SUSANREATON.COM

At a Glance

2013-05-07T19:14:07Z

Susan R. Eaton is a geologist, geophysicist, journalist and 'extreme' snorkeler with an intense curiosity about planetary processes, the marine environment, climate change and global sustainability issues.

A member of the New York Explorers Club, Susan's exploration interests have evolved from her scientific, environmental and journalistic backgrounds which flow together seamlessly on a continuum. She's incorporated the sciences of geology and geophysics into field work being conducted on climate change around the world, with a particular interest and focus on polar regions. An extreme snorkeler, her area of interest — and expertise — is exploring the planet from the water-air-land interface which provides a unique window to investigate the flora and fauna of the planet's largely unexplored oceans and adjacent land masses.

In late December 2012, Susan embarked upon her third Antarctic expedition during the past three years. Led by Dr. Ian Dalziel of the Jackson School of Geosciences (University of Texas at Austin), the expedition will explore the interplay between solid earth dynamics, plate tectonics, glaciology, climate and life. Struck to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the Geological Society of America — and comprised of 70 earth scientists from more than 15 nations — the expedition marks a momentous voyage of exploration and geological discovery to the Falkland Islands, South Georgia Island and the Western Antarctic Peninsula.

In March 2012, Susan participated in the International Antarctic Expedition (IAE) which focused on climate change, renewable energy and global sustainability issues. Led by Robert Swan, OBE, the IAE 2012 included a Leadership on the Edge Program, designed to promote team work in harsh conditions and to create environmental educators at the personal, corporate, community and country levels. Robert Swan, OBE, the first man to walk (unassisted) to both the South and North Pole. In 2013, Swan intends to make history again, by walking to the South Pole, supported solely by solar and wind power.

Susan's exploration interests first took her to Antarctica and South Georgia Island, in 2010, when she participated — as an explorer, geoscientist and journalist — in the Elysium Visual Epic Expedition. Headed by Michael AW, Fellow of the Explorers Club, Elysium carried the Explorer Club Flag #108 which was unfurled on Elephant Island, a desolate piece of rock and glacier where Sir Ernest Shackleton's crew were stranded, in 1916, for four months. Elysium's mission was to study climate change and to document, scout and record the flora and fauna — both above and below the water — of this last remaining frontier.

As a public speaker, Susan conveys the excitement and romance of modern-day polar exploration, delivering multi-media presentations targeting diverse audiences for educational and awareness purposes. In May 2012, Susan presented "A Geoscientist in Antarctica: Following in Shackleton's Footsteps One Hundred Years Later," at the Houston Museum of Natural Science's IMAX Theatre. Hosted by the Houston Geological Society, her presentation reached an audience comprised of school children, university students, the general public and geoscientists.

As a geologist and geophysicist, Susan has developed a successful career in the Canadian energy sector, attaining the position of Vice President of Exploration in several junior oil and gas companies. Known for her business acumen, she's been listed in the Who's Who of Canadian Women Directory. Through her wholly owned consultancy, SR ECO Consultants Inc., Susan works as a geoscientist, consulting to the Canadian, American and international petroleum and financial sectors on oil and gas exploration and production, environmental risk assessments, media relations and acquisitions and divestitures.

Equipped with degrees in biology, geology, geophysics and journalism, Susan began her broadcasting career in 1987, as a television reporter with CBC-TV. Since then, she's successfully blended her scientific and journalistic skills to tell stories which, she believes, engage the reader in the natural world around us. A member of the Canadian Science Writers' Association, she specializes in reporting on science and technology, business, oil and gas, renewable energy, the environment, ecotourism and extreme snorkeling. Susan contributes regularly to several Canadian and American magazines and publications, including newspapers.Her articles and photographs have been published in Alberta Oil, New Technology Magazine, Enviroline, Popular Mechanics, the Calgary Herald, the Edmonton Journal, the Vancouver Sun, ALERT Diver, DIVER Magazine, Business Edge News Magazine, EXPLORER Magazine, The PEG and the Financial Post.

Susan's essays about her extreme snorkeling adventures describe appropriate and respectful interactions with marine life, and investigate the environmental challenges facing these fragile ecosystems. And, as far as snorkeling goes, she confirms that snorkeling in Antarctica and South Georgia — in a gin-and-tonic ice mix with Leopard seals, top predators in the Southern Ocean — is as 'extreme' as it gets...

Involved in the grassroots conservation movement since 1990, Susan sits on the board of directors of the southern Alberta chapter of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, a not-for-profit environmental organization. Whether participating in a Spanish-speaking Outward Bound School for environmentalists in the jungles of Costa Rica or climbing 300 feet into the old growth rainforest canopy of Carmanah Valley on Vancouver Island, Susan has always had an up-close-and-personal relationship with the wild spaces — and animals who call them home — that she's committed to protecting.

In recognition of Susan's twenty years of environmental leadership in Canada, she was selected an Olympic Torch relay runner for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Video segments released in advance of the Elysium Shackleton Antarctic Visual Epic

2013-05-07T19:13:03Z

THE MOVIE: THE PHOTOGRAPHIC EXHIBITION: THE BOOK
VIDEO SEGMENT ENTITLED "WE DID IT!"
MAY 6, 2013

Michael AW, the 2010 Elysium Visual Epic Expedition leader, lends a human scale to surreal icebergs near the Western Antarctic Peninsula.

MARCH 2010: Before we disembarked the MV Professor Molchanov — our home base for 20 days — Captain Nikolay Parfenyuk told us that we had earned the title “Sea Wolves.” Jokingly, Captain Parfenyuk said he was pleased that “we had all survived” the seas. During our return voyage to South America, we endured three to four days of horrific weather which sent about 30 percent of the Explorers to their cabins with sea sickness. Passengers were confined below decks for several days, as crashing waves made it too dangerous to venture outside.

