Location: Recovery Lake “B”, northern part, 82º 37’ S, 17º 52’ E
Weather: Partly cloudy, -25 C, wind 8 kts

We are currently camped out in the Recovery Lakes region, and one of the main features of the snow surface is that it is flat, flat, flat.  Hardly a sastrugi in sight larger than a few centimetres high. But there are still plenty of snow surface features to get excited about.  Here at this camp spot, there are these neat patches of ripples dotting the landscape.  Out on a ski this evening, I spotted multitudes of cups dug out of the snow surface as well.   The features are created by the wind, which we’ve had plenty of the last couple of days, along with the return of colder temperatures.  Summer is over on the Antarctic Plateau!

Ripples in the snow near our camp.  Photo: Stein Tronstad/NPI