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"Antarctica: My Journey to the Ice"
Senator Susan Collins

Antarctica--One of the most important issues of our time is global climate change, its causes, and its effect on our planet. Earlier this month, I traveled to Antarctica as part of a congressional delegation led by Senator John McCain. The primary purpose of the trip was to see first-hand some of the latest, critical climate change research taking place on the world's coldest and least accessible continent.Below, McCain, left, with Collins

Parts of Antarctica were as I had envisioned: crystal clear blue skies, never ending tundra extending far beyond the eyes could see, unique wildlife such as penguins that thrive in such undisturbed territories, and cold temperatures even though my visit was in the middle of the austral summer. But much about the continent surprised me--the active volcano, Mount Erebus, constantly emitting steam and chunks of rock, the utter lack of snow in the area called the Dry Valleys, and the high altitude (10,000 feet) at the South Pole.

Despite the remoteness of this area of our earth, McMurdo Station, the primary American research center, is home to some of the most important research in the world related to climate change. And even though Antarctica is 10,000 miles from Maine, there are many individuals from our state who are playing important roles in climate science research and in the operation of McMurdo Station.

While most of the Mainers I met are scientists, I also talked with Mainers in supporting roles. For example at McMurdo Station, I met Kimberly Merris, a physician who did her family practice residency in Maine, and Jesse Wagner of Lebanon, who works as a cook at the station. At the South Pole, I ate a delicious lunch prepared by head chef Wendy Beeler, of Bar Harbor, who spends her austral summers in Antarctica and her boreal summers cooking at the Pot and Kettle Club on Mount Desert Island, as well as assistant chef John Wight, who works at the Jordan Pond House during the Maine summer. Even our helicopter pilot had a Maine connection: his wife, Jessica Meir, is from my hometown of Caribou. I certainly did not conduct a scientific survey, but judging from the very small population in Antarctica (around 1300 Americans during the summer season), I estimate that Mainers account for more than our per capita share in Antarctica. Perhaps our independent spirit and ability to cope with tough weather leads so many Mainers to the end of the earth.

I am also impressed by the other Maine women who are playing key roles in climate research. Dr. Brenda Hall, undergraduate Alice Doughty, and graduate student Audrey Bamberg, all from the University of Maine, are working in a camp on a remote island in the Ross Sea. They are studying ancient seal colonies along the Antarctic coastline. The seals typically live near the edge of the sea ice, but today that edge is over 1000 miles away. This suggests that there were times in the last 6000 years when there was actually far less sea ice than there is today. I am impressed with the work they are doing under harsh conditions, living in tents miles from the main research center at McMurdo Station. Left, Collins with penguins.

It is truly remarkable how much of the important climate change research in Antarctica is being done by Mainers. University of Maine Professor George Denton, who is the first professor at the University to be elected to the National Academy of Sciences, has spent 30 seasons in Antarctica. He and others from the University of Maine have mapped out the climate change history of much of the entire Trans-Antarctic Mountain Range.

They have identified very abrupt changes in the Antarctic climate that appear to correlate with abrupt changes in the climate of North America, and are trying to establish the exact connection between the two. I had the opportunity to see some of this research first-hand, and I even saw Denton Glacier and Denton Hills, which were named after our very own Professor Denton.

In McMurdo, I also met with Assistant Professor Mark Battle of Bowdoin College. Mark told me about the research he is conducting involving ice cores from the West Antarctica Ice Sheet Divide. He and others are preparing to drill ice cores that will extend down through nearly two miles of ice and reach back in time over 100,000 years. This ice core record is expected to provide one of the most detailed records of the Antarctic climate ever created over this time period.

I also visited the Clean Air Station at the South Pole. Being the farthest place on earth from major emissions sources, the South Pole has the cleanest air on earth, and thus provides an excellent place to measure the background quality of the earth's air. By analyzing carbon dioxide in ice cores, scientists have been able to create reliable measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide going back over hundreds of thousands of years. The current measurements of carbon dioxide at Clean Air Station provide a reliable comparison to see the impact of human activity on increasing carbon dioxide concentrations in recent years compared to the last hundreds of thousands of years. Since carbon dioxide is the primary greenhouse gas that most scientists believe affects temperatures, it is very important to be able to make accurate measurements of its concentration in the atmosphere.

One thing that continually amazed me about Antarctica is the sheer size of the continent and its features. Antarctica is the size of the U.S. and Mexico combined. Many of the geographic features of Antarctica are so large that they are simply difficult to comprehend. As we drove in a specially equipped, tracked vehicle across the Ross Ice Shelf toward Mount Erebus, which is the world's southernmost active volcano, the mountain never seemed to grow closer, even though we spent nearly an hour driving towards it.

Professor Battle later told me that this was due to the clean, dry air, which makes distant objects seem closer, the huge size of the mountain, which rises from sea level to nearly 13,000 feet, and the lack of trees, houses, or anything else, which might give a sense of perspective.

The very vastness of Antarctica is one of the reasons that the continent is so important for climate research. If the West Antarctica Ice Sheet were to collapse, for example, sea level would rise 15 feet, flooding many coastal cities. While the ice sheet does not appear in any imminent danger of collapsing, several years ago an iceberg the size of Delaware unexpectedly broke off the ice sheet. We have a long way to go to better understand how Antarctica responds to climate change and what the impact would be on our climate.

During this trip, we also had the opportunity to visit New Zealand briefly to view some of the climate change research performed by the University of Maine in that country. Senators McCain, Sununu, and I took a helicopter tour with University of Maine Professor Denton to see how the climate is changing in New Zealand. Professor Denton told us that 50 percent of the glaciers in New Zealand have melted since 1860, and that this melting is unprecedented in the last 5000 years.

We could clearly see the glacial moraines, where dirt and rocks had been pushed up in piles around the glacial terminus in 1860. I thought it was remarkable to stand in a place where some 140 years ago I would have been covered in tens or hundreds of feet of ice, and then to look far up the mountainside and see how distant the edge of the ice is today.

Antarctica has a major impact on the world's climate and is one of the most important sites in the world for learning about and understanding climate change. With the information that I gathered, I will advocate for more support for climate change research and for measures to decrease greenhouse gas emissions. And I returned home so proud to know that so many people from Maine are playing such leading roles in this endeavor. Somehow, being greeted by a hearty meal made by Mainers makes even the end of the earth feel not so far from home after all.