Dasan Station, Ny-Ålesund

This was mailed back to me from South Korea's Dasan Station in Ny-Ålesund (Norway) by Dr. Soon Keun Chang of the Korean Polar Research Institute (KOPRI). He is an honorary research scientist with the division of polar earth system sciences. Dasan Station is a seasonal base established in 2002 for conducting environmental research, glacial and periglacial geomorphology, hydrology and atmospheric chemistry. The building is maintained by Kings Bay AS: the company that owns everything in Ny-Alesund. This same building houses the French IPEV Rabot Station.

TAAF Covers: Kerguelen, Crozet and St. Paul & Amsterdam

Kerguelen, Crozet and St. Paul & Amsterdam. I sent all three of these at the same time but separately on 15 November 2011. They were all postmarked a few days apart. And they all showed up in my mailbox on the same day: today.

Robert F Scott - Kiel Postmark

I received this today from Germany with a "Robert F Scott" commemorative postmark on it. Thank you very much Bhavin (and Martin). On January 17, 1912, Scott had a "horrible day" when he reached the South Pole to discover that Amundsen had gotten there first.

Diomede, Alaska

Diomede is a small village with a population of 135 on the island of Little Diomede in the Bering Strait between Alaska and Russia. In fact, Little Diomede is only a couple of kilometers from Big Diomede which is the Eastern most point of Russia. From Diomede, when the weather is right, you can quite literally see Russia to the West. And in the winter when the strait freezes between the two islands you can walk from the United States to Russia. The International Date Line is less than a kilometer west of Diomede so a walk across the ice to Big Diomede would mean travelling back in time by a day.

It's hard to comprehend the remoteness of this place and yet it is part of the United States. Obviously there are no roads and or airport here. Most people come and go by helicopter. In the winter, an airstrip is ploughed on the ice for small planes to land which means mail delivery in the Winter is more regular than in the Summer. Diomede receives mail about once a week.

Terra Nova and the Christchurch Philatelic Society

This miniature sheet with a pair of Ross Dependency stamps over an image of the Terra Nova in Lytteloton Harbour was issued for the Christchurch Philatelic Society on 14 January 2012. The stamps are a pair from the 2011 Ross Dependency issue that feature Robert F Scott and his expedition to the South Pole.

I received this from New Zealand Post today and the envelope looks like it was dropped in a puddle and kick around. Fortunately New Zealand Post seals their stamps in plastic envelopes, otherwise they would have been ruined.

Algeria

It's not always about the polar regions... I received this letter from Algeria the other day. One of the stamps is a mineral stamp which is interesting to me because I collect stamps with minerals on them. This particular stamp is from 1983 and shows a desert rose - a crystal formation of barite and gypsum.

Iceberg Card from Casey Station AAT

Got this card back from Casey Station today. I'm not crazy about the card and I question whether or not the penguins were really in the photo or added later but at the time it was all I could find. I did like the AAT Icebergs stamp set though, especially the self adhesives. I couldn't have asked for a better postmark application.

Brazil's Ferraz Station

Received this today, sent in September of 2011. Not a bad turn around time. Only took two months to get down there and a month and a half to get back through the holiday mail.

Comandante Ferraz is a Brazilian research base on King George Island. It's a year round base that has been in use since 1984 and is maintained by the Brazilian Navy. The cachet at the top in the middle has "Grupo Base" on it (Base Group) which is the Navy team who operate the base. The cachet at the bottom in the middle is the logo for PROANTAR: Programa Antártico . The acronym CIRM stands for "Comissão Interministerial para os Recursos do Mar" or commision for sea resources.

Oslo, 14 Dec 2011

This postmark was available from Norway's Posten on 14 December 2011 to commemorate "100 years since the conquest of the South Pole". Posten's special postmarks are usually announced on their website a month  before being made available.

Christmas Island, Nova Scotia 2011

The Christmas Island post office in Cape Breton Nova Scotia cancels Christmas mail with these Christmas cancels in red and green every year. They've been doing this for the past 16 years and receive requests from people all over the world asking that their mail be cancelled with this postmark. They process up to 2000 requests a day during the holiday season. 

Christmas Island is a small rural community: a few homes and businesses spread out along a highway. It's not an actual island although it is on Cape Breton island.

New TAAF Stamps 2011 and 2012

Lots of information about new TAAF issues at http://mondephilatelique.blog.lemonde.fr/.

Adelie Penguins
This stamp was available for sale during MonacoPhil, 2-4 December in Monaco and everywhere else on 7 December. It is available in a gummed TAAF issue and is a slightly redesigned France issue that was part of the recent self-adhesive "Overseas" booklet

Crozet Base Anniversary
A pair of stamps to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first research station on Crozet Island, on sale 15 December 2011. I like how they show the place being overrun by penguins.

TAAF and Mayotte Joint Issue
This stamp shows the Marion-Dufresne at Mayotte and is scheduled for 30 December 2011. The TAAF issue is a little taller but the Mayotte stamp is a little wider due to the different number of stamps each issuing body includes on a full sheet. What is strange about this stamp is that only two days after it is issued, Mayotte will cease to issue its own stamps. So the question is, will it be valid for postage in Mayotte after 1 Jan 2012? Lots more about this issue at here.

TAAF 2012
Also, details regarding the upcoming 2012 issues have been release which includes the following stamps:

• Mineral stamp: Diopside
• Vessel: Marius Moutet 
• René-Émile BOSSIERE (1.45)
• Roald AMUNDSEN (1.00)
• Polar region air transport (sheetlet)
• Weddell seal
• Port Jeanne d’Arc (sheetlet)
• Lepidonotothen Larseni Fish (2.40)
• Notodiscus Hookeri Snail (0.60)
• Molloy Base (Kerguelen - 2 stamps, 0.60 each)
• Foreign Legion and Marine Corp of the Scattered Islands (2 stamps and label)

Prudhoe Bay, Alaska

Prudhoe Bay (70°19N 148°42W) is a community on the Alaskan North Slope at the end of the Dalton Highway. If you've ever seen the television series "Ice Road Truckers", you've likely seen or at least heard of Prudhoe Bay. Most of the population works at the nearby oil field and only a few people actually live there permanently. A number of businesses that support the oil field, including the General Store that houses the Post Office, are clustered near the airport in what used to be known as the town of Deadhorse. Despite the name, I somehow doubt there have ever been horses in Deadhorse, dead or alive. There is a good article about the name Deadhorse here. Even though the area was renamed to Prudhoe Bay in the 80's, the name Deadhorse persists today.