Our current position is: 64 degrees 12' south 56 degrees 39' west
From Andreas Freimuller - Cook
30th January 1997
Our original plan, to sail to the Argentinian base at Marambio on Seymour Island in order to fly our helicopters to their airfield to fix some technical problems, has been rendered impossible by the weather. We took the opportunity to invite Dr.Rodolfo del Valle of the Argentinian Island Institute to the Arctic Sunrise instead. We asked him to explain his research on the now collapsed Larsen A iceshelf.
We picked him up in our small inflatable boats and admired some really spectacular rock formations on the way to their station. The Argentinian scientific team's camp consists of several tents erected around the ancient hut of Swedish explorer Nordeskjoeld. In this hut, barely 25sqm in area, he and his team spent 22 months during 1902 and 1903.
They did not voluntarily stay for so long, but were forced to as the ship that was supposed to collect them was crushed by the ice. They had to wait for another year for the next ship to pick them up. Once on board, Rodolfo del Valle talked about his findings from many years of research in this area. An increase in temperature of only one degree per decade has been enough to cause the collapse of the Larsen A iceshelf which was 4200 sqkm in area.
When asked about his feelings about the collapse, he compared it with someone who lost all of his property during an earthquake. This man has spent so many antarctic summers on the ice - and suddenly it's vanished.
Andy is the cook on board the MV Arctic Sunrise and safety expert for the trips ashore. He is 27 years old and has been with Greenpeace for 7 years (5 years as a ship's cook). In between Greenpeace assignments he works as a guide on outbound expeditions..