ANTARCTICA – Penn State DuBois Assistant Professor of Geosciences Neyda Abreu is having the adventure of a lifetime. She’s collecting meteorites in the frozen landscape of Antarctica, working with the Antarctic Search for Meteorites program (ANSMET). For six weeks, Abreu’s home will be a 10 x 10 tent that she’ll share with one other team member. That is when she’s not out on the barren Antarctic mountain ranges searching for extraterrestrial material that could unlock secrets about our solar system.
Abreu and the rest of the eight team members on this expedition are continuously updating a blog on the ANSMET website, so anyone in the world can follow their daily activities. Currently, the team is in training; just getting prepared for the work ahead, and adjusting to life at the bottom of the world.
In her first blog post, Abreu describes their new living conditions, “For two people of my height (5’4”), 10’×10’may appear to be rather spacious. However, when you add four very large duffel bags loaded with personal and sleeping items, three wooden boxes of housekeeping items, and a two-burner propane stove complete with its tank, it starts getting cozy! If you add a tent visitor or two into the mix and two pairs of Mickey-Mouse boots, you start to get a sense for the type of close-knit community in which we will live in the field. A juxtaposition of infinite openness with tight living quarters. We have relinquished our personal space in favor of visiting and learning about one of the most sublimely beautiful spaces on Earth.”
The program is funded by the Office of Polar Programs of the National Science Foundation. To follow the team’s blog and learn more about ANSMET visit here.