I’m super excited to announce that I just accepted a job in Antarctica!
Which means, I’ll be living and working in the continent for the next 6-7 months!
Visiting Antarctica has been a goal of mine since I was in fourth grade learning about emperor penguins. And now, as an adult I not only do I get to go there but I get to live and work there for multiple months!
Thanks to the 1961 international agreement, Antarctica is and will remain a very special place. This treaty denotes Antarctica as a scientific preserve used for peace, environmental study and scientific exploration all awhile setting aside countries territorial disputes. And the cool thing is, that this treaty is a living document with a system of recommendations and decisions and does not have an expiration date.
The size of Antarctica is outstanding, roughly the size of the United States combined with Mexico. It is the world’s largest desert , which is crazy to me since it’s a land covered in ice. Throughout the continent, 29 countries have permanent stations in Antarctica and there are more than 70 bases.
Of these 70, the united states has three stations space throughout the continent. This includes: Palmer station located on the peninsula, McMurdo located on the Ross Sea, and the South Pole located, you guessed it, at the south pole.
Antarctica, has two main seasons – Summer and Winter. But since they are in the southern hemisphere, the seasons are opposite from those in the United States. Summer season runs from October to February and winter season runs from March to September.
There are two different ways of getting to these stations too.
For McMurdo and South Pole, you fly to New Zealand and then take a you take a C-130 military style flight from Christchurch New Zealand which takes approximately 8 hours in length. And if you’re going to pole, there is an additional plane ride after.
If you’re going to Palmer Station, you fly down to Punta Arenas, Chile and then take a four days cruise through the Drake Passage before arriving at station.
With that, the amount of crew at each season varies per season.
Palmer station has up to 45 residents in the summer and about 20 in the winter.
McMurdo station has up to 1,200 during the summer and 200 in the winter.
South Pole Station has up to 150 people in the summer and 45 people in the winter.
Each station has it’s pros and cons but for me, I’m off to Palmer Station for the summer! Stay tuned for updates!
