By The Mass2Ant team

After a long trip, we are now back in Belgium with our scientific results and full of memories from Antarctica. We followed the same path on the way back as for the way in. We first flew from Princess Elisabeth Station to the Novo air base Saturday evening on a DC3. This plane has a long history behind, including some activities during World War 2 and several updates since then. The journey continued to Cape Town and then Paris and Brussels.

We arrived Monday afternoon, so in time for the Tuesday exams in our Universities! The data analysis will start as soon as we have dealt with all the issues that have risen during the seven weeks when we were away.

The DC-3 that makes the connection between Princess Elisabeth Station and Novo air base

The DC-3 that makes the connection between Princess Elisabeth Station and Novo air base

This is thus the last post of this series. Information on our results and on the arrival of the ice cores will be posted on the web site of the project

It is the opportunity to thank all the people who contributed to make our campaign a success.

The story started with the funding of our project by the Belgian Science Policy office (BELSPO) and the support we received from the BELSPO team since the launch of the project.

The campaign was only possible thanks to the logistics well handled by the International Polar Foundation and its very dedicated team. We want to thank specifically Christophe, Pierrick and Alain that accompanied us in the field and Michel, Claire and Gigi for the organization of our mission and for welcoming us so warmly in Cape Town.

The support from our family and friends is essential for all of us before, during and after the mission.

Our colleagues in our universities agreed to take care of the daily business during those seven weeks, replacing us in some of our duties, and we are very grateful for that.

We would also like to thank icefield instruments (White Horse, Canada) who provides the drill used for the ice core and the Australian Antarctic Division that shared with us a few tanks of Estisol, the drilling fluid.

For the blog itself, a special thank goes to Alain and Sabrina who have posted all the messages we have sent, even during their holidays, and to the Press Office teams of UCLouvain and ULB that informed the media of our work. Without them, you would not be able to follow our progresses in the field!

And of course, we would like to thank all of you for your support, your fidelity and your interest in this blog! If you have additional questions or comments, do not hesitate to contact us.