Cover Story: MSU Study Abroad Students Explore Antartica

            With an exciting new course in Antarctica, MSU’s Study Abroad program, one of the nation’s largest, now encompasses all seven continents.

            They encountered southern elephant seals that weigh up to 8,000 pounds and can dive to depths of one mile.  They visited single colonies of penguins numbering in the 100’s of thousands. They saw icebergs large enough to supply Lansing with freshwater for more than 22 years. 

            “They” are the 20 MSU students and 3 faculty members who participated last winter in an MSU Study Abroad program from December 13, 2003, till January 5, 2004.  It was MSU’s first such foray to Antarctica (a second one just ended earlier this year).  At that time MSU was already leading the nation in student participation in Study Abroad, with 183 programs in 57 countries and 6 continents.  Obviously, the Study Abroad brochures need to be updated to include all 7 continents.

            This first-hand inspection of the planet’s last frontier was led by John Hesse, retired fisheries and wildlife instructor from the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR), Craig Tweedie, a research associate in plant biology (College of Natural Science) at MSU from Australia whose Ph.D. research was done in Antarctica, and Robert Hollister, also a research associate in plant biology whose doctoral research was done in the Arctic.  Tweedie is currently at University of Texas-El Paso, Hollister at Grand Valley State University.   

            Hesse notes that Patrick Webber, an MSU professor of plant biology and a member of the Polar Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences, was extremely supportive and influential toward development of MSU’s Antarctic course.  Mark Wilson, professor of geography and urban planning, was also involved in the establishment of the course.

            “This was an absolutely spectacular learning experience for faculty and students alike,” says Hesse.  “Everything seemed like a highlight.  Each day you didn’t believe it could get any better, but it did!  The students learned the crucial role that Antarctica plays in world climate, saw first-hand evidence of the so-called greenhouse effect, and marveled at the example that the Antarctic Treaty has demonstrated for international cooperation toward scientific knowledge and the well-being of our earth.”

            The group had to endure the 48-hour ship crossing from Ushuaia, Argentina, across the waters of the Southern Ocean, pummeled by 35 to 40 foot waves nearly all the way.  But the payoff—a place of breath-taking beauty and spectacular features—completely made up for the rigors of travel.

            “There’s probably no place that is more unique and spectacular as far as a Study Abroad experience,” says Hesse.  “As soon as we got there, everyone forgot about the sea-sickness from the crossing and focused on the continent and all its wonders.

            “Only about 300 to 400 humans live in Antarctica year-round at the various research bases, with the population rising to nearly 3,000 in the summer.  Yet the continent, and its surrounding waters—which are the most productive of anywhere in the world—is home for about one half million whales, and more than a hundred million penguins and seals!”

            The students were able to study an incredible laboratory of nature—a  continent receiving the lowest annual precipitation on earth but boasting 70 percent of the world’s freshwater locked within an ice covering as thick as 15,000 feet.  An incredible land mass, its average elevation is more than 5,000 feet higher than the average for North America.  “It’s the highest, driest, coldest, and windiest continent on earth,” says Hesse.

Among the things the students experienced in this unique program were:

• Faculty lectures at Ushuaia, Argentina, and field trips into the surrounding area of Patagonia and the Beagle Channel.
• Briefings, videos and lectures by expedition naturalists aboard the Russian-owned ship, the M/V Orlova, on a variety of topics including the Antarctic food web, sea birds, whales and whaling history, seals, climatology, katabatic winds, glaciology, the myths and facts of global warming, the history of Antarctic research, the Antarctic Treaty and the growth of tourism to the continent.
• In Antarctica, daily tours and landings from Zodiac rafts for data gathering and up-close observation of the unique landscape and wildlife of Antarctica as well as to investigate the history of human occupation and current scientific work being conducted.
• Study and observe a variety of seabirds, including five species of penguins, four species of seals, three species of whales, spectacular glaciers and unique icebergs. 
• A guided tour of the Florida Everglades on the return trip through Miami, courtesy of Florida International University.  This gave students an unusual opportunity to compare and contrast environments of two ecological extremes—from penguins to crocodiles—in a three-week span.

            Sometimes weather or ice conditions dictated changes in the planned itinerary.  One such day, when ice prevented Zodiac landings at Hannah Point, the group made successful landing—the first in three years—at Bailey Head, a valley on Deception Island where 200,000 pairs of chinstrap penguins were nesting.  Young chicks included, “We saw an amazing 1/2 million penguins at one place,” observes Hesse.

            “We could smell and hear the penguins well before reaching our Zodiac landing onto the black ash beach,” he recalls, adding that Deception Island was volcanic in origin and shaped like a doughnut with its large crater in the center.  “Their numbers were staggering.   You could see thousands no matter which way you turned your head.  The students felt like they had entered a packed football stadium.  We were able to see a penguin highway between the nesting areas and the ocean.  Those descending from the nests to go out to sea were in one lane, while those returning from the sea waddled up in an adjacent lane. 

