Our Man In Antarctica

Long Island Sound sailor and OCYC blogger Howie Koss is on an expedition to Antarctica. He sends this post from the ice:

Standing On Ye Shoulders Of Giants

"If I have seen further it is by standing on ye shoulders of Giants" -Sir Isaac Newton

There is a long and rich history of Terra Incognita. The place names identifying scientific research bases, mountain tops, nunataks, valleys, glaciers, ice shelves, penisulas, the surrounding oceans, and all of the conceivable minutia one can find on any map of the most inhospitable continent in the world barely scrape the frozen surface of understanding the breadth, scope, hardships, achievments, and contributions of those who have come before. One must dig a little deeper to appreciate the fullness of what Antarctica once was, how it became a frontier of exploration, what it means to the body of scientific research, and how further study will aid in our understanding, not only of past global climate, but of our future and how we as a human race will need to adapt in this time of prominent climate change.

I have read many of the classic tales of the Golden Age of Exploration. Each one of the first-person narratives, from Shackleton's South, Amundsen's Race to the South Pole, Scott's personal journals, Cherry-Garrard's The Worst Journey in the World, to the biographical sketches of Reginal Pound's Scott of the Antarctic, Roland Huntsford's The Last Place on Earth and Shackleton, and so many others, all convey the severe hardship that these men went through in the name of science and discovery. What comes across is that personal notoriety and accolade was not the motivation. Pushing the envelope of human understanding, furthering the knowledge base of the surrounding world, and broadening the global perspective all drove these men to reach deep within themselves to set out to achieve the unimaginable.

Although finnesko has been replaced with "bunny boots," reindeer clothing with ECW (extreme cold weather) gear, pemmican with a well balanced varied diet, dog sleds and man-hauling for helicopters and snowmobiles, my motivation for journeying to the Antarctic is in parallel with those who have come before me. Climate change is one of the foremost issues facing the global community today. As an Earth scientist, I feel a responsibility to take an active role in furthering our understanding of this complex system. To be able to predict future climate change, I have to know the climate of the distant past, I have to be able to understand how the Earth's climate changed through time to the conditions we live in today. To do that, I must go to Antarctica!

As I am on the brink of becoming a Polar explorer, I am so excited to have this opportunity. I feel very fortunate to be given this chance to go to the Ice. It is my hope that the ONH Team will locate sediments of the "Greenhouse World," and that they will later be sampled and studied, not only to understand the global transition to the "Icehouse World" we live in today, but also to better gauge our future global climate.

"Courage, or ambition, or love of notoriety, may take you to the Antarctic, or any other uncomfortable place in the world, but it won't take you far inside without being found out; it's courage: and unselfishness: and helping one another: and sound condition; and willingness to put in every ounce you have: and clean living: and good temper: and tact: and good judgement: and faith. And the greatest of these is faith, especially a faith that what you are doing is of use." -Apsley Cherry-Garrard

Howie Koss