The Tristan da Cunha expedition February-March 2003

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some shots of the field work on Nightingale Island

The position of Nightingale Island,

ca 35 km SSW of Tristan.

The spectacular Nightingale Island seen from the north.

The highest peak is almost 400 m a s l.

Rock hopper (“Rastafarian”) penguins and the Tristanians

huts at the landing place.

The path to the “Ponds” is here seen winding up the hill

to a plateau at 200 m a s l, behind which the Ponds occur.

Barking fur seals at the landing place.

James and a couple of albatross chicks on the path up to the plateau.

The view to Tristan from the plateau.

Two of the ponds (overgrown lakes), 1^st and 2^nd Pond, are seen from a

hill top with Matthew in the foreground. 1^st Pond is at the top, while 2^nd

Pond is seen just right of Matthew. Note the coring team on the 2^nd Pond,

just to the right of the rock, and all the white albatross chicks surrounding

the quag-mire.

The photographer is approximately standing where we managed to get

a 9.6 m long sequence from 2^nd Pond. Without being 6 people we

could not have pressed it down or pulled it up,

and Matthew was strong as a horse!

The lowermost very compact 60 cm of the deepest core at 2^nd Pond,

where the sediments consist of peat (!). We now know that the sediments

cover most of the Holocene.

Tristan da Cunha seen from Nightingale

with an albatross in the foreground.

Going back to Tristan, through the Kelp, after a very successful coring trip.