“I grew up on a farm in Plottier and every little bug that passed caught my attention,” recalled the 33-year-old researcher. Although she debated whether to study Veterinary Medicine, Biology or Marine Biology, she finally decided to move to Bariloche to pursue a career in Bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences at the mountain branch of the National University of Comahue (UNCo).
After graduation, he stayed in Bariloche. There was something in the ice that seemed to trap her. “I did my PhD studying yeasts from extreme cold environments, and I was doing my work in high mountain glaciers. At that time, Antarctica was already on my radar,” he explained.
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Although there are ice microorganisms that are present in the glaciers of the Andean mountain range, all the literature that inspired Rubí’s studies described life in Antarctica, an inhospitable but fascinating region from a scientific point of view.
The challenge of traveling to Antarctica
Already with her doctor’s degree under her arm, the researcher set herself a new challenge for the future and thus embarked on an arduous selection process to work as a technical support scientist at one of the bases in the Argentine Antarctic. Her objective was to obtain, through knowledge and study, a ticket to reach a destination that only the armed forces or tourists who pay millions to visit an exotic place visit.
“I would recommend to everyone who is interested in this topic that they study hard because it is really worth it,” he said. And although he admitted that his story has a dose of merit and a large dose of financial support and support from family and friends, he is grateful to be able to work on what he is passionate about and discover remote points thanks to his work.
“They only interviewed me about my studies and my knowledge,” Rubí said about the selection process. Maybe it was because her resume already speaks for itself. Or perhaps because the challenge of that ice-covered land was not intended to shake her profile as a scientist but to test her resistance to a hostile environment.
“The hardest part of the selection process was the psychological evaluation, there were like four or five interviews to find out if I was prepared and had the character to face life in Antarctica,” she clarified. The Carlini base, where she arrived, guarantees not only extreme temperatures and aggressive winds, but also a good dose of isolation and confinement, almost without connection to the continent.
Once the euphoria over the news of having been selected had passed, Rubí rushed to toast last Christmas. At the end of December, she embarked on an adventure that marked not only a milestone in her career as a scientist but also opened an opportunity for introspection and shaping her career into the future.
The scientist from Neuquén had studied – and imagined – Antarctica thousands of times. However, the first postcard from the Carlini base, in the north of the continent, surprised her. “I expected a more desolate place and I was surprised to see so much life around,” she said. And although she knew that she could find marine animals in that sector, she smiled when she saw a small group of elephant seals sleeping peacefully next to the welcome sign.
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Summer is usually kinder to people who live in Antarctica. When it arrived, a total of 75 people lived at the base of this Argentine territory. “We arrived almost without knowing each other and immediately celebrated New Year’s. Sociological studies are usually done here because a strange phenomenon occurs, friendships are created very quickly, and we get to know each other a lot due to so much time we share. I know tricks with my colleagues that I don’t know about my best friends,” she clarified.
In that sector of the continent, only low-speed Internet is accessed. “We have 6 megabytes and when we were 75 people, we had to take turns to connect. They gave us one hour per day, which we could distribute,” said the scientist. Thus, her connection with Neuquén, Bariloche and the rest of her loved ones became scarce and intermittent. Instead, the immense solitude of the ice presented itself, abundantly, before her eyes.
The routine at the Carlini base
Every morning, at 8, Rubí is ready for breakfast. The sky is still dark over the Carlini base and, an hour later, he joins an operational meeting to define each day’s work. In the winter, there are 29 people who live there, and most of them are soldiers who work to keep the base operational. “Of the 29, only 6 are civilians, the rest are military personnel, within the personnel it is mostly support to keep the base in operation, they are dedicated to the facilities, workshop, power plants, engines. There are cooks, doctors, nurses and management,” he clarified.
They are joined by the six civilians: Rubí and her biologist colleague, two computer scientists, a meteorologist and a logistics worker from the Antarctic Directorate. As a group, each morning they decide what tasks they are going to do, whether it is necessary to embark or if they will take walking tours of the glaciers. “If the weather allows it, because many times the wind is so strong that you can’t get out,” she clarified.
