Alexander Kumar, a physician and researcher at Concordia Station, writes from Antarctica, where he conducts scientific experiments for the European Space Agency?s human spaceflight program.
Saturday, July 28
I take another step, breathless, in the dark. It has been dark now for over three months. I look down at my thermometer and see the temperature has increased a little; it just has touched minus 72 degrees Celsius (about minus 98 degrees Fahrenheit). My fingers begin to freeze. I have lost all sensation in my cheeks.
I live at 3,800 meters equivalent altitude (about 12,470 feet) and breathe one-third less oxygen than the amount available at sea level in New York City or London. It has been dark 24 hours a day for the last three months. We saw the sun for the last time in May.
Where am I? Welcome to Planet Concordia ? at least, that is the term I have coined for my whereabouts. I am Dr. Alexander Kumar, Anglo-Indian in origin, and alongside being a physician, explorer, photographer and scientist, I am spending one year at Concordia Station, a French-Italian research outpost in the most extreme and remote region of Antarctica.
I live among an international crew of 13 in total, completely isolated from February until November. I am the only British member of my crew, sharing the station with four Italian members, seven French team members and one Russian. Over the past months we have turned from a crew into a team, a multinational family fighting each day against nature?s extremes. Even in the case of a medical emergency, evacuation is impossible.
Concordia Station is located on top of one of Antarctica?s summits, or ?domes.? This one is called Dome C, which stands for Dome Charlie or Dome Circe. It is one of the coldest places on earth. Temperatures remain below minus 25 degrees Celsius (minus 13 degrees Fahrenheit) in the summer and fall below minus 80 degrees Celsius (minus 112 degrees Fahrenheit) in the winter. The geographic South Pole remains 1,670 kilometers (about 1,040 miles) beyond our reach.
Concordia Station?s nearest neighbor is Vostok Station in Russia, about 560 kilometers (350 miles) away. Together with the United States Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, the three stations remain the only permanent inland year-round inhabited research stations on the Antarctic Plateau, the world?s largest desert. This is the closest you can come to living on the surface of another planet. For this reason I also describe it as a white Mars.
Employed by the French Polar Institute and Italian Antarctic Program as Concordia Station?s winter doctor, I monitor the health and well-being of my fellow crew members. Prevention remains key to surviving an Antarctica winter. I screen the crew members regularly ? both psychologically and biologically ? taking and processing various measurements and blood samples, including weight, blood pressure and oxygen levels. I process blood hemoglobin levels to monitor our response to living at such high altitude.
I am also responsible for conducting research for the European Space Agency?s human spaceflight program, understanding the limits of human physiology and psychology, identifying the challenges for a future manned mission to Mars. Research is designed to study the effects of isolation, hypoxia, altered dark-light cycle and circadian rhythm, including sleep patterns and hormone cycles. All such research, whether it is conducted on the International Space Station or in the Mars 500 project or at Concordia, provides valuable pieces toward what I perceive to be a gigantic jigsaw puzzle. One day we will solve it and, in doing so, will salute the launching of humankind?s first manned mission to Mars.
We are alone here and have to be completely self-sufficient. We are confined to the vicinity of the station, venturing out only to view one of the clearest night skies available on earth as well as tend to our science experiments in the various shelters around our base. Each of us is responsible for a particular line of research. On site, we have a number of scientists, including glaciologists, astronomers, a meteorologist and seismologist.
Although I came to Antarctica for science, choosing to overwinter in Antarctica is ultimately a personal journey: Only in the deepest, darkest depths of the Antarctic winter can you find answers to questions you would otherwise never think of or choose to face. You dredge the ocean?s depths of your own mind. It is easier on your body than on your mind, even at 3,800 meters equivalent altitude, having run out of fresh food and living without sunlight for over three months. In overcoming the many challenges during the long polar night, you learn things about yourself that you may not like. A real test of your character and those around you is how you choose to deal with such challenges.
I hope to emerge at the other end from one of the world?s greatest and most extreme experiences: overwintering in Antarctica at Concordia Station, living through the world?s worst winter. I hope I am still smiling at the other end.
This post has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: August 7, 2012
An earlier version of this blog post misstated the number of French team members at Concordia Station in Antarctica. There are seven, not six.
Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=b964ae64ab9c8f10b71da4effcfcc2eb
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