Russ and Amélie depart Halley at 6am by Snocat to join the Ernest Shackleton.

Our last cargo is loaded on just after we arrive.

Two more crates arrived in the morning to pack with more empty boxes inside. Final Zarges arrived late afternoon to unpack with CASLab equipment and repack. Remaining cargo all moved to the outgoing cargo line. Frozen filters transported to ship. Sunny day.

A White Christmas. No really, it was snowing this morning.

Santa brought us 5 empty boxes to pack and send back to the ship.

Google flight tracks from the campaign now available here.

Relief continues.

CPC bench tested (without butanol). Can't replicate fault in aircraft on last few flights.

JAVAD error not due to a loose board. No further investigation as data cables are already at ship.

Investigating problems with DOAS instruments in CASLab.

Tom, Keith, Seb, Mike and Constantino arrived Madrid and flew to UK.

Correcting Bills of Lading. Packed equipment taken on sledge to ship side at N9.

Tom, Keith, Seb, Mike and Constantino fly North from Punta Arenas to Santiago to catch the flight to Madrid.

Repacked and labelled hazardous cargo that was incorrectly packed coming South.

Airfreight cargo requests and paperwork sent.

No packing crates yet received from ship. Issue with ship's crane slowing the unloading of break bulk cargo.

All packed boxes moved from modules to outgoing cargo line.

Dash-7 took Tom, Keith, Seb, Constantino and Mike from Rothera to Punta Arenas.

Relief shift work begins.

CPCs dried and hauled back from CASLab.

MAC Cargo boxes sealed and labelled, apart from those to come off the ship.

Amélie on gash duties.

Station relief briefing.

Finalising ship cargo paperwork ready for packing in crates arriving on the ship.

Ship arrived and moored up at N9.

SPIN and other cargo all removed from CASLab and moved to outgoing cargo line.

All Manchester equipment packed.

Aircraft racks dismantled.

Outgoing cargo paperwork ongoing. Ship making good progress.

Mike and Keith departed Halley with Steve King bound straight for Rothera with the extended range tank. Mike, Keith, Vicky, Josh, Seb, Constantino and Tom arrived Rothera ready for their flight to Punta Arenas on 20th.

Russ and Amélie packed SPIN into its crate and all the remaining CASLab instrumentation and started to pack/document everything in the main buildings.

Slight change of plan. We worked all through the night taking the instruments off of the aircraft to have it ready to fly at 8am.

Vicky, Josh, Tom, Seb and Constantino flew to Fossil Bluff via refuel stops at Sledge Tango and Sky Blu.

Day spent fetching everything from skiway to base. Mike and Amélie did calibrations and shutdowns in CASLab and started packing.

Steve King arrived with the second transit aircraft.

An early flight today, airborne before 10am with Tom, Keith and Seb. Mike starting up SPIN in CASLab. Westerly winds at Halley.

Preparations for packing up.

Tom, Amélie, Seb, Keith and Constantino went in a Snocat to visit Windy Creek.

The wind was too strong to go down on the sea ice but they had a good view of the penguins from the cliff tops arriving back just before midnight.

One flight today targeting cloud satellite track due to risk of fog at Halley later. Tom, Constantino and Mike. CPC Laser current low but appears to be working.

Base trip to see the penguins.

Seb on gash duties.

An inland flight today for Keith, Amélie and Seb. Computer disk issue delayed the flight but soon fixed.

Plan is last flying day on 15th, remove instruments on 16th, aircraft leaves for Rothera on 17th. Dash-7 departs Rothera on 20th to be home for Christmas! Ship ETA at Halley 19th (ice permitting).

Constantino skied to CASLab with Mike. Saturday night meal. Fog overnight.

Two flights today. Tom, Constantino and Neil on the morning flight attempting to do a satellite overpass but little cloud in the area.

Keith, Constantino and Seb on the second flight after consulting a new satellite image.

Scrubout. Mike on gash duties.

Vicky helped by Russ to do the 7 day aircraft inspection and supervised by Josh to rectify the technical issue experienced yesterday. Seb flew with Vicky for a short check flight before a full science flight in the afternoon for Keith, Tom and Constantino.

Seb and Russ on ground duties. Amélie and Mike on CASLab instrumentation and bag samples. Another long day.

Neil on gash. WASP buildings moved.

No Josh today as he has a temporary support on his ankle. Keith, Tom and Seb flew a cloud flight in the morning and brought back more bags for processing by the CASLab team.

An afternoon weather check was required before heading off with Tom, Keith and Constantino but was aborted early on in the flight due to a technical issue with the aircraft.

CDP and CAPS calibration beads in the morning followed by a flight for Keith, Constantino and Seb.

Tom had phonecalls regarding the end date of the campaign and return to UK and other projects.

Digging out under the WASP building.

