(b) Note on Vanda Station

Vanda Station established near Lake Vanda in 1969 is particularly well sited for hydrologic and environmental studies in a polar desert region. Our appreciation of this environment is so limited and biased by experience in other latitudes that the present day processes acting on and within the basement rocks and the "soils" remain largely unknown. The Vanda 3-year programme is costly to operate, is beset with many logistic problems and requires a hand picked staff. The staff must have the full backing and continued support of the people who have proposed or initiated projects which they want continued. What is not sufficiently appreciated, particularly at a distance of 2,000 odd miles, is that the local Vanda experimental conditions change and equipment may need to be modified. At the Vanda end any such thing as "splendid isolation" is completely fictitious.