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\nConcordia<\/a> station, located on a plateau 3200 m above sea level on the Antarctic peninsula, is first and foremost a research hub.\n<\/p>\n \nNestled at the very southern tip of Earth, where temperatures can drop to \u201380 \u00b0C in the winter, and a yearly average temperature of \u201350 \u00b0C, the station offers researchers the opportunity to collect data and experiment like no other place on Earth.\n<\/p>\n \nAmong these researchers is a team of micrometeorite hunters scouting the snow and ice for traces of extra-terrestrial material less than a millimetre in diameter. Every year the amount of micrometeorites accounts for up to 1000 tonnes of particles on Earth.\n<\/p>\n \nSome of these fall in Antarctica where the frigid temperatures preserve these cosmic particles.\n<\/p>\n \nThe French team of micrometeorite hunters at Concordia managed to remove just over 1000 cubic meters of ice and snow, setting a record.\n<\/p>\n \nThe snow is slowly melted and filtered for micrometeorites that are then analysed. The results help further our understanding of the origins of the Solar System.\n<\/p>\n \nResearchers spent hours digging in the \u201350 \u00b0C temperatures for several days, equipped with protective suits, rubber gloves, picks and shovels in the name of cosmochemistry. \n<\/p>\n \nThe end of their dig meant some fun for the residents. While researchers must ensure the ice and snow samples are as pristine as possible, once they had finished their sampling the trench could be \u201ccontaminated\u201d by the boots of others.\n<\/p>\n \nRecreation is just as important for the isolated crew as the science and research that takes place there. So on a Sunday the residents took to the trench with sleds and snowmobiles. \n<\/p>\n \nThe 7-m deep trench is a snowy time capsule, of sorts. Antarctica is the world’s driest continent and Concordia is situated in the world\u2019s largest desert. The layers of packed snow in the trench are the accumulation of approximately 80 years of snowfall.\n<\/p>\n \nTo put it in the words of ESA-sponsored medical doctor Nadja Albertsen, \u201cwhen the snow that we experienced on Sunday fell, World War II was just beginning and the atomic bomb was still just an idea.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nDr. Albertsen is currently in residence at Concordia to run the biological experiments at the base. You can follow her adventures on the Chronicles from Concordia blog<\/a>. \n<\/p>\n \nWhile scientists continue to follow the case of micrometeorites on Earth, we leave you to ponder the writing on the trench wall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n