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The Collins glacier site, where one set of open top chambers has been installed, has very interesting vegetation. As the glacier retreats it exposes bare ground where seeds and spores can germinate. In Antarctica vegetation can also reproduce when fragments of the plants, called propagules, are spread from one area to another, possibly by birds or by wind or water dispersal.  

One of the two vascular plants found in Antarctica is already colonising the area below the moraine line, this is Deschampsia antarctica the only native Antarctic grass. 

As Mel said in the last post we visited Collins Glacier to set up Open Top Chambers (OTC). It is interesting to see how the moss and lichens are colonizing the ground as the glacier retreats. The moss beds are amazing, in some places it looks like a river of moss cascading down the hill.  There are a lot more moss and lichen species here than at Casey so we are learning new ones every day.

Sharon and Andrew travelled down on a Chilean Air force Hercules plane and arrived at the Chilean base on King George Island on Saturday night.  It was great to see Melinda, Angelica, Gustavo, Todd, Sarah and the rest of the team.  There are 12 people working on Antarctic plants and lichens here at the moment. On Saturday night there was a reception party to welcome us all to the  base and we met up with the other expeditioners over a few glasses of good Chilean wine.

 

On Tuesday 6th Jan, I arrived on King George Island, Antarctica by plane! After much organisation over the past few months and a long journey to Punta Arenas, Chile I am finally here.

 

We spent Christmas in Cornwall and made a Christmas tree out of plastic that we found on the beach at Strangles, a lovely beach in North Cornwall near Crackington Haven, with fabulous rock formations to explore.  You can watch the video we made on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsAMdrU3-sw

Sharon and Andrew arrived in Punta Arenas yesterday and Melinda has already flown down to King George Island with Angelica Casanova-Katny, Gustavo Zuniga and Todd Rosenstiel and Sarah Eppley from Portland.

Today we collected our kit (warm, wind proof clothing) and tomorrow we will do a briefing before we fly down to the base on Friday in a Chilean airforce Herc.

Yesterday we had pre-departure training at INACH ready for our flight to King George Island (Isla Rei Jorge), Antarctica.  We had a medical briefing and then a practical session where I got tied up (see photographs).  

 

Just back from a visit to the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, Southwest of London. They are keen to promote the science behind the collections and the gardens at Kew and I went to give them some of my ideas as a teaching academic with some experience of science community outreach.

It's been a busy couple of weeks for talks. Last week I did two in Chile and this week I gave a research seminar at the Institute of Advanced Studies at the University of Birmingham, and a talk about living and working in Antarctica to the Barnt Green Day Centre.  Thanks to the audience at both who asked lots of good questions.  

On Monday I gave a seminar to Professor Gustavo Zuniga's group at the Universidad de Santiago de Chile.

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