My task for the day is to set stakes at every 100 meters in a straight line in a distinct orientation atop the sea ice over McMurdo Sound. Each flag represents a location for data collection about the sediments below the sea floor. Our goal of 8 kilometers a day is doable for our three-person team but not always pleasant in the Antarctic cold. My job of sighting each flag through a scope is tedious and requires stillness. In Antarctica stillness is not your friend. It is only in movement that you can find warmth at temperatures of -15 degrees Fahrenheit.

Me, completely bundled up. (This is my usual fashion out on the ice).

I bundle all the way up. Face mask, goggles, hat, glove liners, and gloves are all required on days full of stillness. The waiting and stillness required for this job make it my least favorite. So, I lose myself in the landscapes. As my two team mates chat between flags leaving me in limbo, I consider the millions of years it took for glaciers to carve out Ferrar Valley. I wonder what is causing Mt. Erebus to throw out plumes of smoke today as compared to only sputtering yesterday. I imagine all of the various sea critters nestled in grooves in the ice below my feet. I am struck by the daily realization that I stand and live atop the frozen ocean surface.

In the distance you can see icebergs that have been frozen within the sea ice.

The ice I live on moves like the crust of our planet. Our amazing planet spins as it zooms around the sun. All of this movement, yet I am still cold? These are the things you consider while trying to pass the time in Antarctica.

Mt. Erebus and our straight line of flags.

This is why I love science. Because it is about the value of perpetual questioning. Because at its core it is about considering and then reconsidering the facts. It is a constant and unyielding effort to find and reveal something that is more true. Even in science there are few truths but many partial ones. So, we hunt and we dig. We travel to the bottom of the world to gain more facts that we can consider and then reconsider. The power of science resides not in its answers but in the questions it provokes. Legendary scientists are remembered less for the answers they’ve given us and more for the questions they had the courage to ask. As I gaze out over the sharp shapes of white and blue and hear the buzzing of my radio calling me back to duty, I make note of these realizations. Walking back to my scope, I make a small promise to myself. “I promise to never lose sight of the power and potential of questions.”

Flags and my team mates as they travel to the next flag location.

View of Cape Royds.

As a backdrop to our camp and the colony is Mt Erebus, a true living, breathing, belching, active volcano whose plume is only visible when the atmospheric conditions are just right.

View of Mt Erebus form Cape Royds.

Days will pass and we will not see another human being nor hear any sound other than our own and the birds. No, I do not get lonely, and I look forward all year to this two month time frame when I am given the gift of living at the edge of world with these remarkable creatures who adapted themselves to this harsh environment so they could have the place to themselves.

It is all about the science, and my job is connecting it to classrooms across the US and around the world, sharing the experience of Antarctica and the lives of these birds with children and others who may only see penguins in zoos. Many people do not have a sense of Antarctica and do not understand the role this large continent plays in our ocean and climate systems. Most will never set foot on this, the most remote place on Earth.

Many people do not realize how pristine and unspoiled the entire continent is. It is the only continent that has never been continuously populated by people, and except for the northern tip of the Antarctica peninsula, there are no land plants or animals above the micro level. The southern ocean that surrounds Antarctica is the last unspoiled ocean on the planet. If we are to maintain the unspoiled, untouched nature of this extraordinary place, people must have a connection to it and care about it. Our project reaches out to children and adults in an effort to create that connection and sense of stewardship.

Teachers in classrooms all across the country use our website to engage students about Antarctica. We have developed classroom activities, an educational DVD, webisodes, background information for teachers, and many activities designed to engage children in penguins, Antarctica and global climate change. One of our projects is about postcards. Many children have never received a piece of mail let alone a postcard from a foreign country, let alone a postcard from Antarctica. We have received and sent back over 10000 handmade penguin postcards from children around the world. Here are some examples.

Penguin postcards made by children.

Every year we select 6 breeding pairs (one from each pair is a banded bird) to follow along on a daily basis allowing children in classrooms a chance to be field biologists. They keep a field journal, recording the dates the eggs are laid, when the chicks hatch, how long the female or male is on the nest, how long the foraging trips are and other factors effecting the chicks growth. We hope some of these young biologists will make education and career choices that will propel them into the science and engineering fields. Here is an example of these nests from the beginning of the season to the end of the season.

Penguins on nests and chicks.

Other students connect with us by making a flag to fly at the research station.

This flag from students in Maine serves as a wind speed and direction indicator for our penguin cam.

A flag designed by a student flew on our research hut last year.

Some send us questions about penguins, Antarctica and the Polar regions, we have answered thousands.

We have also produced an educational DVD about how penguins are coping with global climate change. You can order a copy from our website penguinscience.com.

Yes it is about the science, and my job is to share that science with the world.
To see the webisodes visit http://www.penguinscience.com/media/video/webisodes.php.
To learn more about the postcard project, design a flag or other classroom activities visit http://www.penguinscience.com/classroom_home.php.