Another day in preparing for my forth trip South.
My first trip was in 1995/96 to the Antarctic Peninsula as part of my grad studies in Germany. The second time was in 2000/01 to the Heart of West Antarctic with Barclay Kamb's and Herman Engelhardt's Caltech hot water drilling expeditions. The third time was in 2006/07 to McMurdo Station as part of the ANDIRLL on-ice science team.
More about my previous trips later.
Today I am sitting again in a class room hearing and learning about the many aspects of going on a few month long trip to one of the most amazing, pristine and also unforgiving environments on this planet.
In these predeparture trainings people who never have been to Antarctica learn all about what to expect. The topics range from our clothing and environmental hazards, how to stay warm and safe as well as hints and tips about taking photographs. It also covers topics like our environmental impact, the background of the Antarctic Treaty and its environmental Protocols and corresponding legislation governing access to and our work in Antarctica and its environment.
In some way Antarctica is like a large National Park. It is beautiful and pristine, valued and protected. With the protection it is also highly regulated and it is important for all of us having the privilege to experience this place to know how to behave to have the least impact.
Talking about Impact . This mornings topic of the training is about the Environment.
One of the things most people want to get when in Antarctica is a great picture of wild life. The question here is whether the wildlife wants us to take the close up picture even though we don't have the tele-lens to do it from a safe distance. Here safety considers our own safety as well as that of the wildlife and their kids, eggs ... The lecture told us how to identify signs from the wild life which indicates to us that they are disturbed, alerted. The best of course is to keep a safe distance and this was one of the exercises we have done this morning.
We all love these kind of pictures. nice and close up to wildlife.
Keeping a distance of 50 m in our approach to these beautiful birds the question raises -
How far are 50 m?
Well its this far away. Its a far distance
The good news - penguins and wildlife are curious and love to come to you and check you out.
Another Impact is what we carry with us to Antarctica. Shoes, hiking gear and even your camera tripod may carry particles of soil, which itself contains microbes and other organisms which could have a detrimental effect on the native environment and ecosystem.
Any Velcro on your clothing, packs etc.? well have a look at it. It likely contains some grass, some seeds ... They are hitch hikers on their way to a new breeding ground and this is one of the things we want to prevent. One item on station is a bio infestation kit. It serves to collect specimen of our hitchhikers. Theses specimen are collected to find out what and more important how things are getting to Antarctica. If pathways are recognized one can prevent future harm.
With Antarctic being a large continent recent research has identified various unique bioregions within Antarctica (AAD- article & Terrauds et al 2012) and the transport of organism from one region to another is as undesired as the transport from Australia or any other place of the world to Antarctica.
No poultry products in the field - spread of avian flu.
Hydroponics is a quarantine area - to avoid spreading of disease and insects it is a requirements that people working in the kitchen don't go to the hydroponic area.
Waste management and all the other Health and Safety Aspects are other topics we listened to and had some practical exercises.
Off to bed
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