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Planetari 3D

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 11:03 GMT

Esdeveniment. Acompanya al jove Charles Darwin en el seu viatge d’exploració al voltant del món a bord del HMS Beagle i descobreix l’explicació naturalista al gran “misteri dels misteris“

Johnny Issaluk awarded Diamond Jubilee medal

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:01 GMT

In 2012, during the year of celebrations, 60,000 deserving Canadians will be recognized for their contributions to Canada or to a particular province, territory or community, or for their outstanding achievement abroad that has brought great credit to our country. … Read more »

Quelques heures à Grise Fiord

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:00 GMT

"Welcome home!". L'accueil à Grise Fiord est vraiment très chaleureux. J'y ai fait hier un aller retour, pour récupérer divers colis : du matériel scientifique envoyé par Mary et Humfrey de l'Institut des Sciences de l'Océan (Colombie-Britannique, Canada), et une caméra étanche confiée par Rémy Marion pour tourner des images sous la banquise. Glissés dans les cartons, entre ces équipements, plein de cadeaux pour tout l'équipage ! Nos amis de Grise Fiord m'offrent aussi des oranges, des bonbons, des crayons pour les filles, et même un morceau de viande d'ours. Tom l'a chassé la semaine dernière, non loin de notre fjord. Un gros, "plus de 10 pieds de long !" m'avait-il écrit dès son retour. Tom me montre la tête, dont la dentition est redoutable, et la peau, superbe avec sa fourrure d'hiver (il devrait la vendre 9000$, selon les tarifs affichés à la mairie). Il m'explique comment préparer la viande pour qu'elle soit bien tendre. Il a déjà nourri ses proches et presque tous les chiens du village ! Amon aussi a tué un bel ours (8 pieds) samedi dernier, non loin de l'eau libre, près de l'île Smith, au sud-est de Grise Fiord. J'ai croisé des traces fraîches en venant ce matin, peu après avoir quitté Vagabond. C'est peut-être l'ours qui nous a rendu visite lundi midi ? Les chiens lui ont fait peur, mais nous avons eu le temps de bien le voir et de le filmer.
J'achète un phoque entier à Tom, pour nourrir nos chiens. Il faudrait déplacer notre filet mais nous n'avons pas vu de meilleur endroit dans les environs du bateau. Les phoques aiment venir respirer dans les fractures, où la glace est plus mince et plus facile à casser. Liza me fournit une peau de phoque pour France qui souhaite se fabriquer des gants, après en avoir fait pour tout le reste de la famille. Liza et moi apercevons soudain le soleil, très brièvement, comme un bref flash orange, waouh. Je l'attendais deux jours plus tard !
Nos amis me le répètent, nous aurons plus de visiteurs dans quelques semaines. Pour le moment, pour beaucoup d'habitants de Grise Fiord, en particulier les familles avec jeunes enfants, il fait trop froid pour parcourir les 50km qui nous séparent du village. Ce sont surtout les chasseurs qui arpentent la région...
En vidant mon traîneau hier soir, à mon retour à bord, alors que la pleine lune illuminait la banquise, je jouais au Père Noël. Sans barbe, et sans passer par la cheminée !

"Welcome home!". I received the warmest of welcomes in Grise Fiord. I did a return trip yesterday, to get several parcels: some scientific equipment sent by Mary and Humfrey from the Institute of Ocean Sciences (British Columbia, Canada), and a waterproof camera sent by Rémy Marion to film under the ice. Slipped in the boxes, between these equipments, many gifts for the whole crew! Our friends from Grise Fiord are also offering me oranges, candies, coloured pencils for the girls, and even a nice cut of polar bear meat. Tom hunted it last week, not far from our fjord. A big one, "10 feet plus!" he wrote to me on his return. Tom shows me the head, which dentition is formidable, and the skin, superb in its winter fur (he should sell it 9000$, according to prices displayed in the hamlet office). He explains to me how to prepare the meat to have it nice and tender. He already fed family and friends, and most of the dogs in town! Amon got a nice bear too (8 feet) last Saturday, not far from open water, near Smith Island, south-east of Grise Fiord. I met fresh tracks on my way this morning, not long after leaving Vagabond. It could be from the polar bear who came to our camp on Monday? Dogs scared him away, but we had good time watching and filming him.
I'm buying a whole seal to Tom, to feed our dogs. We should move our net but we didn't see any better place in the surroundings of the boat. Seals like to breath in the cracks, where ice is thinner and easier to break. Liza is providing me with a seal skin, France wants to make mittens out of it, after she made some for the rest of the family. Suddenly Liza and I can see the tip of the sun, shortly, like an orange flash, wow. I was expecting it two days later!
Our friends are repeating it to me, we will have more visitors in a few weeks. For now, for most people in Grise Fiord, especially families with young children, it is too cold to travel the 50km from the village to the boat. Mainly hunters are travelling the length and breadth of the area...
When emptying my sledge last night, on my return on board, while the full moon was illuminating the pack ice, I was playing Santa Claus. Without beard and without going through the chimney!

