Vernadsky, the funniest antarctic station

This time, the extreme south:

Vernadsky Research Base is a Ukrainian Station at Marina Point on Galindez Island, in Antarctica.

Coordinates: 65°15'S, 64°16'W

The station consists of nine buildings standing on rock foundations. A 1961 extension at the east end of the hut provided living quarters for 15 people.

The base was established as "Faraday Station" by the British in 1947; later it moved to the present site on Galindez Island in May 1954.

Major alterations in 1980 updated the living and working accommodation.

A two-storey extension provides sleeping accommodation for 24 people.

Ukraine took over the operation of the base in February 1996.

The price was symbolic: just one pound !

The original coin now decorates the station lounge:

Akademik Vernadsky Station:

http://www.antarctida.kiev.ua/english/

The Ukrainian Antarctic Center continues a programme of meteorology, upper atmospheric physics, geomagnetism, ozone, seismology, glaciology, ecology, biology and physiology research.

The discovery of the ozone hole was made at that very location.

Upstairs are a lounge, library, dining room, gift store and kitchen. The research team os granted some confort and space.

The docking building

The shop and visitor's center

Long course post from faraway...

Maybe the most southerly shop in the world.

A short video about Vernadsky base:

Las Médulas - roman legacy landscape in northern Iberia

This time, not an arctic location - but a place in northern Spain that is known of few, in the region of Asturias, not far from the cities of Léon and Astorga.

Las Médulas were the most important gold mines of all Roman empire. They were explored from 19 B.C. until mid-3rd century.

"Mons Medullius", also the site of asturian battles.

Now the remaining land, richly forested, offers a strange scenery of beauty, history and geology. That´s why it is classified by UNESCO as one of the nature's wonders of Spain.

The Asturian territory was known by the romans for its soil, rich in metals like iron, tin and gold. Pliny, who visited the region for some years, wrote:

"The mountains of Hispania, barren and sterile, and producing nothing else worthy, had at least to produce gold"

The gold fever, that opened around 50 exploitation sites, may have been caused by the introduction of the gold coin the aureus, part of an impostant monetary reform by imperor Augustus.

Pliny estimates a "6 500 Kg per year" production of gold; that would be 6 to 7% of the roman annual erary income! The profits were certainly more modest, as according to modern research gold was only around 1 gram per cubic meter, with scarce bigger nuggets - Pliny refering palagas of more than 3 Kg !!

Pliny described the mining technique:

"This type of mine has been given the name of Ruina Montium. The cracks made in the entrails of the stone are so dangerous that it would be easier to find purpurine or pearls at the bottom of the sea than make scars in the rock."

"Broken, the mountain falls in on itself with a noise louder and a wind more violent than any human mind could imagine…"

Oaks, chestnut trees, willows, alders, cork trees, and vigorous heather ( up to 2m high), form a dense and varied grove.

The capricious forms of the ruined mounts interact with the bush and forest, creating an uncommon landscape, with the rosy peaks emerging from the green canopies.

• http://www.fundacionlasmedulas.org/parque/index.jsp

Aurora Borealis, northern lights

Terje Sorgjerd, from Oslo, spent a week filming one of the largest Auroras of recent years, and what a magnificent film he gave us:

Shot in and around Kirkenes (Norway) and Pas National Park, bordering Russia, at 70º N 30º E. Temperatures around -25º Celsius.

Arctic flora in coming spring

Yesterday, March 20, was the spring equinox. Time for renewal and blossom.

Spring is coming back to the arctic some days earlier each year, and while the arctic ice starts to melt, here and there, some little arctic plants and flowers bloom bright in the increasing sunlight and warmth.

During this time the Arctic is a colorful mosaic of flowering species, while the white snow is just a few meters away, in an inconceivable coexistance.

Arctic poppies (Papaver radicatum)

Buttercup (Ranunculus pygmaeus)

Purple Saxifrage (Saxifraga oppositifolia)

Moss Campion (Silene acaulis)

Arctic Lupine (Lupinus arcticus)

Bellardi bog sedge (Kobresia Myosuroides)

Snow pearlwort (Sagina nivalis)

Mars on Earth

Devon Island is a large island of the canadian Arctic Archipelago, sister of Baffin Island and Ellesmere Island, fantastic worlds of breathtaking National Parks and inuit settlements rich in arts and traditions.
Coordinates 75°08′ N, 87°51′W

But Devon is the largest uninhabited island in the world. The only remains of human presence are some remains of pre-historic Thule people presence 3 500 years ago, the ruins of a Hudsan Bay Co. outpost at Dundas Harbour, and of the Royal Canadian Police station, also moved away years ago; some attempts to establish a settlement there with inuit population failed due to isolation, hard climate and lack of resources.

As for animal life, Devon supports only a meagre population of musk oxen and small birds . An occasional walrus or polar bear also visits the island.

Coastlines around the island are varied and include tall cliffs, sharp slopes, deep fjords, lowlands and areas of beach.

Croker Bay glacier

Amazingly, NASA found that no place on earth is more similar to the martian desert ! So, an experimental station was installed there to train people, try instruments, vehicles and strategies looking for a future adventure in Mars.

The Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station (FMARS) is located in a 23 Km diameter crater - Haughton crater, a feature that helps the simulation of martian conditions and is considered Earth's best Mars analog site.

The crater was caused by the fall of a 2 km meteor some 39 million years ago, in an area that was forested at the time.

The station

FMARS was installed in 2000, with a crew of 5 cientists and 2 journalists, who took care of simulating the conditions of life in Mars.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flashline_Mars_Arctic_Research_Station