Why we flew to Antarctica

Most companies that take travelers to Antarctica use boats to make the journey from Punta Arenas, Chile, or Ushuaia, Argentina, to the Antarctica Peninsula. That journey takes two days in each direction. Clients continue on the same boat to explore various sites on the continent.

We are traveling with Antarctica21, a Chilean company that takes clients to the Antarctic Peninsula in an airplane. This journey takes just two hours in each direction. Once at the peninsula, we boarded the Ocean Nova boat that holds only 67 clients but that is capable of handling the most difficult oceanic conditions. Then we explored sites on the Antarctic Peninsula.

For someone like me who is susceptible to seasickness, the fly option is the only option. Drakes Passage is the gap between southern South America and Antarctica. It is notorious because it has the strongest wind and largest waves in the world ocean. Most have heard of the incredible journey of Ernest Shackleton and his crew who, despite terrible odds, made it safely across the Drakes Passage in a small wooden boat.

To see why the Drakes Passage is so dangerous, we must go back in geologic time 400 million years.

Assembly of the Gondwana supercontinent

From about 900–400 million years ago, the continents in the Southern Hemisphere ocean—South America, Africa, India, Antarctica and Australia— collided to form the massive supercontinent of Gondwana. 

There are many lines of evidence that demonstrate the connection among the continents of Gondwana. For example, the Paleozoic plant fossil Glossopteris has been found in rocks on all of these continents. Antarctica was not located over the south pole and its climate was much more temperate.

At 400 million years ago, continents of North America, Europe and Asia (Eurasia) were located a short distance north of Gondwana (see map above). By 250 million years ago, those pieces had collided with Gondwana to create the even bigger supercontinent of Pangea. But it didn’t take long until this supercontinent began to fragment.

The supercontinent breaks apart, the Drakes Passage opens, and global climate changes

During the past 200 million years, Pangea broke apart and the continents spread out to create the configuration we have today. 

During the past 60 million years (the Cenozoic Period), global climate gradually cooled from a hothouse with no snow even at the poles to an icehouse with permanent snow at the poles and at high-elevation areas. This change is a vast and complicated topic, but suffice it to say that one factor in this cooling process was the opening of the Drakes Passage between South America and Antarctica and the Tasmanian Passage between New Zealand and Antarctica. 

These passages opened via plate tectonic processes around 35 million years ago. The opening, and the development of the Antarctica Circumpolar Current, isolated Antarctica from the rest of the planet. It was at about this time that the Antarctica ice sheet began to form. 

Starting about 2.5 million years ago, our planet entered an icehouse state—our present-day Ice Age—with alternating glacial and interglacial periods when glaciers expand and contract. We are currently in an interglacial period with retreating glaciers, although human activities are causing the glaciers to retreat at an even faster rate than would be normal at this time.

Back to the journey to Antarctica

On February 19, we were due to fly to Antartica, but we almost didn’t make it then. Weather delays continued all day. In mid afternoon we boarded the plane, but were then told to disembark. But finally at 4:30 PM we left Punta Arenas and successfully completed the two-hour flight. We landed at Frei Station on King George’s Island located a short distance north of the Antarctica Peninsula.

My next post will have lots more photos and info about penguins. It may be a few days, because each day is very full of activities and new sites to see.