Tom started applying right after university and noted that the application process was quite daunting, as it's a fairly competitive program. Many applications, interviews, and medical exams later, he was accepted to work as an electrical engineer at Davis Station.
While his title is electrical engineer or “electron wrangler”, Tom wears many different hats. He is also a research assistant on many different projects such as all of the atmospheric team projects on Denman and a plethora of projects while at Davis. Many of the scientists on these projects cannot winter over in Antarctica, so people like Tom step in to assist in sample collection. He says he enjoys getting to do a lot of different jobs and learning about the many scientific projects that he is taking samples for. He also likes to add a bit of fun to it as I found out last year, when some of the pictures of my samples had googly eyes on them!
Speaking of googly eyes, laughter and fun are crucial aspects of staying on base for long periods of time, Tom says. Especially while “wintering” (spending the cold, dark winter season in Antarctica when it is nearly impossible to get out), having fun and making memories with your fellow expeditioners is key to a happy deployment. Expeditioners like to celebrate events on base to make it feel more like home. One of Tom’s favorite celebrations was the Mid-Winter’s Festival celebrated on the winter solstice, otherwise known as the darkest, coldest day of the year. So how do they celebrate? By taking a swim in the sea ice! While this sounds crazy to someone like myself, Tom explained that the sea temperature stays around -1.6 °C, which is much warmer than the outside air at -25 ° C. In comparison, it feels fairly warm.