At its height, we were caught in a Force 11 Storm with 15-metre-high waves and 65-knot winds. To put this into perspective, on the Beaufort Scale created in 1806 by British hydrographer Sir Francis Beaufort, a Force 12 Storm is a hurricane...

Perhaps due to my Maritime roots – but more likely due to the fact that I didn’t enjoy being catapulted from side to side, in my upper bunk — I joined the small gang who waited out the ‘hurricane’ in the ship’s bar, a favourite gathering place. The ‘bar’ gang shared many laughs and a few bottles of Argentine Malbec, as computers, wine glasses, and literally every item that was not secured — including people — were hurled from side to side of the bar. On the last night of the voyage, with music blaring, we even managed to ‘dance up a storm,’ so to speak...

The MV Professor Molchanov had an “open bridge” policy, and, during the rough crossing, it boasted the best show onboard, as waves crashed against the bridge’s windows. I visited the ship’s bridge, day and night, sending my dispatches via the Iridium satellite system. At night, when the bridge was dark, save for the green glow of the navigational instruments, the tumultuous seas seemed to grow, mesmerizingly, in magnitude. Many of us periodically checked the ship’s navigational computers — capable of steaming at 11 knots, the MV Professor Molchanov’s progress was slowed to 2 to 3 knots in rough seas, pushing our ETA to Ushuaia further and further back.

Upon entering the Beagle Channel — a name of Darwinian origin — the MV Professor Molchanov took on a local pilot who guided the ship home to Ushuaia. Calmer seas prevailed in the Beagle Channel, enabling us to access and pack the scuba diving and snorkelling equipment which was stored in a heated container on the aft deck. When the dive container was opened, however, calamity ensued — the container had sustained damage during the rough crossing, and out spilled a melange of wet drysuits, rolling scuba tanks, and a whole lot of sea water. My new, custom-made dry suit — which had served me admirably in Antarctica and South Georgia — suffered lacerations, punctures and heat damage. Taking this set-back in stride, the intrepid Explorers got to work, drying out their equipment, and checking options for insurance coverage.

After a monumental five-day voyage from South Georgia, we arrived in Ushuaia, 12 hours behind schedule. To add insult to injury, the seas were so rough that the visiting pilot could not dock the vessel at the pier. And, so the Elysium Explorers waited an additional two hours, almost within spitting distance of the dock.

(Excerpted from Susan R. Eaton's Antarctica: Dispatch Number Twelve).

Susan R. Eaton's dispatches (1-12) from Antarctica and South Georgia

Michael AW, leader of the 2010 Elysium Visual Epic Expedition, is interviewed by ABC News for the launch of the Elysium Epic at the Australian National Maritime Museum. Video courtesy of Michael AW.

Deliverables roll out for the 2010 Elysium Visual Epic Expedition to Antarctica and South Georgia

2013-04-16T17:45:51Z

PREMIERE AT THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM
THE MOVIE: THE PHOTOGRAPHIC EXHIBITION: THE BOOK
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
APRIL 13, 2013

“I have often marveled at the thin line which separates success from failure.” Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton, Antarctic Explorer. Preview version of the documentary Ernest Shackleton - Elysium Epic from Michael AW.

The 2010 Elysium Visual Epic Expedition ("Elysium") was struck to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s 1914-17 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. Shackleton's vessel, the Endurance, was crushed by ice and sank, precipitating the greatest survival story of all time. Elysium explored the route that Shackleton and his crew travelled after they lost the Endurance – from Elephant Island, across the treacherous Scotia Sea to South Georgia.

Elysium's deliverables include a traveling photographic exhibition, a documentary feature film, a limited edition high quality photographic book, and a permanent library of images to document climate change in the Western Antarctic Peninsula. On April 13, Elysium's photographic exhibition and a video preview dedicated to the Elysium Epic explorers premiered in Sydney, Australia, at the Australian National Maritime Museum. “The Elysium Epic is about extraordinary explorers using advanced imaging technologies to document the last wilderness on our planet," said Michael Aw, Elysium's expedition leader and founder of the Ocean Geographic Society.

Elysium's 57-member team of explorers came from 18 countries and included some of the world’s most celebrated image-makers, historians, and scientists. Susan R. Eaton, a Calgary-based geologist, geophysicist, freelance writer and environmentalist, joined Elysium's scientific crew. Sponsored by several Canadian and American geosciences organizations, Susan's dispatches from the Bottom of the World enabled readers to follow her, virtually, as she explored Antarctica and South Georgia. She has delivered more than 25 public lectures and has published more than fifteen magazine articles on the Elysium Epic, Antarctica, Shackleton, climate change, and the tradition of geoscientific exploration and discovery – one hundred years ago and today – in Antarctica.

During the past 50 years, the Western Antarctic Peninsula has warmed by 3 °C – or more than twice the world’s average increase – making Antarctica one of the planetary hot spots with respect to global warming. Accordingly, this mysterious continent represents the planet's greatest outdoor laboratory to study climate change.

Elysium's mission was to scout, record, and analyze this pristine land of ice and snow – both above and below the water – and to create a visual library of the impact of climate change on this remote region and fragile ecosystem.

Elysium's 21st century team was no ordinary group of explorers – by any visual or scientific standard, Elysium was comprised of the ultimate dream team.

The team included some of the world’s finest wildlife photographers, film makers and marine scientists: David Doubilet, a National Geographic Contributing Photographer-in-Residence; Emory Kristof, a National Geographic Contributing Photographer-in-Residence famous for photographing the Titanic; Michael Aw, Göran Ehlme, and Amos Nachoum, recipients of the BBC Wildlife Photographer-of-the-Year Award; Leandro Blanco, an eight-time World Underwater Pictures Festival Winner; Ernest Brooks II, a master of black and white underwater imagery known as the "Ansell Adams of the Sea;" Jenny Ross, Nature’s Best Wildlife Winner; Cabell Davis, Ph.D., Elysium's chief scientist from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; Steve Nicol, Ph.D., science program leader of the Australian Antarctic Division and a krill specialist in the Southern Ocean; Wyland, a marine wildlife artist known as the "Michelangelo of the Sea;" and Jonathan Shackleton, historian, author and cousin of his legendary Irish forebear. Other team members included medical doctors, hyperbaric dive physicians, earth scientists, oceanographers, marine biologists, veterinarians, professional film-makers and technical diving practitioners.

