A bunch of EXCELLENT questions have come from several schools. I’ll answer a few today, and more tomorrow.
Students in Ms. Himmelstein’s 4th grade class at Roland Park Country School asked:
“Do you drink bottled water or do you boil water from the ocean?”
Palmer Station gets its fresh water from the ocean. There is a big pump that brings water from the ocean into a desalinization system that removes the salt from the water. We use this salt-free water to drink, shower, and wash clothes. Some water that is pumped in does not have the salt removed, and this seawater goes into the tanks in the lab (where we hold marine creatures) and even into the toilets! All of our waste water is pumped back into the water, so we are very careful not to put chemicals down the drains that could harm the environment.
“How do you get your food, do you hunt for it? Do you eat anything but seafood?”
We do not hunt or fish for food. Countries that conduct scientific research in Antarctica have an agreement that we will do our best to not change the environment of this unique place. Hunting and fishing for food could potentially do that. So, all of our groceries come from South America on the Laurence M. Gould. Palmer Station is VERY well-stocked with all sorts of great food — beef, chicken, fish, cheese…the list goes on and on. We do eat lots of seafood, as well as everything else you can imagine. There are 2 cooks that work at the station, and they make AMAZING food!! Tonight for dinner we had an “italian” theme: fresh baked bread, salad, chicken with pasta, fried eggplant, and cheese ravioli. Everyone washes their own dishes, and we take turns cleaning the pots and pans.
Students in Ms. Sipe’s 6th grade class at Berkeley Prep asked:
“Do you have spare time, if so what do you do during that spare time?”
There is not much free time for scientists here. We are only here for such a short time (about 1 month in my case) that we try to pack in as much research as possible. Every now and then we try to take a break. One popular thing to do is go boating on the zodiacs for recreation. We take them to Torgersen Island to watch penguins, or just to motor around and look at the amazing scenery and watch whales and seals. We also have a nice lounge on station, with lots of books, big comfy couches and a huge TV for watching movies (no TV channels here, just movies). Tonight I took a break from research and listened to someone who works on station (who also happens to be my roommate) show pictures about a vacation he took to South America. It was popular…many of the 43 people on station were there!
