1Tonight I'm going to talk to you about that remarkable continent Antarctica -
2remote, hostile and at present uninhabited on a permanent basis.
3For early explorers, it was the ultimate survival contest;
4for researchers like me, it remains a place of great intellectual challenge;
5while for the modern tourist, it's simply a wilderness of great beauty.
6First, some facts and figures.
7Antarctica is a place of extremes
8- the highest, coldest and windiest continent
9and over 58 times the size of the UK.
10The ice-cap contains almost 70% of the world's fresh water and 90% of its ice,
11but with very low snowfall,
12most of the continent technically falls unbelievably into the category of "desert"!
13Huge icebergs break off the continent each year,
14while in winter half the surrounding ocean freezes over,
15which means its size almost doubles.
16Research and exploration has been going on in Antarctica for more than 200 years,
17and has involved scientists from many different countries,
18who work together on research stations.
19Here science and technical support have been integrated in a very cost-effective way -
20our Antarctic research programme has several summers-only stations
21and two all-year-round ones;
22I was based on one of the all-year-round ones.
23The research stations are really self-contained communities of about 20 people.
24There's living and working space,
25a kitchen with a huge food store,
26a small hospital
27and a well-equipped gym to ensure everyone keeps fit in their spare time.
28The station generates its own electricity
29and communicates with the outside world using a satellite link.
30Our station - Zero One - had some special features.
31It wasn't built on land but on an ice-shelf, hundreds of metres thick.
32Supplies were brought to us on large sledges
33from a ship 15 kilometres away at the ice edge.
34Living in the Antarctic hasn't always been so comfortable.
35Snow build-ups caused enormous problems for four previous stations on the same site,
36which were buried and finally crushed by the weight.
37Fortunately no one was hurt,
38but these buildings became a huge challenge to architects
39who finally came up with a remarkable solution -
40the buildings are placed on platforms
41which can be raised above the changing snow level on legs which are extendable.
42Food is one of the most important aspects of survival in a polar climate.
43People living there need to obtain a lot more energy from their food,
44both to keep warm and to undertake heavy physical work.
45Maybe you know that an adult in the UK
46will probably need about 1,700 kilocalories a day on average;
47someone in Antarctica will need about 3.500 -
48just over double!
49This energy is provided by foods which are high in carbohydrate and fat.
50Rations for fieldwork present an additional problem.
51They need to provide maximum energy,
52but they must also be compact and light for easy transport.
53Special boxes are prepared,
54each containing enough food for one person for twenty days.
55You may be familiar with coffee processed by freeze-drying,
56which preserves the quality of the food product while making a large saving in weight -
57well, this type of presentation is ideal in our situation.
58It wasn't available to earlier polar explorers,
59whose diet was commonly insufficient for their health.
60I think that being at the cutting edge of science has a special appeal for everyone working in Antarctica,
61in whatever capacity.
62As a marine biologist, my own research was fascinating;
63but it's perhaps climate change research that is the most crucial field of study.
64Within this general field,
65surveying changes in the volume and stability of the ice-cap is vital,
66since these may have profound effects on world sea levels and on ocean currents.
67A second important area is monitoring the size of the hole in the ozone layer above Antarctica,
68since this is an indicator of global ultra-violet radiation levels.
69Thirdly, bubbles in the ice-sheet itself provide an index of pollution
70because frozen inside them are samples of previous atmospheres over the past 500,000 years,
71and these provide us with evidence for the effects of such human activities as agriculture and industry.
72There are an increasing number of opportunities for young people to work for a period in Antarctica -
73not only as research assistants in projects like mine,
74but also in a wide range of junior administrative and technical positions
75including vacancies for map-makers.
76I hope that the insights I've provided
77will encourage you to take up these opportunities in this fascinating continent.