Mese: Novembre 2021

The Australian government has cancelled the proposed aerodrome near Davis Sation  (WAP AUS-Ø3) in the Australian Antarctic Territory (AAT), emphasising environmental concerns but probably more because of cost and engineering difficulties. The government is likely to instead announce more remote monitoring, mapping and collation of digital information on Antarctica to bolster Australian science and our territorial claim, as recommended in a recent review of Antarctic science.

The decision to abandon the aerodrome plan means Australia is giving up an opportunity to increase its influence in Antarctic forums, boost science and expand access to the continent. That loss would be greater if China, with or without Russia, were to build on the site Australia has given up, which is one of the largest ice-free areas on the continent. Under the Antarctic Treaty, which effectively “freezes” territorial claims, Australia can’t stop other states building in the AAT.

Read more at:  https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/opportunity-lost-australia-s-antarctic-aerodrome-cancelled

An Adélie penguin that washed up on a rocky New Zealand beach — nearly 2,000 miles (3,218 kilometers) from its home in Antarctica — last week, has been released back into the wild, experts say.

Nicknamed “Pingu” by locals, after the claymation children’s cartoon, the disoriented bird was found waddling around the beach at Birdling Flat on Nov. 10 and was swiftly taken to the Christchurch Penguin Rehabilitation for treatment, according to NBC News.

New Zealand’s Kaikoura Wildlife Hospital indicated in a Facebook post that Pingu was “underweight and dehydrated,” but that the young penguin, which rehabbers determined to be between 1 and 2 years old, was recovering strength on a diet of “fluids and fish smoothies.”

Read more at:  https://www.livescience.com/lost-adelie-penguin-new-zealand

The British-born Indian Sikh Army, Captain Preet Chandi, is ready to embark on her 700-mile trek to the South Pole where she will endure temperatures as low as -50C and wind speeds of up to 60mph, while pulling a 90kg sled.

Captain Preet Chandi did embark  November 7 on the long voyage to Antarctica. Once there, she hopes to become the first woman of color to ski solo and unsupported to the South Pole. According to the latest UK government report  on diversity in the Armed Forces, Black, Asian and minority ethnic personnel made up 2.7% of officers in the UK Regular Armed Forces as of April 1, 2021. Only 0.1% of personnel who declared their religion were Sikh, the report said.

After graduating and juggling work as a physiotherapist with her Army Reserve commitments, Chandi decided to join the regular Army in 2012. Her military duties have taken her to Nepal and Kenya and, most recently, South Sudan, where she was deployed on a six-month United Nations peacekeeping tour.

Nothing about the expedition sounds easy.

After flying to Chile, she will be dropped at Antarctica’s Hercules Inlet. From there, Chandi will trek solo 700 miles across the ice to the pole, hauling a sled weighing 90 kilograms (nearly 200 pounds) with all her kit, fuel and food for around 45 days.

The sun will never set but temperatures could dip as low as minus 50 Celsius (minus 58 Fahrenheit) with wind chill. Her only contact with the outside world will be a daily check-in with her support team.

Chandi, who has adopted the nickname “Polar Preet” for her blog and fundraising efforts, has spent two and a half years preparing for the grueling expedition.

She’s undergone crevasse training in the French Alps, trekked across Iceland’s Langjökull Glacier and endured 27 days on the ice cap in Greenland — not to mention months spent dragging a heavy tire behind her back home in England, to simulate pulling a sled.

She said: “For this mission, I’m so grateful to have the Army’s support and allowing me to take time away from my day job.

Read more at: https://www.army.mod.uk/news-and-events/news/2021/10/army-officer-to-make-history-on-polar-expedition/

and ‘Polar Preet’: British Sikh Army officer Preet Chandi embarks on solo South Pole expedition | CNN Travel

Westarctica, formally known as the Grand Duchy of Westarctica and previously known as the Protectorate of Westarctica and the Achaean Territory of Antarctica, is a micronation situated primarily in the western portion of the continent of Antarctica and including all territory south of 60°S latitude and between 90° and 150°W longitude, without exception. It also includes the previously claimed territories of Peter 1^st Island (claimed by Norway) and the Balleny Islands (claimed by New Zealand) as well as the colony of Calsahara (See Colony of Calsahara – MicroWiki (micronations.wiki).

In 2001 Travis McHenry laid claim to the largest contiguous portion of the nation by filing a claimant letter with the nine world governments that have also expressed legal claims of ownership to portions of the continent (though none to the sector claimed by McHenry). The territory consists mostly of Marie Byrd Land and a large proportion of Ellsworth Land. It has no year round residents, although seasonal Research Stations are located in the region. The nation of Westarctica was founded through a loophole in the Antarctic Treaty. (Source: Westarctica – Encyclopedia Westarctica )

On November 2, the Westarctica micronation celebrates the twenty years that have passed since the day when the then 21-year-old Travis McHenry decided to found it by claiming an uninhabited territory of over one and a half million square kilometers in West Antarctica. That is five times the surface of Italy, and therefore not so much micronation, even if it is defined and defined in this way as a sovereign project of a few people not recognized by other Countries.

Westarctica micro-Nation is a place where McHenry has never been, however, and does not even intend to visit: the twentieth anniversary will in fact be celebrated by his home in the United States, from which he plans to wave the flag of his micronation, on which he has a cross. white on a blue background, with a white crown in the upper left quadrant.

In some of its features, Westarctica still continues to be a slightly goliardic micronation, as it was largely in its early years.

Read more at: Westarctica’s huge micronation – Il Post (italy24news.com)

A UC research project evaluating the feasibility of hydrogen production in Antarctica could help to reduce carbon emissions in the future by replacing fossil fuels with a zero-carbon alternative.

The research, in collaboration with Antarctica New Zealand and Callaghan Innovation, is looking at how hydrogen could be generated, used and stored at Scott Base (WAP NZL-Ø1) and various remote field camps to reduce the reliance on carbon-based fuels currently used for transport, cooking and heating.

Currently Antarctica New Zealand uses fossil fuels for transport to and operation of remote field camps but wants to investigate the feasibility of generating and using hydrogen as an alternative fuel. Turning excess energy from the turbines into hydrogen would help reduce emissions from burning fossil fuels and also transporting those fuels to Antarctica.

“Hydrogen is a step in the right direction,  if not the eventual answer to providing a zero-carbon alternative to fossil fuels in Antarctica.”

Read more at: https://www.miragenews.com/research-into-decarbonising-antarctic-science-664229/