Whether it is summer or winter, the poles are difficult places to live in. They share similar latitudes, similar colours (white icy wonderlands) and neither has much human activity. In other words, they are carbon copies for the most part. If I were to share two photos, can you make out which of these is the Arctic and which one is the Antarctic?
If you dig a little deeper, you’ll find that both places are distinctly different. The main difference is that one is a continent and the other is not (the Antarctic is a landmass and hence a continent). The Arctic is simply a mass of ice / open seas surrounded by landmasses. So the easiest way to recognise the two poles from photos is this - if there is a large mountain lurking in the background, that’s a landmass and hence taken in the Antarctic.
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A new research centre in the Arctic
You may have heard of research laboratories in the Antarctic region, where scientists spend months holed up in a lonely part of the planet and study everything from how penguins poop to why the earth is getting warmer. Have you ever heard of a laboratory in the Arctic? The obvious reason is - duh! there’s no land, so how does one BUILD a laboratory?
Every week, I write about one interesting news story on the Lighter Side. Today’s story is about the ice cold Arctic that is about to become the home of a beautiful new research station. This station can walk on ice, sail in the seas and open its doors underneath itself and venture into the cold depths where seals and otters swim beneath it. Hope you like this story!
Tell me more about the research attempted in the Arctic in the past: There have been laboratories in the Arctic in the past - BUT, BUT,BUT - these have been led by scientists who are also adventurers. Some of them have tried spending months on rocky boats in the region to study planet earth. The conditions aren’t exactly pretty - they would be amidst icy winds that could blow them off course (in the best case) or blow their boat into smithereens and send them sprawling into the icy ocean water (in the worst case).
A research attempt on the deck: A schooner called Tara (run by a company called Tara Ocean Foundation) spent 18 months in the Arctic (2006 to early 2008). A few brave souls ventured to conduct experiments aboard this schooner (they have returned home safely, I might add). Imagine their plight doing experiments on the deck holding test tubes and pipettes with one hand, making notes in their book with the other. Add to this a picture of a strong wind that blows them every which way! They could not build a laboratory INSIDE the schooner, as there wasn’t enough space!
A large boat was also sent out for research: From 2019 to 2020, a German icebreaker ship called Polarstern, spent a year frozen into the sea ice! This was a large icebreaker that did have a research station within, BUT, it was very expensive to operate (this one cost more than $150 million). There was the additional problem that came with researching on large ships. Large moving objects create noise, light, and emissions by themselves. These interfere with measurements that scientists make while aboard the ship (for eg. they cant study whale sounds if the ship is groaning amidst the sea ice!).
But now,scientists have come up with a cool solution - a small ship that can also house a research lab inside: It’s a ship that does not look like a traditional ship. But this one is dome-shaped. The picture below tells you what a geodesic dome should look like. If you look carefully beneath the dome, you will find that it is mounted on a raft. The cool part about this vessel is that it is just 26m long (for comparison the Polarstern was 118m long). Since this dome is smaller, it won’t make as much of a disturbance (noise / light / emissions). So scientific studies are likely to be more accurate. Also, this one isn’t too small either and has space for 15-20 researchers to sit inside and conduct experiments.
It’s called the Tara Polar Station (also operated by the Tara Ocean Foundation).
Tara Polar Station. Source: foundationtara.org
The cooler part about this research vessel is that - it can both float on water AND ride / crawl on pack ice (wow! right?) Also, the lab spaces are indoor (definitely warmer than being on a deck). It’s got a “moonpool”— which is an opening on the floor of the vessel. So whenever it is floating in the water, researchers can just open this moonpool and collect samples. Otherwise, researchers step outside the ship, walk on ice and drill holes in them to collect samples.
Trivia:A moon pool is an opening in the hull of a ship that allows access to the water below. It looks something like this, when opened.
But, life aboard this will be tough
18 researchers will be on this drift. They will be squeezed into a 26m long raft for 2-years. There will be months with little to no sunlight and no outside world to keep them company. This will be no different from spending months on the International Space Station (minus the zero gravity fun!). They don’t need to just be good at science, but need to be the kinds that can get along with 17 others, crack plenty of jokes, not throw tantrums, not get into bad moods AND not get bogged down by the dark and cold winters!
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Interesting facts about this research foray
The Tara Polar Station is scheduled to drift towards the North Pole in 2025
This is funded largely by the French goverment and costs $23 million
The first scientific expedition is planned for 2026.
Show me more - what will this polar expedition study?
Podcast this week
Ever dreamt of owning a device that could transport you to ANY corner of this universe? Visit any planet or comet or even a black hole? That’s the centrepiece of a book called ‘George’s secret key to the universe’. This book was written by Stephen Hawking and his daughter Lucy Hawking. Four young primary schoolers read this book and shared with us on a podcast, what they liked and did not like about the book.
