Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 01/22/2008 - 17:50

Dear Mr. B,

My mother and I were talking about your adventure, and we have some questions, if you would be so kind as to entertain them. 

What were the three things you found most interesting about Antarctica that made you want to go there to learn more?  We were also wondering how many layers of ECW gear you normally wear.

Best wishes from rainy Dallas!

Grace & her mom Cool

 

Kirk Beckendorf

Why Antarctica??? There are personal, educational and scientific reasons.  I enjoy experiencing extreme conditions and I have been to the Arctic so I wanted to be Bipolar . I have been fascinated by the beauty and extremes of Antarctica for years so I wanted to experince it first hand. I am also interested in learning more about Antarctica's climate and weather and its affects on the global climate and weather systems. I am also interested in what the Antarctic can tell us about historic global climates. I love learning new things and working with very intelligent individuals. I also always hope to "teach" my students the excitement of learning and that education is not just something you do in a classroom, and to be able to bring real cutting edge science into the classroom. So how much do we wear. It varies alot depending of course on where I am and what I am doing. Probably the coldest conditions I work in here was during Happy Camper school and then at the Theresa AWS. If we are going o be outside working I will usually start with 3 layers, but carry more with me. I think the most I have worn was probably 5.
Thanks for the questions.
Mr. B.