Video: What is it Like to Live in Antarctica? | Antarctic Extremes

Antarctica is cold, windy, isolated, barren, and often downright dangerous. Yet somehow, people manage to live there. (Some even enjoy it!)

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People have been visiting Antarctica for over a century—and hosts Caitlin Saks and Arlo Pérez can actually see what living there used to be like, because some of the early explorers left all their stuff! Ernest Shackleton’s ill-fated ship Endurance was only recently rediscovered, but the 1910-1913 expedition led by Robert Falcon Scott (more commonly known as the Terra Nova Expedition) left its “home-base” hut still intact, and it’s now a museum. Inside one finds all the trappings of early Antarctic life: seal blubber, science experiments, and of course a desiccated penguin.

Today, living in Antarctica is a bit different. But still, an eclectic band of scientists and support personnel are drawn to the continent and, every year, a crew makes their home on “the ice.” Starting at the U.S. Antarctic Program’s McMurdo Station and then while exploring Antarctica’s natural wonders—glaciers, a volcano, Weddell seals, and even weird fish–Arlo and Caitlin meet the people who find themselves in Antarctica year after year.

But will they be able to discover what it is about this icy, seemingly inhospitable place that’s so alluring to geologists, astrobiologists, and waste managers alike?

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Hosted by Caitlin Saks and Arlo Pérez

Digital Producer/Editor: Emily Zendt

Producer: Caitlin Saks

Digital Associate Producer: Arlo Pérez

Field Director/Cinematographer: Zachary Fink

Executive Producer: Julia Cort

Coordinating Producer: Elizabeth Benjes

Project Director: Pamela Rosenstein

Production Assistance: Matthew Buckley, Emily Pattison, Sean Cuddihy

Audio Mix: Heart Punch Studio

Director of Audience Development: Dante Graves

Senior Digital Producer: Ari Daniel

Audience Engagement Editor: Sukee Bennett

Outreach Manager: Gina Varamo

Special thanks to Michael Amundson

Special thanks to the United States Antarctic Program

Additional Footage:

Brad Herried / Polar Geospatial Center

Music: APM

National corporate funding for NOVA is provided by Draper. Major funding for NOVA is provided by the David H. Koch Fund for Science, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and PBS viewers. Additional funding is provided by the NOVA Science Trust.

Major funding for this project is provided by the National Science Foundation. Additional funding is provided by the Heising-Simons Foundation, The Kendeda Fund, the George D. Smith Fund, and the Richard Saltonstall Charitable Foundation.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1713552. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Footage of seals was obtained under the authority of NMFS MMPA permit nos.1032-1917, 17236, & 21158

© WGBH Educational Foundation 2020