Ecologist Claudia Colesie talks to Bryony Cottam about her top tips for coping when things get tough on an expedition
PASSPORT
When Claudia Colesie embarked on an expedition to Antarctica’s remote Zavodovski Island – known to be one of the stormiest places on Earth – she knew the journey wouldn’t be plain sailing. Still, the challenges she and a team of fellow scientists ended up facing on that long trip would test the most experienced explorer.
Ferocious winds forced their sailboat to take shelter at several locations across the South Sandwich archipelago en route to Zavodovski, delaying their arrival by many days. A medical emergency also meant an extended stay on South Georgia Island. In all, the team spent seven weeks at sea. ‘It was the first time I’d ever been on a sailboat,’ says Colesie. ‘It was quite an extreme baptism of fire.’
CLAUDIA’S TRAVEL TIPS
• Travel with people you trust and who are experts in their jobs
• Teamwork is all important and has to be quickly forged, sometimes in difficult circumstances with people you don’t
All this time, the scientists were unsure of what they would find on the island. Bird flu had spread to Antarctica, and an accompanying film crew – which had planned a wildlife documentary on the island – pulled out ahead of the departure, certain that devastation awaited them. ‘Everything had to be disinfected at several stages, from
when we got on the boat to when we reached the island and again when we left, to prevent its spread,’ says Colesie. ‘Keeping our distance from the birds was mandatory throughout.’
They were very lucky, she says, to see no sign of bird flu when they finally arrived. This luck, however, was short- lived. On the first night, a storm tore through their camp, shredding their tents. As winds battered the island, Colesie and her colleagues raced to rescue their equipment and set up a new camp in a safe site. ‘That was two days completely lost to science because we had to ensure our survival.’ Just a few days later, with no back-up tents and another fierce storm on the horizon, the team had no choice but to evacuate.
What should have been a three-week field campaign on Zavodovski turned into six days – only four of which could be spent doing science. ‘It was very frustrating, but of course it was the right choice not to take the risk.’
Despite the many setbacks, the team achieved a lot in a short amount of time. Colesie, a terrestrial ecologist, says she spent 20 hours one day surveying as much of the small island as she could ,collecting samples of the plant life that has adapted to the severe weather conditions.
Another researcher surveyed the island by drone, counting the number of chinstrap penguins – more than one million, making it the largest penguin colony in the world. As tourism increases across Antarctica, this research will help conservationists to protect the local fauna and flora. ‘It’s difficult to develop a management plan if you don’t know what’s there,’ explains Colesie.
Throughout the storms, and despite suffering from seasickness, Colesie even managed to film the expedition on her phone. ‘The marketing team made a wonderful video out of it,’ she adds.
There are a few things that will help any traveller faced with adversity, especially in a place as remote as Antarctica. The first is to travel with people you trust, and who you can trust to do their job well. ‘We were incredibly well supported by the sail crew on the boat and I felt very safe in their hands,’ says Colesie. ‘They were absolute experts in their field and if we ever started to get stressed about things they were always able to keep us calm.’
The second is teamwork. ‘You need to respect each other and work well together – that’s what gives you the strength to push through when things get difficult.’ Colesie says that, during a field trip, this isn’t as straightforward as it sounds. Often, you might be travelling with people you’ve never met before. ‘That can add an extra element of challenge, but you have to remember that everyone is in the same boat. I think that was what allowed us to get through all those difficult situations.’
With the help of Colesie’s in-situ observations on the island, researchers at the University of Edinburgh and the British Antarctic Survey have now produced the first map of Antarctica’s green vegetation. In all, 44.2 square kilometres of vegetation has been detected, mostly in the Antarctic Peninsula and neighbouring offshore islands (such as Zavodovski). Maps like this will be vital for tracking the impacts of climate change across the region which, for now at least, is predominantly made up of ice and snow.
