Today I was collecting snow samples on the ice. The snow carries effectively atmospheric aerosols which deposits on the ground. In this particular case we want to see how much iodine (the radioactive isotope I-129 and the stable I-127) that deposits here. This is not a research I do for myself but for some of my colleagues. The point of analyzing these isotopes is to in particular to better understand the transport routes of the radioactive I-129 which mainly originate from nuclear installations in Europe. This isotope is used a as a tracer for water movement but maybe, at this remote location, airborne transport is as important as the water currents? Because as you may know, the circumpolar current that surrounds the Antarctic to a large degree prevents currents from the large oceans to reach the Antarctic.

The Palmer lifts to go on the ice from the ship. The Eagle has landed! We start to collect snow samples. Many of us are interested in atmospheric deposition on the snow so several samples are taken. Not exactly a problem of finding enough samples….

Here I am inspecting today’s harvest of snow. Once cleaned from visible particles the snow is packed in plastic bags and stored frozen. Hope to find some I-129 in it!