All about Antarctica

Mar 12 2023 10 mins 2

All about Antarctica Podcast artwork

This ad-free podcast is a shortened version my undergraduate class that I designed and teach at the University of North Carolina Wilmington titled Antarctic Ecology, Geology, History, and Policy (BIO 367). The podcast is presented in 19 parts that cover all topics in this class, allowing listeners to learn about this frozen continent as a public service. Each part is an audio file (mp3) that is about 8-12 minutes long. Additional information on my research can be found at https://www.uncw.edu/penguins/

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Part XII The Heroic Age

Mar 12 2023 12 mins

The Heroic Age in Antarctica dates from 1899-1922 when the first men to winter over and conduct scientific research and exploration endured many hardships with some deaths. Besides providing the first scientific studies, photography and even poetry emerged from this period. It also can be defined by the isolation of the men involved, with no outside contact or chance of rescu

Part XIX Antarctica and the Future

Mar 11 2023 5 mins

Throughout this podcast, we have traced the history of Antarctica from its geologic origins, its earliest discovery and the first people to set foot there, to the first research stations and into the modern world. Even though Antarctica has been impacted throughout the past 120 years from research stations, tourism, and external anthropogenic factors such as climate change and poll

Part XVIII Marine Fisheries and Illegal Fishing

Mar 11 2023 7 mins

Fisheries for fin fish and krill began to increase in Antarctica in the late 1960s and 1970s and by 1982 the krill catch rose to a peak of over 520,000 tons removed. This increased harvest caused concern among scientists in Antarctic Treaty nations that fish and krill stocks would be depleted beyond recovery unless steps were taken to manage these fisheries. Here I discuss measures

Part XVII Anthropogenic Impacts

Mar 11 2023 9 mins

Although Antarctica is still the most remote and pristine place on earth, there have been many human-caused impacts to this continent and the marine environment around it. These impacts include pollution from research stations, tourism, and introduced species. In this podcast, I discuss these impacts and how they led to the Environmental Protocol in the Antarctic Treaty in 19

Part XVI Research Stations and Life in the Cold

Mar 11 2023 11 mins

Research stations in Antarctica must overcome three obstacles: logistics for how to build and maintain them, climate control for comfortable temperatures, and comfort in general for the personnel including space to spread out, quality of food, health and safety, and some leisure time. In this podcast I describe how the first stone and wood huts in the Antarctic used for scien

Part XV The Antarctic Treaty

Mar 11 2023 10 mins

After the International Geophysical Year of 1957-1958, Antarctica became a focus of scientific research that continues to this day. In 1958, most of Antarctica was under territorial claims by seven nations, with overlapping claims between Britain, Chile, and Argentina leading to conflicts. The U.S. President at the time, Dwight D. Eisenhower, called for claimant nations to ho

Part XIV The International Geophysical Year

Mar 11 2023 10 mins

Following Shackleton’s death in 1922 which marked the end of the Heroic Age in Antarctic history, no major expedition occurred to Antarctica until 1928 when a naval aviator, Richard Byrd, ventured south with ambitions to be the first person to fly over the south pole. In this podcast, I provide the history of Byrd's expedition and his research station Little America on the Ross I

Part XIII Race to the Pole

Mar 11 2023 14 mins

As we enter the heart of the Heroic Age in Antarctica, three men become competitors to be the first person to reach the South Pole: Robert Falcon Scott, Ernest Shackleton, and Roald Amundsen. Scott and Shackleton had a falling out after Scott's Discovery expedition when he blamed Shackleton's illness with scurvy as why they didn't reach the pole at that time. Here I giv

Part XI Discovery of Antarctica

Mar 10 2023 11 mins

Antarctica is a huge continent, over 5 million square miles in size. Yet, it was not until the 1820s that humans first set foot upon it, and not until the first half of the 20th century before it was finally confirmed that it really was one large continent under the ice. Why did it take so long to learn this about Antarctica? In this episode I discuss the earliest explorers who wen

Part X Penguins and Other Seabirds

Mar 10 2023 15 mins

When the topic of penguins is raised, most people tend to think only about Antarctica as their habitat. However, of the 19 living species only five actually occur in Antarctica and of those, only two are endemic there. In this episode I describe the breeding cycle and adaptations of these species to the cold Antarctic environment. The cold, dry conditions also preserve tissues in a