Official 2010 Elysium Visual Epic Expedition Photo, taken at Elephant Island. Image courtesy of Michael Aw, Elysium Visual Epic Expedition Leader and Director of the Ocean Geographic Society.

A Geoscientist in Antarctica: Following in Shackleton's Footsteps One Hundred Years Later

2013-04-08T20:29:20Z

CANADIAN SOCIETY OF PETROLEUM GEOLOGISTS INTERNATIONAL DIVISION
SPONSORED BY CENOVUS ENERGY
NEXEN PLUS 15 CONFERENCE CENTRE
NEXEN ANNEX BUILDING
7TH AVENUE AND 7TH STREET SW
CALGARY ALBERTA
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10, 2013
12:00 NOON
ADMISSION FREE; BRING YOUR LUNCH

Geologist examines contorted metamorphic rocks on South Georgia Island.

A century ago, Sir Ernest Shackleton's scientific teams were comprised of geologists and geophysicists who explored Antarctica because it was there, and because it was unclaimed by any nation. During the heroic age of Antarctic exploration, geoscientists discovered volcanoes, mountain ranges, fossils, coal and minerals in this uncharted continent. And, in 1909, geoscientists in Shackleton's Nimrod Expedition planted the British flag at the Magnetic South Pole.

One hundred years later, Antarctica is still unclaimed by any nation. This mysterious continent belongs to citizens of the world and is development-free until 2041 when the Madrid Protocol, declaring it a place for peace and scientific endeavours, expires.

The world's final frontier, Antarctica represents an outstanding, outdoor laboratory to research planetary processes, including the impacts of climate change and ocean change. During the past fifty years, the Western Antarctic Peninsula has warmed 3 degrees Celsius, triggering a cascading series of geological and biological changes in this fragile ecosystem which have global implications.

Since 2010, Susan R. Eaton has participated in three expeditions to Antarctica, studying the interplay between plate tectonics, solid earth systems, glaciology, ocean change and climate change. Susan has come face-to-mask with 1,400-pound leopard seals while snorkeling in the Southern Ocean. And, she's completed the Leadership on the Edge Program, an Antarctic Outward Bound-like school led by polar explorer Robert Swan, OBE. Earlier this year, Susan participated in a Geological Society of America Field Trip to the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the Western Antarctic Peninsula.

Join Susan at the CSPG International Division Talk on April 10, 2013, on a journey to the Bottom of the World, as she continues the century-long geological tradition of exploration and discovery in Antarctica.

Susan R. Eaton, geologist and geophysicist, gives an impromptu geology lesson at the Martial Glacier, Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina.
Video filmed, produced and narrated by Sophie Pieters-Hawke and edited by Susan R. Eaton.

Follow your dreams; revise them along the way: innovation, forward thinking and flexibility keys to success in geosciences

2013-02-25T23:08:33Z

By Jacqueline Louie for the Calgary Herald, January 19, 2013

Susan R. Eaton near Argentina's Base Esperanza ("Hope" in Spanish) which is located in Hope Bay, the Western Antarctic Peninsula. Hope Bay is home to approximately 125,000 breeding pairs of Adélie penguins.
Photo courtesy of Mindy Kimball, USA

For professional geologist and geophysicist Susan R. Eaton, building a rewarding career is all about following your interests and your passions." Follow your dreams, perhaps revise them as you go along," says Eaton, who has worked in the oil and gas industry for more than three decades, and now acts as a mentor to young geologists and geophysicists. She advises students who are interested in earth sciences to consider obtaining a degree in geology, geophysics or engineering. << MORE >>

http://www.susanreaton.com/files/6/9/2/6/4/255686-246296/Cal_Herald_Jan19_2013.pdf

January 29, 2013 — Japanese researchers, using cameras strapped to the backs of Adélie penguins in Antarctica, showed a perfect success rate at catching prey underwater. Video courtesy of National Geographic.

Dispatch Number Five

2013-01-22T18:02:33Z

Date: January 6, 2013

Place: St. Andrew's Bay, South Georgia

Falklands, South Georgia & Antarctica: Dispatch Number Five

A King Penguin trills for his mate on South Georgia.

JANUARY 6, 2013
54° 26' SOUTH AND 36° 11' WEST
ST. ANDREW'S BAY, SOUTH GEORGIA

Our fifth and final day of exploring South Georgia involved a memorable landing at St. Andrew's Bay, home to the island’s largest colony of King Penguins. Comprised of more than 150,000 breeding pairs, the colony contains close to half-a-million birds when the juveniles, non-breeding adults and recently hatched chicks are included.

Framed by three mountains (Mount Roots, Mount Kling and Nordenskjold Peak) which tower 2,000 metres above sea level, the St. Andrew's Bay King Penguin colony sits at the confluence of three glaciers.

The pungent aromas of urea and guano hit us long before we stepped ashore.

Katabatic winds – dense cold winds generated by glaciers – buffeted us about on the beach. Capable of flipping boats, these chaotic winds have forced visitors to seek shelter inside the British Antarctic Survey’s emergency hut at St. Andrew's Bay.

The glacial outwash plain pulsated with non-stop action: family conflicts and life and death dramas played out before us. Loping like a quarter horse in slow motion, I observed a large Antarctic Fur Seal cut a wide swath through the penguin colony, sending adults and chicks scattering for safety. Caught in the melee, some of the adult birds dropped eggs that they had been painstakingly incubating. Accordingly, we observed the breeding colony from a respectful distance, atop an adjacent hillside.

