A century ago, Antarctica was considered the end of the world.
The last place on Earth.
An utterly hostile continent.
Terra incognita.
Today it's the home base for scientists using advanced technology
to answer fundamental questions about the nature of life on Earth,
the future of our climate, and our place in the cosmos.
The U.S Antarctic Program, managed by the National Science Foundation,
operates three stations and two research vessels there.
Each summer season, hundreds of scientists and support staff travel to Antarctica
to work on more than 150 different research projects throughout the continent.
Traveling to Antarctica is far less grueling today, than a century ago.
To reach Palmer Station, located along the Antarctic Peninsula,
the program's two research vessels
Laurence M. Gould and Nathaniel B. Palmer
first cross the Drake Passage, home to some of the planet's roughest seas,
then pass through narrow straits along the coast before arriving at the station.
Palmer Station is the program's smallest and northernmost station.
Research there focuses primarily on oceanography and marine biology.
On calm days, a mini-armada of small boats sails from its dock,
carrying researchers studying the vast array of wildlife in the area.
The coastlines of the peninsula teem with life.
Antarctica is one of the last true wildernesses on the planet.
The Antarctic Treaty oversees how all scientific activities are managed
and protects the continent as a place for environmental preservation and scientific study.
Researchers are continually working to understand
how the continent's many remote and fragile ecosystems function.
Antarctica is on the front lines of climate change.
With the peninsula being one of the places on Earth warming the fastest,
scientists are racing to understand what changes the future might hold.
On the opposite side of the continent is McMurdo Station.
It's the biggest year-round, U.S research station in Antarctica, and the largest overall, serving as
the primary staging point for researchers heading to remote field sites throughout the continent.
The nearby McMurdo Dry Valleys are the continent's largest ice-free area,
where researchers study some of the harshest ecosystems on the planet.
The region only ever gets above freezing for a few weeks a year
but microscopic animals and algae live and thrive there.
Every winter the top few feet of the ocean surrounding McMurdo Station freezes solid,
enough to drive vehicles across, opening up wide areas for study across the ice surface...
...As well as under the ice.
Though much of the continent's surface is barren, underwater there are creatures everywhere.
Scuba divers in special dry suits dive under the frozen ocean's surface,
to study the marine life and collect samples from below.
At distant field sites, some of which can only be reached by helicopters or ski equipped airplanes,
researchers drill into the thick Antarctic ice sheets.
Glaciers are time capsules, containing ancient atmospheric
and climatic data buried deep below the surface.
Scientists hope that by understanding our planet's past, we can better predict its future.
To reach the South Pole, nearly all people and cargo fly there from McMurdo Station
on ski-equipped LC-130 cargo planes. Because of the extremely cold temperatures,
the station there is only accessible for about three months of the year.
At the very bottom of the world, atop nearly two miles of solid ice,
is Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station.
The short summers here are a frenzy of activity, preparing for the long
cold winter, when the sun dips below the horizon for six months straight,
temperatures fall to minus 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and the telescopes kick into high gear.
Here at 9,000 feet above sea level, astronomers are studying the cosmos
just moments after the Big Bang, using some of the world's leading telescopes. The thin dry
air and dark winter skies make for some of the best observing conditions in the world.
Antarctica is the only continent devoted purely to science by international agreement.
Through the U.S. Antarctic Program, researchers are making new discoveries all the time
about the nature of life on Earth, the future of our climate, and our place in the cosmos.
By supporting science in this harsh environment, the National Science Foundation is
carrying on the legacy of the generations of scientists and explorers that came before.