Jeffrey Donenfeld

Tag: Antarctica-summer-12-13

Launching a Meteorological Balloon with South Pole Meteorologist Phillip Marzette

The weather here at the South Pole is intense – one day it’s crazy storms, the next day it’s sunny and nice – and it’s always cold. Detailed weather observation and reporting happens daily here, and the man in charge of it all is Meterologist Phillip Marzette.

The other day, Phil let me tag along and help him launch a weather balloon carrying Radiosonde 15 miles into the atmosphere. During its flight, the Radiosonde took continuous atmospheric and position measurements, and relayed them to us on the ground. Here’s the video of the setup and launch procedure.

2012-11-21
Taking Ozone Measurements at the South Pole Atmospheric Research Observatory

Today, Atmospheric Scientist Kelliann Bliss shows us how she takes ozone readings at the South Pole Atmospheric Research Observatory (ARO).

A bit more on ARO, from NOAA:

The Atmospheric Research Observatory (ARO) at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station is a National Science Foundation facility used in support of scientific research related to atmospheric phenomena. ARO is located approximately five hundred meters grid east-northeast of the main station, physically separated and generally upwind of all other station facilities.

2012-11-20
Open Mic Night

Living at the South Pole is hard. We live hard here – it’s constantly at least -30 degrees F outside, the sun is always shining bright, there’s always wind, and the running of the critical life support systems in the station is constantly hanging on by a thread. We also work hard – everybody has a minimum 54 hour work week, and many many of our free time is spent helping out on other projects. So that means that we also have to play hard.

Recreation and relaxation her is taken seriously. Without an outlet to unwind, people will freak our, and the morale and overall environment will go downhill quickly. To relieve stress, we have a number of facilities and activities here. Facilities include a gym, a workout room, a few lounges, a movie screening room, a game room with pool table and ping pong table, a sauna, a rock climbing wall, a weight room, and a nordic ski trail.

Last sunday night, we had an open mic night in the gym. With everyone assembled next to a reused supply drop drag parachute, we spent the night listening to all sorts or performances. A great way to relax and forget that we’re all at one of the most remote places on earth.

2012-11-19
All Hands On Deck at the South Pole

Currently at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, we have a population of 135 people. That includes all scientists, support staff, visitors, and contractors – and we all live in this elevated station above the ice together. After the first week of the season, an all-station meeting was called in where other than The Galley. Here’s a quick panorama of the entire Summer 2012-2013 South Pole Station Crew, assembled.

And also for interest, we keep close track of not only how many people we have, but also how many of our precious resources we’re using. Here’s one of the info screen that cycles on the displays in the Galley (Along with flights, weather, satellite internet uptime, south pole traverse progress, etc). We also all have access to this info on our intranet.

2012-11-18
Playing With Liquid Helium At The South Pole Cryogenics Lab

To support the various telescopes and experiments here at the south pole, a ton of resources are necessary – power, heating, environmental protection, and somewhat counterintuitively, cooling. Some of the telescopes here are so sensitive, and looking at such distant signals, that in order to work properly they need to be cryogenically cooled down to just above absolute zero. The only practical way to do this is with a complex refrigerator that uses liquid helium, which sits at 4 degrees kelvin in its natural state.

Liquid helium is a dangerous, volatile, expensive substance, and in order to be able to supply the experiments with an adequate amount of it, there’s an entire cryogenics laboratory right next to the main station.

The other day Engineer and Cryogenics Technician Flint Hamblin gave me a quick tour of the lab. A few pics:

The Cryo Barn, as it’s called, is a black structure, with huge insulated loading doors. It’s about a 10 minute walk from the station.
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Inside, there’s a ton of equipment surrounding huge liquid helium holding tanks. These tanks are vacuum insulated to prevent the liquid helium from boiling, and to protect people working around the tanks from being injured by the extreme cold temperature.

In order to get liquid helium over to the telescope (namely Bicep2), it must be carried in a specially designed “dewier” – a large vacuum flask. Flint transports liquid helium dewiers on the ice with a snowmobile.

2012-11-17
Exploring the Ice Cube Neutrino Observatory

One of the amazing benefits of living here at the South Pole is that I get access to some of the world’s leading scientists, and the experiments they’re working on. In fact, the luxury of having meals and chatting with scientists, and then being able to go out to their experiments is by far one of the absolute best things about living here. It’s truly a once in a lifetime opportunity to have this many amazing people living together in one building. Once such experiments is the Ice Cube Neutrino Observatory. Photos.

