Antarctic Science

Since we are here supporting scientific research, our blog wouldn't be complete without a posting on the kinds of projects being conducted. The average worker doesn't get to hear enough about what's going on around us, but the NSF does try to promote different projects by hosting science lectures on Wedensdays and Sundays. Additionally, if you have the time and motivation, the science lab building is filled with displays and data. Tours of the labs and the aquarium are given on Sunday afternoons. Michiel went on a tour last weekend and had an excellent opportunity to touch sea spiders, starfish and other sea creatures housed in the aquarium tanks.

Antarctic Octopus


There is quite a bit of marine biology work being conducted here which require dive shacks (little huts with heaters located such that they sit on top of a hole cut into the sea ice) and dive tenders (regular people who help the divers get themselves and their equipment in and out of the holes in the sea ice). Dive tending is considered a "boondoggle" or morale trip and the opportunity is offered by supervisors to individuals in all departments. Some of the marine biologists are studying the anti-freeze in the blood of certain Antarctic fish and looking at other applications for similar man-made materials.

Other science parties are studying meteorites and life forms (microbes) in the dry valleys, penguins (Emperors and adelies), Weddell Seals, activity in the active Erebus Volcano, and the atmosphere (the hole in the ozone layer (which is located largely above where we are located). I believe the greatest proportion of the work right now is focused on global warming. There are many science groups working in different locations on the continent using ice core sampling techniques, sonar, radar and other technologies to measure the thickness of the ice and compare it to historical data.

One of the science lectures focused on the catastrophic break up of an ice sheet on the other size of the continent. The before and after photos were astounding and particularly worrying because up til now, the melting of glaciers in every other part of the world has been balanced out by the increase in the ice sheet on Antarctica (as the earth warms, the temperature in Antarctica also warms and becomes more amenable for snowfall. When more snow falls in these regions, glaciers increase in size. When the temperature is too low, there isn't enough moisture in the air for snow to fall - which explains why Antarctica is the highest, coldest and DRYEST continent on earth.)

For monitoring weather conditions, scientists send up huge long-distance balloons carrying monitoring equipment that record atmospheric conditions. Here's a photo of one of the balloons that was launched this season.

There's so much going on here in science that it's difficult to discuss or even understand it all. If you would like more info, check out the US Antarctic Program website: www.usap.gov