Neumayer III, Antarctica, 4 December 2025

We are in the midst of mindblowing scenery. Huge icebergs surround us, and they are frozen into the sea ice, which is covered in several metres of snow. The sun is low, and it is around -10°C. But the ice is teeming with life; the air is filled with whistling and calling. In my mind, this is one of the most spectacular wildlife encounters to be had on this planet. Here, at the 70th parallel, around 30,000 pairs of emperor penguins are nesting, brooding their eggs through the coldest winter on Earth and rearing their chicks a long, long way from the food in the sea. Now, in the beginning of December, the chicks have turned into somewhat grumpy teenagers, but they are also full of life.

It is almost midnight, and my toes are getting a bit cold. It occurs to me how poorly adapted we are to this climate – the fuel and the clothes we need for our survival – and how incredibly well adapted our penguin neighbours are (even though I would like to think that my footing is a bit more stable than theirs). It is time to go home to our heated station and leave the penguin chicks to wait another month or so for the sea ice to melt.

But we are not here in Antarctica to look at penguins. In a few days, the four of us are going out on the so-called Riiser-Larsen Ice Shelf. We will try to collect data that will contribute to a greater understanding of how the East Antarctic Ice Sheet would react in a warming climate. The scales are huge. The Antarctic Ice Sheet consists of 27 million km³, and the melting of this would have enormous consequences on a global scale. So the consequences of inaction are also huge.

Antarctica is a continent where the only human activities are research and tourism, and here at Neumayer Station that is obvious in a small but very apparent way. We have prepared everything for our three-week field trip and are now just waiting for the rest of our team. We have some time to spare, and it turns out that we are needed for another project. The sea-ice researchers have not managed to drill through the 7+ metres of sea ice, and we have a drill that happens to be perfect for the job. The ice – it turns out – is 7.7 m thick, with a snow layer of 3 m on top, so it is heavy work getting through, but it worked! We are happy to be able to help out, because that is what you do here, where there is a limited number of people and resources.

In a few days we leave, weather permitting, and we will be back with more news on how it goes!

Text: Andreas Bergström, technician on the iQ2300 expedition