica? Come aboard the SWAIS2C science team’s ice flight on a US C-17 from Christchurch! It might not come with reclining seats, but the views are spectacular! 🎥Ana Tovey/SWAIS2C

It's been an exciting few days for SWAIS2C! The first of our science team have arrived at Scott Base, and our drillers have flown to our deep-field camp. Here are a few pics from their journey from Aotearoa to Antarctica. 📷 Ana Tovey

Have you subscribed to the SWAIS2C newsletter? If not, don’t despair, you can read our latest edition and catch up on all the updates from the project 👉 bit.ly/4fM1AAs 📷 Joe Mcdougal / Antarctica New Zealand

🚨 Our mascots need names! We have an Adélie and a skua joining our on-ice team, heading to Antarctica very soon. We’re inviting students around the world to come up with the perfect names for these two feathery friends. Entries close Dec 22 | Winners announced Dec 31. Enter here 👉 bit.ly/3CR0CUA

Huge congrats to the Antarctica New Zealand traverse crew, for making it to our drilling site at KIS3! Since completing the 15-day trip over ice, they’ve been hard at work – getting the generators cranking, assembling tents, sorting supplies, and preparing a 1.6km runway in the ice. 📷 Antarctica NZ