After making friends with a few of the scientists working on the Askaryan Radio Array (ARA) project coupled with the Ice Cube Lab, I was invited out to the main lab building to check out the facility, as well as help the ARA project set up their workshop.

First, a bit of background on Ice Cube:

IceCube is a particle detector at the South Pole that records the interactions of a nearly massless sub-atomic particle called the neutrino. IceCube searches for neutrinos from the most violent astrophysical sources: events like exploding stars, gamma ray bursts, and cataclysmic phenomena involving black holes and neutron stars. The IceCube telescope is a powerful tool to search for dark matter, and could reveal the new physical processes associated with the enigmatic origin of the highest energy particles in nature. In addition, exploring the background of neutrinos produced in the atmosphere, IceCube studies the neutrinos themselves; their energies far exceed those produced by accelerator beams. IceCube is the world’s largest neutrino detector, encompassing a cubic kilometer of ice.

– From Wisc.edu

Ice Cube Diagram:

And on the Askaryan Radio Array (ARA) from Wisc.edu:

Building on the expertise gained in these efforts, and the infrastructure developed in the construction of the IceCube optical Cherenkov observatory, we are developing an array, known as ARA (The Askaryan Radio Array), and installing it in the deep ice near the geographical South Pole. South Polar ice is, in fact, perhaps the most extensively-studied on the planet, the combination of ice thickness and favorable radiofrequency dielectric characteristics, as well as the excellent scientific infrastructure and the co-location of the IceCube Observatory, makes that site unparalleled for this study. With a fiducial area of an unprecedented 80 km$^2$, ARA’s size was chosen to ensure the detection of the flux of neutrinos “guaranteed” by the observation of the GZK cutoff by HiRes and the Pierre Auger Observatory. Within 3 years of commencing operation, the full ARA will exceed the sensitivity of any other instrument in the 0.1-10 EeV energy range by an order of magnitude. Because the antennas will be deployed in boreholes extending below the firn layer to 200 m depth, it will have the ability to distinguish surface noise from sources originating in the ice cap, otherwise not possible in the ballon borne approach employed by ANITA. Even under the extreme assumption that UHE cosmic rays are pure iron, ARA will have sufficient sensitivity to establish the presence or absence of the secondary UHE neutrinos produced by the interaction of cosmic rays with the cosmic microwave background. Such an observatory would also provide an unique probe of long baseline high energy neutrino interactions unattainable with any man-made neutrino beam.

Visiting the lab,and helping out with both setup of the worksite, as well as observing the installation of new networking hardware was great. A few pics:

Our transport from the station to Ice Cube Lab was in a van, but not any ordinary van

Our transport from the station to Ice Cube Lab was in a van, but not any ordinary van

The Ice Cube Lab

Beginning to setup the shop tent. The sun in Antarctica is intens, as is the cold and wind. All skin must be covered.

The main control center for the Ice Cube Observatory

The main control center for the Ice Cube Observatory

This is where raw data from each photomultiplier tube frozen in the ice comes into the racks of electronics.

The main control center for the Ice Cube Observatory

This is where raw data from each photomultiplier tube frozen in the ice comes into the racks of electronics.

Looking out across the way is the MAPO building, housing the South Pole Telescope and Bicep2. More on those later.

2012-11-16
A Trip Around The World At The South Pole

Hello from the South Pole! For today, a quick trip around the world..

Video

2012-11-15
Moving to Antarctica Leg 3: McMurdo Station to Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station

To complete my move to the south pole, I finally flew all the way to the bottom of the world. McMurdo Station lies on the coast, and the South Pole Station is as you’d expect, at the South Pole, right in the middle of the continent. Photos.

To get there, I flew along with a small group of airmen, scientists, and other support contractors on an Air Force LC-130 Hercules. This plane, the “LC” variant, is specially adapted for use in cold polar environments – it has specialized equipment in the plane, and is equipped with both wheels and skis for landing on either hard runways or on snow and ice.

At the crack of dawn at McMurdo, I loaded onto a van equipped with snow treads, and we drove out to the McMurdo ice runway. Getting on the LC-130 was quite spectacular – it’s a large plane, but actually not as large as I thought it would be.

Luckily, I had made friends with a bunch of the people I was flying with, and they knew how excited I was about the trip, so they were sure to let me get a seat by one of the small windows.

Inside, we all sat along the walls of the plane, with the cargo tied down in the middle.

There were only a couple of windows on the plane, including the emergency exits.

