pictures from an antarctic research facility abandoned for over 50 years

[Karl Grylls]

I came across to this article: http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/antarktis-besuch-in-seit-50-jahren-verlassener-station-fotostrecke-146102.html

There is a research facility in the antarctic, that has been abandoned for more than 50 years. An expedition returned to check what has been left behind. Most of you won't understand german, but the pictures are totally worth it! Funniest things are the playboy and the supplies
 

When reading the news, i immediately had to think about TLD. Maybe with the beta release we will get this atmosphere too? I want it!

 

 

[Mel Guille]

Really interesting, @Karl Grylls , thanks for sharing!

It's fascinating to think of it slowly being buried in the snow, perfectly preserved. Next time someone goes back they'll have to excavate to find the roof hatch.

[cekivi]

That's a neat series of pics! I remember seeing another article someone linked to in the forums but that base was nowhere near as well preserved. It was already getting crushed by the Antarctic glacier. Wonder if there's an English version of this. I could tell what was in the pictures but I had no idea what the captions said!

 

[starfighter441]

27 minutes ago, cekivi said:

That's a neat series of pics! I remember seeing another article someone linked to in the forums but that base was nowhere near as well preserved. It was already getting crushed by the Antarctic glacier. Wonder if there's an English version of this. I could tell what was in the pictures but I had no idea what the captions said!

 

Now I know I've been here too long, went through the whole set of photos, and never noticed that the captions were in German...

[Karl Grylls]

17 hours ago, cekivi said:

That's a neat series of pics! I remember seeing another article someone linked to in the forums but that base was nowhere near as well preserved. It was already getting crushed by the Antarctic glacier. Wonder if there's an English version of this. I could tell what was in the pictures but I had no idea what the captions said!

 

I will translate the captions //not word for word, but you will get the meaning

[cekivi]

9 hours ago, Karl Grylls said:

I will translate the captions //not word for word, but you will get the meaning

Thanks @Karl Grylls 

[Karl Grylls]

Here is the translation:

Pic1: red-white painted pole of Plateau Station with Equipment of the CoFi-Expedition. The scientist were searching for the very oldest and coldest ice of the planet. Among other things, they tried to find out how exactly air from the environment got stuck into bubbles in this old ice. During their last Expedition they also stopped at the US research facility, which has been abandoned since 1969.

Pic2: The entrance: "Only this hatch of the former lookout (!) of the station rises above the snow", says Sepp Kipfstuhl from Alfred-Wegener-Institute in Bremerhaven (thats a city in northern Germany). It looks like the tower from a small submarine, hidden under the ice. Ten years ago, a former expedition marked the entrance with bamboo.

Pic3: Visiting the inner Station: "when you breath, you cause a lot of fog", says Kipfstuhl. "It reflects the light and this is why it is very impractical for cameras with flashing light."

Pic4: Kitchen: Above the sink is a poster, that is well known from shared houses around the world - a command hidden as an appeal always to clean your stuff.

Pic5: Walnuts: Some supplies stayed here when the US left in 1969. For example this net and...

Pic6: ... these bins in the kitchen unit. Unlikely that something could expire by these arctic temperatures.

Pic7: Medical supplies: A Navy doctor was the commander of the station. Nothing is known about possible bigger medical complications. Operations were also hardly possible because of the narrowness.

Pic8: Left behind equipment: It would be the perfect setting for a horror movie: A research facility that has been abandoned for more than half a century in the middle of the eternal ice. "The Thing". But what was found by the scientists in 2017 is luckily banal.

Pic9: Everything there: The technical equipment is nearly complete. Washing machine, drying machine, flat iron are also there as like this almighty scale.

Pic10: Some of the beds are still covered, there are extra blankets for the freezing and fresh (me: "fresh") bed linen on the table. And than...

Pic11: ...there is the playboy from february 1966. The lady with the spple on the cover is Sissy by the way

Pic12: left behind medical equipment: "In ten or twenty years from now, somebody can return and it will still look the same", says Kipfstuhl.

Pic13: "The pole will be visible even in 500 years", he says. Thats because the air is very dry out here and the wind relatively weak - only after some hundred years there will be enough snow to hide he complete structure.

Pic 14: CoFi at plateau station: Round about 1km away from there the expedition dugged out a core (me: is that correct english? :S). It is 202 meters long. It will answer the question how deep the bubbles in the ice have to be for avoiding contact with the surrounding air.

 Pic15: elapsed time: That people will return some day for a longer time is not on sight (me: is that a correct formulation?

Have fun with the translation But one request: PLEASE correct my english. I guess i'm between niveau B1 and B2, but at every picture i had to use my online dictionary. Even if there are formulations that are more elegant, please let me know

[cekivi]

Well, not knowing what the original German says I can't correct too much but "core" for picture 14 should be correct. Although I suspect "extracted ice core" would be more correct. Meter would also be plural (1 meter, 2 meters).

