Former Sul Ross student goes to Antarctica as scientist

By JASON HENNINGTON

News Writer

ALPINE – Former Sul Ross State University student Joselyn Fenstermacher, who will be making a return trip to Antarctica, recently shared her scientific experiences there during a video presentation at Front Street Books, Alpine.

This will be Fenstermacher’s fourth season going to the Antarctica. During her first two trips, she worked at McMurdo Station, a U.S. research center located on Ross Island.

“McMurdo Station is the largest station on the continent and can handle close to 1,200 people during the summer,” she said.  “It is super, super busy with all of the science going on. Almost any kind of science you could imagine happens there.”

In contrast, the South Pole’s summer season population is 200, dropping to about 50 in the winter. McMurdo’s winter population is 150.

“At McMurdo there’s volcanology, sea ice physics, dynamics, marine biology with seals, penguins, sea slugs, and people who dive and do all kinds of crazy stuff,” she said.  “You’ve got people collecting meteorites, you’ve got people doing atmosphere research, and I’m sure a lot of things I’m forgetting.  So there is a lot going on at McMurdo,” she said.  “At the South Pole, it is a little bit more limited. They are doing deep space research mostly with microwave telescopes and not optical telescopes, but looking for faint heat signatures.”

Fenstermacher explained that she worked as a lab supervisor while at McMurdo, working with scientists in that environment.

She also held an administrative position, helping with work order management for the vehicle maintenance shop, which she explained was unrelated to her education field.  Fenstermacher switched to the South Pole during her first season and worked as the greenhouse technician, which will be her job upon returning.

“This was for the summer at South Pole, and then last winter I spent as the Waste Specialist Manager,” she said.  “It’s a glorified word for Recycling Technician Trash Girl.”

On this trip to Antarctica, Fenstermacher will be working in a greenhouse area, growing vegetation and collecting information.

“There are not any specific science projects happening in there where we are taking specific data. We do report back, but there is no specific research,” she said.

She said that a NASA researcher was working in the summer on growing food in extreme environments. Plants gyrate as they grow, and some thought it was due to the rotation of the earth. The researcher established the study at the South Pole, where there is no gyration, and his preliminary results revealed the plants still moved.

“I haven’t followed through on that, so I’m really curious to see what came of it,” she said.  “Hopefully with that and seeing that you can do some science there, and progress into that, because that would be really neat to value at a green house not just producing fresh food.”

After a short description of the land in Antarctica, Fenstermacher noted that different clothing can be worn due to the varying weather conditions.

“It’s fun because once you get organized you know what you need and pack it in your bag, and you get the new people who are just wandering in circles confused, so you try to help those folks out, because I got a lot of help when I started as well,” she said.

The flight to Antarctica is organized by the New York Air Guard and an orientation video is given before boarding the plane. She explained that both passengers and cargo are aboard the plane, and how the seats are arranged to store the cargo.

Fenstermacher said her presentation was self serving because she was able to see all of her friends at one time before leaving. But she also wanted to share her experience with others who were interested.

“I wanted to share what I’ve been up to because a lot of people are interested, and I’m happy to talk about it because it is a neat place and it is easy to start to take it for granted,” she said.  “Just like maybe some of us can take this place for granted if we’re here long enough, but it’s still amazing and people wish they could live out here. It’s kind of the same thing for down there.”

She added that it is special when she gets to share it with people because it becomes more exciting for her as well.

“It’s not a hardship but not as adventurous or as exciting because I’ve done it before,” she said.  “It’s kind of a long trip to finally having to get there, and then I can relax instead of wondering what’s going to come next. When I share it with people that is when it gets more exciting because I’m reminded of how amazing and special it is.”