Pre-trip FAQ

Dear friends and family,

I decided to start a blog for updates about my experiences in Antarctica. I leave on Friday, December 9, and I will be out of the U.S. for approximately 6 weeks. Here are the answers to some of the common questions that I've received!

Are you headed to Alaska? How many polar bears will you see?

As I’ve told some people that I’m going to Antarctica, there have been some comments showing a little bit of confusion between the Arctic and Antarctica! Antarctica is a continent in the Southern Hemisphere. There are no polar bears, but there are penguins. Most of the land is covered with ice, but my research focuses on the exposed areas around McMurdo Station.

Why are you going?

I will be going as a researcher studying microscopic animals living in the McMurdo Dry Valleys. I will be working with nematodes, tardigrades, and rotifers. My days will mostly be spent at the Crary Lab at McMurdo Station where I will be processing samples to be shipped back to the U.S. for later work, but I will be going out into the field to collect samples as well. All of this work has to be done on site or the samples will not survive the journey back to the various labs.

How do you get there?

We fly commercially to Christchurch, New Zealand, then spend a day or two gathering supplies before we are flown down to Antarctica on a U.S. Air Force jet piloted by an Air National Guard crew (recent news release about the military support known as “Operation Deep Freeze” here).

Where will you sleep? Will you be sleeping in a tent?

I will be at McMurdo Station, a U.S. research base that can hold slightly more than 1,000 people. McMurdo aka Mac-town is a miniature city with most of the comforts of home. The accommodations are dorm style. I will spend the night in a tent, though, when I do my wilderness survival course when I first arrive in Antarctica (it sounds like a pleasant “Welcome to Antarctica!” scenario, right?!). There’s a chance that I might have to stay overnight at one of the field camps in the Dry Valleys but I don’t think we’re scheduled to do that.

Can you communicate with home?

Yes, I will be able to make outbound phone calls and I will have access to the Internet. However, all communication relies on satellite transmission, so the phone lines are frequently tied up by more important calls and the internet is very slow, from what I hear.

What will the weather be like?

You can follow along online at the McMurdo Station Webcam. I will be there during the summer so the weather will not be too harsh, although it will certainly be cold and there is always a possibility of snow storms.  You can view the weather forecast here. The average temperature for December and January is around 25 degrees Fahrenheit.