Packing for Christmas

Him, his equipment – and three large polystyrene boxes, in which he places hundreds of small plastic containers that will be used for snow samples. He also has two drums of diethyl phthalate ready and waiting. He will add this liquid to snow samples, filling the empty space in the snow structure and then freezing it to minus twenty degrees Celsius. "This keeps the ice crystals stable in the long term, meaning that the structure remains intact," explains Jaggi.

While in Antarctica, he will collect a lot of data as part of the NIVO3 research project run by the French Polar Institute Paul-Émile Victor (IPEV). For example, he will investigate how snow metamorphism, the transformation of each individual snow crystal into an ice pellet, affects how different isotopes of oxygen are distributed in the ice. Oxygen isotopes are oxygen atoms with atomic nuclei of different weights. "This is extremely important to enable climate scientists to draw conclusions about global temperatures," says Jaggi, placing a black case inside a metal box.

This is the SnowImager, a device developed by colleagues at the SLF to measure snow profiles using an optical method. Although still a prototype, Jaggi intends to use it to study the snowpack and snow metamorphism in Antarctica. It will also be an endurance test for the device, with temperatures dropping to around minus forty degrees Celsius.

Shovels, cables, electrical equipment, multi-sockets, a robust three-metre-long folding rule, special weatherproof and moisture-resistant writing pads, and much more go into the containers. In the end, there are six metal boxes, one case, two barrels and three polystyrene containers, totalling 2,000 litres in volume and 450 kilograms in weight. Jaggi holds back when it comes to personal items. An e-reader, some sports equipment (there is a sports room at Dome Concordia), a camera. "And," he adds, "if I'm allowed to bring it in, a good herbal tea."