SOUTH POLE STATION, ANTARCTICA-- The day I arrived at McMurdo I ran into Ron Hipschman and John Weller. They told me they were going to go to the "Penguin Ranch" the next day, and I got permission to go with them. I was very lucky!... {Read More »}

SOUTH POLE STATION, ANTARCTICA-- En route to Antarctica, I spent three days in Christchurch. The weather was nice - a few of the IceCubers played croquet next to the Botanical gardens. On Dec 9 we were scheduled to take a South African Hercules to McMurdo but ended up... {Read More »}

CAPE ROYDS, ROSS ISLAND, ANTARCTICA-- When you first come to Antarctica you are overwhelmed with the amount of ice. Every direction you turn you are surrounded by it dominating and controlling the landscape, white against white. Beautiful and powerful... {Read More »}

OFFSHORE NEW HARBOR CAMP, ANTARCTICA-- There’s something weird about staking bamboo flags into Antarctic sea ice. Plunging the remnants of a regal plant into an environment so different from its own rings untrue. The natural wonder of bamboo’s fortitude against majestic Antarctic landscapes gives me pause. It’s only then that the reality of my situation strikes me... {Read More »}

PENGUIN RANCH, MCMURDO SOUND, ANTARCTICA-- (By Ron Hipschman) At the Penguin Ranch, the scientists not only observe the penguins above the ice, but also below the ice. They do this with the "observation tube". Anchored above a hole in the sea ice is a tube... {Read More »}

CAPE ROYDS, ROSS ISLAND, ANTARCTICA– The major trust of our project is to quantify the vital rates of Adélie Penguins in their changing world, as global climate change proceeds. Vital rates means such things as age of first breeding, proportion of years in which they breed... {Read More »}

MCMURDO STATION, ANTARCTICA-- After our full day of sea ice training, we headed back to McMurdo Station, with a steaming Mt. Erebus looming above us amid a picturesque swirling wispy sky. Yet what was in store was the highlight of the day. We found out that our next destination was an ice cave... {Read More »}

OFFSHORE NEW HARBOR CAMP, ANTARCTICA-- The sea ice pops and cracks beneath our camp. They said the cold would make me sleep. But the sound is eerie entertainment that keeps my mind from slumber... {Read More »}

MCMURDO STATION, ANTARCTICA-- The Hagglund awaited us as we prepared to depart for sea ice training. This was a requirement since our expedition is to be based on the ice that forms over the ocean of McMurdo Sound every austral winter. We had to learn how to identify cracks... {Read More »}

MOSS LANDING, CALIFORNIA-- In conjunction with the surge of social science projects in this year’s IPY, SCAR hosted a novel session on “The role of Indigenous Knowledge in Modern Polar Science.” The presenters stressed giving traditional knowledge and indigenous people a voice in managing their own land, resources and fate in the future of climate change... {Read More »}