Antarctica

: This is the Argentine Refugio in the Neumeyer Channel framed by the boat hole. I am drawn to photograph places on Earth were most people choose not to go. While Antarctica is basically untouched by the permanent presence of humans, there is an occasional refugio or monument that dots the pristine landscape. At one time supplies were stored in these two huts but the financial expense of Antarctic exploration halted its use.

: Antarctica is far away but very important to us. The hole in the ozone was discovered here. I wanted to be in Antarctica to tell my grandchildren, yet to be born, that I was in this extreme location when 1999 turned to 2000. Prisitne and pure as Antarctica air appears, it already contains pollutants from the Northern Hemisphere. I worry what the case will be when 2000 approaches 2100? The rate of emission today, due to the burning of fossil fuel, will double the amount of carbon dioxide in the air by the end of this century.

: Ice shelves that exceed the coastlines grow out into the surrounding oceans. These shelves can be a mile thick and two and 1/2 miles deep. Only 2% of its land is visible as mountain peaks and along the coastline. An iceberg is a floating mass of freshwater ice that has broken from the outside edge of a glacier or a polar ice sheet. The expression the tip of the iceberg comes from the fact that about 1/10 of an iceberg is exposed. Most of it is still beneath the water. More than 90% of the earth’s ice is in Antarctica.

: A warm blanket of fog cloaked the landscape. Large moist snowflakes created the feeling of being in a giant snow globe. The soft diffused light intensified the silence and intimacy with nature.

: Once past the Antarctic Convergence the water becomes calmer and is steadied by floating masses of ice. I affectionately call this my frozen margarita

: On the east side of James Ross we anchored near Rum Bay. Mosses, lichens, algae, hardly an inch high, prove that life can endure in the harshest of circumstances.

: On the east side of James Ross we anchored near Rum Bay. Mosses, lichens, algae, hardly an inch high, prove that life can endure in the harshest of circumstances.

: An iceberg is a floating mass of freshwater ice that has broken, or calved, from the seaward end of a glacier or polar ice sheet. The frightening fact is that this ice is melting at an alarming rate.

: The Antarctic ice cap is the largest in the world. It encompasses over 90% of the world’s glacial ice and nearly 75% of the world’s fresh water.

: This was the last evening of 1999. The towering mountains, blanketed with snow and ice that have been accumulating for eons, surrounded us. There were icebergs everywhere and the ship slowly wove its way while the light performed its magic. The icescape was draped in a luminescent mist.

: Antarctica is so visibly untouched by humanity! The health of our planet is dependent on the ecological well-being of this place beyond our routine existence.

: 98% of Antarctica is blanketed with an ice sheet more than 2000 feet thick and is nearly as large as the United States and Canada, combined. The Antarctic Ice Cap is the largest in the world. Over 90% of the world’s glacial ice and nearly 75% of the world’s fresh water is located here.

: Brown Bluff, bare and rust-colored, rises 2225 feet above sea level and looks more like a western landscape than the Antarctic Peninsula. It is a volcanic structure with an extended ice cap. Debris from erosion has created a beach-like shoreline that is home to Adelie and Gentoo penguin colonies.

: Part of the mystique of Antarctica is the daring and dramatic history of its exploration. Paulet Island is historically important because Captain Larsen and his crew were forced to spend the winter here in 1903 when their ship was crushed in ice during an expedition. Today we are faced with the perils of pollution and global-warming.

: Icebergs and glaciers adorn this channel, named in honor of the Dutch navigator Issac Le Maire who, accompanied by his son and Dutch Captain Willem Corneliszoon Schouten, discovered Cape Horn in 1616. Filled with the spirit of exploration and awe, I climbed Cape Horn during my return trip to civilization.

