National Geographic: Antarctic Wildlife Adventure Page #6

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These operations are just underway.

When full drilling begins

the scientists will be able to

plunge the drill bit through centuries

to see what changes have

occurred over time.

on board the Damien II again

the Antarctic summer is progressing,

although it is still

not dark after midnight.

Indeed, Jerome calls this

the planet of light.

There are only a few stops left

for the travelers,

one of them a special place

for Sally and Jerome.

More than ten years ago

on their first voyage to the

Antarctic together,

they decided to stay over in the

long darkness of winter.

They had only the Damien II

for a base

frozen in a harbor

here at Avian Island.

It was a really big surprise for us

to see just how many penguins

there were

or how many birds

there were on that island,

but really surrounded by them.

They found extraordinary life

including 70,000 Adelie penguins

on the island.

Avian is located at the top of

Marguerite Bay,

and it's the breeding ground for

much of the bird life

that lives and hunts throughout

the Bay region.

If something happened here

it could seriously affect

bird life in the entire Bay area.

Besides the Adelies's...

every single bit of that island

is covered in birds.

And you're surrounded by birds.

And you really do live

part of that cycle of the summer

season with them, completely.

But the poncets are disturbed to

learn the birds may soon be

sharing the island.

A Chilean scientist from a

nearby base if examining Avian

as a possible site for future studies.

Sally and Jerome are

beginning to worry that

the many scientists and bases

could soon overwhelm the fragile

wilderness they have come to study.

Jerome navigates the Damien II

through the mouth of a narrow passage

at Terra Firma Island.

They are very far south now

nearly at the base of the peninsula

where conditions are terribly harsh.

Some years, the sea is frozen

solid here,

the air is very cold.

Nonetheless, small patches of grass

and pearlwort flourish here,

unexceptional in any way

except that these are the southernmost

flowering plants known to exist

anywhere-the furthest outpost of green

in a world that is almost all grays

and blacks and ice white.

It was the Poncets who made this

discovery

and reported it to the

scientific world

although they now realize this, too

may draw others.

People have realize what this is

and realize how they can damage it

if they come too close,

and how they can keep away and still enjoy it.

There's a bit of a compromise

to doing it,

and you can't just ban people from

coming to certain places all over

just because they might damage it.

They've got to be taught

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