Lhe immense expanses of ice in Antarctica, 14 million square kilometers marked by mountain ranges with peaks reaching five thousand metres, keep the secrets of climate evolution. The gigantic white region of the southern hemisphere – which contains about 90 percent of the ice and 70 percent of the fresh water in the world – plays a crucial role for the earth’s climate and marine ecosystems: the Antarctic Ocean absorbs 75 percent of global heat excess and nearly a third of CO2 emissions captured from the world’s seas. It’s not all.
Penguins on an iceberg, South Shetland archipelago, Antarctica.
In Antarctica, studying climate change
“What happened in the atmosphere over the centuries is recorded in the various layers of solidified water present in the white continent,” explains Carlo Barbante, director of the Institute of Polar Sciences of the Cnr. The particles of air incorporated in the ice date back to ever more distant periods the deeper you go. «For this one of several projects coordinated by Italy in Antarctica, Beyond Epicaims to extract ice samples at a depth of about three thousand meters. To recover information on the climate of the past by going back in time up to a million and a half years ago, data that allows us to put current and future climate changes into perspective.
Never in history has ice retreat been as rapid as it has been in the last twenty years. Iceberg A 74, a giant of 1,200 square kilometers that broke away from the continent last year, is a terrible example of what could happen.
You travel in a few and in limited periods
Antarctica is an extreme, absolute continent, of which nothing was known for centuries. Sailing in these parts is an exceptional event possible for a few months during the southern summer, which corresponds to our winter. Inhospitable, harsh, but terribly fascinating, this strip of land, remote and deserted, has been the great regulator of global climate for about 15 million years.
In the 19th century whalers ventured into those seas overcoming unimaginable difficulties, then the heroic era of the great Antarctic explorations began, which ended precisely 100 years ago with Shackleton’s expedition aboard the Endurance, the ship sunk in the sea of Weddel in 1915. Furthermore, it was located last March at a depth of three thousand metres. In the last decades we have moved from the old icebreakers to luxurious high-tech ships, still available only to a limited number of tourists every year in compliance with the Atlantic Treaty signed in 1959, to which 53 countries adhere. And also in compliance with the rules Iaato (International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators)founded in 1991 to promote responsible tourism in Antarctica.
The world at the end of the world
The desire to discover the world at the end of the world is always strong, but each season only a small number of boats have access to Antarctica. For intrepid female travellers, the most sustainable solution is to sail to the Antarctic Peninsula on board Ocean Trampa comfortable twenty-metre long 8-cabin sailing vessel, together with the staff and a scientist (18 nights, one of which in a scientific base with swoop-antarctica.comfrom 18,700 euros depending on the type of cabin and the departure dates, latest 5 March 2023).
Between latest generation cruise ships that are more environmentally friendly: Swan Hellenic’s Minerva and Vega, both for 152 passengers. They sail on hybrid propulsion (diesel-electric), have a sophisticated waste management system, an on-board scientific research laboratory as well as a very modern apparatus for remaining in position without an anchor, essential for stops in protected areas (swanhellenic. com10 days of cruise-expedition in an all-inclusive suite, from flights from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia to the 5-star hotel for the pre-boarding night and 24-hour room service, from 10,045 euros per person).
On a cruise to Antarctica
The cruises discovering the whitest, coldest, windiest, driest and most mysterious continent on the planet mostly depart from Ushuaia, extreme tip of Argentina. To venture into the Drake Strait, that stretch of sea that separates the Pacific Ocean from the Atlantic, towards the labyrinth of islands of the Antarctic peninsula.
The crossing of about two days can be calm or stormy with waves up to ten meters high and wind exceeding 55 knots, with consequent changes of itinerary. At the height of the South Shetland archipelago begins the spectacle of nature that continues along the coast and the islets of the Antarctic Peninsula: vertical walls, ice mountains sculpted by the wind and the sea, small and large icebergs with the most incredible shapes.
