My Day In Antarctica
Copyrighted - Ann Hawthorne

My Day In Antarctica

Written by Alex Auffenorde

Edited by Mike Schwenke

Journal Essay#1

I have come to this desolate and beautiful place they call Antarctica for my very first time . I am going to become a member of the LTER team to study the penguin.

Today I went with some other people to study the penguins that inhabit different places. The conditions were cold and windy today so we had to make some extra preparations. These preparations were the same ones for which we were trained. First, we put on our gumby suits. These things are very important. If somone would fall into the water, he or she would float and stay warm for a short time, hopefully until you swim to land or someone finds you. Then we boarded the zodiac, made sure it was full of fuel, and checked that we had enough food in case we got stranded there over night. We then radioed back to the station that we were on our way.

We began our studies. We measured the length and width of the penguin beaks to find out if they were male or female and recorded all the data we received. As we worked, the weather condition turned bad and we had to gather things and head back to Palmer Station on the zodiac. When we arrived the visibility was zero so we made it back just in time.

It was a great experience working with live animals. Tomorrow I am going to study the penguins again. Even though this is a desolate place, far away from cilvilization, its very beautiful. I will do what some say to do and that is to leave only footprints.