lumen adventures
ICE TRIP
It seems like a world away, but Antarctica and Adelaide are closer than you think, especially for a geology student and a member of staff.
By the time summer has well and truly settled over Adelaide, Geology student Kirsty Brown might be wishing for a slice of it. Ms Brown has left Adelaide, Australia to spend three years in... Adelaide, Antarctica. Adelaide Island to be exact.
A PhD student, Ms Brown has been awarded a highly sought-after position working with the British Antarctic Survey. In Antarctica, she'll be working with a team of researchers looking at the impact of icebergs on animal and plant life at the sea floor.
The new position will put her scuba diving skills to good use. Ms Brown has been diving for the past seven years, including off the coast of Greenland.
Her diving also came in handy during her research at the University of Adelaide. For the past four years the British student has been studying sediment produced by organisms that live on seagrasses along the South Australian coast.
"My main survey point was West Island near Victor Harbor —I spent about two months out of every year there," Ms Brown said.
"I've been diving right along the South Australian coast, from Streaky Bay down to Robe. I've done tropical, temperate, Arctic and now I'll be doing Antarctic diving, so I feel very lucky," she said. "I'll be down there scuba diving every day of the year, if I can."
Ms Brown's research has combined elements of marine geology and biology, and her new position will move her further into the marine biology field. The research involves looking at the damage caused by icebergs as they scrape along the sea floor. This process, known as "grounding" or "berging", destroys flora and fauna on the sea floor.
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John Edge (left) and Kirsty Brown—the Antarctic spirit lives on at Adelaide.
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"We'll be looking at how the organisms down there survive in those conditions, and how fast they recover.
"The overall scope of that project is that with increases in global warming, the number of icebergs produced will increase. It's possible the animals and plant life may not be able to survive with increased rates of berging," she said.
Someone who has already seen those icebergs up close is University of Adelaide staff member John Edge.
Mr Edge, a maintenance plumbing foreman, realised a life-long dream when he spent five months on Antarctica's Davis base between November 2001 and March this year.
“It’s something that I’ve wanted to do for a long time, and it ended up nothing short of being one of the best life experiences I’ve had,” he said.
Mr Edge was employed as a maintenance plumber through the Australian Antarctic Division and spent most of his working hours outside. “The coldest it got to was -10ºC, and one day it got as warm as 6ºC, so it wasn’t as bitterly cold as it gets in winter when apparently it gets down to -35ºC or -40ºC,” he said.
“While the weather was fine it wasn’t usually a problem—but if there was a wind, or cloud cover, then it became a bit of a hassle. You tried to spend as little time as was necessary outside because conditions quickly became unpleasant for working.”
Apart from the obvious aspects of being in Antarctica, one of the highlights of Mr Edge's trip was meeting and working with the more than 70 people stationed at Davis.
“I was amazed at the tolerance and good-naturedness of everyone who was down there,” he said. “There was a large number of people from all walks of life in a very confined space, but everyone got along really well and it was really easy to fit in and feel part of the group.”
Story Ben Osborne
Story David Ellis
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