The AWACA 2025–2026 scientific traverse has begun its journey across the ice for an important maintenance campaign on the instruments deployed last summer in Adélie Land, opposite the Dumont d’Urville station. The teams are travelling between the various sites to carry out essential operations: checking system functionality, performing repairs, replacing sensors, and restoring power and data transmission systems, all of which are crucial to ensuring the continuity of measurements during the months of polar isolation.

The OPUs, autonomous observation platforms tested by extreme cold, katabatic winds, and rime ice, are undergoing thorough inspections: cleaning of optical components, checks of electronic systems, replacement of batteries, and repair or replacement of any damaged instruments. These interventions aim to ensure a reliable resumption of data acquisition as soon as the end of the summer season.

This new traverse represents a key stage in the sustainability of the observation network, enabling the instruments to continue accurately documenting the evolution of the atmosphere and water in all its forms in one of the most hostile environments on Earth.