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AntarcticAntarctic
ANTARCTICA.
In February 2009 we visited the Antarctic on an unforgettable expedition.
Whilst not being an expert, you may enjoy hearing about our experiences and learn something about this wondrous continent.
The Arctic, in the northern hemisphere, is water which freezes to provide polar bears etc. with a frozen mass on which to survive. It’s name is taken from the Greek arktos, or bear, belonging to the constellation of the bear. The land masses form a ring which is not quite closed around the ocean.
The Antarctic, in the southern hemisphere, is diametrically different, being land mass surrounded by water. Antarctica covers one tenth of the earth’s surface supporting the greatest mass of ice in the world. It is totally surrounded by deep, stormy ocean and is the home of penguins amongst other animals. The existence of Antarctica was suspected for a long time because of the presence of icebergs which are only formed by snow falling onto the tops of the mountains which protrude from the water (there is very little rain). The snow is crushed until it forms glaciers which pick up minerals from the rock as they slide into the sea. Some of these icebergs are the most beautiful , intense blue imaginable. These are the ones in which the crystals are perfectly formed with no bubbles which is the case with old icebergs from deep inside a glacier and form all kinds of shapes and sizes.
Icebergs have been suggested as a form of fresh water but as they are being towed they can split and therefore melt quicker before reaching their destination.
The start of our expedition.
We started our trip at Manchester airport and flew to France –one and a half hours.
From France to Buenos Aires –about thirteen and a half hours.
We spent two nights in Buenos Aires before flying four and a half hours to Ushuaia (the southernmost part of Argentina) where we found the Norwegian ship MS FRAM waiting for us. (It's the little one).
I should explain that the Andes mountains divide Chile and Argentina in a North to South direction on the mainland but on the island to the south in an east to west direction leaving Argentina in Tierra del Fuego (land of fires) so called because when the area was first discovered the native’s fires could be seen for miles from the water.
The MS FRAM is a specially designed ice breaking ship (thank goodness).
She holds about 300 passengers but, because of restrictions on numbers on excursions very often takes fewer.
After settling on ship everyone has to be drilled on safety and life jackets.
On board were experts who offered lectures on various subjects like history, geology, biology, birds and fossils. These lectures went on throughout the trip.
We were told the rules by which we would be allowed onto the Antarctic Peninsula for which we were heading.
We were placed into groups of eight people and would visit the islands, weather providing, for about an hour each trip.
The Antarctic does NOT belong to any nation although several have used this place for research.
International rules have been worked out so as not to disrupt the area. The first rule is that nothing must be left or taken from Antarctica except memories and photographs and, needless to say, we took many of those. No plastic bags was another rule because the animals can mistake them for jelly fish and swallow them –with obvious consequences.
Our clothes were many layers.
Normal underwear.
Thermal underwear.
T-Shirt and pants.
Polar neck sweater and waterproof pants.
Thermal fleece.
Weatherproof jacket (provided for us all in the same colour). The experts had bright orange we had blue.
Then we had hats, gloves, cameras, binoculars etc. around our necks and ended up looking like the penguins in stance!
The Trip.
We began our journey by travelling along The Beagle Channel which is about 150miles long. This harsh land was inhabited by three indigenous tribes originally for about 8000 years until sealers came to the area. Today there are no pure blood descendants left.
The Drake Passage. What can I say about this? The motion of the ship was like the dipper and a rocking chair sideways all at once! Needless to say, although the lecture continued, there was a lot of coming and going to the nearest facilities.
However, it didn’t last for the whole trip! It is in this area that the Antarctic Convergence occurs. This is where the warmer waters of the north meet the colder, less saline waters of the south. The cold water sinks beneath the warm and this mixing bring nutrient to the surface. There is often a low fog and an increase in wildlife because of the nutrients. Once taken into the northern oceans the polar water cools the tropical and temperate waters and is important to the ocean’s balance.
Half Moon Island. This was our first trip ashore.
Before we could disembark into the small Polar Cirkel boats we were taken, fully dressed and encumbered, to the “welly boot” room as the boots were provided for us. This was so that they could be washed before and after the trip ashore so that no infections would be transferred from place to place. We put on our life jackets on top of everything else and were scanned off the ship!
The Polar Cirkel’s held eight people as they bobbed up and down in the water. Groups left after the experts had prepared the way. This meant that the cones we thought we had left behind were being laid in a route which allowed us to walk without damaging any wildlife or nests. We had been warned to keep a safe distance from the animals both for our own safety and also so that we didn’t stress or upset any of them. This was fine except the penguins didn’t know this and, as there are no land predators in Antarctica, they came to you! They were very inquisitive plucking at your trouser legs and pulling at the straps on backpacks.
The penguins we saw here were Chinstrap and Gentoo penguins. They build their nests from gathering pebbles into circles. An experiment had been done where all green, red, yellow and blue stones were placed in the nests but when the experts returned the nests were multicoloured suggesting that the penguins “pinch” pebbles from each other! The nests are built from pebbles to help drainage of moisture from the chicks.
It was the end of summer when we visited Antarctica. Many of the penguins had already left for places like the Falkland islands and some of the chicks still feeding and still having their downy feathers would probably not survive. However, life goes on for all the creatures and the presence of Skuas (large gull-like birds) meant that as soon as the parents had left the chicks they would be eaten by either Skuas or Sheathbills (small, plump white birds with unwebbed feet making them the only Antarctic land bird. They eat anything and are prominent scavengers in penguin colonies). Even before parent birds have left the sheathbills have learned the trick of fluttering up to the adult penguins as they feed their chicks, causing food to be spilled on the ground which the sheathbill soon recovers!
Penguins are flightless birds. They have a layer of blubber around their bodies to keep them warm in the freezing temperatures. Their wing bones are flatter than birds of flight because they use them a bit like paddles to “fly” through the water. Their pectoral muscles are also well developed for the same reason. Birds of flight have rounder, more hollow bones to make them lighter.
Because of the extreme temperatures (the record for the lowest temperature ever recorded is -89.2C at Vostoc Station up on the polar plateau) the penguins need to conserve warmth. Their bodies are warm blooded like ours but they have a system to conserve body heat. Their organs are internal with a reduced blood supply to the feet. The warm blood leaving the body passes close to the returning blood and warms it so that the core temperature is not reduced as much. The feet are worked by tendons similar to a puppet and, if they want to reduce the contact with the ice they stand on part of their feet using their tail to make a sort of stool to lift them from the ice. This, with the blubber layer, helps to keep them warm. They also gather together in groups with their backs to the gale and take turns at being on the outside in order to stay warm.
We also encountered our first seals. These were fur seals and were recovering in numbers after being almost hunted to extinction. When the first explorers were in the area they set out for commercial reasons. They were, for example, looking for new trade routes for the spice trade. For many years, although it was known there must be land (for the reason I gave before) the conditions were so bad that nothing was found. However, once whales and seals were found in the area everything changed. Bases were set up to render the blubber, which left the carcasses lying on the beaches as this could not be used at this time. The fat was sent to be used in fuel lamps. Later new equipment was made to use up all of the animals, not just the blubber, and ships were also used to process the animals in the harbours.
These fur seals which we encountered were young males. The adult males and their harems were on other shores whilst these adolescent males were fattening up and building their muscles for the day when they could challenge the older generation for females. They chased each other making little dog like snuffling noises, almost submissive, only to launch themselves oat one another’s thick, strong necks! These animals could be dangerous as we found out in a later encounter!