860-292910 - Concordia technicians and scientists, Christmas tree, Concordia in letters made of ice/snow, Igloo. Group photo of the team at Concordia during the summer. The Italians are in red and the French in blue. The ratio is about half Italians and half French; half technicians and half scientists. Concordia Antarctic Research Station, Dome C plateau, East Antarctica.
860-292909 - Concordia Station, Italian, European, French, Swiss and German flags. Tent, fire escape, containers, kerosene tanks, smoke from the power station, iridescent clouds. The station under a sky lightly covered with low, iridescent clouds. Concordia Antarctic Research Station, Dome C plateau, East Antarctica.
860-292908 - The aircraft;DC-3 Basler) takes off from Concordia's snow-covered runway. Take-off of a Basler at Concordia. The runway is groomed very evenly to minimise the micro-relief on its surface and make it easier for the aircraft to take off. The aircraft are equipped with landing gear allowing them to land alternatively on a ?hard? runway or on snow: retractable skis controlled from the cockpit are fitted to the two front landing gears. Concordia Antarctic Research Station, Dome C plateau, East Antarctica.
860-292907 - Village/town signs fixed on poles in front of the station/ Making and putting up a sign indicating the direction of one's home is a deeply rooted tradition in the stations. Concordia Antarctic Research Station, Dome C plateau, East Antarctica.
860-292906 - Concordia staff on their knees helping a person lying on a stretcher. Helped by a snowmobile. Rescue exercise in the event of an accident involving several victims. These frequent exercises are supervised by the doctor. All the resort's winter residents are assigned a very specific role in the event of an accident, illness or fire. A redundancy system allows this system to function in the event of one or more winterers failing to respond. Concordia Antarctic Research Station, Dome C plateau, East Antarctica.
860-292905 - Tractor parked in front of the Raid caravan. Two technicians hug each other. The Raid supplies the resort 2 or 3 times each summer. A one-way trip represents a distance of 1,200km, an altitude difference of 3,200m, and a driving time of 10 days at a rate of 12 hours per day. Each arrival of the Raid team at Concordia is a moment of joy and celebration. Concordia Antarctic Research Station, Dome C plateau, East Antarctica.
860-292904 - A technician at the foot of the station holds a large evacuation sock into which a person is lowered. Once a month, all the staff carry out an emergency evacuation of the station using a ?sock?. The idea is to let yourself slide down a tube of fabric that slows your fall to such an extent that you can even stop yourself by spreading your arms and legs. A technician is waiting for us at the bottom to assist with the last metre of the descent. Concordia Antarctic Research Station, Dome C plateau, East Antarctica.
860-292903 - A technician rides an electric bike on the snow, passing a container and crates on the ground. A technician uses an electric fatbike to get to the summer camp area from the station. Immediately after arriving, he removes the electric battery and deposits it in the nearest building where the temperature is positive. If he forgets the battery outside, he will have to push the bike on the way back because the intense cold will have drained the battery. Concordia Antarctic Research Station, Dome C plateau, East Antarctica.
860-292902 - The two towers of the Concordia station, with the French, Italian and European flags flying in the wind, under a blue sky veiled with cirrus clouds aligned in the direction of the wind. The two towers are linked by a tunnel. They are permanently heated to 20°C by the diesel engine that generates the station's electricity. The left tower is the "quiet tower", housing the hospital, bedrooms;34 beds) and offices. The right tower is the "noisy tower": it houses a small workshop, the emergency generator, the waste room, the technical office, the video room, the living room, the kitchens and the refectory. The two towers are about ten meters apart to prevent the risk of fire spreading. Fire is an Antarctic expeditionary's worst nightmare; the French have a very bad experience of it. Concordia Antarctic Research Station, Dome C plateau, East Antarctica.
860-292901 - A technician goes into a raised square building on an orange metal structure. An Italian technician specialising in radio and telecommunications goes into the shelter that houses the VSAT antenna, the device that connects the station to the Internet by satellite. This is the station's only link with the outside world. Most of the buildings are elevated to prevent the formation of snowdrifts caused by wind-blown snow. Concordia Antarctic Research Station, Dome C plateau, East Antarctica.