Walking around the plane in Antarctic “bunny boots” was precarious – very few flat spaces, mostly tip-toeing around tiedown straps and bars.

After we were in the air, the pilot let me come up the few stairs the the flight deck. The view was spectactular, and unlike most modern airliners with only a horizontal strip of windows, the LC-130 had windows all over the front of the plane, giving a great view. The layout and feel of the cockpit was very “old school” feeling, with lots of analog dials and toggle switches. The plane was in good repair, but it was obvious from the hard wear and tear on all of the surfaces that this plane has been around for a long time, and had some serious time on it. There was even a fold out bed in the cockpit, for longer missions.

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I had the good fortune of sitting next to Scientist Jon Kaufman, who is working on the Bicep2 CMB telescope. I’m going to be visiting the Bicep2/Keck Array lab later this week when the science team disassembles one of the cryostats. Very exciting!

After about three hours in the air, we finally touched down on skis at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station Ice Runway. I was finally home!

As soon as we got off the plane, there was a large group of people from the station there to receive us, and get us oriented.

The view at the ice runway was spectacular – ice in all directions, with the futuristic station looming in the distance. And it was COLD. Very very cold. The cold hits you immediately – both on your skin, biting through your clothes, and in your lungs. Each breath of frozen -40 degree air freezes you from the inside out, causing serious injuries if you don’t cover up and breathe through a gaitor or balancava. And it’s extremely bright. With very little atmosphere protecting from solar rays, and white everywhere, it’s very very bright. Goggles are the only way to mitigate both the cold, wind, and sun.

Finally, I am home at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, Antarctica.

2012-11-14
Exploring McMurdo Station, Antarctica

Once I landed at McMurdo Station, my journey to the south pole wasn’t nearly over. Ahead to explore was Antarctica’s largest outpost of humanity: McMurdo Station. Photos

My time at McMurdo was a welcome, but brief rest fro the constant travel – just enough time to do a small bit of exploring. After the big tractor/bus drove us off the frozen sea and into the center of “town”, we were all ushered into the main building for a brief orientation.

Orientation consisted of station safety briefings, logistics, and dividing the entire flight up into groups based on who people were working with, if they were scientists, and if they (like me) were transiting through to a field camp or to pole. Also in orientation, we heard all about the facilities and services available. It really is like a small town, with everything you’d expect. Including a gym, coffee houses, social spots, bars, etc.

After orientation, I went to the cargo barn to pick up my bags, and then found my way over to my dorm for the night. It was a small 2 story building, built on skis, but sitting on the dirt at the end of town. My dorm overlooked the helicopter landing area, and it was very interesting to see the helicopters take off and land, carrying various teams of scientists.

McMurdo has a huge galley, which feeds the entire town.

Once I had settled into my dorm room, I spent a bit of time exploring town – including making it up to the Carpentry shop, larger dorms, and hospital.

After a bit of exploring, I heard from one of my travel buddies that we had been manifested on the next morning’s flight to NPX (South Pole), so we all had to go get our bags and weight them in to the cargo department, for departure early the next morning. To get on the flight, EVERYTHING, including yourself needs to be weighed. This is so they can calculate the correct amount of fuel, ensuring that they have enough incase the flight “boomerangs” – makes it close to the destination, but then has to turn back because of weather preventing a safe landing.

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Overal, my 12 or so hours in McMurdo were fun – lots of exploring, and seeing a bunch of people I vaguely recognized – including my old friend Suny, who was one of the people who helped me get the job down here in the first place. Cheers Suny!

2012-11-13
Moving to Antarctica Leg 2: Christchurch, New Zealand to McMurdo Station, Antarctica

On November 12, I woke up at a crisp 5am at the Elms Hotel in Christchurch, New Zealand to finally make the flight over to Antarctica. Photoset.

From the airport, the super shuttle took us on a short and rainy 15 minute drive over to the International Antarctic Center, which is right next to the airport. Once there, things were fairly straightforward.

Our bags that had been laid out the afternoon prior were still there, so we quickly had to put on our ECW gear on, and then head over into the terminal with all of our packed bags.

Bags went through security screening, and then there was a short safety presentation before everybody was loaded up onto the airport shuttle and taken out to the C-17.

In addition to the support workers and scientists on my flight, there were also about 20 or so airmen, who were working both on the C-17, as well as the LC-130. Luckily, I got to sit on the wall of the plane, right next to an airforce lutennant and another airmen, Talking to them was very very intersting, and throughout the flight we discussed all the details about operating the C-17, as well as loading cargo into the LC-130.