Rio+20 “Dear Mr. UN Secretary-General…” essay competition

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:58 GMT

As part of the lead-up to the Rio+20 Earth Summit in Brazil in June 2012, the Living Rainforest is organizing an international essay competition for primary and secondary school students, Dear Mr. UN Secretary-General… They want to hear what children … Read more »

typetext

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:33 GMT

Hello,

Today (0702/12), I went sampling the OTCs in Teltet, which is a nunatak (=ice free region within a matrix of ice) near the Princess Elisabeth Station. It only takes 15 minutes by skidoo, but it looks like a different world compared with the busy Utsteinen ridge where people are working to make our stay as comfortable as possible.

Two journalists from RTL-TVI who are interested in the BELDIVA project and other projects funded by BelSPO and the FWO-Flanders joined us to take some pictures and shoot a movie about the sampling of microbial habitats. I needed to answer some questions in French; quite difficult to be honest (see picture).

Interview of Elie by journalists of RTL-TVI

They also interviewed me about the drilling of Lake Vostok, which is a so called sub-glacial lake. It is covered by the more than 4 km thick ice sheet and was probably isolated from the air more than 15 million years ago. Yesterday, Russian scientists succeeded to drill the lake and sample the lake water; an effort which took more than 20 years. Hopefully the lake isn’t contaminated with bacteria or other microorganisms and kerosene, which sits on top of the lake ice as a result of the drilling of the Vostok Ice core; an important record which enabled scientists to study past climate changes during the past 420000 years. In case the lake was contaminated, this will be regarded as one of the biggest ecological disasters in Antarctica. It would mean that we impacted on a unique ecosystem which was free of anthropogenic influence during its 15 million years history. Let’s hope for the best !

http://www.rtl.be/videos/video/382362.aspx?CategoryID=496

Something important I need to mention: today it was (finally) colder than in Belgium J The weather is changing and winter is approaching here…

Participate in the SunShadows experiment!

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:20 GMT

Dear Teachers and Students: Would you like to take part in a fun experiment, linked to schools in Belgium, Italy and the UK and to two teachers who are now at different research bases in Antarctica? The SunShadows experiment doesn’t … Read more »

Per què hi ha diferències de nivell entre els oceans?

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 09:41 GMT

Pregunta. Si els oceans estan tots connectats, com és que en alguns llocs estan a diferent nivell. P. ex. Al canal de Panam` hi ha encluses per salvar la diferència de nivell entre el Pacífic i Atl`ntic. A Suez amb el Mediter...

Com influeix el clima en la selecció dels hàbitats en les papallones

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 09:40 GMT

Esdeveniment. Sessió científica a c`rrec de Constantí Stefanescu.

Envoltats de pressió

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 09:38 GMT

Esdeveniment. Creus que l’aire pesa? T’has plantejat mai quant pesa l’aire que tots suportem damunt del cap? Ens “pressiona“ l’aire que ens envolta? Per què no ho notem?

Premis Nacionals de Recerca 2011

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 09:33 GMT

Notícia. L’acte de lliurament dels Premis Nacionals de Recerca 2011 es va celebrar ahir, dia 7 de febrer, en un Teatre Nacional de Catalunya ple de gom a gom. L’acte fou presidit per Artur Mas, president de la Generalitat. Els premiats de l...

Missatge 12: Les poblacions arriben a bon port

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 05:38 GMT

Diari de recerca. Un cop disposem d’un model hem d’ajustar els seus par`metres fins fer-los coincidir amb la realitat que volem simular. Després caldr` preguntar-se què signifiquen aquests par`metres i extreure’n to...

APECS is looking for a new director

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:15 GMT

The Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS) is seeking a new director to lead the organization to new heights. In its 5+ years, APECS has evolved into the pre-eminent international and interdisciplinary organization for polar early career researchers, now … Read more »