MADE IT

We made it to Punta Arenas and we are now on the boat. The vessel will sail on Sunday to Palmer Station. Glad we got away from the east coast in time. Will update more soon.

SNOW!

Well, there is a massive snow storm on the East Coast hindering our travel plans. I sure hope we don't miss the boat in Chile!

I was hoping to not see snow until I was actually IN Antarctica...

3 days till the adventure begins!

I got some new hiking boots, smartwool socks, and warm weather gloves from my parents. Bring on the cold weather!

T minus 72 hours, and counting...

Tickets

Quick update: We got our plane tickets this week!

Raytheon Polar Services Company is the government contractor that organizes all US Antarctic research. They are actually located in Centennial, CO! Some trivia for all you Colorado people ;) We were beginning to worry since it's just 3 weeks till departure, but I think they wait to see how many scientists are going before they buy the tickets.

Flight is from Philly --> Miami --> Santiago --> Punta Arenas. Then boat to Palmer. My mentor informs me that it's customary for newcomers to jump into the coastal waters after the ship drops us off at Palmer and sails away. I told him that was great information, I would bring a camera ;)

Tropics?

I refer to Palmer Station, Antacrtica as the "tropics of the Antarctic" because it is outside the Antarctic circle and therefore, not constantly below-freezing like the South Pole. I have provided a satellite image of the continent with an arrow pointing to Anvers Island upon which the US research station is located. Air temperature is right around freezing (0 deg C, 32 F) in austral summer. Wind speed is right around 10 knots (~11 mph). Yep, warm and balmy ;)

Yes, we /are/ really going!

Hi guys! I decided to keep this log of my journey and experiences in Antarctica. I'm a microbial ecology student with Dr. David Kirchman and I am getting the chance of a lifetime, to study microbes in the coastal waters of the Southern Continent, oooooh!

Just a bit of history: I have been interested in microbial ecology of cold systems since I first read the book Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson. It's about a group of adventurous scientists that begin the colonization and transformation, aka: terraforming, of the planet Mars to a place habitable for humans. They use microbes adapted to the Martian climate to create oxygen and do all manner of other processes. Microbes are a powerful tool for humans, they run the planet, literally, through bio- and geo-chemistry.

One day I had the brilliant idea to turn my hobby, astrobiology- everything to do with life on other planets, into a career. While interviewing with Dr. Kirchman for graduate school, I told him of my interest in doing Arctic or Antarctic microbiology. He said if I joined the lab, I could probably go to Antarctica. And after about a year in the lab, here we are :) Matt, a research scientist and co-worker, and I, packed much of our equipment and shipped it out last week. We're /actually/ going!!

First, we take a plane from the US to Punta Arenas, Chile. Then a 4-day boat trip across the dreaded Drake Passage from Chile to the US research station, Palmer, on the west Antarctic Peninsula. I am so excited that I can hardly keep my parka on :D

Yes, that's me. The little turd in the rain jacket. It was raining...

I would also like to give a shout-out to my other blog about microbial life, ExtreMicrobia :)

http://extremicrobia.blogspot.com/