Overall, the flight to McMurdo was easy and uneventful. The plane was loud, I wore earplugs the whole way. Everybody got a prepacked lunch, and for most of the flight, we sat around reading and doing work, and occasionally walking around.

The view out the windows was absolutely spectacular, and I even got to go up to the flight deck to look around for a bit.

Finally, 4+ years of anticipation and dedication, and days of constant travel, I finally set foot on the Antarctic continent. What a wonderful feeling! Stepping off the plane was really indescribably – there was the rush of filing off a roaring military jet, the exhaustion of traveling for days on end to get here, and the satisfaction and excitement of taking the first step in the fulfillment of one my lifelong dreams.

Once we were off the C17, transport specialists from McMurdo loaded us into a giant “Bus”, and transported us across the frozen Ross Sea into McMurdo.

Slideshow

2012-11-12
Antarctic Extreme Cold Weather Gear Issue

The main point for my brief one day stopover in Christchurch, New Zealand before heading on down to Antarctica was for the issue of my Extreme Cold Weather Gear. Photoset.

Antarctica is cold. Right now at McMurdo it’s 9 degrees F, which is cold. Right now at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, which is where I’ll be living for the next couple of months, it’s -37 degrees F, and with the windchill, that actually feels like around -70 degrees F on your skin. That’s very, very cold. Dangerously cold.

I have a considerable amount of cold weather and mountaineering experience, and did bring a bit of gear with me. However, because of the volume and diversity of people who get sent down to Antarctica (mainly to McMurdo), and because the USAP wants everyone to be well prepared and safe, we’re all issued a standard set of gear that will protect and insulate us from the harsh Antarctic environment.

All of the gear is housed at the Clothing Distribution Center (CDC), which is attached to the International Antarctic Center, right across the street from the airport. In this massive warehouse, they have rows and rows of red parkas, insulated pants, bunny boots, and everything else we’re issued for use on the ice. Additionally at the warehouse, they perform the laptop security checks, as well as administer standard vaccinations.

Once we arrived at the CDC, we were ushered into the briefing room to get briefed on what to do for trying on all of our gear, and basic packing organization and transportation logistics. Then, we were led to the main warehouse floor, where our bags of gear had been laid out for us. Although they already knew our size, everyone had to try on their gear to make sure it fit – and I’m glad I tried mine on. I ended up getting a couple pieces that were too small, and quickly exchanged them at the exchange window. I also got a flu vaccine – which was given by a very nice nurse, but in a very quick, no frills, no BSI fashion. Nice.

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Also, since I’m going to be working as a cook, I was issued a bunch of kitchen uniforms. Funny to put it on under my red parka!

Regarding the red parka – yep, everybody gets one, and they each have a USAP patch on them, as well as your nametag. Cool.

Slideshow

2012-11-11
Exploring Christchurch, New Zealand

After a long flight from Denver to Christchurch, I finally arrived and had a moment to rest, explore, and prepare for the next leg of the journey to Antarctica. I stayed at the Elms Hotel, accompanied by a group of about 20 other scientists and support contractors. Although we did have a lot of gear and preparations to make for our flight to Antarctica, we were given a morning and afternoon on one day to explore Christchurch. For timeline clarity, I explored Christchurch on November 11th – but am posting this as the November 10th blog post, to fill in gaps in the blog. Full Photoset

In February 2011, Christchurch was hit by a huge earthquake. The quake severely damaged much of the city, and even today, almost two years later, the clean up and reconstruction is still in progress. Christchurch is a beautiful town, and despite the continued destruction evident all over town, it has still retained its unique charm and beauty. All over town, there are spring flowers blooming, new buildings being constructed, and novel new shipping containers temporarily/rapidly deployed businesses sprouting up.

By far the most interesting aspect of Christchurch’s post-earthquake reconstruction efforts were the shipping containers. All over town, in bulldozed lots, street corners, and malls, there are corrugated steel shipping containers. Shipping containers and cheap, plentiful and strong, and tons of them have been imported into the city. Cut, stacked, fitted together, and painted, these containers are forming the rapidly developed basis for new businesses in Christchurch. Sometimes standing alone, and sometimes in small groups, life springs from the containers.

