Mese: Settembre 2024

October 5th  –  Antarctica at the  Sanremo’s  “DX Meeting Liguria”

On: By: Gianni Varetto

Next Saturday, October 5th, in the wonderful and famous setting of the city of Sanremo, Liguria Region on the Italian Riviera, the local Amateur Radio Club has organized a DX Meeting where,  in addition to various technical topics relating to the world of radio, a special section is dedicated to Antarctica.

The guest of the Meeting will be Lt. Danilo Collino IZ1KHY,  expert alpine Scout and mountain guide of the Italian Army. (see pics above and below)
At 15:00 local, Danilo will talk about his 3 Antarctic campaigns in support of the Italian-French Antarctic scientific missions.

WAP has reported about the previous Danilo’s  work in Antarctica, the last of which was in the year 2022.

See: http://www.waponline.it/iao-iz1khy-at-mario-zucchelli-station-wap-ita-o1/

Another guy will  also joining there, but it will be a surprise … in any case, another additional chance to love Antarctica  a bit more!

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This year,  is quite possible that Danilo IAØ/IZ1KHY will work again in tandem with his friend David  Brunet FT4YM who will be in Antarctica as well in the same period.
(Picture aside shows Danilo IAØ/IZ1KHY to the left and David FT4YM to the right)

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TNX Gabry IK1NEG, one of the promoter of the Sanremo’s DX Meeting 2024.

“Ona Refuge Hut” (WAP ARG-NEW) The first Antarctic Fuegin Refuge

On: By: Gianni Varetto

 Within the framework of the Argentine-German satellite photo-interpretation and climatology project “Perito Moreno”, the province of Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and the South Atlantic Islands participated for the first time in 1995. In this scientific activity in Antarctica, local scientists such as Dr. Jorge Strelin, from CADIC, were incorporated into the program and a chain of Refuges was established in the area of ​​the glaciers of the San Martín Base (WAP ARG-Ø8).

The objective was to support the actions aimed at crossing the Antarctic below the Antarctic Circle, at the height of the Argentine Base San Martin, and also to annually install a scientific shelter so that it could be used by the members of that Polar exploration. A snowmobile provided by Tierra del Fuego (WAP ARG-23) would also be added to the project to facilitate the mobility of the Research Team. Thus, from the incipient provincial Antarctic organization, the construction of a shelter specially conceived for the area was designed, tendered and supervised.

Its main characteristic was its ability to be transported by helicopter, in two modules and with great ease of installation. It consisted of two cubes of fiberglass and resin, prepared to be hooked from the air and then placed on sleds and secured in the ground. The first of these shelters was named “Ona” in homage to one of the best-known communities of the native peoples who inhabited the South of Tierra del Fuego. In the following years, the construction of new shelters in homage to other native peoples of Tierra del Fuego would continue. (Picture aside, shows three Ona Indians in furs, one with a child, encountered in Patagonia at the end of the Belgian Antarctic Expedition)

The “Ona Refuge Hut” (68° 06’ South,   67° 01′ 32” West) was finally placed in 1995 on the  glacier near the Argentine Base San Martin, was transported to Margarita Bay by the Icebreaker Almirante Irizar and landed and placed by Sea King helicopters equipped with the Q-5. In its design, the need to accommodate at least a group of four scientists was particularly important, allowing for work facilities with a field laboratory, rationing and rest with four bunk beds. It also had a bathroom.

Ona Refuge was opened in 1995 and it is located 4.5 kilometres (2.8 mi) from  San Martín Base on the glaciers of the Fallières Coast. The shelter has a capacity for four people, food for 30 days, fuel, gas and first aid kit and it’s still active.

TNX to Alejandro Bertotto, Antarctic specialist

As far as WAP knows, no one has never operate Ham Radio from Ona Refuge (pic above) so it remains unnumbered on WAP-WADA Directory as WAP ARG-NEW

International Polar Conference in Rauris, Austria

On: By: Gianni Varetto

This week,  our friend and WAP Ambassador Dr. Volker Strecke DL8JDX , did participate at the International Polar Conference in Rauris, Austria.
(See:  https://polarforschung.de/events/29-intl-polartagung-rauris-2024/?lang=en)

Many interesting science topics are presented here -said Volker- which informed us that at the conference, the announcement of the date of  next 5th International Polar Year that after the edition of 1882, 1932, 1958, 2008 will take place on 2032-2033. Currently, respective preparations are going on.  (See:  https://iasc.info/cooperations/international-polar-year-2032-33)

Why an International Polar Year in 2032–33?
This is a critical decade for people and the planet. Extreme weather, rising temperatures, rising sea levels, and devastating events such as droughts, floods, wildfires, marine warming, ocean acidification, and record lows in sea ice extent are becoming ever more prevalent, affecting ecosystems, economies, and human wellbeing around the world. Many changes are taking shape faster than previously predicted, and as the IPCC 6th Assessment Report made clear, many of the most serious consequences are linked to unprecedented changes in the Arctic and Antarctic. The urgency of understanding the consequences of such rapid change in the polar regions for global climate, biodiversity and human societies is now clear and has never been greater. A 5th International Polar Year (IPY) will provide a vital opportunity to close outstanding major knowledge gaps through targeted attention and globally-coordinated action enabling polar researchers, knowledge holders, rights holders and stakeholders to achieve major breakthroughs in the knowledge required to protect the global environment, develop effective national and local strategies to mitigate and adapt to environmental changes, and accelerate progress towards achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals.  

