Report #3, covering November 24-26:

The weather is still problematic, with high wind speeds making preparatory work slow and chilly. At the moment we have an average wind speed of 28 m/s. Though progress is slow, the vehicles are getting ready one by one. It is a matter of servicing engines, installing radar equipment, etc. The lab module is now instrumented with particle samplers, a weather station and a work bench for the preparation of snow samples. The team is hard at working getting ready for the departure and everyone is keen to get going. The harsh weather has had surprisingly little effect on morale, but we all have two wishes now: One is to wake up to a sunny calm day and the second is to start the traverse.

We need a calm day both for the final preparations and for a safe start to the traverse. If the storm stays for a couple of days more we may have to postpone our departure date by a day or so. Such a delay will not cause any significant reduction a priori in the science programme, but it will reduce the flexibility of our schedule, making us somewhat more sensitive to possible future delaying events such as engine problems, white-out situations, etc.

By Per Holmlund and Tomas Karlberg.