In fact, in central downtown, there’s an entire mall made completely from the containers. Called the Re:Start Mall, it consists of neat rows of boxes, stacked on top of each other, containing all sorts of coffee shops, supermarkets, clothing stores, and cultural centers. The mall seems to be doing well, and on the day I visited with a group of weather balloon scientists, the place was packed with locals, eating out on cafe patios, and buying bags of licorice from the extremely well stocked grocer. (And yeah, that was actually me buying the licorice.)

I also took time to explore the Christchurch Botanical Gardens. These gardens lie just west of downtown, and are an oasis of beauty right next to the recovering street grid. Walking paths and a lazy river snake through the grounds, and dotted throughout the foliage are small squares and monuments. During my walk through, I found the World Peace Bell, and the Rose Garden.
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At the end of the day walking around town, I met up with another group of scientists for a drink and to listen to some music at a local pub built out of shipping containers, and then a bit of thai food sold out of a converted RV connected to a shipping container kitchen.

Slideshow

2012-11-10
Moving to Antarctica Leg 1: Denver, USA to Christchurch, New Zealand

After a week of frantic packing and last minute preparations, I’ve finally set out on my move to the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, Antarctica.

To get to Antarctica, the jumping off point from the “civilized world” is Christchurch, New Zealand. Everyone who’s going in a given “wave” assembles in Christchurch, and then flies on military flights across to McMurdo.

Although the flight over to Antarctica from NZ is a special military “ice flight”, getting everyone to Christchurch from wherever they are around the world is done by standard commercial flights.

I departed out of Denver, Colorado. I flew Denver to San Francisco, then San Francisco to Los Angeles on United Airlines. Then from Los Angles, boarded Quantas Airways flight 12 and flew to Sydney, Austraila. After another short and hectic layover, I boarded an Emrates flight to Christchurch.

Getting to Los Angeles from Denver was uneventful – standard united flights. Once at LAX, I began to meet up with a bunch more “ice people” – a few support staffers like me, a few specialized metalworkers going to build a fuel tank at McMurdo, and a whole bunch of scientists.

As us “ice people” began to find each other and assemble, it was interesting seeing all of the different types of people headed down. The welders and metal workers were of a certain type. The service contractors were of a certain type, and undoubtedly the scientists were of a certain type.

Naturally, over the last few days of travel I’ve mainly been hanging out with the science groups. So far, I’ve met three distinct science teams. One group is launching a high altitude balloon with a telescope on it to study cold clouds in space, one group is flying an octo-copter over Mt. Erebus to measure volcanic gasses, and one is freezing cosmic ray sensors into tubes under the ice at the South Pole. I love talking with all of these groups and hearing about their work!

Flying to Sydney on a Quantas Airways operated Airbus A380-800 was great. The plane is absolutely huge, and even in economy class, was extremely comfortable. The seats had a good shape, moldable headrests, and a personal entertainment console in the back of every headrest. Plus, there was a USB port at every seat, allowing you to charge your phone, as well as connect USB media to the entertainment console. I did snoop around a little, and found the stairway to the upstairs crew area, as well as the first class section. Unfortunately, I didn’t make it to the top deck to see the rest of the first and business class seats. Maybe next time I’ll be occupying one of those seats!

Flying to Christchurch on an Emirates operated Boeing 777-300ER was also a great experience. Although not as large at the A380, the 777 was comfy as well, and seemed to handle in a more familar way.

Once in Christchurch, I was picked up along with all of the other ice people by hotel shuttles, and taken to my hotel – The Elms Hotel, a short ride away from the airport.

2012-11-09
Let Me Send You Mail From The South Pole

While I’m in Antarctica, I hear that I’ll have access to a (very small) post office, and I’d love to send you a postcard from the South Pole! There are two ways to get one.

A. Send me a letter or package yourself, and I’ll send you something awesome back. Maybe a post card? Maybe something else fun. Be sure to include your return address in the package, and be sure to ship soon – mail takes a long time to get to me. Here are the official mailing instructions from USAP. (PDF link) My mailing address in Antarctica is:

Jeffrey Donenfeld, GSC
South Pole Station
PSC 768 Box 400
APO AP 96598

B. Fill out this form and add your name to my post card list. This list is only for my personal friends, and I’ll give this list second priority for cards etc. If you put yourself on this list, and I don’t recognize your name, I probably wont send you a card.

Talk to ya soon!
-Jeffrey
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2012-11-08
How To Pack For A Trip To The South Pole

As I type this, I’m sitting in the Los Angeles Airport, about to board Quantas Airways flight 12, with service to Sydney, Australia. From Sydney, I’ll take an Etihad flight to Christchurch, New Zealand, and then after a few days or orientation and gear issue, will continue on Air Force flights through McMurdo to the South Pole. I’m going to be living at the south pole for a couple of months, and given that it’s one of the most isolated places in the world, packing to live there was a major consideration.

