Māhutonga Matariki: Antarctica: Cool Science in Action

Sunday, 2 November 2014

Antarctica: Cool Science in Action

We are enrolled in a virtual field trip to Antarctica from 3-7 November.

Introduction to Antarctica - cool science on ice from LEARNZ on Vimeo.

Here is the field trip plan:

Monday 3 November	Jump aboard the US Airforce C17 Globemaster aircraft in Christchurch and begin your journey to the great southern continent of Antarctica. Complete your Antarctic Field Training so you are ready and equipped to safely work with scientists out on the sea ice.
Tuesday 4 November	Explore Scott Base and meet the scientists from Otago University to discover more about how science is done down in Antarctica.
Wednesday 5 November	Get your ECW (Extreme Cold Weather) clothing on and travel out on to the sea ice to investigate Sea Ice Microbial Communities (SIMCO) and dive below the ice to collect samples.
Thursday 6 November	Visit seal haul outs and penguin colonies to collect samples to see how SIMCO contribute to the diet of these animals.
Friday 7 November	See how scientists manage the challenges of working in Antarctica and find out more about how this research will help us to better understand the impacts of climate change.

Each day Nicola will run a workshop looking at video diary entries and we will be taking notes and writing about it on our blog. We will be able to ask questions to experts who are working in Antarctica.

On that note, Eleanor's dad is working over there at the moment!

"I am down here now at Scott Base and the weather is diabolical.

I have attached a photo of our field camp site from last year at Cape Evans (the site of Scott's 1909 Hutt, you can see it in the foreground of the photo). My sleeping tent was the little triangular yellow one on the very left hand side of the photo.

I will send some photos to if you like when we get back at the end of November.

Say hi to Ellen for me!

Neill"

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