: At Port Lockroy Nigel and Dave man an old British Antarctic Survey post as museum curators. This is the southern-most British post office in the world (64 49’ S, 63 31’ W). It is operable during the Antarctic summer, late November to mid-March and letters usually take between 2-6 weeks to arrive at their North American or European destinations. Historically, Port Lockroy ws a top-secret post operated by the British Government during World War II. After the was it served as a weather research station until it closed in 1962. It fell into disrepair and occupation by Gentoo penguins! In 2005 about 3000 pairs of Gentoo penguins make Port Lockroy their home-base for breeding. Recognized for its historical importance in 1994, Port Lockroy was designated as a British historic site and was renovated. It reopened in 1996 and is a popular tourist attraction.

: Antarctica, the white continent, is the harshest, coldest, windiest, driest, most mountainous place on earth…truly a land of extremes. Jean Baptiste Charcot discovered this area during the French Antarctic Expedition of 1903-1905…and I discovered it nearly 100 years later.

: Antarctic penguins leap (almost fly) out of water to reach the safety of raised ice or rocky ledges. Once ashore, penguins are often awkward and walk with a stiff and erect posture. They waddle and hop over rocks and sometimes push themselves along on their stomachs.

: Named for the wife of the early French explorer, Dumont D’Urville in the 1830’s, the Adélie penguin is the stereotypical penguin. With its tuxedo shirt front and white rings around its eyes, it is most endearingly handsome and comical. The rocky and ice-free beaches of Paulet Island provide important breeding-ground for Adélie penguins.

: These three Gentoo penguins, I named them Larry, Curly and Moe, waddle up a snowy bank upon their return rom a fishing expedition. Although human depredation and loss of habitat have caused the Gentoo population to suffer over this past century, increased conservation efforts have helped to stabilize their population.

: Gentoos feed on fish and krill. Here a Gentoo penguin is on his trail back to the sea. As penguins tend to follow the same paths to and from the ocean to feed and bathe, the trails become well-trodden and covered with guano.

: The Adélie penguin, smallest and most common and well-known of all Antarctic penguin species, is about 28 inches tall and weighs 8 to 9 pounds and can be found forming colonies on coastal beaches throughout Antarctica. Scientists use the Adélie penguin as an indicator species to monitor the abundance of krill…essential to the web of Antarctic life.

: Sailing into the Antarctic Sound through the area known as iceberg alley, we landed on the continent. Only 2% of its land is visible as mountain peaks and along the coastline. If one per cent of Antarctic ice were to melt, due to global warming, sea levels would rise two feet and obliterate these penguin colonies.

: Mile-high mountains stood like sentinels as we entered Nature’s frozen paradise. The pursuit of adorable and amusing penguins, I thought, would be the main focus of my picture taking. Very quickly into the trip, however, they became upstaged by the visual splendor of the Antarctic landscape of which I am still daunted.

: Just off the tip of two Hummock Island in the Gerlache Strait are Hydrurga Rocks. Several chinstrap rookeries occupy the rocky summits of these islets that may reach as much as 80 feet above sea level. The leopard seals, for whom the islets are named, inhabit this area and feed upon nesting chinstraps.

: Gentoos are the least abundant species of penguin found on the sub-Antarctic islands. Interestingly, they mate earlier than other penguins and raise more chicks that the other penguin species. No other penguin has such a prominent tail. Unlike most penguins in which the sexes are similarly sized, female Gentoos are smaller than the males. They stand about 30 inches tall and weigh about 12 pounds.

: Gentoos are distinguished from the smaller Adelie and Chinstrap species by their bright red-orange bills and conspicuous white patches behind their eyes. The Gentoo penguin has the widest range of distribution of any penguin. Its most significant populations are concentrated on the Antarctic Peninsula and sub-Antarctic islands.

: Gentoo penguin nests are found along rocky uninhabited shorelines. Nest building is an ongoing activity as penguins constantly fight over stones and steal them from each other’s nests. Chicks are fed krill by both parents. The chicks stay in the nest for about a month. During this time nursery groups, called cr´eches allow parents to take turns hunting for food and not leave their babies untended. Perhaps this is where the idea for day-care originated! Ater about three months (usually in January) the chicks grow their adult feathers and go out on their own. Chicks that survive go off to sea and return to their colony of origin to breed and perpetuate their species. Three-quarters of their lives are spent at sea. They come ashore to nest and raise their young.