Amélie and Mike processing bag samples at CASLab.

Josh injures his ankle sledging in the evening.

First flight today following a satellite track: Tom, Constantino and Seb. Butanol refill between flights. Second flight with Keith, Constantino and Seb. Mike at CASLab. Amélie in office looking at SPIN data then skiing the bag samples for her and Mike to process at CASLab.

Wind eased during the day, so after some digging a later flight took place with Keith, Tom and Constantino.

Bags collected were transferred on landing to the CASLab where Mike and Amélie ran them through some of the instruments and showed that there was still aerosol that could be measured.

Russ on gash duties.

Front camera loose power connection. Butanol not refilled this morning but looks ok.

More wind and snow. No flying.

Amélie looking at data from SPIN prior to yesterdays flooding of the system.

Mike at the CASLab starting up SPIN again for a test run.

Windy and poor weather at Halley. No flying today.

Catching up on data processing and backup.

Amélie and Mike were able to make it to CASLab to work on SPIN and other instruments there.

The Manchester instruments were finally allowed to be connected to the base network to allow remote monitoring and data transfer.

Weather abated and it turned into a nice day.

Josh continued to work on the aircraft to finish the 'Check'.

Keith, Seb and Constantino were shown around the aircraft racks and Tom ran through operating all the instruments with them. CDP calibration checked and with spare interface box. By early evening the aircraft was ready again and Keith, Seb and Tom flew.

Constantino, Russ and Josh refuelled the aircraft and help tie it down. A late finish. Polar 5 Basler arrived just after around midnight.

Strong winds again today. No flying. Project meeting.

Mike getting SPIN detector ready at CASLab.

Seb, Constantino and Keith tried on immersion suits and did smoke hood training.

High winds, poor weather today. No flying. Seb, Constantino, Keith and Amélie are finishing their training. Happy Antarctica Day!

Crossing 'The Bridge' between the main building and the science offices becomes uncomfortable...

Garage move today. New arrivals started their training including the aircraft briefing.

Tom, Russ and Mike flew again to the clouds out to the West. Wind picking up during the day. Josh and Vicky started the aircraft maintenance check on the aircraft's return.

2D-S still had some condensation in upper arm after heaters turned on.

Sunday. Fine day. CPC exhaust, 2D-S and engine maintenance in the morning.

Basler arrived with everyone from Novo via a refuel stop at Neumeyer.

Afternoon flight to low cloud out to West. 2D-S still had moisture in it so removed again. Novo people settling in to their rooms.

Another fine day at Halley. A flight an hour out to the west to find some cloud today. Some morning maintenance discovered moisture in the 2D-S instrument canister. Unsure how this has got in, probably from melting ice on the ground. CDP and CAPS calibrations.

Aircraft engine feather problem on restart after refuelling in stiff 25kts westerly wind. Quickly solved by Josh but needs further investigation.

Saturday meal. News that the Basler is due to fly from Novo in the morning. Josh helped with Drewry building move.

Much better weather today at Halley. Two flights to the North.

2D-S worked well with new power supply. Took first filter samples.

News from Novo is that they won't fly to here until Sunday or Monday. Another fine day expected here tomorrow.

Wind dropped but threat of snow and low cloud prevented flying. New 2D-S power supply installed in the aircraft and tested ok. Pumped filter system also installed. CASLab instrumentation now running (except SPIN). Mike running calibrations. Skiway was groomed ready for flying tomorrow.

Strong winds at Halley. Mike made it out to CASLab later in the day to find Grimm OPC pump has broken. 2D-S power supply replacement built and bench tested (without probe). Now awaiting being able to get to the aircraft to modify racks/plugs to accommodate it. Tom looking at CPC data from yesterday's flight.

Wind dropped today. We tried to fly having dug the aircraft out but then visibility went down so we had lunch at skiway by which time it improved so Vicky, Mike, Russ and Tom headed off into the Weddell Sea.

Very poor weather on return only seeing skiway just before landing. Refuelled and tied down aircraft and knocked most of the ice off. No News from Novo.

High winds at Halley. The 4 of us walked out to CASLab in the morning against the wind. Mike and Neil mended our CPC by thoroughly cleaning it, turning up the laser current and replacing the wick. One more working instrument to go back on the aircraft when we can see far enough to find it. 2D-S power supply trials ongoing. New unit is installed in the case now but we need to add a new lid and some more fans before we will be happy to test it in the aircraft.

Novo party enjoying good weather and food and toured the station. They are unlikely to fly to Halley before Friday.

Sunday. Tried for a morning flight but weather came in faster than expected so aborted before start up. Turned aircraft around into wind. Mike on gash. Started replacing 2D-S power supply. Logging software tweaks ready for testing in aircraft.

Flight today in Stancomb-Wills area in cloud streets over the water/ice.

