Jumping off the edge of the map

What an interesting job! Do you get to do fieldwork in Antarctica yourself?

For the last three and a half years, when I have told people that my job is managing a research center that studies Antarctic ice cores, this is usually the first question they ask. Maybe someday, I hope! has been my typical response. But I am delighted to now share that the answer is Yes! I got the email in May, informing me that I would be joining our field team that drills ice cores in East Antarctica. 

I had been not-so-subtly angling for this opportunity since I began my job in early 2022. I regularly dropped hints about my previous fieldwork experiences as a biologist in difficult, remote places like Indonesia, Panama, and, uh, the Appalachian mountains. I emphasized how good I was at dealing with rugged conditions, living out of a tent and enduring far-less-than-ideal bathroom conditions. I even occasionally reminded people that I had no children or living parents and therefore did not mind missing the holiday season, which coincides with the summer fieldwork season in Antarctica. 

When I shared my news with my husband, he was excited for me and very supportive, knowing how much I wanted to go. However, he wasn’t quite prepared for the fact that I would be gone for nearly three months - early November through mid January. And somehow, he thought that our field team operated out of McMurdo Station. I had to disabuse him of this notion, and when he started to understand what my actual living situation would be, he was a little less enthusiastic.

While it is true that we will start at McMurdo Station, we will not be there for long. We’ll be there to complete survival training, including how to tie knots, how to repair a snowmobile, how recognize and avoid falling down crevasses. And then we’re off to the Allan Hills, where we will live in tents, on the ice, surrounded by nothing, for at least two months. His face turned worried. How dangerous would this be? How long would he go without hearing from me? I reassured him that there would be a small team of people there to help us drill the ice cores and keep us alive. I also pointed out that we have a Starlink terminal and would be connected to the world via satellite.

Shortly after the initial elation, I turned to practical matters and quickly became overwhelmed. First of all there was the matter of the Polar Physical Qualification (PQ) process. Anyone who does fieldwork through the US Antarctic Program has to demonstrate that they are fit and healthy and unlikely to require medical care while on the continent. Extensive bloodwork is required, as is a very thorough physical (including an EKG for those of us over 50), plus a dental exam and copies of your dental xrays.

Then there was the packing. And the purchasing of gear to be packed. The packing list was intimidating. For one thing, there would be no showers for the duration of the time we’d be at Allan Hills. I immediately logged on to Amazon and bought 30 pairs of cheap underwear. Then I turned to the recommended packing list: at least 5 sets of merino wool base layers, tops and bottoms; a mid-layer of fleece; another mid-layer of puffy pants and a puffy jacket; and finally, an outer layer consisting of insulated Carhartt overalls and a waterproof down jacket. We will also receive the famous huge parka known as a Big Red from the US Antarctic Program.

Assuming all goes well - I haven’t yet gotten confirmation of my PQ, and science budgets seem to be cut further every day - I will head down south in ten weeks. I’ve been to Antarctica once before, as a tourist. While that was wonderful, I am really excited for the opportunity to experience life as a scientist down there. If you’re interested in following along, subscribe! I’ll try to update every week or so.

What else I’m doing this week