Welcome to INACH

The research project we are working on is a collaboration between the U.S. Antarctic Program (USAP) and the Chilean Antarctic Institute (or Instituto Antártico Chileno, INACH). There are both American and Chilean scientists working together on our research. This season, Hannah and I get to work with our Chilean collaborator, Angelica, seen here being a penguin in the INACH headquarters:

We will be living and working at a Chilean research station in Antarctica. Today, we worked with INACH to gather the rest of our gear and cargo. We like to blend in with our Chilean friends, so we happily wear both American and Chilean clothes! Here, Hannah models the INACH fashion we will use in Antarctica:

We also attended the required trainings to prepare for living and working in Antarctica. We cover safety while living at the research station and environmental protection of the Antarctic ecosystem. There are many rules we have to follow while we live and work in Antarctica!

The meeting room at INACH headquarters. On the left, you see 3 flags: the INACH flag for Antarctica, the Chilean flag, and the flag for the Magallanes Region of Chile. How good is your Spanish to read the PowerPoint slides?

We are supposed to fly to Antarctica tomorrow morning. However, the weather is not looking very good... The plane will only fly if the weather is good, not only here in Punta Arenas to take off, but also all the way across the Drake Passage and in Antarctica where we will be landing. They do not take off if they don't think we can fly and land safely! So frequently the weather doesn't cooperate, and we get delayed. If we do not get to fly tomorrow as planned, then we get an extra day in Punta Arenas and will try again on Saturday!