Antarctic Conversations

SWEETENED WITH COFFEE AND CAKE, a series of four Monday-night lectures have proved a valuable part of our tour preparations. For all the information relating to Antarctica out there – in the media, threaded through literature and art – the chance to hear from experts and to ask questions cannot be over-rated.

Open to the public, the lectures covered the history, geology and ecology of Antarctica as well as the pivotal role the continent plays in climate change research. We learnt about issues relating to the future of Antarctica, the Antarctic Treaty and territorial claims.

A catalyst for our own reading and research, the lectures were also a good chance to get to know each other a little before being rendered unrecognisable under layers of merino, gloves and wrap-around shades. We talked about the lectures, what kind of boots we would be taking, and, inevitably, the weather ahead of us on unknown horizons. Professor Barrett's animation below - showing satellite imagery of cyclonic weather patterns above the Antarctic continent - shed a little light on that matter.

Some of my highlights from the lectures are:

• Professor Peter Barrett's anecdotes of his time in Antarctica as a researcher and scientist, and the gem of a reference to Aurora Australis – written, illustrated with lithographs and etchings, printed and hand-bound with twine into covers of sealskin by Shackleton's team in a very small hut on the edge of the Antarctic Sea in the winter of 1908.

I later found a reproduction of the very rare book at the library, and from the comfort of my lounge, marvelled at an undeniable feat of publishing. Imagine typesetting and printing, etching and inking, using acid baths and candle-lames to keep the inks from freezing – in the dim and grime of smoky seal-oil lamps while a storm rages outside! An admirable way to combat cabin fever.

• Dr Malcolm Laird's photos. A Canterbury University geological research fellow, Malcolm really set the scene and got us excited at the fact that, in a short while, we would be seeing for ourselves the bizarre and beautiful Antarctica he photographed.

• Peter's climate change talk and range of useful websites and references to a wide range of reading, including links to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Most interesting were the animations he showed of Antarctic weather patterns – like the cyclonic pattern above – and the one below showing sea ice freezing on the ocean surface around the continent in the autumn and winter and melting in the late spring and summer (NASA).

• Victoria University law lecturer Joanna Mossop's overview of the Antarctic Treaty, land claims, and the laws around liability and environmental protection. I was surprised to find that neither the United States or Russia have claims, although they both have major bases on the continent, and that New Zealand's Ross Sea dependency is largely sea ice (leaving us with a sliver of land should global warming melt 'our territory'. More surprisingly was the fact that women from Chile and Argentina go to their respective bases to give birth to genuine Antarctic citizens and hence strengthen their claim!