A remote camp in East Antarctica is being dusted off and restocked in preparation for scientists to start arriving to work on a deep field science campaign.
The Denman Terrestrial Campaign is in its third and final year, investigating the Denman Glacier system, one of the region's fastest melting glaciers.
In the last two decades, the glacier has retreated five kilometres but little is known about what's causing the accelerated melt.
This year, 18 scientists will be based at Edgeworth David base camp at Bunger Hills, about 450 km west of Casey research station.
"The work program this year can be grouped into three different areas: biodiversity, understanding the Denman Glacier itself - its behaviour and structure - and thirdly, human impacts," Field Leader Simon Cross said.
"The biodiversity work is terrestrial and also under the sea ice.
"The Denman Glacier work is classic glaciology, so looking at seismology, movement and what's happening to that environment."
The impact of humans living and working in the area is also being assessed. Permits awarded to the DTC mandate that the site is fully remediated when the scientists leave.
Some science teams will stay at Edgeworth David base camp. Others will spend short periods at more remote locations, with helicopter support.
"We'll have a minimum of three satellite camps, one at Cape Hoadley and one or two in the Bunger hills operating different programs, and a third very light walk-in camp which will get minimal helicopter support to collect samples in the Bunger Hills," Simon Cross said.
"They'll run from five to ten days at a time. What's new this time is we have a number of new teams. For about six people, this will be their first trip to Antarctica."
