Hello and welcome to my Antarctic Web page. Over the next two months, I will provide you with information on my research project and what it’s like to live and work in the Antarctic environment. Also, this site was designed and is being coordinated for me by a UNCW undergraduate student, Scott Leverenz. Be sure to read over the section that describes my research on penguins and climate change and I’ll be happy to answer any questions you send me via your teacher. I hope you enjoy the page and watch for my periodic updates on the research and new images live from the field!
First, to get here, we traveled to Christchurch, New Zealand, and arrived on the morning of Dec. 20 after an all night flight from Los Angeles. Since we crossed the International Date Line during the flight, we lost a day because it was Dec. 18 when we left L.A. We had a day and a half in Christchurch before our scheduled flight to McMurdo Station in the Antarctic. The weather was beautiful, sunny and in the 70’s, since it is mid summer here. Walking around the city, we saw exhibits on the history of New Zealand and Antarctic exploration in the Cantebury Museum by the botanical gardens. We also stopped by a statue of Robert Falcon Scott near the city center for a photo (see figure). Capt. Scott, a British naval officer, lost his life with four of his men on his return trip from the South Pole in 1912. Nor was he the first to reach the Pole as a Norwegian, Roald Amundsen, beat him there by about a month. The story on this race to the Pole is fascinating and worthy of further investigation by your class.
I can use this photo to introduce my field team—I’m in the center and Larry Coats (left) is my mountaineer/first aider. On my right is Michael Polito, an undergraduate student at UNCW working on an Honor’s Thesis on this project. Larry is an expert climber, skier, and outdoorsman. He is an invaluable member of the team as we will be camping in remote areas in the Antarctic. We’ve also worked together on projects in the past when he helped me reach remote caves on cliffs in Grand Canyon National Park in the 1980’s to study fossil condors and other birds from that region. So, he is a good trustworthy person to have on the team. Mike was a student in two of my classes at UNCW last year and volunteered to work in my lab to gain more experience. I was impressed with his initiative and, after I saw how well he was doing with the work I assigned him, I recruited him for this project. He also is on the swim team at UNCW.
We left Christchurch on Dec. 22. Our flight to McMurdo Station took 8 hours and we arrived there in the afternoon. The plane, a Hercules LC-130, landed on thick sea ice with skis instead of wheels. We were really packed in on the flight, seated along the sides of a cargo hold with all the supplies and gear being flown to the station, a typical way for personnel to reach this remote area. Once on the ice, we were taken by bus to the station about five miles away. We passed the New Zealand Scott Station on the way. Their base is smaller than McMurdo and holds approximately 40-60 people. McMurdo, however, is like a small frontier mining town with about 1000 people here in the summer. The many buildings scattered about include dorms, science labs, a gym, and various support facilities for mail, supplies, and helicopter operations (see Web page link for photos). In addition, a short walk away is an historic hut (see figure) at Hut Point where Capt. Scott spent his first winter in the Antarctic in 1902-1904. The hut has been restored, but is essentially the same as when it was occupied by Scott and his men. It is a reminder of the efforts by these early explorers to initiate scientific studies in Antarctica.
Our first days on station were spent getting oriented to the area and being trained for basic operations on and off station. In particular, we needed to be cleared for remote camping in this harsh environment. To do so, we went to ‘snow school’ where we spent a night out camping on the ice to become familiar with how to set up the special tents we use, how to use the radio, and how to keep the natural environment pristine while still conducting research (see figure). There are many strict regulations that must be followed here not only to preserve the environment, but also for our own safety. It was important that we had all this training prior to beginning our fieldwork.
After ‘snow school’ we were ready to check our gear and prepare for our first field excursion. We will fly by helicopter to Marble Point, a small peninsula across from Ross Island where we will camp for several days and begin sampling abandoned penguin colonies. After this first excursion, I will send another update to let you know how successful we were. Meanwhile, the weather has been changing from sunny and warm (just above freezing) to blowing snow and and subfreezing temperatures. The weather here, overall, is not that bad. In fact, it’s colder in many parts of the states right now. It’s the winds that really make it cold here, plus the winter months of darkness. Since it’s midsummer now, we are experiencing 24 hrs. of light every day.
I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Steve Emslie
