The last of our on-ice team have arrived, and have taken part in Antarctic Field Training to learn skills for life at our deep-field camp. The four scientists – Arne Ulfers, Linda Armbrecht, Luca Zurli & Yuri Yamazki – and driller Stephen Stretch, had perfect weather for camping.

Our Antarctic Intermediate Depth Drill team have been hard at work with our ‘big rig’. They’ve assembled the geological drill that has weathered a long Antarctic winter here at KIS3. To prepare for drilling they’re using the rig to put together the drill pipe. 📷Ana Tovey

We now have a well cavity, and well pump installed. The well pump is vital – circulating water through the system, pumping an endless supply to drill our main borehole right through the ice shelf. It was all hands on deck to ensure a safe and successful install! 📷Ana Tovey

If it’s ice flight day it’s a great day! We’re sharing Antarctic vocab this season, so that you too #TalklikeanAntarctican. After all the preparation, and the frequent weather delays, boarding your ice flight south is a huge milestone. And oh, those views! bit.ly/3Dh5TVZ

Things are heating up at our deep-field camp on the grounding zone of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet – hot water drilling is underway. Co-Chief Richard Levy (GNS Science and VicUniWgtn) shares our second Expedition Update, including a sneak peek of our borehole.

Grand Designs ‘Turdis’ edition. It’s the little things that count at camp - particularly when it comes to toilets. Our Turdis has recently had an upgrade. Although others tried their hand at the DIY, this was a job for our snow brick builder extraordinaire Sean Heaphy!

We’ve broken through the ice shelf! This morning our crack team of hot water drillers melted their way through 587.96m of the Ross Ice Shelf to reach the ocean cavity, providing crucial access to climate secrets in the seafloor below. Well-deserved ‘victory toasties’ all round!

Jumping for joy to make it to KIS3! The last of our on-ice team have arrived. Scientists Linda Armbrecht, Arne Ulfers, Yuri Yamazaki & Luca Zurli, hot water driller Stephen Stretch, and videographer Anthony Powell are ready to put in the hard yards to retrieve the sediment core.

We have our first gravity core! This is not the deep core that we’ve come for – we’ll use piston and rotary coring for that - but with so few sediment samples every obtained from below this remote part of the Ross Ice Shelf, this is precious mud indeed. 🎥Ana Tovey/ SWAIS2C

What’s that growing out of our drill tent? Our rig has an 8.2m mast. That’s higher than our drill tent - luckily the tent has a removable flap! Watch carefully & you might spot the fluoro helmet of Ryan Steadman putting pegs in the mast as it extends 👉 bit.ly/3BwGgjz

🎄Happy Holidays and Merry KIS-mas, from the SWAIS2C on-ice team at KIS3 on the Ross Ice Shelf! 🎥 Anthony Powell / Antarctica New Zealand

Drilling at KIS3 has ended due to a technical challenge, following the successful deployment of our sea riser. We're proud of the team’s massive effort to progress this close to obtaining the deep core, & are looking ahead to our season at Crary Ice Rise 👉bit.ly/41Wu6v7

It’s been a huge season for our on-ice team KIS3 - our Co-Chief Tina van de Flierdt (Imperial College London) sums it up in this end of season wrap. We’re now focussed on our next season at Crary Ice Rise, where we will attempt to obtain a long sediment core 👉swais2c.aq

A big shout-out to the awesome women of our 2024/25 on-ice team this International Day of Women and Girls in Science! From co-chief scientist to medic to hot water driller, these seven inspiring women all played vital roles in our work at our deep-field research camp this season.

Home sweet home from the air! Check out this amazing drone footage of our deep-field Antarctic research camp KIS3 this past field season. Our on-ice team spent up to 6 weeks living here on the grounding zone of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, 860km from Scott Base🎥AntarcticaNewZealand

For our past two field seasons, the AntarcticaNewZealand traverse team hauled our gear 1328km across the Ross Ice Shelf. But the safe path to KIS3 was first mapped in 2017. Daniel Price helped find the route, and shares his experience in this new RNZ podcast 🎧rnz.co.nz/news/environme…

A 100,000-year-old record of waves breaking high up on a cliff above a Cornish beach has more connection with Antarctica’s ice sheets than you might think. SWAIS2C science team member Ed Gasson explains The Conversation bit.ly/44p6z5p

It's SWAIS-mail time! Not a subscriber? Catch up on all the news from the project, and sign up so you don't miss out next time 👉bit.ly/44RL0M8 📷Anthony Powell / Antarctica New Zealand. Thanks to the KIS3 2024/25 team for the ultimate in sign writing.

Groundbreaking insights about rivers beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, and their role in ice shelf melt, have been uncovered. SWAIS2C Co-Chief Huw Horgan led the team observing this water enter the ocean cavity at KIS2 on the ice sheet grounding zone👉bit.ly/44FFniV

🚨Sound the sediment siren! Since the last season, our engineers have made modifications to our drilling system, and put it to the test in rural New Zealand. Co-Chief Molly Patterson recorded this update while on site swais2c.aq/media/test-of-…