I only had 7 days notice that I was getting the job in Antarctica and deploying to the South Pole, so putting together all of my gear, and figuring out how to pack it was a frantic operation. In order to stay organized, I created this comprehensive spreadsheet detailing everything that I’m bringing. I’m posting it here for your reference. Ideally I was hoping to do a video explaining my choices on everything, but just didn’t have time. So here goes. Take a look at the list, and let me know if you have any questions on any gear, or have a replacement suggestion… Antarctica Packing List PDF

2012-11-07
I Got My Dream Job! – Working in Antarctica

A few weeks ago, I published an article detailing my efforts over the last four years to land my dream job working in Antarctica. At the time I published it, I had just received bad news from what I thought was my last and final hope of getting this job for this year, Austral Summer ’12-’13. However, right after I published that article, something amazing happend – people started reading it, and word got out. Not only did my friends and family read it, but apparently a few people actually on the ice read it.

Getting A Job In Antarctica: My Long Journey 2009-2012

At the same time I was dealing with the “buzz” surrounding that article, I also heard from one of my HR contacts that there may in fact be a last minute opening at the South Pole, but it was a long shot. Given my recent experiences (all detailed here) with Antarctica hiring orginization, etc, I didn’t think much of this long shot – I’ve been told much more positive sounding news than that, and even those didn’t work out. So I started to transition over to my next steps in job hunting, adventure planning, etc.

However, last night as I ended a great road trip across Colorado and arrived in Telluride with my siblings, something amazing happened – I got an email from the South Pole. It was an offer letter to be a production cook!.

I GOT MY DREAM JOB WORKING IN ANTARCTICA!!! I’m going to be working as a production cook at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, South Pole, Antarctica. I’ll be departing Colorado in early November, flying through Los Angeles, Sydney, Australia, Chrischurch, New Zealand, onward to McMurdo Station, Antarctica, and finally across the ice to the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. Ill be there on this job for the Austral summer, which ends in February, 2013.

The Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station

To get an idea of what my travel/logistics/job/living/life situation will be like at the South Pole, take a read through the United States Antarctic Program Participant Guide (pdf link).

During my time “on the ice”, I’ll certainly be taking lots of pictures and videos, and posting them right here on my blog. Also be sure to keep up with my on Twitter, where I’ll also be posting updates. Finally, be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel for video clips.

Finally, sign up for my weekly blog newsletter and stay up with me!

I’ll be posting more later, but since my departure is about a week away, I need to get started on gearing up and making all of my preparations.

If you’d like to send a care package to me at the South Pole, I’d love to send you back a post card with a South Pole stamp on it! Be sure to include your return mailing address. The mail takes a long time to reach me, so don’t wait on this.. My mailing address is:

Jeffrey Donenfeld, GSC
South Pole Station
PSC 468 Box 400
APO AP 96598

If you’re interested in Antarctica too, are already on the ice, or just want to discuss, feel free to leave a comment, or drop me a line at Hello@JeffreyDonenfeld.com . Cheers!

2012-11-02
Getting A Job In Antarctica: My Long Journey 2009-2012

My name tag and program patch on my “Big Red” parka. Note I also added my Explorer’s Club members pin.

I want to live and work in Antarctica. It’s been a dream of mine for years, and starting about 4 years ago, I finally decided to make my dream a reality. As you may expect, getting a job – a real job, and not just a tourist ticket down to the South Pole is tricky. And to date, I still don’t have a spot on the polar team yet – but I’m working on it, day by day, getting closer making my dream come true.

I wanted to write this blog post to outline my long and complicated ordeal in researching and implementing my pathway to the ice. Over the past four years of this obsession, I’ve fielded just about every question I can imagine about how to connect and get a job there, and what living and working in Antarctica is like. I’m going to break this post up into two main sections: My job search timeline, and then general questions and resources that get asked a lot.

TL;DR:
I’ve been applying for jobs in Antarctica for 4 years. This past year was my strongest push yet, and unfortunately I did not get the job, despite all resources and effort applied. I plan on continuing the quest to make my dream job happen.
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2012-10-09
Polar Infographic: Who Owns Antarctica?

Great Antarctic infographic for today – who owns that giant continent, anyway?

Courtesy of GOOD

2012-10-03