China 98.
Crozet.
Indonesia.
China 98
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In 1998, I participated to the survey of a seismic network in the chinese province of Qinghai.
There, a serie of plateau progressively increases in altitude towards Himalaya. I met people of
great kindness. Here are a few of them. But ... it seems that photoshop also passed by over
there. Unless ... who really knows what happen in these semi-aride lands?
Strange, isn't it?
Crozet
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Thus, here are snapshots of Crozet's islands with, in bulk, gentoo and king penguins, a chick of
sootie albatros, a seal, a skua, and a view of the base. The base Alfred Faure, settled on
Possession island, is each year the home of about thirty people - all voluntarees - who insure
the mission's logistic and the scientific programs, in particular for ornithology. A meteorological
and a geophysical observatories are also present. The seismic and geomagnetic stations belong to
the international networks GEOSCOPE and INTERMAGNET, respectively. But the greatest richness of
these islands are, of course, its fauna. About 25 millions birds (penguins, albatrosses, petrels, ..)
are nesting there. Plus the seals, the sea elephants and the killer whales. The ecosystem is fragile,
but has a strong weapon: isolation. Let's hope that it will continue ...
More information on the homepage of the French Austral and Antarctic Territories.
Indonesia
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Indonesia is a contrasted land. Indonesian managed to deal with two omnipresent elements: the water,
which separate the 17000 islands that constitue the archipelago; and the volcanoes, some of which are
considered to be particularly hazardous. As a counterpart, the Java sea is a first order way of
communication and trade, and the lava of the volcanoes (together with the climate) made Java one of
the most fertile land on Earth.