We were treated to an interspecies symphony: King Penguins trilled and squawked, Antarctic Fur Seals barked and Southern Elephant Seals belched, their alto, tenor and baritone voices comingling in the melee.

It takes 55 days to incubate an egg and ten additional months for a chick to fledge. Standing about 90 centimetres tall, King Penguins are second only to Emperor Penguins in terms of height and size. The adults' brood pouches (covered by a snowy white tummy roll) drape over their eggs – which are cradled on their upturned feet – providing warmth and protection from opportunistic Brown Skuas, gull-like seabirds equipped with beaks that can eviscerate chicks.

Each breeding pair stakes a claim, a circular piece of turf measuring one metre in diameter. Unlike their stiff tail cousins (adélie, chinstrap and gentoo penguins), King Penguins don’t construct elaborate nests out of rocks – rather, they incubate eggs perched precariously atop their upturned feet.

Jim Danzenbaker, the expedition’s naturalist, taught us to hone our wildlife observation skills; following Danzenbaker’s lead, we scanned the colony for plump individuals returning from feeding at sea. Bellies distended, we watched the returning penguins walk more than a kilometre from the beach, searching for their mates who have been incubating eggs for the past 18 days. Amidst the colony’s din, the returning penguins called for their mates and waited for their replies.

“Penguins practice the ‘slender walk’ to get through the colony with minimal bill stabbing and flipper flapping,” said Danzenbaker. “Aggression occurs because the territories are so small and neighbours seem to get upset. But, the common enemy is the Brown Skua.”

An egg transfer represents a painstakingly slow life-and-death tango between two partners, and it can take up a day to complete. Inexperienced parents often drop their eggs, losing them to patrolling skuas. After a successful egg transfer, the hungry mate heads to sea for 18 days, in search of Lanternfish, the King Penguins’ primary food source.

Patience is truly a virtue, as they say: on one occasion, I was lucky enough to watch the final minutes of an egg transfer between mates.

After witnessing this rare egg exchange, I expanded my field of observation to take in the entire colony – as far as the eye could see (and my brain could process) the landscape was blanketed by sinuous ribbons of colour – brown, black, white, yellow and orange plumage – depicting the various life cycles of King Penguins.

Crowded together in age appropriate crèches – groups struck for protection against predators and the elements – adults formed ribbons of black and white with splashes of yellow and orange. Alternating brown ribbons were made up of chicks whose plumage resembled shaggy buffalo blankets. Even at four months of age, these chicks were almost as large as their parents.

The sheer number – and geographical extent – of the penguins posed photographic challenges: capturing this Serengeti moment required selecting appropriate depths of field and shutter speeds; it also required determining which camera lens could document the scale of the colony.

Luckily, I took advantage of the pointers in the photographic workshops – aboard the Akademik Ioffee and in the field – which were led by Scott Davis and Tom Murphy, the expedition’s professional photographers and guides.

The colony’s alternating ribbons of colour provided stark contrasts and sinuous lines for those sketching and painting ashore. Edward Rooks, the expedition’s wildlife artist and guide, held drawing workshops on the boat and in the field, rain or shine.

“Penguins are the essence of Antarctica,” said Rooks. “People love to draw penguins – they’re like little hobbit people; they stand on two legs and move in a way that’s unlike any other bird.”

Rooks worked, one-on-one, with his students, providing them with the tools to “build" penguins. And, he provided his students with the encouragement to explore a medium that many hadn't used since their junior high school days.

“I offer the chance to support my students in the field,” said Rooks who proudly boasted about his students’ accomplishments. “As an artist, it gives me goose bumps; it’s an emotional experience.”

During the expedition, Rooks encouraged his students to move from pencil – which can be freely erased – to more permanent pen and ink drawings, saying: “It takes a lot of guts to go from pencil to pen.”

Rooks also taught the students to sketch and paint icebergs, landscapes and, funnily enough, geological outcrops. Struck to launch celebrations of the 125th anniversary of the Geological Society of America, our geosciences expedition included seventy earth scientists. The geologists participating in the drawing classes, however, were equally enthusiastic about drawing penguins, icebergs and rocks.

Before the widespread use of photography in the mid-nineteenth century, geologists like Charles Darwin were trained to sketch landscapes, geological outcrops and rock samples. Often doubling as naturalists, geologists also sketched newly discovered flora and fauna.

Sketching in the field transported me back to a time when geoscientists documented, by hand, what cameras can capture, today, with a shutter speed of 1/6,000th of a second.

The drawing lessons taught me to slow down, to wait for the many Serengeti moments that Antarctica delivers. The lessons also improved my photographic skills – as a quiet observer, I captured wildlife drama as it unfolded, as opposed to wildly snapping digital camera images.

I’m proud of my King Penguin sketch – he’s perched regally on a rock with his white tummy roll draped over his black pterodactyl-like feet. I sketched him in the rain – he was a willing model who didn’t move or blink. But, the paper was wet by the time I attempted to draw his elaborate feet which presented, for me and others, an artistic challenge. Accordingly, my King Penguin’s tummy roll covers his feet, disguising his dinosaur origins.

Foot fetish: a candid shot of a King Penguin's pterodactyl-like feet.

Location Map

Hover your mouse over the marker to learn more.

St. Andrew's Bay, South Georgia.

Dispatch Number Four

2013-01-15T01:46:23Z

Date: January 5, 2013

Place: Grytviken, South Georgia

Falklands, South Georgia & Antarctica: Dispatch Number Four

(L-R) Jonathan Shackleton (historian, author and cousin to Sir Ernest), Susan R. Eaton (geologist, geophysicist and journalist) and Dr. Toni Williamson (geologist) at Sir Ernest Shackleton's gravesite in Grytviken, South Georgia, during the 2010 Elysium Epic Visual Expedition.