The International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) and Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) are pleased to confirm that preparatory work has started for a 5th International Polar Year (IPY) in 2032-33.  Organizing the 5th IPY 25 years after the last IPY in 2007-08 reflects the urgent need for coordinated international research to tackle the biggest challenges of polar research, for both the Polar Regions themselves and for the world as a whole.

TNX  Volker, DL8JDX 

Prof. Julius Fabbri (IV3CCT) is struggling tenaciously to  gain international recognition of the site where the first Italian base in Antarctica was built

On: By: Gianni Varetto

For more than 20 years, Prof. Julius Fabbri has tried to gain international recognition of a time 49 years ago when an Italian private expedition built a Scientific Base in Antarctica.

In late 1975, the Italian explorer Renato Cepparo and his 14 crew members were about to embark on a private expedition to Antarctica. The expedition had been given a clearance by the Antarctic Treaty System, and the crew members were prepared to establish Italy’s very first Base in Antarctica.

Unfortunately, a few days before they were set to sail out from Montevideo, Uruguay, Cepparo received a letter from the Argentinean government. The letter informed him that Argentina had exercised a veto, and that Italy was no longer allowed to construct their base on the southern continent. Cepparo and his crew, though, were sure that they had their authorization in order, so they decided to start their expedition as planned.

The story is  very long and WAP will not enter now into details, but the facts  remain and make the whole story paradoxical. For sure everything is well known by the Argentine authorities who, with a gesture of sincere friendship and transparency could make it public!

 

After many vicissitudes, Cepparo’s  expedition landed in Antarctica and the Base, was built, this is a fact.  The Giacomo Bove Station, named after a 19th century Italian explorer, was inaugurated on January 20th, 1976.

Ham radio was performed at Giacomo Bove Camp  as well, with the callsign I1SR/p (WAP ITA-Ø2) and QSL card to confirm the contacts, have been printed and sent.
The evidence says that Argentina did destroy Giacomo Bove Station when  in September of 1976, they sent an icebreaker to the South Shetland Islands to tear down the newly inaugurated Base. In the middle of the Antarctic winter, the Argentians did take the Base off in the same time it had taken to construct: three to four days. The materials, which had just arrived in Antarctica, were transported back to Buenos Aires. Prof. Fabbri strongly believe that,  some if it, either hidden or forgotten,   is still stored in a military facility in the Argentinian capital.

 

«I hope someone will tell the world where they are. It’s a mystery, no one wants to remember this cold case which I have been trying to open since 2003», Prof. Julius Fabbri said.

 

As a day job, Julius Fabbri (IV3CCT-II3BOVE) teaches science at a high school in Trieste, a city in northeastern Italy, but since he was young his hobby has been to be a radio operator. And in the Italian hobbyist radio operator community the story of Renato Cepparo’s Antarctic mission, a story that is otherwise not well-known, has become legendary.

Prof. Julius Fabbri himself first heard about it in 2003 when he made his first and only trip to Antarctica. While there, a colleague told him about it, and since then he has been researching the incident passionately and, some would say, obsessively.

Back in 2008, for instance, as a project in his science class, Prof. Fabbri and his students built a full-scale model of the ruins of Giacomo Bove Base, and a few years later, he helped design a virtual 3D model of it.

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«Most people just laugh when I tell them what I know; they don’t believe its a true story, but there are official documents, publications and articles that confirm it,  and I even met one of the mariners from the Argentinean navy who wrote a detailed account of this diplomatic incident,” Julius Fabbri says.

From the Ukrainian “Vernadsky Base” WAP UKR-Ø1, Antarctica

On: By: Gianni Varetto

The first days of spring in the Antarctic: for over a month, the island of Galindez has been almost completely packed with ice

We already have good news about the past winter, say the researchers : sea ice has formed near “Vernadsky Station (WAP UKR-Ø1)” ; our polar explorers reported that since August 5, they cannot go out into the ocean by boat, because the water area around Galindez Island, where the Station is located, is packed with ice.
“Yesterday, we looked at satellite images, and there was 100 km of ice around,” says Vitaly Kaminsky, a participant of the 29th UAE. What the station looks like in ice captivity, see in incredible pictures from a drone. For comparison, last year 2023 there was almost no sea ice in our region, and the year itself became a record for the minimum amount of such ice in the Antarctic for the entire time of observations.

Sea ice plays an important role in the Antarctic ecosystem. It acts as a “blanket” that separates the ocean from the atmosphere. In addition to blocking sunlight from entering the water and reflecting it, the ice also traps the heat in the ocean, preventing it from heating the air.

The ice floes are the birthplace of seal cubs, rest and travels of various types of adult seals and emperor penguins.

