The penguins are back!! I refrained from updating the blog until I had some new penguin photos to share...These little darlings returned just a few days ago and there is now a steady stream of them arriving here to start their annual nesting activities. We haven't yet lost the snow that fell a week ago (Davis in general has very little snow as usually most of it blows away soon after falling) and as the penguins toboggan across the sea ice they leave tracks with perfect little foot marks and immaculate flipper impressions on the side (see photo above). Their squawks can be heard again after a long break of no sounds other than the wind. It is absolutely fantastic to have these lovely birds back! Last week we saw some Weddell seals with their newborn pups as well - there is definitely spring spirit in the air. The sun now sets at around 9:30pm which gives us a good time to head out after dinner to check out the progress of the return of life to Antarctica.

Aurora Australis, our orange ocean going splendour, left Hobart last week and, after dropping in at Macquarie Island, is now approaching Casey. After that she will head for Mawson for crew changeover and finally arrive at Davis (if all goes well) around 13 November. Everyone has started to slowly pack their belongings which need to be in the cargo system one week prior to the ship's arrival. There's also the work RTA (Return To Australia) to take care of plus making the station summer-ready. This involves preparing all empty rooms for new occupants and turning heating on in the summer accommodation block. Only four of us winterers will be leaving on V1 (voyage 1) and I think that it will be rather hard for the remaining winterers to watch the ship leave without them, knowing that she is taking her passengers back to their loved ones. I definitely miss my family and friends and as such I feel ready to go, but at the same time I know already now that as soon as I set foot on the ship I will miss Antarctica. That's the thing about this place, once it has you it will never let go. I'd like to quote a couple of excerpts from Kim Stanley Robinson's book "Antarctica" because I feel that he captures the essence of Antarctica so well:

"...everything still and motionless; the clarity of the light unlike anything you've ever seen, like nothing on Earth, and you all alone in it...and the uncanny beauty rises in you and clamps your chest tight, and your heart breaks then simply because it is squeezed so hard, because this world is so spacious and pure and beautiful.."

The PhD is going veeery slowly as there are a lot of other things that need to get done at the moment. However some positive progress has certainly happened - I finished the first draft of my first chapter a couple of weeks ago which felt great! In addition I have been playing with the perl data language (PDL) to see where I can use it instead of having to deal with IDL (which I still think is a rather cranky and unfriendly language not to mention its lack of elegance - it does its job but it ain't pretty).

The ozone hole has started to abate after showing its might by trailing the upper limits of the annual average curve. Factor 30+ is essential and with all the snow around to increase the exposure it doesn't take long before the skin burns badly. The PSCs seem to have disappeared but not before making a comeback on 8 October. This was facilitated by a wobble in the polar vortex which brought Davis close to the cold vortex core.

As said things will now get rather busy and this Saturday we will be celebrating the "official" end of winter. With just a few weeks to go it is also a time for reflection on what we have experienced in the past 8 months. We last saw anyone except for each other on 2 March and it is time to start the psychological preparation for reintegration into the real world!