If you thought you had the coolest job on earth, then you would probably re-think that after getting to know Cyprien Verseux. He is a glaciologist and astrobiologist, who has been to one of the least inhabited and remote places in the world. Deep inside the wastes of the most inhospitable and cold part of the continent lies a scientific base.
As a way of having some fun, Cyprien keeps a blog where he shares his moments while working and living in this extreme environment. While we tend to complain about a few dips in temperatures, Cyprien and a small group of scientists are bundled deep in the depths of the Antarctic winter where temperatures plummet to -80 degrees. The climatic conditions are so harsh that no bacteria can survive there.
“Nine months a year, during the winter, it cannot be left or reached,” Cyprien said. “It is so cold that vehicles can’t come and go. We are currently 13 people: technicians, scientists, a cook, and a medical doctor.”
The desert landscape coupled with the lack of oxygen in the dry air makes the scientists feel as if they are in a simulator.
“It is the coldest area on Earth, with temperatures reaching below -80°C in winter,” he explained. “We saw the Sun again in August after 3 months without it ever passing the horizon. The air is extremely dry and poor in oxygen.”
The small group of scientist's work helps determine how the earth's climate has changed in the past and help determine possible changes in the future.
“Research done here yields invaluable information on climate change,” he told us. “It is thanks to the EPICA project conducted here that we know that greenhouse gas levels, specifically carbon dioxide and methane, have never been so high in at least the past 800 000 years.”
As an amusement, Cyprien decided to amaze his fans with spectacular photos of his culinary undertaking in the cold. He snapped away different kinds of food as they submit to the cold temperatures and remain frozen- often defying gravity.
“We run out of fresh food early in the winter (as we have no resupply from early February to early November), so we eat mostly frozen food: given that the temperatures never are in the positive, we just store it in containers outside.”
don't believe it? check out for yourself.
Cyprien Verseux is a glaciologist and biologist, currently working in Concordia; Antarctica
Cyprien keeps a blog to share his experience of living in the most extreme environments in the world
Cyprien decided to go outside and have a go at ‘cooking,’ taking photos of different kinds of foods deep frozen
the gravity-defying pictures vividly illustrate the intensity of the cold down in Antarctica
Temperatures sometimes going down to 180 degrees
It is the coldest place on earth
“We saw the Sun again in August after 3 months without it ever passing the horizon. The air is extremely dry and poor in oxygen”
“We run out of fresh food early in the winter (as we have no resupply from early February to early November), so we eat mostly frozen food”
“We are currently 13 people. Technicians, scientists, a cook and a medical doctor”
“In spite of being in an inhospitable desert, Concordia is highly attractive to researchers from different fields such as astronomy and human physiology”
“We are using it to study human adaptation to what is very similar to future conditions of a Moon or Mars base”
