Greetings from Antarctica

Dear members of the Class of 1957,

My name is Joanne Nazareth and I am currently a senior at Dartmouth College, pursuing a double major in economics and environmental studies. I spent December 18-28, 2016 aboard the Akademik Ioffe, studying abroad with the College at Brockport SUNY in Antarctica. My interest in the Antarctic began in the Spring of 2016, when I enrolled in Environmental Issues of the Earth’s Cold Regions with Professor Ross Virginia, where I learned about the historical context of Antarctic exploration, the environmental impacts global warming has on the region, and different ecosystems within the region. I decided to embark on this once in a lifetime adventure to deepen my understanding of polar issues. The vast, unique environment enticed me, as well as the ability to fulfill one of my major requirements while getting to hike, camp, and meet people from around the world. This opportunity reinforced content from the fall online lectures and I was able to diversify my experiences and takeaways, which greatly surpassed my expectations. Many of our excursions took place on The Antarctica Peninsula, which is one of three fastest warming parts of the planet, experiences a 10% decrease in sea ice per decade. In contrast, the interior of the continent is experiencing a cooling phenomenon (Bentley, 2015).

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Our twenty-person group was divided into two teams, seabirds and ecotourism respectively. I was a part of the ecotourism team, which topics ranging from the impacts of Antarctic tourism in the gateway city of Ushuaia, Argentina, the port we departed from; tourist disturbances and impacts on wildlife, invasive species, and the “Antarctic Ambassador” effect. My role on the carbon footprint and climate change module was to calculate the carbon footprint of the ship and analyze the exponential increase in Antarctic tourism within the context of climate change. In 2011-12 season, there were approximately 26,500 visitors to the Antarctic; in 2014-15 season, this number jumped to 36,702 visitors, and peaked during the 2007-8 season with 46,265 visitors (IAATO, 2016).

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Our ship, the Akademik Ioffe, ran on Marine Gas Oil (MGO), which is a sustainable alternative to Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO). My partner and I assumed that the ship spent approximately half of its time in ‘hotelling’ mode and the other half operating at full power. We then used two equations from our required readings where we multiplied fuel consumption by an emission factor and averaged them to get an estimate of 12.67 tons of fuel produced per day (Farreny, 2011). However, the numbers we derived did not take into account the flight emissions, which add a few more tons to total trip emissions.

Although I was part of the ecotourism group, it was important for me to seek out my own learning opportunities. I would go up to the bridge once a day and learn about navigation. I would also stand on the outskirts as the bird group completed its watch for the day and learn more about bird identification techniques. Essentially, I was an advocate for my own learning and made it a point to seek out new and diverse information. I learned about penguins, albatrosses, petrels, sheathbills, skuas, and cormorants and how to identify them accordingly, using the dichotomous key.

Working on this project, demonstrated the complexity and gravity of Antarctic tourism in accumulation, as the average tourist trip to Antarctica produces approximately 5.44 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per passenger and .49 per passenger per day (Eijgelaar, 2010). Surprisingly, passengers of Antarctica cruises can produce as many emissions on their trip as the average European in a year. While this may seem like a lot, measures have been taken to offset these emissions; for example, the Akaedmik Ioffe conducted a charity auction for wildlife conservation and donated the proceeds, in order to ensure future trips to the Antarctic.

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References:

Eijgelaar, E., Thaper, C., & Peeters, P. (2010). Antarctic Cruise Tourism: the Paradoxes of Ambassadorship, “Last Chance Tourism” and Greenhouse gas emission. Journal of Sustainable tourism .

Farreny, R., & Oliver-Sola, J. (2011, April 1). Carbon dioxide emissions of Antarctic tourism. Retrieved December 10, 2016, from https://brockport.open.suny.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-381415-dt-content-rid-2006838_1/courses/201609-OAP404-01-ASA/M1 – Farreny et al 2011 carbon footprint.pdf.

IAATO Tourism Statistics. (2016). Retrieved December 9, 2016, from https://iaato.org/tourism-statistics

2 thoughts on “Greetings from Antarctica”

  1. Hi Joanne:
    Thank you so much for this, certainly the most informative postcard I’ve ever received, and about such important issues. Your photographs brought back memories of my time in Greenland this summer with Ross Virginia. There is something so unique, awesome, about being in such a vast space, alone, and just listening to the environment.
    We were on a sister ship to yours, also staffed by One Ocean. You are probably getting to know some of the same wonderful guides.
    I loved ending my day by going to the sauna, then jumping into the Polar Salt Water Plunge. Someone said it was good luck to go back and forth three times, so that’s what I did.
    I hope to get to the tour of the Ice Core Lab on March 1, and look forward to meeting you.
    Bruce Bernstein

  2. Dear Mr. Bernstein,

    Thank you for your lovely note. I would love to hear more about your experience in Greenland, as I hope to venture there in the future.
    I haven’t been to the ice core lab as yet and am excited for the opportunity to tour it, as I believe that it will enrich our understanding of the polar regions greatly. I look forward to meeting you soon!

    Best,
    Jo Nazareth

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