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!
Questions from 9th and 10th grade and Earth and Environmental students at
Hoggard High School, Wilmington, NC
Ms. Gabbi Eppright, teacher
26 Feb. 2025
Penguins are seabirds and spend most of their lives at sea. Little is known on their habits out in the open ocean, so we can learn a lot from them at their breeding colonies. There, they display many types of behaviors that are fun to observe, but even better is that they leave a record at their past breeding sites of bones and food remains that accumulate and preserve for millennia in the cold, dry Antarctic environment. These tissues provide information on their paleohistory that makes them of great interest to me as they can tell us about past marine conditions and their former distribution in Antarctica. Understanding how they responded to climate change in the past can help us predict how they will respond in the future with current global warming. Such knowledge can also aid conservation efforts so the species survives.
Probably the most surprising thing I’ve seen in Antarctica is how quickly conditions can change, from a nice sunny day to high winds and blizzard conditions in less than an hour. One must always be ready for anything when out in the field, especially at remote sites.
Usually these penguins live on average from 10-12 years, though some may live up to 16 years. Most mortality occurs in winter so we rarely find dead adults at the breeding colony. Penguins in captivity can live longer. The warming trend has been causing them to abandon some areas in Antarctica, but there’s not enough information to know if their life expectancy has changed as well.
Depending on the research station, you can see a variety of heavy equipment and vehicles from snow plows on trucks to keep roads open, bulldozers and cranes for construction activities, and several types of snow vehicles from snow machines to large ‘terra buses’ that hold over 50 people, have three axles, and tires up to 6 feet in diameter. At McMurdo, a Coast Guard ice-breaker arrives each year to escort a cargo ship into the bay by the station to offload supplies for the year and take garbage and other waste back to the U.S. for disposal.
The stations are well designed to conserve heat with insulated walls and can be quite comfortable. While working outdoors, it’s important to have layers of clothing and extra gear in case conditions change quickly. If the conditions are already bad outside (high winds, snow) you just don’t go out in it. Field camps are well equipped with wind resistant tents and down sleeping bags and pads so you can get by just fine in the cold. Sometimes, with the sun out all night, your tent can get too hot from the greenhouse effect and you have to open a flap to let in cool air!
Antarctica was never truly colonized as in the 1800s and early 1900s it was not possible to live there for more than a few years while supplies lasted. The first people to setup a hut and spend the winter on the continent was in 1899-1900 and one person died over the winter and is buried in Antarctica. The first claims for territory were by the British for the Antarctic Peninsula and South Shetland Islands, but this overlapped with areas that Chile and Argentina considered as their territory. Eventually, seven countries made claims to various parts of the Antarctic: Great Britain, Chile, Argentina, France, Norway, New Zealand, and Australia. The U.S. could have made a claim but never did. All these claims were set aside when the Antarctic Treaty was signed in 1959, but if the treaty was ever dissolved these countries could re-establish their claims.
Yes, Mt Erebus in the Ross Sea is the most southern active volcano in the world. Every day you can see a small plume of smoke drifting up from its summit. It has had small eruptions occasionally (the last one in 2020) but it’s been about 18,000 years since a major explosion. There are also volcanoes in the Antarctic Peninsula with an active one at Deception Island that last erupted in 1970. Over 90 other volcanoes exist under the Antarctic ice sheet so have never been seen.
Since I’ve been going to Antarctica in 1991, I’ve seen lots of changes, mainly glaciers shrinking from melt. From 1991 to 2001, one glacier in the Antarctic Peninsula retreated 100s of meters over just a decade. The warming trend is real and its having more of an impact in the Antarctic Peninsula because that area is the most northern portion of the continent. Ice shelves also are thinning and collapsing with warmer ocean temperatures. In the Ross Sea just this year we saw huge waterfalls flowing off ice shelves from all the melt. The warming also impacts the marine environment so that less food is available for penguins and seals. Some populations of these animals have already shrunk or disappeared, especially in the peninsula. Scientists continue to track these changes and how these species will respond to continued warming.
Yes, we always bring extra supplies, more than we need, just to be safe. When dropped at a field site by a helicopter, we cache the extra supplies near the landing site and only use them if needed. We also are dropped with survival bags that include a tent, sleeping gear, stove, and food to last several days if conditions change and the helicopter can’t get back to us right away. These bags also are left near the landing site so we do not carry them with us while working. We keep watch of the weather all the time and if conditions appear to be deteriorating, we will return to the landing site and prepare to be picked up.
On the continent, all species are protected in Antarctica as stated in the Antarctic Treaty. Permits are needed for scientific work on any species and the research must follow treaty guidelines. Marine species vary in protection. All seals and whales are protected, but fish and krill can be harvested under strict guidelines to prevent over harvesting. There has been some illegal fishing in Antarctica but most countries comply with the regulations.
Thank you, again Hoggard students and now those from the Earth and Environmental program for your great questions and interest!