122 Logistical Extravaganza
Channel: Curiously Polar
Date: 01/03/2021

Newsreel:
(1) Earthquakes around the South Shetland Islands
Guillermo from Santiago de Chile: "So, living in Santiago, really funny thing happened with the earthquake last Saturday, this is the sequence:
* Earthquake happens in Antarctica
* No one feels anything in the Chilean mainland
* Chilean government sends the following message to our phones "Please leave coastal areas, COVID * emergency" (it literally said COVID emergency)
* People get confused, but take it humorously because it was Saturday night, we were drinking and the government is run by idiots
* Another Earthquak  happens a few minutes later (5.9 I think) in Mendoza, near Santiago
* People start freaking out, wondering how the system knew before the earthquake actually happened, everyone starts ringing family members on vacation in the beach (it's summer here)
* Chilean government sends the following message AGAIN to our phones "Please leave coastal areas, COVID emergency". 
* News breaks about the Antarctica earthquake. Massive confusion ...People start sending memes about what's happening.
* Resume drinking

But also new earthquakes got recorded: https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/?extent=-63.82613,-61.41357&extent=-60.49512,-51.22925&range=search&baseLayer=terrain&timeZone=utc&search=%7B%22name%22:%22Search%20Results%22,%22params%22:%7B%22endtime%22:%222021-02-19T14:10:39.834Z%22,%22latitude%22:-61.7259,%22longitude%22:-55.3187,%22maxradiuskm%22:250,%22minmagnitude%22:2,%22starttime%22:%222021-01-08T14:10:39.834Z%22%7D%7D

(2) Iceberg A-68A got 12 new brothers
Famous Iceberg A-68a shatters into pieces close to South Georgia. Seawater seems to cut like a knife through enormous iceberg.

(3) Antarctica Now
A week of fantastic and inspiring talks is over, you can watch the talks here: https://shackletonlondon.com/blogs/antarctica-now/catch-up
(https://www.buymeacoffee.com/aguycalledpaul)

Get a glimpse on the [current seismic activity](https://cutt.ly/0ka5fge) around the South Shetland Islands and embrace the break-up of Iceberg a-68a into [smaller fragments](https://usicecenter.gov/PressRelease/IcebergA68J_K_L) that still are [incredibly large](https://scitechdaily.com/seawater-cutting-like-a-knife-through-enormous-iceberg-a-68a-being-sliced-to-pieces/) or dive into [geopolitics](https://youtu.be/kGGXgrv9Zqg), [architecture](https://youtu.be/q9ORItJZToQ), [glaciology](https://youtu.be/ggPYKAmo60A), [photography](https://youtu.be/sN5ACbmTmR8) and [conservation](https://youtu.be/4TmYvzkEH5Y) of Antarctica and more with the videos of the seven-day-online-festival [Antarctica Now](https://shackletonlondon.com/blogs/antarctica-now/catch-up)!

While [logistics for Antarctic research stations](http://www.antarcticstation.org/science/logistics_support) are already challenging in ‘normal’ times, the pandemic has put them onto a new level and pushed everyone involved to their limits. The US Antarctic Programme and the National Science Foundation [boarded their field staff in San Francisco](https://www.icyinverts.com/shipboard-blog) and other cities to sail them down all the way to Antarctica. The Russian Antarctic Programme did the same, [staffing icebreakers in Murmansk](https://meduza.io/en/feature/2020/12/22/trouble-at-the-vostok-station) to send them all the way down to the 7th continent to bring the so-called winterers for the Russian stations. Most Antarctic Programmes have either cancelled or drastically reduced their research seasons in Antarctica due to the ongoing global pandemic. The British Antarctic Survey has evacuated staff from a number of research station but puts finishing touches on the [upgrade on Rothera station](https://www.bas.ac.uk/media-post/construction-seasons-starts-at-uks-largest-antarctic-research-hub/). For those constructions, workforce have been brought to the Falkland Islands and then shipped down to the Antarctic Peninsula. And also the German Antarctic Programme operated by the Alfred-Wegener-Institute faced the necessity of [becoming creative](https://simpleflying.com/lufthansa-completes-longest-flight-yet/) and almost causing a [diplomatic incident](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-argentina-falklands-germany-idUSKBN29R2KB) to get the turnover staff to its Neumayer III research station.