Sailing at the feet of the unstable giants with blue reflections is a strong, almost burning sensation. Wrapped up in large turquoise jackets (gift-souvenir found upon arrival in the cabin), from the deck of the ship it is not difficult to imagine the fears of the first explorers, even more so when the ship is engulfed by some banks of fog. The clear sky makes the panorama even more suggestive, the cobalt blue touches the snow-capped peaks of the mountains that plunge into the sea with frightening walls of ice and overhanging seracs.
A colony of emperor penguins. In Antarctica, the penguin population is estimated at between 270,000 and 350,000 individuals.
Walking on ice, like penguins
It lands on land even twice a day, with very strict safety rules and protocols to reach remote corners, scientific research bases or to spot penguin colonies. The dressing was long and scrupulous. You descend aboard the Zodiacs in groups of 10-12 passengers, equipped with boots for walking on ice and warm pre-decontaminated jackets to avoid carrying exogenous pathogens. The crackling of the engine breaks the silence as the hull glides in the stillness of the water. We run in the wind, blades of ice whip our faces. The temperature in Antarctica is below freezing. The emotion grows, the landscape becomes the protagonist.
Like in a documentary
Once on land, it happens in Antarctica to coast on foot colonies of penguins or elephant sealsonly apparently slow, or we witness, from a safe distance, the fight-game of seals on the ice floe or, depending on the time of day, one can be enchanted by the rosy glow of twilight that fades into orange, purple and violet outlining the profile of the mountains reflected in the water.
Lessons from scientists in Antarctica
The time on board, between one landing and another, is marked by meetings and seminars with scientists and conservation experts, by the pleasure of scanning the horizon and then, suddenly, there are sightings, always exciting. The air is sharp and the water icy and still, suddenly orcas emerge from the flat sea, which with a little luck draw parabolas in the air before falling back with a crash and splashes.
Sometimes with fluid movements other large tails emerge, those of the whales: Humpback, Blue, Fin and Minke, or closer to shore leopard seals, often hunting penguins. The captain suggests where it is best to look out, whether stern or bow, and it may happen that he goes in circles to give everyone more time to enjoy the electrifying spectacle of nature.
Beyond the polar circle
After the archipelago of Southern Shetland, with Hannah Point, a narrow peninsula where, in addition to penguins, you can see Weddel and Antarctic seals, and elephant seals, you cross the polar circle (66°33′ 39”) in the direction of the archipelago from the Wilhelmina. Here are three of the most spectacular points of the cruise: the volcanic Petermann Island, Port Charcot and the small sheltered bay of Booth Island.
Then, weather and ice permitting, you pass through the scenic Lemaire Channel. Ten kilometers of mountains overlooking the sea where the silence is broken by the noise of the ice sheets falling into the water. If the weather is favourable the ship stops in the Deception Island caldera, in Pendulum Cove, for the thermal water springs. There are those who immerse themselves in very hot water, surrounded by ice.
You quickly learn that here the man is a passing observer; that penguins live their days oblivious to our presence. That time changes suddenly. And also that the ice can suddenly close passages. In Antarctica nothing is comfortable, or easy. Maybe in this lies its incomparable beauty.
Antarctica in Italy
The National Museum of Antarctica has three offices: Genoa, Siena and Trieste. It was born in 1996, fifteen years after the start of the National research program in Antarctica to preserve, study and enhance the finds collected during the Italian scientific expeditions to Antarctica.
In Genoa, 3D visions
The museum preserves biological materials, organisms in ethanol, frozen sponges and shellfish or in formalin. The collection is not currently available, but it is possible to view the digital collections in 3d.
In Siena, among the meteorites
The headquarters of the Antarctic Museum of Siena is dedicated to Earth Science and keeps rocks, minerals, fossils and ice. Among the finds, fossil trunks from Allan Hills (South Victoria Land), fossil footprints of leaves from a 300-million-year-old forest, and a prestigious collection of Antarctic meteorites. Also visible is a collection of films and publications. It is located in Via del Laterino 8, by appointment from Monday to Friday 9-13 and Tuesday and Thursday also 15-17. Free entry.
In Trieste, with the explorers
The Trieste office exhibits a rich documentation on the epic of great explorations and the history of the Italian ones. Via E. Weiss 21, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday 9.30-13, Thursday and Friday also 15-18, admission 6 euro.
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