JANUARY 5, 2013
54° 16.9' SOUTH AND 36° 30.5' WEST
GRYTVIKEN, SOUTH GEORGIA

Ninety-one years ago, to the day, Sir Ernest Shackleton died aboard a boat anchored in Grytviken Harbour, South Georgia. Suffering a massive heart attack at the age of 47, Shackleton’s death marked the end of the Heroic Age of Antarctic exploration.

On this auspicious and rainy day, we made the obligatory pilgrimage to Shackleton’s gravesite in Grytviken. We raised a wee dram to his polar achievements. As is customary, each of us saved a modicum of the single malt whisky for Shackleton, reverently pouring it on his gravesite.

During the 1907-1909 Nimrod Expedition, Shackleton’s team discovered the magnetic South Pole and came to within 100 miles of the geographic South Pole; his difficult decision to abort the race for the pole – due to dwindling food supplies and the deteriorating condition of his men – ensured that everyone made it home alive. When Shackleton’s ship, the Endurance, was crushed by ice during the 1914-1917 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, his leadership ensured that all the men under his direct command survived the two-year ordeal.

But Shackleton’s gripping story didn’t end with his death: in a convoluted series of recent events, Frank Wild’s ashes were discovered after languishing, since 1939, in a South African crematorium.

In 2011, Shackleton’s right-hand man was laid to rest on Shackleton’s left-hand side. We toasted Wild’s return to the Bottom of the World, and his enduring friendship with Shackleton which began more than one hundred years ago.

Wild’s dying wish was to be buried beside the “Boss,” his friend and commander. His wish was fulfilled by Angie Butler, a South African journalist and author of “The Quest for Frank Wild” which was published in Great Britain in 2011. Butler located Wild’s misplaced ashes in a crematorium near Johannesburg, and she also found (and later published) Wild’s unpublished memoirs.

Counted amongst Shackleton’s closest friends, Wild participated in five Antarctic expeditions from 1901 to 1922. Second in command of three of Shackleton’s expeditions, Wild received the CBE, Commander of the Order of the British Empire. He also received the British Polar Medal decorated with four clasps, one for each of his polar expeditions.

When Shackleton died on January 5, 1922, Wild assumed command of the Shackleton-Rowett Expedition. Wild’s first task was to bury Shackleton – in South Georgia, as per Lady Shackleton’s wishes – and to erect a memorial cross and cairn at the entrance to Grytviken Harbour.

Closed in by a white picket fence, Grytviken’s cemetery sits atop a grass- and moss-covered hillside with a commanding view of the harbour. The cemetery’s outer perimeter is patrolled by self-appointed sentinels, King Penguins who stroll by in groups of two or three, seemingly lost in penguin conversation.

In order to reach the cemetery’s gate, visitors must first run the gauntlet of barking and lunging Antarctic Fur Seals. According to the expedition’s marine mammal specialists, the seals’ bite is far worse than their bark – if bitten, one is immediately treated with large and frequent doses of antibiotics. Visitors must also avoid getting close to low lying, contour hugging Elephant seals who can be identified, at a safe distance, by rising columns of steam and frequent snorts.

The majority of the cemetery’s 67 occupants are Norwegian whalers. A lone Argentine soldier, killed during the 1982 Falkland War, also lies here in his final resting place.

Shackleton’s gravestone is made of grey Scottish granite and measures over four feet tall – it dwarfs the other gravestones, small white plaques which are positioned flush to the ground and aligned in an east-west direction. In stark contrast, Shackleton’s gravestone is aligned in a north-south direction, in honour of his polar pedigree and the discovery of the magnetic South Pole. Wild’s gravesite, a modest white wooden cross, also faces towards the South Pole.

Jonathan Shackleton (historian, author and cousin to Sir Ernest) stands beside the memorial cross and cairn erected, in 1922, in Shackleton's memory, at the entrance to Grytviken Harbour, during the 2010 Elyisum Epic Visual Expedition.

I first visited Grytviken’s cemetery in 2010; my return, today, was more poignant because of the compelling story of Frank Wild’s return journey to South Georgia.

But, I wasn’t the only person swept away with Shackleton nostalgia, and a sense of time and place.

George Pedersen of Highland Park, New Jersey, was a senior in high school when he became fascinated by reading an account of Shackleton’s survival story in Endurance, by Alfred Lansing. Pederson, who retired three years ago from the finance department of the US Postal Service, owns a first edition copy, published in 1959, of Lansing’s Endurance.

Closing the circle some fifty years later, Pedersen, like most others, was excited to follow in Shackleton’s footsteps. “The hike from Fortuna Bay to Stromness Harbour gave me a tiny sense of the elation that Shackleton and his men must have felt upon reaching Stromness,” said Pedersen who tobogganed down the snow-covered mountainside, the final leg of the hike to Stromness.

“No matter how well written the book, I don’t think there are any words that can bring it to life,” said Pedersen. “I’ve always enjoyed seeing the landscape that the historical setting is based upon.”

I concur with Pedersen. Prior to my departure for the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and Antarctica, I purchased a copy of Butler’s book, “The Quest for Frank Wild.” But, I’d only managed to read 25 pages of the book before visiting Wild’s gravesite.

Despite feeling like I’ve skipped ahead to the book’s final chapter, I look forward to reading the remaining pages of Butler’s book – my reading pleasure will be enhanced, no doubt, by my newfound sense of time and place. And, as the centennial of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition approaches, I will take delight in knowing that the Shackleton saga continues to evolve, in the 21st century, with strange and wonderful twists.

Frank Wild's ashes were laid to rest on November 27, 2011, at Grytviken, South Georgia Island, next to the grave of Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton. The burial was preceded by a funeral service at Grytviken Anglican Church, attended by Shackleton's granddaughter Alexandra, Wild's descendants, and passengers from the Akademik Ioffe. Video courtesy of bobbieharv.