[Karl Grylls]

Thanks Core wasn't the problem, but "digged out" sounded false for me.

[Patrick Carlson]

Dug out or drilled a core would be appropriate in this context -- it's ambiguous what they actually extracted (or maybe the extraction is implied by the act of drilling -- don't want to get pedantic). Fascinating group of images! Sounds like the plot of an old X-Files episode. 

[Karl Grylls]

Thanks again for all your help Is there anything else?

And back to TLD: These images look like a horror scenario to me and i was thinking about how TLD would benefit from a bit more horror. The sounds of the environment are fulfilling this for sure, but how about one step further? I imagine walking around in PV when suddenly behind or before me - with a terrifying noise - a branch comes down! Of cause it should be hardscripted, so it can't kill you, that would be very grotty. But just for the shock moment? Fantastic

[starfighter441]

On 4/3/2017 at 6:26 PM, Karl Grylls said:

Here is the translation:

Pic1: red-white painted pole of Plateau Station with Equipment of the CoFi-Expedition. The scientist were searching for the very oldest and coldest ice of the planet. Among other things, they tried to find out how exactly air from the environment got stuck into bubbles in this old ice. During their last Expedition they also stopped at the US research facility, which has been abandoned since 1969.

Pic2: The entrance: "Only this hatch of the former lookout (!) of the station rises above the snow", says Sepp Kipfstuhl from Alfred-Wegener-Institute in Bremerhaven (thats a city in northern Germany). It looks like the tower from a small submarine, hidden under the ice. Ten years ago, an earlier expedition marked the entrance with bamboo.

Pic3: Visiting the inner Station: "when you breath, you cause a lot of fog", says Kipfstuhl. "It reflects the light and this is why it is very impractical for flash photography."

Pic4: Kitchen: Above the sink is a poster, that is well known from shared houses around the world - a command hidden as an appeal always to clean your stuff.

Pic5: Walnuts: Some supplies remained here when the US left in 1969. For example this net and...

Pic6: ... these bins in the kitchen unit. Unlikely that something could expire in these arctic temperatures.

Pic7: Medical supplies: A Navy doctor was the commander of the station. Nothing is known about possible bigger medical complications. Operations were also hardly possible because of the narrowness.

Pic8: Left behind equipment: It would be the perfect setting for a horror movie: A research facility that has been abandoned for more than half a century in the middle of the eternal ice. "The Thing". But what was found by the scientists in 2017 is luckily banal.

Pic9: Everything there: The technical equipment is nearly complete. Washing machine, drying machine, flat iron are also there as like this almighty scale.

Pic10: Some of the beds are still made, there are extra blankets for the cold and fresh (me: "fresh") bed linen on the table. And then...

Pic11: ...there is the playboy from February 1966. The lady with the apple on the cover is Sissy by the way

Pic12: left behind medical equipment: "In ten or twenty years from now, somebody could return and it will still look the same", says Kipfstuhl.

Pic13: "The pole will be visible even in 500 years", he says. That's because the air is very dry out here and the wind relatively weak - only after some centuries will be there be enough snow to hide the complete structure.

Pic 14: CoFi at plateau station: Around about 1km away from there the expedition drilled out a core (me: is that correct english? :S). It is 202 meters long. It will answer the question how deep the bubbles in the ice have to be for avoiding contact with the surrounding air.

 Pic15: elapsed time: That people will return some day for a longer time is not on sight (me: is that a correct formulation? It is not expected that the station will be manned for any long period of time in the foreseeable future.

Have fun with the translation But one request: PLEASE correct my english. I guess i'm between niveau B1 and B2, but at every picture i had to use my online dictionary. Even if there are formulations that are more elegant, please let me know

My quick edits are in bold.  Mostly minor things that a non-native speaker can be forgiven for.

Your English is very good, much better than my German.  Grammatik ist und bleibt meine Achillesferse...

[Karl Grylls]

5 hours ago, starfighter441 said:

My quick edits are in bold.  Mostly minor things that a non-native speaker can be forgiven for.

Your English is very good, much better than my German.  Grammatik ist und bleibt meine Achillesferse...

Haha, vielen Dank Wo kommst du denn her und wieso kannst du Deutsch? Die wenigsten möchten ja Deutsch lernen, deswegen interessiert mich das^^

Achillesferse? Der, die, das

[starfighter441]

5 hours ago, Karl Grylls said:

Haha, vielen Dank Wo kommst du denn her und wieso kannst du Deutsch? Die wenigsten möchten ja Deutsch lernen, deswegen interessiert mich das^^

Achillesferse? Der, die, das

Ich bin Kanadier, und lebe in Deutschland. Ich wäre hier stationert mit die Königliche Kanadische Luftwaffe, und bin einfach hangen gebleiben .  Der, die und das sind mir immer noch eine Rätzel und würde so bleiben...  Auch Ä,Ö, und Ü. ß ist inzwischen gelöst...

