People at the Antarctic Jang Bogo Station, established in February 2014, celebrated their first New Year's at the research base.

New Year's Day came four hours earlier there than in Korea, as the east Antarctic continent where the Jang Bogo Station is located follows New Zealand time. In Korea, people often greet New Year's by watching the first sunrise, but the polar researchers were not able to see any sunrise. The white nights continue for days on end and the sun does not go down. New Year's Day at the Jang Bogo Station, Korea's second scientific research base on the continent, came with continuous daylight.

It is currently summer in the Antarctic, on the opposite side of the globe from Korea. Current temperatures there are between 1 and 3 degrees Celsius. However, the actual temperature is lower due to strong and chilly winds.



During the summer, staff at the Jang Bogo Station prepare for the coming winter. The construction workers and researchers woke up as the cooks in the kitchen were preparing tteokguk, a rice cake soup traditionally eaten on the first day of the new year. Everyone at the station gathered in the cafeteria at 7 a.m.

According to the JoongAng Ilbo on January 3, Lee Hee-young, a cook, started preparing for the tteokguk meal about a month ago. She brought dumplings and rice cakes from Korea in December and boiled some New Zealand beef bones to create the broth for the tteokguk. To add a savory taste, she also made brownish fried pancakes with zucchini and frozen pollack and prepared boiled squid with red chili pepper paste mixed with vinegar.

"I usually use frozen food, but I tried something new for a change to help our staff refresh themselves," said Lee, who has 20 years of experience.

The King Sejong Station, which is 4,000 kilometers away from the Jang Bogo Station, also held some New Year's celebrations. The staff at that research center were treated with tteokguk for lunch on New Year's Day. Ahn In-young, head of the King Sejong Station, also prepared an adzuki bean dessert using glacial Antarctic ice. The glacial ice contained frozen air bubbles and had a pungent taste.



However, leisure time in the Antarctic, even on New Year's Day, does not last long. Outdoor research near the Jang Bogo Station is only possible in the summer, from December to February. Researchers need to collect as many samples as possible so that they can conduct their research and experiments on the samples over a one-year period.

Researchers recently spotted signs of volcanic activity on Mount Melbourne, which tops out at 2,700 meters above sea level and which is 30 kilometers north of the Jang Bogo Station. They installed a seismometer near where gas was being discharged. If volcanic activity occurs again, it will capture the attention of geologists from across the world. The team intends to concentrate on greenhouse gas research, the cause of global warming, and on the ozone layers.

By Limb Jae-un
Korea.net Staff Writer
Photos courtesy of Korea Polar Research Institute
jun2@korea.kr