ON WEDNESDAY morning, Canberra scientist Ryan Ruddick will wake to the vast expanse of Antarctica: his very own white Christmas but hardly the kind Bing Crosby sang about.
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There will be no children to listen, no tree tops to glisten.
The view from Casey Station's webcam is a white, almost completely flat terrain, marked by rocks sticking through the snow.
Instead the 4000-tonne icebreaker Aurora Australis, almost as long as a football field, will be the focus of attention.
For Ruddick and the crew at Casey, this means spending a week unloading and packing the Aurora Australis, which is due to dock on Sunday, before starting a 10-day, 3500km journey home.
Items on board the ship include Christmas presents sent by Ruddick's wife, which he will have time to unwrap during delayed Christmas celebrations on the journey home across the fickle Southern Ocean.
''Sometimes I get seasick,'' he says. ''I have experienced everything from flat oceans to 14-metre swells.''
Canberra is a city which sends its people across the world. Many of them are scientists from institutions such as the University of Canberra, the Australian National University, CSIRO and, in Ruddick's case, Geoscience Australia.
The end of the year is a time when some spend Christmas in far-flung places away from family and friends while others are readying to return home.
Ruddick grew up in Tasmania - home for many who want a career studying the area surrounding the South Pole - and moved to the ACT in 2005 to study at the Australian National University.
He had for a long time wanted to work in Antarctica and had already completed a bachelor of geomatics, focusing on land surveying, in Hobart.
In 2006 he started work at Geoscience Australia.
The Weston Creek 31-year-old's latest Antarctic trip is only several weeks long, much shorter than his two previous four-to-five-month stints at Davis Station, during which he swam in freezing waters for Australia Day celebrations, explored abandoned stations and helped a scientist colleague catch and tag penguins.
''I love the scenery - there is always something changing,'' he says.
''I can sit for hours looking at the views. You can take a picture one day and then the next there are subtle changes - the icebergs in the distance may have moved or the snow may have melted a little.
''When away from the bases, there is still a sense of adventure. Some of the places where we work down here are places very few people go. There is an almost spooky silence out there.''
The Australian Antarctic Division stresses working and living in Antarctica is not for everyone.
Successful applicants for jobs are supported, trained and equipped for the unique demands.
Initial preparation and training in Hobart ranges between two weeks and three months.
For Ruddick's latest visit he was flown in on an Airbus.
''Previously I have spent weeks travelling from Hobart on the ship but this year I flew down.'' It took only 4½ hours ''so I had breakfast with my brother in Hobart and lunch in Antarctica''.
He will return home after doing an important job in a difficult environment.
He has helped maintain and enhance the infrastructure on Antarctica which is used to record the horizontal and vertical motion of the 14 million square kilometre continent.
Since 2000 Australia has monitored the movement with some semi-permanent GPS installations at remote rock outcrops along the Prince Charles Mountains, Grove Mountains and Bunger Hills.
The Australian survey program in Antarctica contributes to the development of the International Terrestrial Reference Frame which guides all positioning activities in Antarctica.
''These remote sites are far from the comfortable bases and require light aircraft and small field camps to establish and service the equipment,'' Ruddick says.
Scientists were reminded of the dangers of working in remote and harsh locations earlier this month when three people were injured in a helicopter crash 280km from Davis Station during a mission to survey a penguin colony.
Part of Ruddick's work involves upgrading the existing GPS system so it can use information from Russian, European, Chinese and Japanese satellites.
Activities in Antarctica and its surrounding seas are governed by a unique agreement between nations: the Antarctic Treaty, established 52 years ago.
Part of it stipulates Antarctica should be used exclusively for peaceful purposes and promotes international scientific co-operation including the exchange of research plans and personnel and requires research results be made freely available.
There is also a lot of co-operation between different Australian agencies working there.
While Ruddick's work does not relate directly to climate change, the data he helps collect is used by the Australian Antarctic Division and Bureau of Meteorology to confirm sea level data is correct.
Antarctica is the coldest, windiest and driest continent on Earth and on the coast, where Davis Station is located, the weather this December has been merciful with the temperature sitting at minus 1 degree, similar to a winter morning in Canberra.
The average annual temperature ranges from about minus 10 degrees on the Antarctic coast to minus 60 degrees at the highest parts of the interior. Near the coast the temperature can exceed 10 degrees at times in summer and fall to below minus 40 degrees in winter.
''The majority of my work in Antarctica is outside and working down here can at times be very slow, as you can wait a number of days for the weather to be good, and when it is you have to be prepared to work quickly to get the work done,'' Ruddick says.
''I really enjoy summers in Canberra - although of late I have not had too many - I spend a lot of time trail running around Canberra's nature parks.
''Down in Antarctica running can only be done on the short roads or on treadmills.
''We are fortunate at Casey, there is a four-kilometre-long cross-country ski loop that I use most nights.''