Penguin Droppings
Reports about Antarctica, before, during, and after a teacher expedition with National Geographic as a Grosvenor Teacher Fellow.
An Adelie penguin on Pourquoi Island in Antarctica.
Every year, National Geographic selects about 30 teachers from the US and Canada to participate in a teacher professional development program called the Grosvenor Teacher Fellowship. Teachers who are selected commit to being a fellow for 2 years. During year one, they participate in an expedition to somewhere in the world in partnership with Lindblad Expeditions. In year 2, they bring their experience to life through classroom instruction and community education. I am part of the 2024-2025 Fellowship cohort. I will be traveling to Antarctica from December 10-December 24. Check back here to follow my journey.
Official sticker and logo for my expedition. Share this image with others to spread the word about sharing water stories from around the world.
Participate in my expedition by sharing questions and bucket list ideas (I may or may not be able to fulfill;)). Join my students and me as we make observations and collect data about the world.
Click on the buttons below to ask a question, share your stories about water and to add observations about seasons and sunlight around the world.
A bit about me
I teach high school science at Lower Brule High School on the Lower Brule Sioux Indian Reservation in central South Dakota. I teach physics, biology, chemistry, intro to computer science, dual credit chemistry, and health careers. I have a PhD in Education with an emphasis on culturally sustaining practices in science education and a Masters in Chemistry. I love to sing, kayak, be outside, and do crafty things. My favorite days at school are dress-up days (there is a suitcase full of costumes and wigs at my house).
I love the creative process of teaching and bringing research into the classroom.
Notice and Wonders about Antarctica
The word cloud indicates the frequency of words used by student when they made lists of things they noticed about maps and images from Antarctica.
As I prepare to leave for Antarctica, students started creating lists of things they are wondering about. I typed up their list and will be taking it with me. They are completing a couple of assignments this week that will help them answer a few of the questions.
You can contribute your own questions by clicking here .
Students animate Antarctica
Students are using a computer animation tool called Scratch to create animations about topics related to Antarctica. Their final projects are posted here . Check after Monday Dec 9 for more student projects.
Students are excited to follow Penguini's adventure
Ms. Richey's students at Jefferson Elementary School in Pierre, SD are learning about Antarctica. They sent me a penguin named Penguini to keep me company on my trip.
Visualizing things far away
In anticipation for my expedition, I 3D printed scale models of some of the animals we are learning about. A humpback whale can be up to 15 meters long and the tallest penguin is just over a meter in height. There are several species of penguins and seals in Antarctica as well as several species of whales.
Baby it's Cold Outside
One of the most common reactions people share when they learn that I am traveling to Antarctica is "brrrrrrr". I will visit a peninsula on the continent that spans from about 60 degrees latitude to 70 degrees. Temperatures there (especially in the lower latitudes) tend to be similar to South Dakota in the winter. It has been colder in South Dakota than where I am going!
I will be there for the summer solstice, while my family, friends, and students in South Dakota experience the winter solstice.
Weather forecast for Pierre, SD according to Google 12/2/2024.
Animated map visualizing temperature variation in Antarctica for the next 14 days. Click here to see the animation.
Penguini and Wilson are ready to fly!!!
Did you know that penguins can't fly on their own? Their wings work better as flippers in the water allowing them to swim and hunt for fish.
The Antarctica bound Grosvenor Teacher Fellows. We all met up at the airport and after 2 hours of getting through immigration and customs we were off to explore the city of Buenos Aires.
Messi is a world famous soccer player and Argentinian treasure. In La Boca, there are statues of people like this in many balconies, mostly depicting various immigrant populations that made the neighborhood what it is today.
Crossing the Drake Passage
The Drake Passage is notorious for rough seas and crazy currents. It is also a nexus for mixing water from the Pacific, the Atlantic, and the Southern Oceans. This results in the mixing of warm and cold water, the cycling of nutrients, and a channel for the wind to blow unfettered between the southern tip of South America and the Antarctic Peninsula. The Drake Shake is the nickname for the rocking and rolling, ships experience crossing the passage. We experienced 4-meter swells which is considered moderate conditions for this time of year.
It took 24 hours to adjust to the motion and find my sea legs. I am happy to report that I did not vomit!!
I recorded the acceleration of the ship throughout the crossing. The graph below shows the forward motion of the ship (x), the up-down motion (y), and the side-to-side motion (z).
Land Ho!!!
After more than 24 hours crossing the Drake Passage we saw land!! Adelaide Island can barely be seen in the distance. This was taken around 4 am.
As we got closer to land we passed through brash ice, which is the slushy soup of bits and chunks of broken sea ice or broken ice bergs. Can you find the seal in this picture?
Much of the Antarctic Peninsula is mountainous and was previously part of the Andes in South America before plate tectonics pulled the land apart and the mountains became part of the Antarctic continent.
First Stop: Jenny Island
Once we made it to the Antarctica Peninsula we were about 67.4 degrees south and well over the Antarctic Circle. The water there was -1.8 C which is about the temperature sea water turns to ice. We were hoping to go to shore on Jenny Island to visit an Adelie Penguin colony. Every time an excursion is planned, the expedition staff scout the location to determine if it is safe. When we go to shore, they are particularly concerned about monitoring for signs of Avian Flu. Unfortunately there were several dead skuas* on the island and they decided we would not go to shore. This precaution is necessary to prevent the spread of the disease to other birds and mammals in the region. Elephant seals are susceptible when they are young and in some cases up to 70% of a penguin colony can be wiped out.