860-292900 - Technicians loading/unloading cargo/freight from the supply plane at Concordia. French;in blue) and Italian;in red) technicians help unload the Basler - Douglas DC3, which delivers scientific and/or technical equipment to the Concordia station several times a month during the summer. It takes a team of 6 to 20 people just 3 minutes to unload the 2 tonnes of cargo, reload the same amount of equipment into the plane and refuel the aircraft with kerosene. As soon as these operations are completed, the plane is ready to leave again. Concordia Antarctic Research Station, Dome C plateau, East Antarctica.
860-292899 - Building made of containers lined up in a row, powered by pipes and electric cables. The summer camp is made up of containers assembled together. It was built in the early 1990s. Since then, irregular ground settlement has caused the building to deform. It is now used as a summer dormitory. Concordia Antarctic Research Station, Dome C plateau, East Antarctica.
860-292898 - Snowdrift in front of a tent. A dormitory tent dating from the 1990s and still in use. It is heated by a small oil-fired stove. Every obstacle in the wind creates snowdrifts, which have to be removed periodically to prevent burial. Concordia Antarctic Research Station, Dome C plateau, East Antarctica.
860-292887 - Frozen ground of Dome C, and sastrugis. Sastrugis are wind-blown snow formations. The wind is not extremely strong in these high-altitude locations. Concordia Station, Antarctic
860-292888 - A few weeks after the start of the summer campaign, the winterers who have just spent 14 months at Concordia return home. They take off from Concordia station aboard the Basler;photo), bound for Mario Zucchelli or Dumont d'Urville. Most of them make a sign indicating the village or town where they live, and the distance to Concordia. Concordia Antarctic Base
860-292883 - A Lockheed C-130 Hercules on loan from the Italian Air Force for logistics operations between Christchurch;New Zealand) and the Mario Zucchelli base. Although military activities are strictly forbidden in Antarctic territory by the Treaty of Madrid, polar-operating countries frequently use the skills and equipment of their armies for polar logistics. Victoria Land, Antarctica
860-292878 - Team of Antarctic expeditionaries watching the landscape through the windows of the Airbus A320 carrying them from Hobart;Tasmania) to Mario Zucchelli;Italian coastal Antarctic base), as they approach the latter. These are the first summer campers. In red are those who will then take a Basler to the French coastal summer station of Cap Prud'Homme or Robert Guillard. They'll spend a few days opening it up and warming it up, before moving on to the Dumont d'Urville base;6km from Cap Prud'Homme), marking the end of wintering there. In blue: the expeditionaries bound for Concordia.
1112-11247 - Dead southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina) pup being eaten by an Antarctic skua on South Georgia Island in the Southern Ocean. MORE INFO The southern elephant seal is not only the most massive pinniped but also the largest member of the order Carnivor
1112-11175 - Views of Gold Harbor on South Georgia Island, Southern Ocean. MORE INFO Lindblad Expeditions pioneered non-research expedition travel to Antarctica in 1969, and remains one of the premier Antarctic operators to this day.
1112-11084 - Icebergs and brash ice in Kayak Cove, during the austral summer months, Brabant Island, near the Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctica, Polar Regions
1112-11083 - Icebergs and brash ice in Kayak Cove, during the austral summer months, Brabant Island, near the Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctica, Polar Regions
1112-11053 - Antarctic shag (Phalacrocorax (atriceps) bransfieldensis) at nesting site amongst gentoo penguins at Jougla Point, Antarctica, Polar Regions
1112-11052 - Antarctic shag (Phalacrocorax (atriceps) bransfieldensis) at nesting site amongst gentoo penguins at Jougla Point, Antarctica, Polar Regions
1112-10869 - Argentine ship the Almirante Viel operating from Ushuaia, Argentina to the Antarctic Peninsula in Antarctica, Southern Ocean, Polar Regions
1112-10867 - Argentine ship the Puerto Deseado operating from Ushuaia, Argentina to the Antarctic Peninsula in Antarctica, Southern Ocean, Polar Regions
1112-10865 - Argentine ship the Puerto Deseado operating from Ushuaia, Argentina to the Antarctic Peninsula in Antarctica, Southern Ocean, Polar Regions
1112-10781 - Dead Adelie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) attacked and killed, but not eaten, by an Antarctic fur seal at Brown Bluff, Antarctica, Polar Regions