I read and understand German almost as well as English now, but still have problems with writing it and have a very strong Canadian accent, and make quit a few grammatical errors when speaking it.  Those who want to understand me though.

 

[Karl Grylls]

Ich denke du hast nichts dagegen wenn ich dir ebenfalls helfe? Wäre nur fair, immerhin hast du mir auch geholfen

1 hour ago, starfighter441 said:

Ich bin Kanadier, und lebe in Deutschland. Ich wäre war hier stationert mit die der Königlichen Kanadischen Luftwaffe, und bin einfach hangen hängen gebleiben geblieben .  Der, die und das sind mir immer noch eine Rätzel Rätsel und würde wird so bleiben...  Auch Ä,Ö, und Ü. ß ist inzwischen gelöst...

I read and understand German almost as well as English now, but still have problems with writing it and have a very strong Canadian accent, and make quit a few grammatical errors when speaking it.  Those who want to understand me though.

 

Ich wusste gar nicht das in D Kanadier stationiert sind/waren.... Wahrscheinlich in einer britischen Einrichtung? Celle vielleicht?

I don't know how a canadian accent sounds like, but that's not a problem. Some customers of me were from Canada, i didn't hear any special accent.

But the last word in your sentence is a miracle for me. My english comes to a limit there. "Those who want to understand me" is no problem, but the "though" behind it? For me it sounds like an uncomplete sentence. Can you help me to understand please?

 

Der, die, das ist für Ausländer ziemlich bescheiden. Es gibt glaube ich nur sehr wenige Regeln, ausser das im Plural fast immer DIE benutzt wird. Das ist eine reine Gefühlssache. Sry bro ^^
 

Ich lerne gerade norwegisch und bin froh, dass es dort sowas nicht gibt Die Sprache ist sogar noch einfacher als englisch^^

[cekivi]

@Karl Grylls Probably not the best grammar but "though" qualifies "those who want to". Essentially the sentence can be read as saying: "People can understand my German if they are willing to put in some effort".

[Karl Grylls]

Ah thank you. It's slang i guess.

[starfighter441]

16 hours ago, Karl Grylls said:

Ich denke du hast nichts dagegen wenn ich dir ebenfalls helfe? Wäre nur fair, immerhin hast du mir auch geholfen

Ich wusste gar nicht das in D Kanadier stationiert sind/waren.... Wahrscheinlich in einer britischen Einrichtung? Celle vielleicht?

I don't know how a canadian accent sounds like, but that's not a problem. Some customers of me were from Canada, i didn't hear any special accent.

But the last word in your sentence is a miracle for me. My english comes to a limit there. "Those who want to understand me" is no problem, but the "though" behind it? For me it sounds like an uncomplete sentence. Can you help me to understand please?

 

Der, die, das ist für Ausländer ziemlich bescheiden. Es gibt glaube ich nur sehr wenige Regeln, ausser das im Plural fast immer DIE benutzt wird. Das ist eine reine Gefühlssache. Sry bro ^^
 

Ich lerne gerade norwegisch und bin froh, dass es dort sowas nicht gibt Die Sprache ist sogar noch einfacher als englisch^^

At one time Canada had 4 Fighter Wings (12 Squadrons) in Europe, 2 in France ( Grostenquin and Marville) and 2 in Germany ( Baden-Söllingen near Baden Baden and Zweibrücken) as well as an Army Brigade group in Soest.  Later we had just three Squadrons at Baden and a Brigade group in Lahr.  The last unit closed down in 1994.

The last sentence has a missing comma, it should read " Those who want to, understand me". 

No problems with your edits, I'm not a person who gets upset about such things.

 

[Rusty_Old_F250]

That is pretty cool! Thanks for the translation. 

As a "scale guy" it's pretty neat to see a pic of the old toledo floor scale! We have a few still in operation around here that we check and calibrate

Sam

[Pillock]

On 4/7/2017 at 10:02 AM, Karl Grylls said:

Ah thank you. It's slang i guess.

 

On 4/7/2017 at 0:18 AM, cekivi said:

@Karl Grylls Probably not the best grammar but "though" qualifies "those who want to". Essentially the sentence can be read as saying: "People can understand my German if they are willing to put in some effort".

 

On 4/7/2017 at 3:15 PM, starfighter441 said:

The last sentence has a missing comma, it should read " Those who want to, understand me". 

Sorry to weigh in on this. I'm an English teacher and I can't help it!

There's nothing wrong with the grammar of the original sentence, and it isn't slang. "Those who want to understand me though" is a perfectly good sentence. You can't put a comma between "to" and "understand", because "Those who want to" is the subject of the main verb "understand", and in English you aren't allowed to separate them with a comma like that. It would be like writing, "They, understand me." And that would be wrong.

If you put into the passive, it's easier to understand, though: "I am understood by those who want to [though]."

[cekivi]

Huh. Learn something everyday