Questions from 9th and 10th grade students at Hoggard High School, Wilmington, NC
Gabbi Eppright, teacher
1. What specific adaptations have the Antarctic animals developed to survive the extreme conditions of the continent?
There are many adaptations that both marine and terrestrial species have in Antarctica to cope with the cold conditions there. For penguins, a thick skin with a layer of blubber as well as a thick coat of feathers provide the insulation they need to maintain a constant body temperature similar to birds everywhere else. Penguins can also control their feathers with tiny muscles, keeping them closer to the body when diving and forming a waterproof ‘suit’ the keeps the cold water from touching their skin. In the air, they can fluff their feathers out, creating air pockets between them that add to the insulative properties of the feathers. In fact, penguins are so well adapted to the cold they are most comfortable when it stays cold, but even on days when it’s freezing out for us, penguins can actually get too hot!
2. What is the coldest temp its ever got there while a person was there and did they live through it?
The coldest temperature ever recorded in Antarctica was -128.6° F at the Russian Vostok Station on the polar plateau. This temperature was recorded in winter in July 1983 and the station is located at an elevation of 3488 m (11,444 ft) which added to the cold conditions there. Since this was recorded at a station, which is heated by generators, the personnel there were okay. It would not be possible to go outside when its this cold as any exposed skin would immediately lead to frost bite.
3. What kind of plane do you take to get there or is it a helicopter?
Flights to McMurdo Station in the Ross Sea depart from Christchurch, New Zealand, and can take up to 8 hours to reach the station. The New York Air National Guard operates these flights using a military C-130 aircraft, a workhorse of a plane that can hold over 20 tons of cargo or about 90 passengers. Usually, it’s a combination of both that are on these flights. There are helicopters at McMurdo Station that are used for short flights in the McMurdo area and which we used to get to our field sites to sample active and abandoned penguin colonies.
4. Why did you decide to begin your research?
I decided to begin my own research project on my first visit to Antarctica in the early 1990s. I was helping a colleague with their research on penguins and other seabirds in the Antarctic Peninsula and loved it there so much I knew I needed to develop my own project to keep coming back. I did so after seeing old pebble mounds left by breeding penguins and, because I had an archaeological background, I saw these mounds as a kind of ‘archaeological site’ for penguins with preserved tissues buried within them. I tested this idea and the mounds did have bones, eggshell and other remains preserved within them that could be dated and analyzed and my project built from there.
5. How much did global warming effect the penguins?
Global warming is impacting penguins in many ways. For the truly ice-adapted species such as the Adélie and Emperor, their populations are declining in some areas of the Antarctic, especially in the Antarctic Peninsula where the warming trend has been most severe. For subantarctic species, the warming has been beneficial—Gentoo penguins, for example, have been expanding in numbers southward along the Antarctic Peninsula as they prefer open water near their colonies, while Adélies in those same areas are declining because they depend on sea ice habitat for foraging. So, some species are ‘climate change winners’ when they adapt well to the warming trend, while others are ‘climate change losers’ and are declining.
6. What is it like living in a very different landscape than anywhere else on the planet? What do you do on an average day there?
I am fascinated by areas on our planet where nature still rules—you cannot do anything outside unless the conditions there allow it. Each day begins with a weather assessment—if the winds are too strong, or if there is blowing snow and a blizzard, you just have to wait in the station for it to pass. Fortunately, McMurdo has great labs and science facilities so there’s plenty we can do and still get some work done. When the weather is nice out, we fly by helicopter to a penguin colony near the station and survey and work in that area, mapping locations of abandoned penguin colonies and sampling them with small excavations to recover bones and tissues for radiocarbon dating and stable isotope analyses. After sampling, the helicopter returns to pick us up and we return to the station to process our samples and prepare for another trip out the next day.
These were all great questions—thank you, Hoggard students for your interest!