
Living Module Tour: With Your Host, Dr. Robin
Unfortunately, 5-star, luxury hotels are hard to come by in Antarctica. Instead, our team uses Arcs (or living modules) for all their comfort and home-space needs The team packs four living modules before setting off across the ice. The living modules are where team members can cook, eat, sleep, store gear, and more! They may look small, but you may be surprised how much can fit inside of one of these modules! Join your tour guide, Dr. Robin Blomdin, as he shows you around

Last Stop: Novo
February 8th, Sanae-Troll-Novo: With a heavy hart I see five of my expedition friends shrink to pixels and vanish trough the Twin-Otter window. The team has split and I am on my way to Novo with Håkan and Fredrik. For reasons no one bothered to reveal to us. We were no longer flying out from Novo all together on the 8th as booked originally. Instead the science team flew out from Troll. Andreas is left at Troll to fly out the 14th. Fredrik is scheduled for a flight from Novo

7 Everyday Things that are Weird when Returning from Antarctica
Seven everyday things that are strange when returning from Antarctica: Nighttime: I forgot there are times when there is no sun. Whenever I leave the house, regardless of the time, I look around for my sunglasses. Then, I remember that you do not need sunglasses during the night, unless you are Corey Hart. The closest to darkness we had while in the field. (Sarah Sams) 2. Not wearing gloves outside: So far, Indiana temperatures have not required gloves, but I wear them anyway

Leaving Antarctica
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to try to leave Antarctica? Its not as easy as it seems! Check out the interactive map below and follow our team along as they journey home from the land of ice! Brackets in the top right to open the map in another page. Click the legend icon in the top left to open up the legend. Click on the points, lines, or items on the legend to learn more about how our team traveled home. Use the + and - in the bottom left to zoom, or use you

Still onboard the SA Agulhas II
*This article was originally posted by our partners at Polar Research Secretariat. See the original post here. During the helicopter trip between Troll and SANAE research stations, we had a view of our field area. Photo: Jon Harbor On the ship we got a lot of work done, like planning a reconnaissance flight. Photo: Jon Harbor Shelf requirements are visible from the cabin window. Photo: Jon Harbor We are still on the SA Agulhas II and wrapping up planning for sampling sites.

Unexpected Turn, We are at Sea!
*This article was originally post by our partners at Polar Research Secretariat. See the original post here. As often before long journeys, there was little or no sleep. Andreas and Fredrik traveled from Gothenburg, Håkan and Calle from Stockholm. Jon and Sarah traveled from Chicago in the United States. Jenny traveled from Scotland and Robin from Stockholm, one day earlier than all of us. The first worry, getting rid of luggage, turned out to be unjustified to all persons, a

The team is on the S.A. Agulhas II
*This article was originally posted on our partner, Swedish Polar's, blog site. See the original article here. The team is now on a ship! The S.A. Agulhas II is the ship bringing the team’s heavy equipment to Antarctica, including snowmobiles, sleds, and living modules. The ship was delayed leaving Cape Town, and is now at the edge of the ice shelf unloading its cargo for transport to SANAE IV, the South African research station. It will likely take a few days for our equipme

Troll Research Station, Antarctica
Andreas and Jenny disembarking at Troll Station. Photo provided by Jon Harbor. Our short time in Cape Town was spent discussing the upcoming work and rounding up last minute items. On Sunday night, we were told we had the green light to fly to Troll Station on Monday morning. Eager to get on the ice, we finished up packing and were ready to leave the hotel at 5:30 am. The Magic-DML team and other researchers and station staff had a smooth 5.5-hour flight to Troll Station air

Eating in the Extreme
Part 1: “An army marches on it’s stomach” the famous quote attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte resonates well beyond the military. Nobody functions well when they are hungry, but this is particularly so when exposed to the unforgiving conditions of Antarctica which our field team work in. The food can truly make or break an expedition. And feeding our small ‘army’ of a field team is far from an easy challenge! The 2016-17 field team enjoying one of Karin’s delicious meals at Was

Meeting in Stockholm, Sweden
The week of October 2-8 was a busy one for the members of MAGIC-DML. It was spent preparing for the upcoming field season and reviewing progress from the previous one. The week began with a three-day meeting of the science and logistic team members who are going to Antarctica this field season. In this team, there are five researchers, a mountain guide (responsible for field safety), a technician, a medical doctor, and the expedition leader. The first things on the schedule w