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Arctic Researchers Get Much Needed Food Rations

Posted on: Tuesday, 5 May 2009, 13:22 CDT

A re-supply flight on Tuesday finally reached the camp of three UK explorers surveying the Arctic ice who were down to just over 3 ounces of food rations each per day, BBC News reported.

The ice camp, set up by researchers Pen Hadow, Ann Daniels and Martin Hartley, were forced to endure the meager rations after several repeated attempts to land new food stocks were delayed due to extreme weather conditions.

The Catlin Arctic Survey explorers usually consume enough food to give them about 6,000 calories per day, but were forced to cut rations down to just 1,000 calories each.

The research team had gone without any hot food and was described as "hungry, lethargic, and excruciatingly bored" during the last few days before the flight landed.

Martin Hartley, a cameraman on the survey, said he was surviving on the equivalent of three Mars bars over the last few days.

He listed his rations: "Today I've had a cup of porridge, three pork scratchings, a piece of dried coconut and a finger of shortbread. I've got 12 raisins left in my bag and nine pieces of pineapple, each the size of a little finger."

After this morning's delivery, navigator and cook Ann Daniels reported that the team’s spirits had been restored.

“Now we just need our bodies to catch up. I can't tell you how happy we are that the plane landed, rather than just did an airdrop of food. It meant we had some human contact," she told BBC News.

The shortage of food forced the team to stop their task of measuring the thickness of the sea-ice, according to expedition leader Pen Hadow.

He said the researchers had to stop drilling and doing scientific observations for a few days because it simply wouldn't have been sensible, given the cold, the energy that the experiments demand and the lack of calorie intake.

“When the crew left the tent to drill a few days into the wait, they came back feeling sick and wobbly and took longer than usual to warm up,” Daniels said.

Day after day the re-supply mission was stalled after poor visibility at a refueling point halfway between the team's position and Resolute, the nearest settlement.

The successful flight eventually arrived 11 days late.

Last month, a separate supply flight was also delayed by bad weather, causing the team to reduce rations.

But in an effort to avoid a third delay, the charter firm Kenn Borek Air fitted special fuel tanks to allow the aircraft extra range to avoid the need for a refueling stop.

The addition of the fuel tanks limited the amount of weight that could be carried, forcing a scientific instrument known as SeaCat, designed to be lowered into the sea beneath the ice, to be left behind in order to deliver the necessary food, fuel and batteries to the struggling research team.

"It has been a difficult 10 days trying to get the flight in, with the weather consistently frustrating us, and a technical problem with one plane causing us to turn back on one earlier attempt to reach them,” said Chip Cunliffe, operations chief in London.

He acknowledged that the additional fuel tanks had made the re-supply easier in the end.

“It's a relief to get the team moving once again,” he added.

The crew also decided to end the mission a week early over concerns about the strength of the ice during the beginning of the summer melt.

The survey team hopes its ice thickness data will help scientists better understand the changes taking place at the highest latitudes.

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On the Net:

• Catlin Arctic Survey

Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports

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