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 FOUR MEN WHO WORK IN ANTARCTICA - PART 1INTERVIEWS BY ROCCO CASTORO, PHOTOS BY CHRIS LINDER, WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION
Andrew G. Fountain, professor of geology and geography, Portland State University Vice: How did you end up working in a frozen wasteland for weeks at a time? Andrew: During junior high school this guy from the State University of New York in Albany gave a lecture about cloud seeding and that led to my interest in ice crystals. I never looked back from there. I started studying cloud physics, specifically ice-crystal formations. While searching for a job I ended up in the field of glaciology, which wasn’t what I was really interested in, but hey, a job’s a job. Then it ended up being my niche. Antarctica has some of the most unique and massive glaciers, so it’s a great place for my kind of research. I’ve visited over ten times now. Most of your field research takes place in the McMurdo Dry Valleys. Terrestrially, it is considered the closest thing to Mars on Earth. What’s going on there? Dry valleys are not covered by ice, and McMurdo is one of the only ice-free places on the continent. The ice sheet is blocked by the Transantarctic Mountains, and the valley itself is composed of sandy gravel. It’s essentially the last functioning terrestrial ecosystem in Antarctica and it’s microbially dominated, meaning it has more plants than animals. What we’re interested in is how climatic variations affect the function of this ecosystem. Because it’s at a very elemental level, it helps our understanding of Earth’s early ecosystems and also ecosystems that exist or perhaps once existed on planets like Mars. Melting glaciers supply the only water to the region for a couple months in the summer. It’s my role to monitor how the glaciers are changing, and that informs us of climate change.
McMurdo Station is the largest Antarctic research facility and has been used as a backdrop in a lot of science-fiction stories. It seems like a pretty wacky place to live, even for a short time. Arriving there is like being on a mission in a sci-fi movie or novel where the spacecraft lands and you get in a moon vehicle that takes you to the space station, but instead you land in an aircraft and then it’s an hour bus ride to the station where you get carted around in these giant-wheeled vehicles. The station itself reminds me of an Alaskan village. There are a lot of huts and electricity poles are up all over the place because of the permafrost. It has a very industrial feel. How about downtime? Is there any place to kick up your feet? We have Armed Forces TV and Radio. Then there are three bars: a bar for smokers, a kind of typical, noisy bar with a foosball table and shuffleboard, and a place we call the Coffee House where you can play chess and checkers and catch up with people over a glass of wine. CONTINUED FOUR MEN WHO WORK IN ANTARCTICA | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | >
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