*Skuas are a sea bird that mainly scavenge penguin eggs and penguin chicks.
My shipmate Jenny was really excited to visit Jenny Island. And we were so giddy about finally being in Antarctica. We were also blown away by the blue colors on the ice berg.
I suppose this is a IFYKYK kind of picture, but for all of my SoDak friends, this one is for you! And if you have never been to South Dakota, I guess you now have a quest to figure out what is so epic about this picture. And if anyone has connections with Wall Drug, I would love to see this picture show up on the famous picture wall.
When given the chance to taste sea ice, you should always say yes! Do you think it was salty? The outside was salty because it was floating in the ocean, but when sea water freezes, the salt ions are squeezed out of the water, leaving only fresh water with air bubbles behind. And the bubbles of air help the ice float.
Seeing ice bergs up close is amazing. The colors and shapes of the ice are varied and beautiful. I will post about the ice in a separate post later.
Several elephant seals were on the beach at Jenny Island. They come to shore to calve their young, wean them and to molt their fur before returning to sea. Elephant seals can way over 1000 pounds and can be over 10 feet long. They hunt a variety of marine animals including fish, squid, penguins and other mammals.
This ice berg has flipped over revealing its underside.
Why Not?
Pourquoi Pas means "why not" in French. I think this is now my go to phrase when people ask me why I would want to go to Antarctica. We stopped in a cove on the island and the scouting team went to shore to see if we could visit the island. Unfortunately there were signs of Avian Flu, so we remained in the zodiacs but were able to get close enough to see and hear Adelie penguins. The Grosvenor Teachers also got to collect water chemistry data for the first time on our trip! We are hoping to collect data at different locations on the Peninsula during the week we are here.
We are collecting data on temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen and conductivity.
We had a National Geographic photographer and videographer join us on our zodiac trip.
I brought a weather meter, but it has not been reliable for temperature readings because my body heat is being picked up by the sensor. We can measure barometric pressure, wind speed, altitude and relative humidity. The Bridge of the ship also keeps records of this information, so we also use their data.
Adelie penguins are about 12 inches tall. They have dark beaks and nest on rocky beaches. They pick up and move tiny pebbles to build their nests. They regularly steal rocks from each other. In one season, all of the rocks will likely make the rounds to multiple nests!!! They come to shore to lay eggs and raise their young. The birds with brown bellies are the ones who were likely laying on the nests and now are heading out to hunt for food and the clean-bellied ones likely just got back from hunting. Adelies are very particular about what they eat and where they nest. They mainly subsist on krill, which is considered a keystone species in the Southern Ocean. Krill are like mini shrimp and they are a critical part of the marine foodweb and their numbers are declining.
More Adelies! They are really entertaining to watch and have a lot of nervous energy.
How you doin?
The Gullet
After visiting Pourquoi Pas we headed up a narrow passage called the Gullet. This passage passes between Adelaide Island and the mainland of Antarctica on the peninsula. We were able to stop and and wave hello to our sister ship, the Resolution. Dinner was served while we traveled up the channel.
The Resolution is the sister ship to the Endurance. They passed us as we were entering the Gullet. We waved from the deck as they passed by.
The galley has views that stretch 270 degrees. We saw seals, penguins, magnificent mountains and lots of snow and ice. The water was so calm we were able to witness spectacular reflections on the water.
Reflections through the Gullet.
Reflections through the Gullet.
Reflections through the Gullet.
Reflections in the Gullet.
Fast Ice
After passing through the Gullet, we saw 3 Emperor penguins, several groups of Adelie penguins, and some seals on the edge of fast ice covering Crystal Sound. The siting of the Emperor penguins happened later in the evening. After the announcement, many guests clad in pajamas or robes came to the Bridge to observe the birds. Emperor penguins are not often seen this far north on the continent, and they use the ice shelves to breed and raise their young. This section of fast ice is a prime habitat for them. They appeared to be younger birds not of breeding age. Penguins often explore the ocean, other islands, and bodies of water before returning to where they were born to breed. Emperor penguins are the largest penguins, standing over 1 meter tall. They eat fish, krill, and squid. A loss of sea ice means a loss of habitat for Emperor penguins.
Fast ice is sea ice that freezes from land to land completely covering the water and blocking passage through the bay. This ice was about 4 feet thick. The ship lodged itself into the ice for the night and we were able to hike on the ice in the morning.
Fast ice and the bay from the view of the Bridge looking toward the stern.
Fast ice and mountains.
Fish Islands and Crystal Sound
We traveled back through the Gullet and navigated around Adelaide Island over night arriving back in Crystal Sound where the water was free of fast ice. Navigating to a landing site was tricky and our planned stop was changed due to too many ice bergs in the channel. We ended up doing a zodiac trip to see Adelie penguin colonies and were treated with hot cocoa served by Santa!
Fellow Grosvenor Teacher Fellows Soleil, Kaitlin and Jenny, posing with me and some Adelie penguins.
My students wanted me to fist bump a penguin.
Santa visited us by zodiac to serve hot cocoa while we were exploring!
The Fish Islands are far enough north for there to be moss on some of the rocks!
We have been collecting water chemistry data anytime we are out on the water in zodiacs.
A moment of wonder
After leaving the Fish Islands we headed north again, traveling over night to our next destination. Late in the evening we were blessed by several humpback whales who swam by the ship to check us out. The ship slowed down enough for the whales to swim along side the bow of the ship.