Location Map

Hover your mouse over the marker to learn more.

Town of Grytviken, South Georgia.

Dispatch Number Three

2013-01-11T22:09:55Z

Date: January 4, 2013

Place: Fortuna Bay and Stromness Harbour, South Georgia

Falklands, South Georgia & Antarctica: Dispatch Number Three

Ruins of the whaling station at Stromness Harbour, South Georgia. Photo courtesy of Jens Bludau.

JANUARY 4, 2013
54° 9.4' SOUTH AND 36° 42.6' WEST
STROMNESS HARBOUR, SOUTH GEORGIA

Following in Sir Ernest Shackleton's footsteps 100 years later, our group of intrepid explorers retraced the final leg of Shackleton's epic trek across South Georgia. In the process, we shared, in a very small measure, some of the sights, sounds and emotions that Shackleton and his men experienced a century ago.

Symbolic in nature, the 5.5-kilometre-long hike from Fortuna Bay to Stromness Harbour represents the final chapter in Shackleton's monumental story of survival against all odds.

In May 1916, Shackleton and two of his men set out – without tents or sleeping bags – on a non-stop crossing of the largely unmapped island. Equipped with ice crampons fashioned from screws wrenched from their lifeboat, they arrived in Stromness thirty-six hours later.

In an effort to save time and energy during their 33-kilometre-long crossing of South Georgia, Shackleton and his hiking companions formed a three-man toboggan chain, glissading down an uncharted mountainside.

Our hike from sea level to the 300-metre mountain pass was slow and measured. But, the toboggan ride down the backstretch was wild and lasted mere seconds.

After a hurried session of perfecting my skills at arresting – or, at the very least, impeding – my trajectory down the snow-covered mountainside, I held my breath and plunged, feet first, over the precipice.

Although my backpack acted as a speed retardant, my Gortex™ pants turned into a potent accelerant...

On fire, I raced down the slope.

In my left hand, my walking pole pointed skywards; in my right hand, I gripped my monopod-mounted video camera, recording the wild ride for posterity.

Transported back to my childhood tobogganing days, I hurtled down a slope which resembled – after all was said and done – a double black diamond ski run. My high-pitched screams belied the exhilaration of glissading down the steep slope.

All too soon, the 250-metre-long snow chute came to an abrupt and rocky end. Applying the human brakes before crashing into the rocks, I narrowly missed hitting Scott Davis, one of the expedition's photographers who was strategically situated at the end of the snow pack.

I was sorely tempted to climb back up the mountain. But, a sense of decorum ensued, and I continued the hike towards Stromness, an abandoned Norwegian whaling village located on the northeast coast of South Georgia.

I learned, later, that some of the university geology students had climbed back up the mountain, enjoying the ride for a second time.

The view from the mountain pass was spectacular: Stromness Harbour was littered with sculpted icebergs which were spawned, several years ago, from Antarctica's Ross Sea Ice Shelf. Nestled amongst the icebergs was the Akademik Ioffe, our 117-metre-long, ice strengthened expedition vessel. The rusting remnants of Stromness, complete with industrial whale oil rendering facilities and storage tanks, stood as a stark reminder of a bygone era when whale oil occupied the same energy niche as petroleum does today.

On the opposite side of Stromness Harbour, I identified the sensationally folded, "Z-shaped" sedimentary strata of the Lower Cretaceous age Cumberland Bay Formation. During the island crossing, Shackleton had spied – from a distant mountaintop – these dramatically folded beds which guided him, like a compass, to Stromness. When Shackleton and his men heard the whistle blast, signalling the daily crew change at the whaling station, they knew that safety was within reach.

In November 1915, Shackleton's vessel, the HMS Endurance, was crushed by ice and sank, precipitating one of the world's greatest survival stories. Shackleton's family crest states "by endurance we conquer," a motto which rang true during the two-year ordeal.

Decamped for seven months on an ever-shrinking ice floe, Shackleton and his men set off in three life boats, eventually landing on the inhospitable shores of Elephant Island.

Within a week of arriving at Elephant Island, Shackleton and five of his men set sail for South Georgia in the James Caird, a seven-metre-long lifeboat which was jury-rigged with sails and a canvass deck. Navigating by sextant, they sailed 1,160 kilometres in 17 days, battling towering waves and hurricane force winds in the Scotia Sea.

Heavy sea ice blocked Shackleton's attempts to rescue his 22 men marooned on Elephant Island; three months and four attempts later, all 27 men under his direct command returned home alive.

My toboggan ride was neither monumental nor was it dangerous. Nonetheless, it represented a piece of unfinished business for me: three years ago, while participating in the 2010 Elysium Visual Epic Expedition to Antarctica and South Georgia, I bowed out of hiking from Fortuna Bay to Stromness Harbour.

Exhibiting decidedly non-Shackleton-like behaviour three years ago, my choice of the warmth and comfort of the ship over the Shackleton hike – it was raining, that day, at lower elevations and snowing at the pass – was one that I have regretted ever since.

The wild toboggan ride through history was an emotional experience, for me, and was long overdue.

Shackletons Antarctic Adventure Part 1. Video courtesy of saptakmandal (2010).

LOCATION MAP

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The black line represents our 5.5-kilometre hike between Fortuna Bay and Stromness Harbour, South Georgia.

Dispatch Number Two

2013-01-08T21:54:26Z

Date: January 3, 2013

Place: Drygalski Fjord, South Georgia

Falklands, South Georgia & Antarctica: Dispatch Number Two

Antarctic Fur Seals on South Georgia Island. Photo courtesy of Brocken Inaglory.

