When the next hardware store is more than 3000 km away from where you conduct fieldwork in Antarctica (the closest hardware store from the Neumayer Station III seems to be in Ushuaia, Argentina), you cannot just quickly head over to buy missing material.
Instead, our freight will embark on a six week-long journey aboard the AWI-operated Polarstern research vessel which will transport our material from its homeport in Bremerhaven to the Neumayer Station III. Hence, we have spent the past months on thorough planning of experimental set-ups and careful packing of any potentially needed materials to deliver our cargo on time when the Polarstern departs from Bremerhaven. A couple of busy weeks of packing and writing long lists for customs later, numerous aluminum boxes full of measurement devices, tubings, cables, and precipitation sampling material have started their journey last week, departing from the Hallerstrasse in Bern.
Now, our cargo has arrived at its first stop in Bremerhaven. We wish the Polarstern safe travels through more or less calm waters and are looking forward to the reunion with our field work equipment in Antarctica in early January!
