Palmer Station

The United States Antarctic Program (USAP) has three scientific bases in Antarctica, one is located at the heart of the continent, the South Pole Station; another, located in the Ross Sea, McMurdo Station is the largest of all Antarctic research stations on the continent, with a summer population of 1200 scientists and support staff. Palmer Station is USAP’s base on the Antarctic Peninsula. It is a working base, and in order to visit, interested parties must apply to the National Science Foundation (NSF) in July for one of the twelve visits allowed for the 48 passenger vessels which visit the peninsula during the season. Today was to be Endeavour’s lucky day. A visit confirmed it last evening, just after lunch we dropped anchor in Arthur Harbor, ready for an afternoon visit to the station. Located at the Southern End of Anvers Island, in Arthur Harbor, and home to 32 scientists and base personnel during the peak season of the Austral summer. Most of the scientific work is done during the summer, when animal life returns to the peninsula after the long, frigid winter. The waters surrounding the base are open for navigation, and the world outside is more hospitable for delicate human bodies to work in.

Although the base lies in a back corner of Arthur Harbor, the majority of the harbor is open to the south, where the sea ice flows up from the Antarctic Circle. Additionally a large part of the harbor is decorated by a glacial face, making it an inevitable catch all for brash and calved glacial ice. Today, this ice stood between us and the welcoming committee on station, so with a look of determination, our Zodiac drivers pulled away from the side gate and soon were in the thick of the ice. Moving slowly but deliberately, the Zodiacs parted small bergy bits with the bow, and glided over the brash ice. Just when we thought we might never get there, stranded in the ice with the station in view no less, we rounded a large pontoon and there the station personnel stood welcoming us ashore.

As we toured the various buildings on station, we learned more about the scientific efforts. Climate change, and how it is affecting the animals, big or small, is a large part portion of the research done. The Antarctic Peninsula is warming faster than any other place in the world, and this is having a profound effect on the animals in the area, especially true Antarctic species like the Adelie Penguin. Researchers believe that if the warming continues, the Peninsula could be free from this penguin species in the not so distant future, as they flee to higher latitudes and colder weather. Smaller research projects go on, such as studying the properties of marine sponges, which researchers have found that the chemicals in these animals have cardiologic applications. The fish pictured here, is one that has anti-freeze like chemicals in its body. When the sea water falls to temperatures where normal tissue would freeze, this “anti-freeze” bonds with the ice, leaving living tissues ice free. Interestingly, a synthetic version of this chemical is made, and used in ice cream to keep the freezer burn at bay.

As we make our way back through the ice, snow, and wind, and towards the inviting, warm interior of the National Geographic Endeavour, our gaze falls back on Palmer Station. We have seen a small part of Antarctica that others rarely get to see, the true Antarctic residents and workers. Already ambassadors for the last great wilderness, we further engrain ourselves into this small Antarctic community.