From left to right, Lucy Berzon, Mary Hilton, Claire Ballantyne and Natalie Corbett have been selected from over 4,000 candidates.
Recently, four British women arrived at a remote location in Antarctica to host tourists and care for the dwindling penguin population.
Here these four women are preparing to celebrate Christmas away from the rest of the world. While talking to BBC, he told what arrangements he has made for staying at this place.
When Claire arrived at what would be her home for the next five months, she found the place covered in several meters of snow.
"We grabbed the shovels and started removing the snow bit by bit and thus the feeling of cold was a little less.
There was a competition to select a team to manage Port Lucroy, about 911 miles south of the Falkland Islands, in which Claire Ballantine and her three female colleagues, Mary Hilton, Lucy Burzon and Natalie Corbett A four-member team was selected.
The competition was organized by the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust for the maintenance of this base camp in Antarctica, in which thousands of people participated.
This small building was once a British military outpost and a research center, but now houses a post office, a museum and a gift shop.
When it is summer in the frozen southern ocean, small ships pass here and during these days the British team based here takes care of the tourists coming on these ships as well as about 1000 people who live on this island. Ginto also takes care of the penguins.
I was inaudible when I spoke via satellite phone from the UK to the women working in such difficult conditions, but the wildlife experts, Claire and Maire, told me about their experiences on the island. I told
Claire said, "We first shoveled a lot of snow out of the way of the building, shoveled snow off the solar panels to restore power, then we tried to make sure In the coming weeks, we got enough water and gas to live safely on the island.'
The museum's roof had been damaged by the weight of the snow, and the women called in a team from the Royal Navy of Great Britain to repair it at the start of the campaign. Claire says that she vividly remembers the moment when the Navy team left to carry out the repair work, there were no people left on the island except for the four women. All around them were penguins and huge icebergs floating silently in the sea.
"That was a really great moment."
Claire's job as postmaster is to deliver letters and postcards from visiting tourists to their friends and loved ones around the world.
'The mail I send from here takes about four weeks to reach the UK. I am very happy to know that I am in such a remote place from where this postal journey begins.
By the time I spoke with Claire and Maire, the women had already spent several weeks at Port Lucroy and had settled into a regular schedule. “We wake up at seven in the morning, have breakfast and then go to shovel the snow at the port where guests disembark,” Mairi told me.
A small ship arrives in the morning. Visitors visit the museum, buy souvenirs, and see penguins. After that, we have our lunch and in the afternoon another group of tourists arrive, which stays here till around 6 pm. After that we have dinner, keep an eye on the penguins and finish any work left.'
Port Lucroy is the most popular tourist destination in Antarctica, with around 18,000 visitors a year. The team's relationship with the people who come here is two-way because the team is very dependent on the ships that pass through here.
Mairi said that "we do not have the facility of tap water, we take drinking water from these ships and also use the ship's bathrooms for bathing."
Claire continued Mairi's words and said, "We also get fresh fruits, vegetables and double bread from the sailors." The crew take great care of us.
Since there is no internet facility at this port, the main means for the team to stay in touch with their families and keep in touch with the outside world is the Wi-Fi facility installed on the ships. Also, although the team is very well trained in first aid, if they need to see a doctor, they can find a doctor among the ship's crew or tourists.
But it's not as easy as it sounds. The team told me that the weather in Antarctica is so unpredictable that suddenly these people can be cut off from the rest of the world for days and no ships can reach them.
According to Claire, 'You never know what the next day will be like. You cannot say whether the ship will come in the morning or not if there is a storm. That is why you should be prepared for any situation.
Despite all these problems and uncertainties, these four women are still fascinated by their surroundings even after several weeks have passed.
'Every morning when you walk through the snow on parts of this building, looking out at the surrounding mountains and huge snowdrifts, it's all so beautiful it's so in-your-face,' says Claire. The smile spreads.'
I asked the women how they would feel if they were the only four humans among the hundreds of penguins on the island.
Maire's response was that penguins 'aren't as noisy as we've been led to believe. These penguins are very good neighbors and it is a lot of fun to see them.
As far as keeping an eye on these penguins is concerned, the team's major task is keeping track of their eggs. These Antarctic penguins usually lay their eggs in the same months of the year. But according to Myri, the team feels that the penguins' breeding season is now delayed due to the changing weather conditions here.
"There's still a lot of ice here today, and the sea ice here in the Gulf isn't showing any acceleration, which is unusual." If snow falls on penguin eggs, the eggs will not survive. This means that if the weather here is warmer than normal and the cold is less, it will not be good for our penguins.
Claire and Mairi said they haven't had much free time since they arrived, but are trying to soak up every moment they have on the island. That's why I asked her what in particular she plans to do for her most unusual Christmas this year.
Mary's answer was that we will have a holiday on Christmas day. Some of us ladies will make puddings, mince pies and ginger biscuits to go with it. On this day we will just relax, have Christmas dinner and do many things that we usually do at home, but we will do it not at home this time but here in Antarctica.
#weather #badweather #science #inventions #snow #icebergs #climatechange #europe
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