Ponds located on Bratina Island. A number of studies are taking place at Bratina Island, including work carried out by scientists from The National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research, Ltd. Christchurch, New Zealand. Bratina Island is located on the McMurdo Ice Shelf, just North of Black Island. Tens of thousands of ponds and meltpools are located here. Many of these ponds are quite productive with dense microbial mats forming within the pools. Much of the 'land' seen in these images is actually sediment on top of an ice-shelf several hundereds of meters thick helf several hundreds of meters thick. The constant movement of this ice-shelf has helped to create this unique environment.

Ponds located on Bratina Island. A number of studies are taking place at Bratina Island, including work carried out by scientists from The National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research, Ltd. Christchurch, New Zealand. Bratina Island is located on the McMurdo Ice Shelf, just North of Black Island. Tens of thousands of ponds and meltpools are located here. Many of these ponds are quite productive with dense microbial mats forming within the pools. Much of the 'land' seen in these images is actually sediment on top of an ice-shelf several hundereds of meters thick helf several hundreds of meters thick. The constant movement of this ice-shelf has helped to create this unique environment.

During a recent visit with our New Zealand colleagues, we had the opportunity to meet briefly with the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Rt. Hon. Jim Bolger and others in his party including Sir Edmund Hillary. Sir Edmund is an honorary President of the Explorers Club. As luck would have it, other members of the Explorers Club just happened to be present. Shown left to right are: US Ambassador Beeman, Rt. Hon. Jim Bolger, Sir Edmund Hillary, Robert A. Wharton, Jr. (Desert Research Institute, Reno, NV), Andrew Fountain (Portland University, Portland, OR), Dale T. Andersen (SETI Institute, Mt. View, CA).