            “The valley was shaped like a giant bowl.  The penguins nested everywhere, even up some steep inclines, some nearly a half mile from the sea.”

            The ship later sailed through a narrow channel called Neptune’s Bellows and anchored in calm waters of the island’s crater.  Because Deception Island is essentially a flooded volcanic caldera, the group—both students and faculty—were able “to do the unthinkable,” in Hesse’s words.

            “We removed our parkas and warm clothing with bathing suits beneath and plunged into the frigid 32-degree waters,” he recalls.  “Very quickly we retreated to a hot bath formed by the intrusion of geothermal water into a hand-dug hole in the sand beach.

            “We had some fun along with our learning.”

            Hesse says probably the most exciting day of the expedition for most program participants was the time spent at Paradise Bay and at the unmanned Almirante Brown research base.  Stepping foot onto the continent itself for the first time rather than islands along the coastline was a thrill for everyone.  The entire group climbed to the top of a hill where they saw the most spectacular vista.

            “We were perched on the edge of a precipice,” recalls Hesse.  “There was a chasm of ice and rocks on one side and the blueish green ocean water anchored offshore hundreds of feet below us on the other.  We looked down onto a particularly beautiful iceberg that had what looked like a swimming pool of melted water in its center.  At the base of the hill, some students spotted and photographed a leucistic or ‘albino’ penguin, a rare sighting indeed.”

            Touring Paradise Bay in their Zodiacs, the group was able to approach the face of a huge glacier that was calving giant pieces of ice into the ocean. 

            “It sounded like the blasting of a cannon,” says Hesse.  “We had the thrill of walking on an iceberg about the size of a small city block and were able to see the lighter greenish glow of the sea from the submerged part of the iceberg beneath us.”

            For Amanda Audo and Bill Rule, the highlight was seeing a Minke whale go right under their Zodiac.  Calling it “the most amazing moment of my life,” Audo writes that “the water was so clear . . .  I saw his mouth and blowhole and even his eye as he swam by and looked at us.”  Echoes Rule, “This was absolutely incredible. It really took my breath away.  (It) was an interaction with nature that I know I may never have again.”

            Hesse says that chlorofluorocarbon emissions have caused a worrisome ozone hole in the southern hemisphere, allowing genetically harmful UV-radiation to penetrate the continent.  Throughout the expedition, the students were made very aware of the need to wear protection against UV rays due to the thinning of the ozone layer, which has already caused havoc with sheep ranchers in southern Argentina as the sheep die from premature blindness caused by the intensified UV rays.

            The related issue of global warming resulting from the trapping of man-made fuel emissions in the atmosphere is perhaps more evident in this part of Antarctica than anywhere in the world and could have a devastating effect on the region and beyond if the trend is not reversed, says Hesse. 

            Another dangerous trend with the continent’s warming has to do with the reduction of the krill population.  Krill is a crustacean that scientists deem a “keystone” species in that they form the foundation for the food chain of the Antarctic region.  Loss of the ice shelves along the Antarctic continent would eliminate the algae that grow on the underside of the ice.  This algae is the primary food source for the krill. 

            “A single Blue Whale eats five tons of krill per day and this and other baleen whales could not survive without this food source,” notes Hesse. 

            Yet another observable effect of global warming is the increase in the amount of annual snowfall in the Antarctic Peninsula, which is impacting on the breeding cycles of many species of penguins, as well as the predator species that depend on them for survival.

            “I think the students really developed an appreciation for the tenuous balance of Antarctic ecology and its potential consequences for the world,” says Hesse.

            In the most extreme scenario, scientists fear that a massive meltdown of all the ice in Antarctica would raise ocean levels worldwide by some 200 feet, notes Hesse.  Although this would happen gradually, it could eventually submerge all coastal areas of the U.S.—including New York, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, and Washington DC.

            “Students emerge from this program with an understanding and respect for the vast continent of Antarctica,” explains Hesse.  “Hopefully they will work in the future to protect it from the growing threat of environmental disaster from human impacts, and engage in the international cooperation that is spelled out in the Antarctica Treaty of 45 nations, including the U.S.

            “Nearly every scientist and politician involved with the continent agrees that cooperation, not competition, is the best path to save this remote continent.”

            Tourism to the continent is growing rapidly, with nearly 15,000 visitors a year traveling to this remote continent.  These visitors can become ambassadors for Antarctica, writes Kim Heacox of National Geographic, who explains:  “They can speak for the voiceless, search for solutions; they can tell the world that Antarctica is a barometer, that whatever befalls Antarctica will befall the world.” 

            Antarctica is the only continent on earth governed by a multinational treaty that promotes peace, advanced scientific understanding and international collaboration.  It is “owned” by no nation.  But at least 20 bright MSU students now own a memory and understanding of Antarctica that they will never forget.

MSU STUDY ABROAD

• For more detailed information about this expedition, including individual student journals and photos, visit www.ael.msu.edu/projects/antarctica.html.
• For more information about this and other study abroad programs, visit studyabroad.msu.edu or the Office of Study Abroad information office in Room 109 International Center.