To the End of the Earth and Back: Exploring Antarctica

Kelly Biagi, a masters student at McMaster University in the School of Earth Sciences completed a two week trip to Antarctica aboard the Ushuaia as part of the Students on Ice Program. After flying from Toronto to the southern most city of Ushuaia in Argentina she and a group of other students crossed the Drake Passage for nine days of exploration and zodiac excursions to Elephant Island and the Antarctic peninsula. As part of the trip she enrolled in an onboard course where she took water and ice core samples. She studied air and water temperatures as well as phytoplankton which is abundant around sea ice and icebergs and forms the basis of the food chain for krill, penguins and whales. Kelly talked about global warming, the greenhouse effect, the giant ozone hole above Antarctica and the fact that the peninsula has warmed 2.5 degrees C in the last 50 years.

Kelly had plenty of photos she took of penguins, whales, seals and ice bergs. She even had one of her taking the ultimate polar bear dip in water that was 0.3 degrees C.