HEARD ISLAND 2014

15 May 2013 PROJECT RESCHEDULING AND RESTRUCTURING

We wish to announce that the expedition to Heard Island has been rescheduled for January, 2015. The primary reason for this decision was the cost of using the preferred vessel, the Marion Dufresne to put the team on Heard Island for the required time. In spite of extensive negotiations and rescheduling of the cruise, it became clear that the cost of using this vessel will exceed $1 million, and therefore the total cost for the project would be about $1.5 million, as we noted earlier. In spite of our plan to increase the team size to 50 (which the M-D can accommodate) to partially cover this cost, we reluctantly concluded that sponsorship at this level would be impossible. We have therefore decided to delay the expedition to January, 2015, to allow more time to restructure the project, locate a more suitable vessel, and bring the cost more in line with projected available resources.

One benefit of this rescheduling will be to enable the mountain science team to carry out the exploration of Big Ben on the 50th anniversary of the first ascent (in 1965). The 3000-meter volcano on Mawson Peak is currently erupting, and study of the changes brought by this eruption will be safe and significant during the 2015 season. A major component of the expedition will be to document the effects of the eruption, the state and condition of the flanking glaciers, and the changes in evanescent lagoons on the east slopes of the mountain.

A second benefit of the restructuring is that we will plan for amateur radio operations to be carried out over a longer time, up to 30 or more days. Furthermore, the campsite will be located on the east side of Heard Island, enabling paths to areas of the world that were not accessible in the last operation (in 1997). With the requirement of the longer stay on Heard Island, we will be assembling a new radio team with operators who are highly experienced and dedicated to the challenge of activating Heard Island with the new project requirements.

The third benefit of rescheduling is to have the time to develop sophisticated instrumentation and systems for state-of-the-art real-time communications with the expedition. We will have satellite links to enable real-time reporting of the radio log (using a new version of DXA, which was successfully used on previous DXpeditions (K7C and TX5K). In addition, we plan to implement real-time interactive communications and reporting from the mountaineering team as they explore the volcano, and to enable scientific and educational groups to work interactively with the onsite team.

The budget for the restructured project will likely be significantly less than $500k. We plan for a total team of 12-15 persons, and we will solicit team members with experience, motivation, and multiple skills. Except for the organizing principals, we are starting anew to build the team for this very different mission. We will work to keep the cost to participants below $15k, and will expect the team to work together to find support and make the appropriate preparations. Safety will be paramount.

We will post an update on 15 June 2013, including an updated Project Description (under DOCUMENTS). For more information, please contact Dr. Robert Schmieder, KK6EK Organizer and Expedition leader, Schmieder (a) cordell.org, or Rich Holoch, KY6R, Co-planner rholoch (a) comcast.com.We have posted updates on the expedition website www.heardisland.org

25 December 2012 PROJECT STATUS

On Dec. 11 Dr. Schmieder visited officials at the IPEV (French International Polar Institute) at Brest, France. IPEV staff Helene LEAU (Head of the Oceanography Department) and Dr. Yves FRENOT (Director, Chair of the Committee for Environmental Protection) reiterated the availability of the vessel Marion Dufresne for the 40-day rotation leaving Reunion Island Jan. 4, 2014. The vessel has space for up to 50 participants. The total cost will be determined by the exact itinerary, and there is some chance that IPEV can share some of the costs of the helicopter and the cruise, based on their research plan. They had been in contact with the Australian authorities regarding the requirements for the landing permit, and it appears that with due diligence, the project and the vessel can satisfy the requirements for the permit.

Although we do not yet have the cost for the vessel and helicopter, we believe it will be in the vicinity of $1 million, implying that the total budget for the project will be around $1.3-1.5 million. Given that the participants will contribute their personal shares, we are likely to be seeking sponsors between $0.5-1.0 million. It is assumed that the team will be about equally divcided between radio amateurs and environmental scientists, so we will be seeking support from these two major groups.

We welcome Pista Gaspar HA5AO to the team. He is a Hungarian radio operator who has experience with expeditions to Campbell Island, Nauru, Vanuatu, and other places. We also welcome John Miller K6MM as Regional Pilot and Webmaster.

We have posted updates on the expedition website www.heardisland.org. For more information, please contact Dr. Robert Schmieder, KK6EK, Organizer and Expedition leader, Schmieder@cordell.org.

25 November 2012 PROJECT STATUS

We announce the appointment of Viola Krebs as liaison to IPEV, the operators of the vessel Marion Dufresne. Viola replaces Peter Casier who resigned for personal reasons. We are currently in final negotiations for the itinerary and cost for the expedition. Attempts to arrange a combined mission with TAAF to enable the team to be on Heard Island for 33 days did not succeed, due to the large size of the team and inadequate space on the vessel.

We report that that team member Damion Gildea is has made preliminary arrangements for an Australian film team to make a documentary of the expedition.

We expect that in the next news update (25 Dec), we will have specific information about the itinerary and projected costs.

We have posted updates on the expedition website www.heardisland.org. For more information, please contact Dr. Robert Schmieder, KK6EK, Organizer and Expedition leader, Schmieder@cordell.org.

