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Visiting the Antarctic Summer
February 4, 2010
By Michele Cowart, Edited by Susan Osterberg
  • How many continents have you visited? Susan Osterberg, Class II, recently travelled to the continent beyond continents: Antarctica. This makes seven beautiful and wondrous continents visited by Osterberg.

    Antarctica is the Earth's southernmost continent, underlying the South Pole. It is situated in the Antarctic region of the southern hemisphere, almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle, and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean. At 14.0 million sq km (5.4 million sq mi), it is the fifth-largest continent in area after Asia, Africa, North America and South America. About 98% of Antarctica is covered by ice, which averages at least 1.6 kilometers (1.0 mi) in thickness. Antarctica, on average, is the coldest, driest and windiest continent, and has the highest average elevation of all the continents (www.wikipedia.org).

    The trip began with a non-stop flight from Houston to Buenos Aires, transferring to Ushuaia, Argentina, a major jumping off point for Antarctica, and finally, travelling to Antarctica on a Russian Research Vessel via the Drake Passage, known to be the roughest body of water in the world!

    Travelling to Antarctica was an adventure in itself, but "The Russian Research Vessel was not a luxury cruise ship," said Osterberg. This transport was an early model, with a completely round bottom and no stabilizers. On nights when the Beaufort Scale (an empirical measure for describing wind speed based mainly on observed sea conditions) reached 10 (gale force winds) out of a possible 12, "I would position myself to sleep in a normal fashion," said Osterberg, "then throughout the night, I would slide to the end of the bed and back with the rhythm of the waves." Thankfully, she did not become seasick.

    The Drake Passage, or Mar de Hoces, is the body of water between the southern tip of South America at Cape Horn, Chile and the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. It connects the southwestern part of the Atlantic Ocean (Scotia Sea) with the southeastern part of the Pacific Ocean and extends into the Southern Ocean. (www.answers.com) In this area the climate changes from cool, humid and subpolar to the frozen conditions of Antarctica. An important trade route in the 19th and early 20th centuries, its stormy seas and icy conditions made the rounding of Cape Horn a difficult journey (www.britannica.com).

    Attire and cleanliness is carefully measured when visiting Antarctica. To minimize the chance of introduction of alien taxa to Antarctic and subantarctic environments and to reduce the risk of accidental transfer of taxa between major ice-foree localities, clothing must be cleaned with bleach or similar compound. Items with Velcro should be avoided since the Velcro can collect seeds. Particular vigilance is required in removing soil, seeds and bryophyte propagules (including leaves).

    The group made daily forays from the ship to mainland Antarctica via inflatable raft boats, Zodiacs. During the course of the 10-day expedition, a wide variety of animals and birds were observed:

    • Penguins
      • Adelie
      • Chinstrap
      • Gentoo
      • Magellanic
    • Birds
      • Albatross – Wandering, Royal, Black-browed, Grey-headed, Light-mantled Sooty
      • Petrels - Southern Giant, Northern Giant, Southern Fulmar, Cape, White chinned, Broad-billed Prion, Narrow-billed Prion
      • Storm Petrels - Wilson's, Black-bellied
      • Cormorants - Antarctic Shag, Rock Shag, King Shag
      • Sheathbills - Pale-faced
      • Gulls and Terns - South Polar Skua, Kelp Gull, Antarctic Tern, Dolphin Gull, South American Tern
    • Marine Mammals
      • Seals
    • Antarctic Fur
    • Southern Elephant
    • Weddell
    • Crabeater
    • Leopard
      • Whales
    • Antarctic Minke, Humpback
    • Toothed Whales – Orca

    On numerous landings, as Osterberg watched from one-foot away, Gentoo Penguin Males constructed nests of small stones using their beaks as transport. Gentoo penguins use nesting materials ranging from pebbles and molted feathers in Antarctica to vegetation on subantarctic islands. One medium-sized Gentoo nest was composed of 1,700 pebbles and 70 molled tail feathers (del Hoyo, et al., 1992).

    One night seven of the more adventurous of the group (including Osterberg) set up their seven tents in preparation for a one-night camp-out on the ice! After camp set-up, the group hiked across several glaciers spotting animals; the tired group returned to camp at 11:00 p.m. and it was still daylight as it is for six months out of the year. "The conditions overnight were extremely windy," said Osterberg. “My sleeping bag indicated it would keep me warm to 10° below zero, but it must have been colder than that.” To stay warm, Osterberg used many HotHands® warmers and stayed mostly awake until departure at 5:30 a.m.

    "The trip was educational," said Osterberg, "as we journeyed through the rough seas, observed wildlife, icebergs, and watched the hatching of penguins."
Any questions or comments, please contact us at: leaders@leadershiphouston.org.