Recommendations:

A photographic service (person and facilities) at Scott Base could be of considerable use for some scientific field parties. If a person at Scott Base were available to develop and print photographs many scientists could take photographs by helo on field party put-ins expecting prints to be available to work from a few days later in the field. Such a service would be useful for geology field mapping (where available aerial photography is unsuitable), surveying especially in the case of mobile features which change each year, e.g. calving ice tongues, and biological studies, e.g. seal and penguin census. The information officer might be a suitable person to provide this service. However, it would have to be recognised as part of his duties.

A Scott Base explosives facility is becoming important as more field parties require explosives for their work. Two distinct problems are obvious:

(a)

Temporary storage is required by parties planning to leave or returning from the field. The U.S. system cannot always provide explosives the day you require, or be able to take back explosives the day a field party may return to Scott Base. Field parties in transit through base also cannot store explosives for a day or so.

(b)

The second problem is related to the 2 years advanced notice that the U.S. Navy system requires of New Zealand explosive requirements. New Zealand scientific programmes are only approved a year and a half in advance at the most so informing Antarctic Division of accurate requirements 2 years prior to use is impossible. If New Zealand had control of its own explosives this problem need not occur. However, until such time perhaps a "standing order" should be placed with the U.S. authorities.

page 42

3.	Dehydrated Food.

This season it was very disappointing to find much of the packaged dehydrated meals to be of lower standard than normal. It would appear to have been a bad batch and often was only suitable to make soup. The only field situations where "dehy" is essential is mid-summer in the dry valleys where temperatures are well above 0°C and where weight is vital, such as backpacking. Even on the sea ice in mid-December frozen meat can be kept below 0°C by adding snow/ice to a food box (fridge). I would like to see a change from the present "dehy" meals to an easier access to frozen meat for field parties requiring it and modern N.Z. "freeze-dried" meals for the rarer special situations.

In December, tents, mattresses and sleeping bags often get very wet and salty when camping on bare sea ice making life miserable. Low camp stretchers that fit in a polar tent would prevent this and would be less bulky than the present foam mattresses. Waterproofing the present foam mattresses and PVC groundsheets may be a cheaper alternative.