We are on our way!

We have started our journey to Escudero Base in Antarctica! The journey will take us over a week. First, we have to travel to Chile. Here is our route for this first part of the trip:

My other team member from the U.S. is Dr. Hannah from Portland State University. On Saturday morning, we left our homes and met each other in the airport in Houston, TX. After a VERY late night, we then flew from Houston to Santiago, Chile. 

Travel to other countries is hard now, because of COVID-19. We had to be tested for COVID before we left the U.S., and we were tested again yesterday when we arrived in Santiago. We spent three hours in the Santiago airport having our medical papers checked, our passports inspected, and getting tested. All of this was just to be allowed out of the airport and into Chile!

Dr. Becky & Dr. Hannah in line to get our COVID tests in the Santiago airport

We are currently in a quarantine hotel in Santiago where we waited for the COVID test results. Both of our tests were negative, so now we can complete the next part of our journey. Early tomorrow morning we will fly to Punta Arenas at the very southern tip of Chile.

We have to quarantine in Punta Arenas for seven days before we can go to Antarctica. We definitely don't want COVID to spread to the research base in Antarctica, where there are no hospitals. It is possible that we were exposed to COVID during our travel through the airports. We can't go to Antarctica until we know we didn't catch it. If we make it through the seven days without showing signs of COVID, we will be able to go to Antarctica. There is just one flight that is able to take us to Antarctica on February 8. If we do catch COVID, we will not be allowed on the flight and will have to return home. We have tried to be very careful, so hopefully we do not get sick. Otherwise, we will not be able to try again until next year. (That will make for a very short blog this year, wont it?)

For now, we have negative tests so we were allowed to go outside for a walk. Because Chile is in the southern hemisphere, it is late summer, even though it's late winter in the U.S. The seasons are opposite because the Earth is tilted. Right now, the southern hemisphere is closer to the sun, and the northern hemisphere is tilted away from the sun. That means the southern hemisphere has more incoming energy from the sun, so it is warmer.

Image source: https://gifer.com

So, we were able to enjoy some warm, sunny weather for our walk outside. Phoenix is still fairly warm during the winter, but for Dr. Hannah it was a big change, because Portland, Oregon is farther north and much colder during winter!

As the Earth moves around the sun, it will switch and the northern hemisphere will be closer to the sun. When it is summer in the U.S., it will be winter in Chile. 

Image source: Wikimedia

Antarctica is in the southern hemisphere, too. The plants and animals are only active during the summer when temperatures can be above freezing, which is why we are going now (assuming we haven't caught COVID!).