Cape Town party made it into Antarctica and landed at Novo, where they are delayed. Saturday night meal.

Ready to fly today but the 2D-S stopped working before taxi so flight aborted. Mike found 2D-S power supply had blown and there is no immediate spare but we are exploring possibilities. Scrubout.

Brechtel Inlet heaters checked and some modifications made to wiring.

The Cape Town party went on safari to Buffelsfontein Nature Reserve.

Day of Halley training and getting computers reconfigured. Aircraft refuel training. Tried immersion suits to fit and started to set up ready for flying. Mike and Neil working on CPC.

Delayed start due to Forecaster taking a break. Sky Blu -15 C / 25 kts. Inlet probe cover blew away. Tricky weather and small breaks but Vicky managed to get enough to give a try. Flew via Sledge Tango at 80 S on the Ronne Ice Shelf testing their newly groomed skiway and refuelling from a flubber. Arrived Halley late in the day about 20 mins before the fog rolled in.

SPIN was transported to the CASLab.

Got 2D-S working in the morning. PM flight to Fossil Bluff and Sky Blu. Night at Sky Blu. Mike at Halley busy at setting up instruments in CASLab.

Keith, Seb, Constantino and Amélie arrived Cape Town to find their flight is delayed until Friday.

Snowfall at Rothera and cloud over the Ronne stopping AZ transiting to Halley. The second cargo flight with Josh the aircraft engineer got away though to Halley.

Cargo North from Rothera completed. CDP problem fixed. FPH fixed (hopefully). No luck with 2D-S. CPC brought inside to clear butanol from inlet but no pump to run it.

Sunday. Snagging in am. Hygrometer pressure sensor sorted - cable repaired. Headsets installed. EMI/EMC tests. Chilean Twin Otters left. Proving flight. Several issues but nothing to prevent leaving for Halley.

Packing to leave.

Mike visited the penguins at Halley.

Keith, Seb, Constantino and Amélie travelled to Heathrow and boarded flight for Cape Town

First Cargo load unloaded from the aircraft at Halley.
Instrument ground test on MASIN aircraft. Most working. Connection but no data from 2D-S. More cargo consigned North from Rothera. Saturday evening meal.

Second rack installed. Cargo flight left for Halley and arrived late in the day. All cabling and most plumbing completed. Started to turn instruments on. Looking good but not checked the detail. Aim to snag tomorrow and be able to do a proving flight later in the day. Scrubout.

First drag flight test in the morning, followed by a quick pit stop with 6 people working to fit both pylons and instruments ready for the final drag test flight after lunch which was completed successfully.

First cargo flight for Halley also loaded up including the SPIN crate. Both racks in the MASIN aircraft. One rack and one seat installed. Sample pump added to shelf. Filter holders added to front rack.

Windy. ALCI Baslers and Twin Otter left for Halley. Mike arrived Halley. BAS Twin Otter returned to Rothera.

Camera Bay and other external instruments (except pylon instruments) fitted to AZ ready for first drag test flight. Remembrance service. False fire alarm muster.

Sunny. Mike headed off via Sky Blu and spent the night on Berkner Island awaiting better weather to get to Halley. Dash-7 brought remaining project cargo from Falkland Islands.

All MAC cargo now at Rothera. Starting aircraft fit tomorrow but likely some delay to instrument drag test flights due to expected bad weather and pilot availability.

Cloudy, drifting snow. Vehicles school and co-pilot stove/tent refresher.

Cargo sorting between aircraft fit and Halley transfer.

Sunday. Cloudy, windy. Mike on standby to fly to Halley but no flight as poor weather at Halley. Our laptops were allowed to connect to the network today and e-mail working, kind of. Mike's might be done by Tuesday.

Medical / Aircraft / Comms training at Rothera. Cargo located.
Sunny day.

Mike, Russ, Tom flew from Punta Arenas to Rothera.

No flight today. Rainy day. Split up and moved hotels.
Mike's luggage caught up with him.

Tom, Michael and Russ day in Punta Arenas.

Hotels very busy as two ALCI Baslers that support the DML link to be used by the rest of the MAC team, a Ken Borek Twin Otter and the Iljushin all waiting for strong headwinds to abate in order to fly South.

The USAP vessel Nathaniel B Palmer is also in port.

Michael went shopping for essentials.

Dash-7 arrived from Rothera in the evening.

Tom, Michael, Russ arrive Santiago de Chile. Lunch meeting at airport. Afternoon flight to Punta Arenas via Puerto Montt. Luggage weighing and Dash-7 pre-flight briefing. Staying at Cabo de Hornos hotel.
Michael's luggage has not left Madrid as far as we can tell.

Tom and Michael travel Heathrow to Madrid. Russ day in Madrid. All three join same overnight flight.

Russ departs Heathrow. Delays due to fog. Overnight in Madrid.