New arrivals

At the halfway point in my trip, my companions completely changed. Carl and Maria, who had accompanied me on the vacation leg, headed home to resume normal life, and they were replaced by 18 PhD students and 3 of my fellow faculty in the MIT-WHOI Joint Program. In between, I had just enough time to switch hotels and do a load of laundry in the bathtub. The 2025 WHOI Geodynamics Patagonia trip was on!

[Well, for most of us. A group of 9 people got hung up in transit and ended up arriving a day later than planned. Anytime you try to take 22 people to a new continent, someone's flight will be delayed. It's basically a law of nature.]

R/V Noosfera at the pier in Punta Arenas. 
Photo by Michelle Shero.

Those of us who made it to Chile on the first day had a good start to our trip - with a scientific meeting. It was important to me to connect with researchers on the ground during our visit to Patagonia. One of our motivations for flying into Punta Arenas was to experience the South American hub of Antarctic research. Research vessels from 22 countries, including the United States, use Punta Arenas as their launching point for Antarctic expeditions. In fact, while our group visited Punta Arenas, the Ukrainian Antarctic vessel, R/V Noosfera, was in port. 

The first item on our Patagonia agenda was a visit to Centro IDEAL, a research center in Punta Arenas focusing on Antarctic and sub-Antarctic ecosystems. I reached out to the director, a kind man named Humberto, to ask if the students could have a tour and meet with some of the IDEAL staff. Instead, Humberto offered to host a symposium so we could become familiar with each other's research and potentially spark new collaborations. I was thrilled. 

Dr. Humberto González Estay, Director of IDEAL, sharing
 the research center's work with us. 

Our visit to IDEAL was everything I could have hoped for. Humberto gave an introduction to the center's research goals and projects; then, the WHOI group gave lightning talks on our various projects. The IDEAL researchers had great questions for the students, and in fact, we had a vibrant discussion on iron fertilization of the Southern Ocean. 

When we finished the symposium, Humberto surprised me with a gift: books about Antarctic fauna and several items from the IDEAL gift shop. The gesture was gracious and unexpected and beautiful. 

If I ever have another research project in Patagonia, I will consider IDEAL my home base!