Antarctic Section:
Penguins, Cold and Winterovers

Text and pictures © 1993-2024 Guillaume Dargaud
Last updated on 2021/11/05

"If it's 0 degrees today and it's going to be twice as cold tomorrow... how cold will it be ?"

Facts

[RadarSatAntarctica.jpg] Small Antarctic map I have been on the land of the big white cold five times, spending a total of about 31 months there, that is about 6 summers and two winters. First of all, check out some facts about Adelie land I gathered on the net. Content: Map of Antarctica, Antarctic continent, French Southern and Antarctic Lands

There's also a more specific page if you want to know how to go to Antarctica and a glossary of specific terms I use all over my pages.

Antarctica seen from above

[FlyingAboveIceberg.jpg] Flying above icebergs Have a bird's view of the continent with some selected pictures from different satellites (better enjoyed with JavaScript):
Transportation

[ArrivalInLine1.jpg] The traverse reaching Dome C Getting to and from the 7th continent, as well as moving things around:
Stations

[DC051.jpg] Where do you want to go ? After that go visit the research stations where I've worked or from where I've had friends send me images:
Dome C

[HighPlateauConcordia4.jpg] Concordia station at Dome C The first summer campaign at Dome C, on the high Antarctic plateau, one of the coldest place on Earth, 1997. (available in english, French français, Italian italiano).

And the same place 3 years later while construction of the future Concordia Station has just started.

Winterovers

[20050816_005_JeanRepair.jpg] Concordia station at Dome C For some fun stuff read my tales from the cold about my winter over at the French base of Dumont d'Urville, the windiest place on Earth, 1993. No doubt the greatest experience I've had in my life. I was part of the 43rd team to winter over in Adelie Land.

And then even more fun: from November 30th 2004 to december 4th 2005 I was back in Antarctica for the fifth time, but this time to perform a First: the very first winter-over at the new franco-italian research station of Concordia, on the High Antarctic Plateau. One year away from friends and family, 4 months of total darkness, -79°C winter temperature and 10 months of total isolation. Here's the chronology and the blog of the expedition: Preparation, december, science, january, transition, winterover, daily life, portraits, autumn, darkness, midwinter, back to work, return of the sun, panoramas, end of the winterover & return home.

And a few extras: B&W portraits, water processing...

Pictures


[EmanueleCollectingSamples3.jpg] Concordia station at Dome C Talking about early explorers, I have a couple old pictures of MacMurdo. They may not be as old as Scott or Amundsen but they are interesting. I also recently added images of the early days of Dome C in 1977, and an account of the surgery done in Port Martin in 1951.

Two pages of wallpaper images of the coast and the high polar plateau.

Some fisheye, birdseye and philosphere images taken at Dome C and processed in various ways.

Lots of ice: iceberg pictures, glaciology work at Dome C as well as the successful Epica deep drilling.

And finally I have a whole lot more high resolution pictures for sale on two Antarctic Photo Archive CDs featuring several hundred royalty-free pictures of Emperor Penguins, Adelie Penguins, Other animals, Scenery, Sky, Dumont d'Urville, Terra Nova Bay and Dome C.

Penguins & friends

[Emperor146.jpg] Emperor penguins and chicks. All you want to know about penguins:

But don't forget that there are other rare birds in Antarctica (skuas, giant petrels, snow petrels, Cape petrels, fulmars & storm petrels); as well as other animals and weird things (Weddell seals, crabeater seals, leopard seals, lichen, algae, fish, cryptoendolith...).

Frequently Asked Questions

[IceCoreHole.jpg] Ice core hole Some answers to the mail I receive:

[AmericanMastAssemblyBacklit3.jpg] Ice core hole Weather The weather is one of the main research fields and extraordinary source of amazement down in Antarctica (and a main source of conversation too, just like everywhere else). If you are too hot at this time, you can cool off by reading the weather tables for Dumont d'Urville and Dome C:
Polar Atmospheric Phenomena

[Sky005.jpg] Aurora Australis. Ever seen an aurora ? A mirage ? The midnight sun ? A halo circle ? Those pictures were sometimes difficult to take, but you must see those extraordinary weather phenomena:
Climbing

[Ice049.jpg] Climbing icebergs. You wanna see some action ? We did some crazy iceberg climbing on really fragile ice during the winter. It was fun but delicate. And I recently added a page of satellite images of most of the mountain ranges of Antarctica.
Humor

[PanoParking_BEW.jpg] Planet Antarctica. Maybe you prefer humor and literature ? Then here are some polar quotes from past explorers collected on the Net and misc readings.
Accident Three friends and colleagues died in a helicopter accident on Monday February 8th in Dumont d'Urville. Voici la dépèche AFP (en Français).
Books And if you have had enough web surfing for now, relax with a good book. Among the very best Antarctic readings are Shackleton's Buy at Amazon.comThe Odyssey of the Endurance (with Frank Hurley's extraordinary photos) and Apsley Cherry-Garrard's Buy at Amazon.comThe worst journey in the world. And if you want a totally different take on Antarctica, try Nicholas Johnson's Big Dead Place book about the bureaucracy on the American stations.
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