Point AGO5

The EAIIST team makes a first long stop; well, everything is relative, it's for three days! AGO5 is an old American geophysical station where only a few disparate elements remain: storage, a wind turbine, a refuge.

 The camp is 2 km from AGO5 to avoid sampling in an already trampled area. To be the first to tread virgin areas, it will still be necessary to wait and exceed this point. The dense scientific program in perspective for these three days: ice coring, measurements of the optical properties of snow, seismic station, chemical analyses, radar sounding, GPS positioning. The core zone is surrounded by screens (wind, the deadly enemy of polar environments...), and isothermal crates for storing cores.

A visit to the AGO5 observation station is a must. A simple austere refuge with 2 beds and a small kitchen. Which doesn't really make you want to stay there. Besides, the walls bear the traces of a countdown of the days, like in prison, that is to say!      

The scientific team has completed their duty on time although some issues occurred during the drilling operation, due to an unexpected wind direction change that brought exhaust fumes from the caravan to the drilling site. The ones using the radar did a great job today mapping 80 km along line. The main challenge is to approach the sastrugi with the challenger…..mal de mer !