JANUARY 3, 2013, 08:39 AM
54° 49.8' SOUTH AND 35° 59.8' WEST
AIR/WATER TEMPERATURE 6°C/2°C
DRYGALSKI FJORD, SOUTH GEORGIA

A booming voice sounded over the ship’s public address system at 6:30am. Dr. Ian Dalziel, professor of geophysics at the Jackson School of Geosciences (University of Texas at Austin), was on the horn, enticing us to forsake our warm beds for the ship’s bridge. At the very least, Dalziel encouraged us to gaze out of the cabin potholes.

But, it wasn’t charismatic mega fauna – Southern Right Whales, Humpback Whales or Weddell Seals – that catapulted me and my fellow group of explorers to rise so early. For the group of intrepid geologists, it was the opportunity to view something that’s rarely observed in nature: ophiolites or primordial rocks formed at oceanic spreading centres and brought to the Earth’s surface via violent tectonic forces. A world-class outcrop of these ancient sea floor rocks is exposed in the Drygalski Fjord on the southwestern tip of the island of South Georgia.

Suitably inspired, I assembled my camera gear and headed to the Akademik Ioffe’s bridge where I was greeted by a stunning panorama of towering cliffs, glaciers cascading to the ocean and sea birds aloft.

Comprised primarily of the mineral olivine, the olive-green rocks of the Drygalski Fjord Complex represent a classic textbook example of basalts that spewed from the Earth’s mantle during the Cretaceous period, some 150 million years ago. The basalts poured, like molasses, from a fissure in the oceanic crust, creating new sea floor mass in the process.

Towering more than one kilometre above sea level, the exposed ophiolitic sequence is comprised of basalt lava flows that formed in the shapes of pillows – telltale signs that the rocks erupted onto the oceanic floor where the cold waters slowed their viscous flow and created hardened, outer skins characteristic of pillow lavas.

South Georgia is 160 kilometres long and measures between five and 30 kilometres wide. Deeply dissected by glaciers, the island’s central mountain range rises to almost 3,000 metres in elevation. Once connected to the southern part of South America, the micro-continent containing South Georgia is situated some 2,000 kilometres due east of South America’s Cape Horn. Plate tectonic movements, on the order of 6.5 millimetres per year, continue to transport the micro-continent towards Africa.

“This ophiolitic sequence of rocks helps us identify where the South Georgia micro-continent originated in continental South America,” said Professor Dalziel. “At Drygalski Fjord, we see similar rocks of a similar age in a similar tectonic setting, in a place where there is clearly a missing piece of the South American continent.”

The landing beach at Drygalski Fjord was littered with growling Antarctic Fur Seals and their larger, snorting cousins, Southern Elephant Seals. Armed with walking poles and camera tripods – dual purpose tools used to fend off lunging Antarctic Fur Seals and their equally aggressive four-week-old, pint-sized pups – the group inspected outcrops at the micro-scale, noting the highly fractured rocks which contained tilted beds, drag folds and quartz-filled veins. The shoreline was dotted with large, green-coloured boulders containing angular rock fragments. Described as “breccias” by geologists, these angular rock fragments bear witness to the rocks’ violent beginnings.

After a morning ashore, the explorers set off for a zodiac ride, visiting Drygalski Fjord’s glaciers and examining the macro-scale geology contained in the towering cliffs. We observed numerous vertical bands of basaltic dykes shooting through the pillow lavas and dissecting the imposing sea cliffs which were inhabited by sea birds. During our zodiac tour, we saw groups of Weddell Seals hauled out of the water, lollygagging on the icy shores. The zodiac propeller got fouled – on more than one occasion – crossing numerous kelp beds, and the zodiac driver had to stop the engine to clean out the offending seaweed.

Using the Drygalski Fjord Complex as an outdoor classroom, Professor Dalziel explained the relationship between the Scotia Arc tectonic plate and climate change in the geological record. The formation of the Scotia Arc tectonic plate and the later opening of the Drake Passage, some 34 million years ago, he said, created “oceanic gateways” on the sea floor which influenced bathymetric movements of the cold waters of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC).

“The Antarctic Circumpolar Current is the world’s biggest current, by volume, and it plays a major role in global climate,” added Dalziel. Sometime between 34 million to 10 million years ago, Antarctica was thermally isolated by the westward circulating ACC – the planet moved into the “Ice House Earth” phase of its geologic history which was marked by the development of glaciers on most continents.

LOCATION MAP

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Position of the Akademik Ioffe on January 3, 2013.

Dispatch Number One

2013-01-03T00:43:45Z

Date: January 1, 2013

Place: Sailing from the Falkland Islands to South Georgia

Falklands, South Georgia & Antarctica: Dispatch Number One

A Rockhopper Penguin standing on a rock. Photo courtesy of Samuel Blanc.

JANUARY 1, 2013, NOON
53° 17.3' SOUTH AND 45° 7.2' WEST
AIR/WATER TEMPERATURE 4°C/3.8°C — SPEED 12.2 KNOTS
SAILING FROM THE FALKLAND ISLANDS TO SOUTH GEORGIA

We heralded in the New Year with two celebrations: at midnight, Greenwich Mean Time, our dinner concluded with a rousing chorus of Auld Lang Syne. In the ship’s bar, at midnight, local time, we toasted to a healthy, happy and prosperous 2013 and to great geological discoveries in the Scotia Arc.

Understandably, breakfast was pushed back by 30 minutes the following morning.

Our 22-day-long geosciences expedition departed Santiago, Chile, on December 29, 2012, bound for Stanley, the capital of the Falkland Islands. With a population of 2,000 people, Stanley is the smallest and most remote capital city in the world. It’s also, unofficially, the lupine capital of the world – every house sports a lovely English garden that’s chock-a-block full of lupines and other hearty flowers.

Following the spine of the Andes, we jetted southwards towards Tierra del Fuego. On several occasions, the plane lurched, seemingly, to the port side when a good half of the passengers jumped across the aisle, straining to get a glimpse of geological processes in action: a smoking volcano and glaciers descending from mountaintops on their death marches to the adjacent Pacific Ocean.

