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在南极洲的浮冰上尿尿并不是一件简单的事情。美国南极洲计划现场主管黛安娜·赫特
（Diane Hutt）
在船上的安全培训中解释了原因：“你可以往水里小便，但问题是
……
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Penguins and Ice Samples Make This Research Vessel Paradice
Rachel Feltman:
For
Scientific American’s Science Quickly
, this is Rachel Feltman. You’re listening to part two of our Friday Fascination miniseries all about Antarctica.
Last week we met award-winning Brazilian journalist Sofia Moutinho onboard a U.S. icebreaker called the Nathaniel B. Palmer. Today we’ll follow her as she and her fellow passengers hit the ice—literal
ly disembarking o
nto one of the many ice floes that drift through the Southern Ocean. They’ll have to navigate tricky terrain and frigid temperatures to collect samples of pristine ice, which is crucial for helping scientists figure out how the world’s waterways will change as our warming climate melts this region’s glaciers and ice shelves.
But before we get into all that science—and the hard work that makes it possible—Sofia has some new friends to introduce us to.
Tara Williams:
It’s bowing [laughs]!
Kouba:
It’s just so much gratitude. It’s just—it’s once in a lifetime, these things. I just—oh, my God [cries louder]!
Sofia Moutinho (tape):
Are you crying?
Kouba:
I just—I’m absolutely crying!
Moutinho (tape):
You cried, too, right?
Williams:
Yes, a few times [cries and laughs at the same time]. It’s just beautiful and amazing, and who gets to see this?
Moutinho:
It’s the night before Christmas Eve in 20
23. The austral summer sun shines behind gray clouds. An endless, thick layer of ice surrounds the Nathaniel B. Palmer, a U.S. icebreaker. It has only been a few hours since our ship rammed into the fast ice so we could disembark. Fast
ice is the technical term for this frozen seawater connected to the shoreline.
Our
gangway
is down, and a group of researchers is out on the ice. They will spend hours outside sampling sea ice to understand how its melting is affecting the chemistry and physics of the ocean as well as Earth’s climate.
But with hard work comes feathered rewards.
You just heard the researchers crying with joy after an unexpected encounter with local wildlife.
Williams:
I don’t even have words.
Teagan Bellitto:
I’m so happy they came over.
Williams:
My face hurts from smiling so much.
