A Cold Day at Work

Principal investigators, primarily biologists, with the U.S. Antarctic Program, frequently employ scientific divers to study the marine life and ecology of McMurdo Sound, the body of water adjacent to McMurdo Station, NSF's logistic hub in Antarctica.  Diving is generally done in the early months of the Antarctic research season--which typically runs from October through late February, to allow scientists to the use the sea ice as a research platform. The water of the sound is below the freezing point, but remains liquid because of its salinity.  Ice crystals form on the divers' “dry suits” as they leave the water.

Credit: Peter West, NSF