By the way, very soon we expect the appearance of Weddell seal pups near “Vernadsky“.

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TNX Dr. Vitaly Kaminsky for the pic and information

High pressure cell and heatwave over Antarctica

On: By: Gianni Varetto

The Southern Hemisphere polar vortex took a unique journey this winter. A mid-July, minor Sudden Stratospheric Warming event saw the vortex become elongated, weaker, wobbly. This stratospheric anomaly affected tropospheric weather patterns, but now appears to be easing. In late July and early August, a rapid stratosphere-troposphere coupling contributed to the development of a major high pressure cell and heatwave over Antarctica, while a very deep low formed over the Southern Ocean, and a heat dome affected Australia. It was associated with relatively cool conditons in Chile and Argentina.
New Zealand experienced, and continues to experience, rounds of strong, westerly winds and active weather because of this. However, mid-to-late September may take on a different flavour, as a La Niña-like weather pattern takes shape and grabs hold of Mother Nature’s “steering wheel”. This may result in the formation of a blocking high pressure system to the south-east of the country and a slowing of the general weather patterns.

Read also:  The rare event driving the Southern Hemisphere’s weather | NIWA

An unusual disturbance high above Antarctica is causing polar air to encroach on different parts of the Southern Hemisphere, including New Zealand.  Every winter, a ring of stormy, freezing weather – known as the polar vortex – encircles Antarctica. Typically, it keeps harsh, wintry conditions locked up near the south pole. NIWA meteorologists discussed the polar vortex in their just-issued Seasonal Climate Outlook for August-October.
NIWA, the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, is a crown Research Institute established in 1992. It operates a stand-alone company with its own Board of Directors and Executive.

Thanks and credit to NIWA: Home | NIWA

US East Base, WAP USA-4Ø, the oldest American research Station in Antarctica

On: By: Gianni Varetto

East Base,  WAP USA-4Ø,  at 68° 11’  02” South, 66° 59’ 53” West on Stonington Island is the oldest American research Station in Antarctica, having been commissioned by Franklin D. Rosevelt in 1939.

Once the wintering site of two US expeditions from 1939 to 1948, the abandoned US East Base became an Antarctic Historic Site or Monument No. 55 in 2004. East Base is located near the British Station “E” (WAP GBR-Ø5)  

East Base was established in 1939 by the U.S. Antarctic Service Expedition, constructed in 1940 and occupied by them from 1940 to 1941. Later it was reoccupied in 1947-48 by the private Finn Ronne Antarctic Expedition.  This marked a period of cooperation between the American and British stations, according to the history told by the British. 

 

The base covers 1,000 metres (3,300 feet) from North to South and 500 metres (1,600 feet) from East to West. The buildings and artifacts here are now protected as a monument as the base was accorded the status of one of the Historic Sites and Monuments in Antarctica on 7 May 2004.

The Antarctic Service Expedition was the first government-funded expedition of Admiral Richard E. Byrd (his first two expeditions in 1928–1930 and 1933–1935 were privately funded).  East Base was built using Army knockdown buildings and a crew of 23 led by Richard Black, after Admiral Byrd had to return to Washington on the USS Bear.

The war time pressures and pack-ice in the bay which prevented ship movement led to the evacuation of the base in 1941 by air. Admiral Richard Byrd’s USAS Expedition built America’s earliest remaining Antarctic camp in March 1940; 4 prefabricated structures  were built on: Main Building, Science Building, Machine Shop, and Outpost Hut ,  from which they explored and mapped Alexander Island, George VI Sound, and hundreds of miles of coastline.

A private expedition led by Finn Ronne (second in command in the 1941 expedition) in 1947 ended with the participants’ evacuation in 1948; the expedition crew included Jackie Ronne and Jennie Darlington, who became the first women to spend a winter in Antarctica.  

The base and all its equipment have since not been utilized, even though the British Antarctic Survey developed Base “E” in the vicinity of US East Base.  The British also occupied and modified the East Base during the construction of their Base “E”.  As of 2017, the base is frequented by tourists arriving on the continent.”

US East Base  did operate on Stonington island before the U.S. entry into World War II, from 1940 to 1941. 

The British Research Station, so called, “Base E”,  was established by the UK in 1946 100 mts from the US East Base. Closed in 1950 as sea ice conditions prevented access, it reopened in 1960 as the centre for field work in the south Antarctic Peninsula, and a new steel-framed, two story plywood hut was erected in 1961. British Base “E” was intermittently occupied until the early 1970s. The original UK Base ‘E’ was burnt down by accident in 1972 and only fragmentary remains mark the site. The station closed down in February 1975.

Stonington is a small island in Neny Fjord at the southern end of Marguerite Bay. It is approximately 750 metres long and 250 metres wide.

The island has areas of relatively flat boulder or gravel between rocky outcrops. It was until recently connected to the Antarctic mainland by North East Glacier.

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The only callsign on WAP-WACA database for USA-4Ø is KC4/FT5YK operating by Mehdi (F5PFP-FT5YK-FT5YJ) for a brief activity on March 5, 2011.