Questions sent in by The Priory School
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Questions sent in by The Priory School |
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These questions were asked by The Priory School and answered by a Kerry Barton, a scientist studying population dynamics of Adelie penguins. She spends two months a year at Cape Bird, which is an Adelie colony on Ross Island where about 30,000 penguins breed every year.
1. Where did you live before going to Antarctica and why did you choose to go?When I am not in Antarctica I live and work in Nelson, New Zealand. I had worked on the penguin project for 3 years before I got to see a real Adelie penguin. Part of the project involves counting the number of penguins breeding at each penguin colony from aerial photographs and this was my job when I first started working on the penguin project. I had counted over a million penguins before I actually got to go and see one in Antarctica.
2. How do you get to Antarctica and what was the journey like?I travelled to Antarctica on a C130 Hercules. These are military planes flown by the NZ and US air force. The planes are very good for shifting cargo but not very comfortable. We sit on webbing seats along the side of the plane; there is usually very little room to move about and lots of people sitting knee to knee. We are given a packed lunch when we board the pane and the flight usually takes 8-9 hours. Sometimes you take off and then have to turn back. I have spent 8 hours in the air and ended up back where I started. This is because the weather is not very good at McMurdo, where we need to land, so the plane gets turned around or the plane develops a fault and we need to return for repairs.
3. Do you miss anything about home?I miss my dog and while I'm in the field I miss having a shower and using a flush toilet. We have to melt snow for water and don't have facilities to have showers so I look forward to getting back to Scott Base and having a shower. All human wastes are collected and returned to Scott Base to be disposed of so it's very nice to get back to Scott Base and just flush the toilet rather than having to bag up the results.
4. What are you studying at the moment?
We are studying the factors that affect the number of Adelie penguins breeding every year. First we wanted to find out where Adelie penguins breed and how many birds there were. To do this we flew along the coastline searching for penguin colonies and each year we take photos of the colonies and from these photos I can count the number of birds nesting at each location. From this data we can see what is happening to penguin numbers year by year.
We also want to know what factors affect the number of penguins breeding each year. We stay at Cape Bird, a penguin colony on Ross Island, for 2 months to study:
c) How fast the chicks are growing and how many chicks fledge. (fledging is when chicks shed their fluffy down and get proper feathers).
We are using penguins as a biological indicator. Just as you would use a thermometer to measure the temperature we study penguins to measure the health of the Antarctic marine environment.
Penguins feed mainly on krill and krill is also an important food source for a lot of other Antarctic marine animals like fish, seals and whales. Because Penguins are low down in the food chain they will indicate if there is anything wrong long before other species would show there was a problem. If the penguin population declines it will tell us that there is something very wrong in the Antarctic Ocean and we will have to act very fast to fix the problem.
Also penguins are the ideal animals for this job because they are accessible - they breed on land, at known locations, during the summer when we can study them. Other animals would be very difficult to collect such an intense amount of data on.
5. Do you enjoy your job and how long have you been there?
I love going to the Antarctic. The place is vast and the scenery is spectacular. Adelie penguins are really cool animals. They are always busy looking after their eggs and chicks, going fishing and interacting with each other. The colony is very noisy, smelly and busy and the time I spend there is very special. I have just returned from 2 months at Cape Bird and will return next December.
6. What do you wear to keep warm?
I am issued with a range of clothes and each day I select clothes to suit the weather. Generally I wear several layers of clothing-a layer of polypro/wool underwear, a layer of thermal gear and then a layer of wind proofing. I also wear a hat, neck warmer, gloves and special boots to keep my feet warm.
7. How many scientists are with you at the moment?
There are two of us studying penguins at Cape Bird. There were also other science events working at Cape Bird while I was there.
8. Do you have electricity and if so have you ever had a power cut?We don't have full time electricity. If we need power, to charge our computers or run other science gear, we have to start the petrol generator. We don't need lights, as when I am there it is 24 hours sunlight. We cook our food using a gas stove.
9. Have you ever been ill because of the cold?No but I have been very cold. We are aware of how dangerous it can be to get very cold and are careful to wear the right clothes and keep an eye on each other to make sure that no one is being affected by the cold. If the weather is very bad we stay in our hut / tent.
10. What types of drinks do you have and which do you prefer?It is very important to drink a lot when you are in Antarctica; it is very easy to get dehydrated. I prefer to have hot drinks like hot chocolate, refresh (fruit cordial) made with hot water and herbal teas. At home I drink a lot of coffee but I try not to when I am in Antarctica as it is a diuretic (makes you pee a lot).
11. What is your favourite animal?I get to see some really neat animals. Emperor penguins are very majestic. Weddell seals have lovely faces with great big eyes and they make some really beautiful sounds. Leopard seals are great hunters catching penguins and thrashing them to bits and its always special to see Orcas and Minkes swimming past but my favourite animal is the Adelie penguin.
12. What is the coldest temperature you ever had?Probably the coldest weather I have experienced was when I was working in -20 C with a 20-knot wind. Because of the wind chill factor the stronger the wind the colder it is, so although it was only -20 C the real temperature was closer to -60 C.
13. How long does it take for the supply boat to come?In the New Zealand programme supplies are delivered to Scott Base throughout the summer season using planes. A boat comes down in February to deliver supplies for over winter and to return bulk cargo to New Zealand. The trip usually takes 2-3 weeks each way.
14. Have you ever had trouble with whales and why?No.
15. How easy is it to catch food if you need to?
If we had to we could survive at Cape Bird by using the same techniques as the early explorers to Antarctica. We could eat penguins, penguin eggs and use Weddell seals for food and oil to run our cooking stoves. Penguins and Weddell seals would be easy to catch as you can get close to them - they haven't learned to fear people yet and hopefully won't need to.
