Antarctica's Secrets

This IS a harsh continent, I've come to agree. Have I mentioned how cold it is?!? Actually, "cold" is an understatement. Sometimes I wonder if the people who designed my winter jacket have ever been anywhere "cold" before. Or do they know what "windy" means?!? I'm going to give some free advice if you ever come to Antarctica (why you would want to, I don't know!)... 1.) Buy a parka/coat/jacket from someone you know has been to Antarctica. 2.) Buy a good gator, because you'll be sorry if you don't. 3.) Order those expensive "weatherproof" contacts for your eyes if you where contacts, because you'll be miserable without them.

A co-worker told me something yesterday that made me want to leave Antarctica on the next flight out. Obviously, that won't happen and I'm not ready to leave yet since I haven't seen an Emperor Penguin. Nonetheless, when she said it to me, speaking from her own experience leaving the Ice, my first impulse was to start crying and beg HR to let me go home. Then I snapped back. Anyway, she told me that when I arrive in New Zealand, as if the place didn't heighten my senses before, that I will have a hard time adjusting to the bright beautiful colors and the smell of nature. I then realized that I haven't seen a live plant or animal for almost a month. I have lived in this seemingly lifeless, odorless, colorless, frozen world for almost a month. It is silent here. There is no smell of anything but cold. I can't wait to see a flower.

Before I left home, my Grandma asked me an interesting question that I don't know the answer to. I don't know that anyone does, but I decided to try and figure it out. She said something like, "Why do we want to study global warming and climate change if there is nothing we can do to change it?". No, I still don't know, Grandma, but I'm trying to figure it out for you.

This place is bizarre (another understatement). This is the only continent that we have no proof of ever moving, unlike the rest of Earth. There are also majestic, rugged peaks buried below the ice. There are ancient lakes buried beneath that ice also, that probably holds secrets to some of Earth's history that we still don't know. Mt. Erebus is the most active volcano in Antarctica that spews mysterious lava crystals up to six times a day, with an elongated lobe of thick floating ice that extends into the frozen McMurdo Sound. There is a strong possibility that Antarctica was once stock full of biodiverse life some 40-50 million years ago, yet we don't have a clue about it.

I read an interesting quote by David Harwood (a scientist from University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Go Big Red, who worked on the ANDRILL project in Antarctica). It made things clear for me, so I took a picture of it to share... "Conditions on Earth are returning to a state that hasn't existed for millions of years. We have to go back to previous times in Antarctica when things were very warm, when carbon dioxide levels were higher, to learn where we're heading. We have more questions than answers."

Today I toured the Albert P. Crary Science and Engineering Center, better known to "locals" as simply Crary. According to our tour guide who works in Crary, the building is the most expensive ever built in the world. It's monstrous, and probably pure heaven for many scientists all over the world. In my opinion, it's the most interesting, most intriguing building on this station. We spoke to scientists working on major international projects that are extremely important to all of us, whether we understand them or not.

My favorite was the ENDURANCE expedition, funded by NASA. Please note that I'm not a scientist or an astrobiologist, so if I get any of this wrong, I'm sorry in advance! I'm just going to talk about it in layman's terms and hardly in any depth. Lake Bonney is located in the the dry valleys, which are not far from here (by helicopter) and are of particular interest to scientists. This is a saline lake with permanent 12-15 foot ice cover at the west end of Taylor Valley. There are four lakes total, all containing uniquely different chemistry, challenging scientists to understand their formation and history, reaching 130 foot deep. In 2007, NASA funded the ENDURANCE project, which is an autonomous submersible robot that studies the volume, shape, and ecology of Lake Bonney. Because of this robot, an ancient ecosystem has been discovered under Taylor Glacier which butts against Lake Bonney. Some of the ice covering the lake and Taylor Glacier is stained reddish-brown (first seen from space). Scientists know now that this reddish stain is iron containing salt seeping out of the glacier and into the lake, and not until 2003 did scientists theorize that this iron salt seeping probably occurs because of the formation of the lakes several million years ago. It is believed that Taylor Valley was once apart of Ross Sea as a fjord. As climate changed, so did Earth, and Taylor Glacier moved and eventually covered Lake Bonney, taking iron containing salt with it. Now, millions of years later, the ancient lake bed salt deposits have reached the edge of Taylor Glacier, wherein, iron salt is now seeping out.

This tiny explanation is only a fraction of the science that is bringing scientists to Antarctica like a magnet. This is the history of Earth, and only the beginning of so much we don't have a clue about. The scientist who talked to us at Crary also told us that ENDURANCE is only the beginning of the technology of this smart submersible robot that holds many secrets. NASA is funding this project to "practice" in hopes to explore the ocean that likely exists on Jupiter's moon Europa. He says this is technology to come in the next couple decades.

I don't know why we need to know anything about Earth's history, or Jupiter's moon's history at that. I don't know the purpose of spending billions and billions of dollars on funding science that will likely answer questions we never fathomed to ask. I know that we know very little about Earth, climate change, and global warming. We know next to nothing about this continent and the life that lives here now and the life that once lived here. But we do want to know, and the thirst for knowledge has rarely let us down.

I know that watching the secrets of Earth being unlocked in front of our eyes is one of the most intriguing and inspiring phenomenons I may ever see.

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