Temperatures at Carlini Base can easily drop to minus 18 degrees. When the wind blows, inclement, the wind chill is 30 below zero. And so, despite the specialized clothing and that spirit that shelters them inside, there is no option but to stay indoors and do office work. “That’s what I enjoy the least, I chose to be a biologist to be in the field and get my hands dirty,” she laughed.
“When I have navigation activities, we talk in the coordination meetings with those in charge so that they can send a helmsman and the diving guys, if necessary,” he clarified. “When I have to do a census of animals, such as petrels or seals, I have to leave the base and there is a shelter where I can stay in case the weather conditions worsen or simply to rest from the walk and have some mates “he said.
Although the cold is eloquent in that place, Rubí clarified that the Antarctic Institute provides them with special clothing to face extreme temperatures. The snowsuits and pants are complemented by special coats and also water suits that protect them from the cold and help them float. “Due to a sudden movement of the boat, a person could fall into the water,” the young woman explained about a piece of clothing that could save them from drowning or freezing in the Antarctic Ocean.
The working days in Antarctica end at five in the afternoon in the summer and two in the winter, because night takes over the frozen continent at four. “After that time, we do office work, we take advantage of using the gym or we meet to chat, there are no other activities until 8, which is dinner time,” she explained.
Meals at the Carlini base
At the Carlini base they receive frequent visits from the ARA Almirante Irizar icebreaker, which brings them the supplies and food necessary to survive in a land covered in glaciers. He also takes some of the temporary inhabitants back to the mainland and brings new companions. “We have a very caloric diet to cope with the cold, We don’t lack anything but there are some things that I miss, like salads, or that I haven’t eaten bananas for six months, because not all types of fruits arrive,” he said.
On other occasions, products arrive via Hercules planes or from a base in Chilean Antarctica, which is very close to their location. These trips also allow Rubí to send some of the frozen samples, of mollusks, for example, which aim to study pollution levels in water and sleep. Thus, despite the limitations of the Internet, they are never completely disconnected from the continent.
Your research work
Rubí does not conduct her own investigation at the site. On the contrary, he carries out different support tasks for historical scientific research. “These are investigations by the Antarctic Institute that have been going on for a long time, some since the 90s,” the researcher clarified. In this way, her routine is always changing: one day she counts the number of elephant seals in a certain region, other times it measures microplastics in the water. With sensors, it measures light infiltration, water salinity, chlorophyll or suspended sediments.
The Neuquén combines those days of field work with office tasks and some days in which the wind suspends any type of activity. Thus, he will stay all winter and next Christmas: his return date is scheduled for 2025. “I’m having a good experience and I think it’s going to leave a great memory in me,” she explained.
“Every time I crossed paths on the continent with someone who had come, I had a very nice memory of Antarctica, even those who had suffered a lot of inclement weather,” he said. And she added that this space allows her to not only add experience, new contacts and more points to her resume: the time alone with the ice also gave her the opportunity to rethink her career as a scientist.
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“Until now, I have uncertainty for the future,” he said and clarified that he trusts that this opportunity will open new doors for his work, which provides fundamental data to understand and preserve the environment. “As it is the first time I come, I can’t compare it with anything, but my colleagues who had already visited Antarctica years ago tell me that the effect of climate change is very noticeable,” he said.
“Antarctica is a place that tells us how global climate change is affecting us. The fauna, flora and microorganisms of Antarctica are very sensitive to increases in temperature, they are already adapted to this permanent extreme cold,” he said.
And so, while the ice retreats and strips unknown islets, while the Fourcade glacier breaks off its pieces, microplastics loom like a microscopic threat, the winterers arm themselves with science and knowledge to defend that corner of the south that marks a north for them. the compass, always close to the study and protection of nature.
What is Carlini base?
The base is located on the coast, where at this time of year snow and ice were observed, highlighting against the white sky, the Tres Hermanos hill, in front of the Furcade glacier.
The Carlini base is a natural laboratory, in an area of the Antarctic Peninsula that is greatly affected by climate change, there is less and less precipitation in the form of snow because temperatures are higher.
The buildings there are mostly laboratories and accommodation, a main house where the kitchen and dining room are located.
In addition, the aquarium, the diving section, the instruments of the National Meteorological Service that are located outdoors, the fuel storage tanks, geothermal sensors, solar panels and a seismograph stand out.