25 October 2012 PROJECT DESCRIPTION and TEAM UPDATES

We are pleased to welcome Steve Chamberlain VK6IR, William (Wild Bill) Beyer N2WB, and Alan Cheshire VK6CQ to the radio team. We also welcome several other persons to the offsite team, including Yasuo "Zorro" Miyazawa JH1AJT, Tommy Horozakis VK2IR, and Christopher Wells N9LXR. Wells is implementing a real-time interactive video capability for the Clipperton Expedition (see below), and will do the same for Heard Island.

We are also pleased to welcome Dr. Robert Pitman, NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, California. Pitman is a world expert on killer whales. Killer whales are arguably one of the most recognizable, and best-studied, large animals on earth, yet basic questions about how many species there are and how they function within the ecosystem remain unanswered. Pitman has assembled evidence for the existence of a new species of killer whale in Antarctic waters, in the area that the Heard Island expedition will be travelling. Pitman will be on the Heard Island cruise to search confirm the proposed new whale species. Confirming new species in Antarctic waters would highlight the fact that our knowledge of marine biodiversity is perhaps even more rudimentary than currently recognized.

Please note the connection between the 2014 Heard Island Project and the 2013 Clipperton Expedition (www.cordell.org/CI). Some of the same team members will be implementing some of the same science projects on Clipperton that we expect to carry out at Heard Island. While being a major expedition on its own, Clipperton is also a development and test project for Heard Island. Because of this close relationship, we hope that sponsors will support both projects.

We have posted updates on the expedition website www.heardisland.org. For more information, please contact Dr. Robert Schmieder, KK6EK, Organizer and Expedition leader, Schmieder@cordell.org.

15 September 2012 SPONSORSHIP

We have posted a document describing opportunities for sponsorship of the Heard Island 2014 expedition. The document (updated to version 1.3) gives an overview of the project, and particularly addresses the question: "Why go to Heard Island?" It describes the central role of networking with people and organizations worldwide, particularly in real-time. In addition, it shows how this project may be the World's First Open-Source Expedition. This term means that the entire project is open for public inspection, interaction, and contributions. The logo for the open-source expeditioni is shown at left.

The document also describes the audience for the project, the target market, and the various opportunities for sponsorship, including product and services exposure, integrated advertising, engagement identification, and marketing via souvenirs. This document will be of interest to anyone in a position to help the expedition by obtaining sponsors, and for individuals who wish to understand the project in more detail.

15 August 2012 PROJECT DESCRIPTION and TEAM UPDATES

We have posted updates of the Project Description (version 5.0) and the TEAM.

You will see in the Project Description that we have developed a wide-ranging scientific program, including radio operations (the DXpedition), real-time communications, mountain science, biological science, atmospheric science, astronomical science, documentatioin, and educational outreach. We are proposing that the AAD collaborate on some of the research.

We have confirmation of the vessel Marion-Dufresne for the expedition, the same vessel we used for VK0IR in 1997. We will now be working with the AAD concerning the permit. We are interested in establishing a collaboration with any person or group that can fit into the research program (or extend it). The next NEWS update will be on Sept. 15. The next round of team members will be announced on October 15, but if you are interested in joining the team (on the island or offsite), we invite you to contact us anytime.

15 July 2012 PROJECT DESCRIPTION

We have posted two documents on this website:

1. The Preliminary Project Description (version 3.6) for the 2014 Heard Island Expedition. This document changes signficantly every few days. Please click on the link above for the latest version.

2. The book VK0IR Heard Island, by KK6EK. This is the complete original book about the 1997 DXpedition.

Currently we are elaborating the scientific program for the expediton and adding to the list of candidates for the team. We are pleased to have Jean-Michel Cousteau as Honorary Expedition Leader and Joe Taylor K1JT (Nobel physics) as Honorary DXpedition Leader. If you have interest in being involved in the project in any capacity, we would welcome your inquiry.

15 June 2012 INITIAL TEAM

We are pleased to announce the initial team for the 2014 expedition to Heard Island. At this time this list is incomplete; it will be augmented in the coming months. The next round of team members will be announced on August 15.

15 May 2012 ANNOUNCEMENT

After 5 months of planning, Cordell Expeditions is pleased to announce an expedition to Heard Island, Territory of Australia, in early 2014.We have assembled a core team, arranged for the vessel, and are awaiting the landing permit and radio callsign. Initial team members, collaborating organizations, and other resources will be announced in the near future.

The expedition will be multi-disciplinary, with three major activities: Communications, Environmental Science, and Documentation. We will be active on all amateur radio bands and all modes, implement a variety of innovative real-time communications technologies, and field a variety of scientific projects that are designed to observe and document some of the unique resources on this extraordinary island. We will use the latest version of DXA (www.cordell.org/DXA) for real-time online presentation of log data, images, and video from Heard Island.

This project follows the very successful amateur radio expedition to Heard Island carried out by this group in 1997 using the callsign VKØIR. Details of that operation can be seen at www.cordell.org/HI and in the book VKØIR Heard Island. The website for the 2014 DXpedition is www.cordell.org/HD or www.heardisland.org.

We invite your participation in this project, as a potential team member, supporter, collaborator, field scientist, or as a callsign in our radio log. If you have a particular interest in Heard Island or have a project you would like to propose, we invite you to contact us.

For information, please contact the Expedition Leader, Dr. Robert Schmieder (KK6EK) schmieder (at) cordell.org.