Palmer station is located on Anvers Island, off the west coast of the Antarctic peninsula and is a paradise for polar wildlife enthusiasts. Assisting leopard seals chasing penguins and learning to drive a boat while steering to avoid whales are some of the quite unique experiences you can expect to have while being at the base. Wildlife you are bound to encounter includes Adélie, Gentoo and Chinstrap penguins, crabeater, elephant and leopard seals, giant petrels, skuas and sheathbills, just to name a few.
Palmer station was built in 1968 and can accommodate up to 46 people. One of the most unforgettable experiences about going to Palmer station is the 4 days of navigation that takes you form Punta Arenas, Chile to Anvers Island going through the infamous Drake passage. This is considered the roughest sea-passage in the world where waves can rise to 40 feet. Once you approach the peninsula on your 4th day of navigation, suddenly, everything becomes still, and you are surrounded by a surreal landscape or icebergs and sea-facing mountain slopes. I came to Palmer as a microbiologist volunteer to help with the seasonal survey to capture changes in bacterial and primary production in the Palmer marine ecosystem and I also collected samples along a soil chronosequence in front of the receding Marr Ice Piedmont glacier, which covers most of Anvers island. The Antarctic peninsula is one of the fastest-changing places on Earth, warming more than three times more rapidly than the rest of the world. It is therefore imperative to understand how this will affect communities and trophic cascades in these fragile environments.
Palmer station was built in 1968 and can accommodate up to 46 people. One of the most unforgettable experiences about going to Palmer station is the 4 days of navigation that takes you form Punta Arenas, Chile to Anvers Island going through the infamous Drake passage. This is considered the roughest sea-passage in the world where waves can rise to 40 feet. Once you approach the peninsula on your 4th day of navigation, suddenly, everything becomes still, and you are surrounded by a surreal landscape or icebergs and sea-facing mountain slopes. I came to Palmer as a microbiologist volunteer to help with the seasonal survey to capture changes in bacterial and primary production in the Palmer marine ecosystem and I also collected samples along a soil chronosequence in front of the receding Marr Ice Piedmont glacier, which covers most of Anvers island. The Antarctic peninsula is one of the fastest-changing places on Earth, warming more than three times more rapidly than the rest of the world. It is therefore imperative to understand how this will affect communities and trophic cascades in these fragile environments.