Martin's Antarctic Visit  
January 2004  

Inevitably, we were visited by penguins when we were using the steam drill. These four Adélie penguins wandered over to see what we were doing, nosed around for a few minutes and finally left after apparently losing interest. It's always fun to be visited by penguins. They are amusing and really epitomise what a privilege it is for us to work here in Antarctica. Very few people visit this remote region, and those very few who aren't visiting as scientists, pay an enormous amount of money to spend just a few days here during a very short tourist season.

This picture, and the previous steam drill picture, was taken by Kristan Hutchison, Senior Editor of the Antarctic Sun, the weekly newspaper of McMurdo Station. The newspaper reports mainly on scientists and scientific activities, but you can also read about the people behind the scenes who make the science possible: cooks, truck drivers, cargo handlers, pilots, mountaineers, radio operators, laboratory technicians, waste disposal and sewage treatment specialists, etc., etc..., many of whom also volunteer their time to ensure, for example, that the wine bar and coffee house (with espresso machine) is open so that we can enjoy the opportunity to relax and forget about science for just a little while. The other day I was chatting to the man who was making my latte and found out that he works on the summer road crew at Denali National Park, and knows Larissa Yocum, who maintains the ALISON Web site. It's a small world.

Our work was featured in a long article in the 18 January 2004 issue. Kristin is from Juneau, where she used to work for the local newspaper, the Juneau Empire.

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