IPY 2007-2008

Fleming Glacier Fieldworks

Thrid Year Fieldwork (2009)

The third field campaign of CECS to Fleming Glacier was carried out in early November 2009 with the main aim of retrieving data, permanent sensors and all structures in order to bring them back to Valdivia. The measurement period of ice velocities and meterological parameters had ended after two years of successful deployment at the glacier surface. Gino Casassa, Claudio Bravo, Pablo Zenteno and José Luis Rodriguez had the mission to travel to Rothera base, via Punta Arenas and Frei station in King George Island, with the logistic support of FACH-INACH and BAS onboard the Hercules, DASH 7 and Twin Otter aircrafts.

After a clear sky-flight over Fleming glacier, we landed on the site of the continuous GPS (CGPS) station, installed nearby one of the ice velocity sites measured by Doake (1974), where we successfully retrieved instruments and collected data. Preliminary analysis of the 2009 data would confirm the ice acceleration described in Wendt et al., "Recent ice elevation changes of Fleming Glacier in response to the removal of Wordie ice shelf, Antarctic Peninsula, Annals of Glaciology, 55(51)". The AWS however, reinstalled at a higher tower, was not found in this mission and it is presumably lost due to snow accumulation during the winter. Up to now, the Rothera team, which carries out frequent flights over the area, has not been able to localize the AWS.