Day 2- Meet the scientists from Otago University and a helicopter flight out to Cape Bird to take samples from the penguin colony- Virtual Field Trip to Antarctica

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Flying to Cape Bird from LEARNZ on Vimeo.

Why Cape Bird from LEARNZ on Vimeo.

Penguins from LEARNZ on Vimeo.

Collecting guano from LEARNZ on Vimeo.

Doing science in remote places in Antarctica from LEARNZ on Vimeo.

Day 1- Heading to Antarctica- Virtual Field Trip

Write in the comments section if you have any questions for the scientists...

We have begun to find out about Antarctica.

The crew have made their trip from Christchurch to Antarctica. 

Journey to Antarctica from LEARNZ on Vimeo.

We took some notes:

Antarctica Vehicles

To get there they got on a C 17 US Air Force plane (massive!!) then to get around on the ice they had snow cats and custom named Ivan the Terra bus. They all had tracks and wheels designed to be great for the ice!

Now and again they had to drill into the ice to see how thick and safe the ice was.

By Leo and Jack

Antartica

In Antartica it is dry with not much moisture, so you need to take a lot of Water you also have another bottle which you pee in so DO NOT mix the two up! You have to have layers of clothes which includes Jackets, Wind Breakers and other layers of Clothing. There is a piece of Clothing for every part of the body so it is basically only your eyes uncovered. Interesting Fact is that Antartica is around 50 times our size and is the Coldest, Driest and Windiest country. 90% of the world's ice is in Antartica.

By Gretel

Watch this clip to find out about what to wear and how to stay safe in Antarctica: 

Staying safe in Antarctica from LEARNZ on Vimeo.

We found out what to wear...


What to wear from Matariki on Vimeo.

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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If you want to find out more:

http://www.antarctica.org.nz/ Antarctica 

www.heritage-antarctica.org Antarctic Heritage Trust 

www.antarctic-link.org.nz  Antarctic Link Canterbury 

www.antarcticanz.govt.nz Antarctica NZ

www.victoria.ac.nz/antarctic Antarctic Research Centre 

www.coolantarctica.com Cool Antarctica 

www.anta.canterbury.ac.nz Gateway Antarctica