At writing, we’ve travelled 585 nautical miles across the Scotia Sea, en route from the Falkland Islands to South Georgia and the Western Antarctic Peninsula. During the expedition, we'll spend six days at sea and 15 days on land, exploring geological outcrops and experiencing Serengeti wildlife moments. The seas are uncharacteristically calm this afternoon, and the waves gentle. Although some people have been queasy, no one has suffered from seasickness.

The Akademik Ioffe, our 117-metre Russian vessel, is scheduled to arrive in South Georgia Island, sometime tomorrow morning.

Struck to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the Geological Society of America, the expedition is comprised of over one hundred people with more than 70 earth scientists from 15 nations who have come together to study the interplay between plate tectonics, glaciology, climate and life. The Scotia Arc is a small tectonic plate – its geological DNA includes bits of Africa and South America – which is situated south of the Falkland Islands and extends from the Western Antarctic Peninsula to South Georgia Island.

Before departing the Falkland Islands for the Bottom of the World, we spent a rain-soaked day on Sea Lion Island, a four-mile long finger of tussock grasses, bogs and small lakes. A National Nature Reserve, Sea Lion Island is one of the few Falkland Islands that’s free of introduced species like cats, rats and mice. We photographed – from a safe distance – colonies of Southern Sea Lions and Southern Elephant Seals lollygagging on the rocky shores of Sea Lion Island. And, we observed Magellan Penguins who procreate above ground while living in large dens excavated from the island’s peat rich soil. As we approached, the birds poked their heads and upper bodies out of their cavernous dens, and tilted their heads from one side to another, gazing quizzically at the two-legged passersby. Smeared in brown peat, these majestic striped penguins looked less than regal. But, a food gathering sojourn to the nearby ocean removed the tannic stains and restored their breasts to a snowy white colour.

We also visited colonies of Gentoo and Rockhopper penguins on Sea Lion Island. I received a gold star, from the expedition’s bird specialist, when I spied a single pair of King Penguins secreted amongst a large Gentoo penguin colony and towering imperiously over their shorter Gentoo cousins.

We've spent the last day-and-a-half at sea, participating in a geology 'boot camp' led by the world's leading Antarctic experts, professors from the United States and Brazil. We've learned, from Dr. Ian Dalziel, the expedition’s scientific leader and professor of the Jackson School of Geosciences (University of Texas at Austin), that the Falkland Islands were once part of eastern South Africa. According to Dalziel, South Georgia Island – once part of Chile’s southern Andean chain — continues to move eastwards (and away from South American plate) at a rate of 6.5 millimetres per year.

Dr. Richard Alley is a professor of glaciology from Pennsylvania State. "Carbon dioxide is the biggest control knob on the global warming dial,” said Alley who described how geoscientists use satellites and other geophysical tools to measure the changing thickness of Antarctica's ice sheets, with an accuracy of "one-third of a potato chip."

There are many petroleum and mining geologists and geophysicists (me included) participating in this extraordinary voyage of exploration and discovery. In addition to the many Serengeti moments which await, we're here to understand the mechanics of global warming.

During the past fifty years, the Western Antarctic Peninsula has warmed 3 degrees Celsius, triggering a cascading series of geological and biological changes in this fragile ecosystem which have global implications. Using Antarctica and South Georgia as an outdoor teaching laboratory, earth scientists can see climate change in action, in close to real time.

As geoscientists, we’re also intent upon learning how we can apply our technical knowledge and scientific skill set to develop mitigative strategies to deal with global warming.

Southern Elephant Seals and their pups basking in the sun on Sea Lion Island, a nature reserve in the Falklands. Video courtesy of bazzup (2010).

Location Map

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Sea Lion Island, Stanley (Falkland Islands) and position of the Akademik Ioffe at noon on January 1, 2013.

SUSANREATON.COM

At a Glance

Video segments released in advance of the Elysium Shackleton Antarctic Visual Epic

Susan R. Eaton's dispatches (1-12) from Antarctica and South Georgia

Deliverables roll out for the 2010 Elysium Visual Epic Expedition to Antarctica and South Georgia

A Geoscientist in Antarctica: Following in Shackleton's Footsteps One Hundred Years Later

Follow your dreams; revise them along the way: innovation, forward thinking and flexibility keys to success in geosciences

Dispatch Number Five

JANUARY 6, 2013 54° 26' SOUTH AND 36° 11' WEST ST. ANDREW'S BAY, SOUTH GEORGIA

Location Map

Dispatch Number Four

JANUARY 5, 2013 54° 16.9' SOUTH AND 36° 30.5' WEST GRYTVIKEN, SOUTH GEORGIA

Location Map

Dispatch Number Three

JANUARY 4, 2013 54° 9.4' SOUTH AND 36° 42.6' WEST STROMNESS HARBOUR, SOUTH GEORGIA

LOCATION MAP

Dispatch Number Two

JANUARY 3, 2013, 08:39 AM 54° 49.8' SOUTH AND 35° 59.8' WEST AIR/WATER TEMPERATURE 6°C/2°C DRYGALSKI FJORD, SOUTH GEORGIA

LOCATION MAP

Dispatch Number One

JANUARY 1, 2013, NOON 53° 17.3' SOUTH AND 45° 7.2' WEST AIR/WATER TEMPERATURE 4°C/3.8°C — SPEED 12.2 KNOTS SAILING FROM THE FALKLAND ISLANDS TO SOUTH GEORGIA

Location Map

JANUARY 6, 2013
54° 26' SOUTH AND 36° 11' WEST
ST. ANDREW'S BAY, SOUTH GEORGIA

JANUARY 5, 2013
54° 16.9' SOUTH AND 36° 30.5' WEST
GRYTVIKEN, SOUTH GEORGIA

JANUARY 4, 2013
54° 9.4' SOUTH AND 36° 42.6' WEST
STROMNESS HARBOUR, SOUTH GEORGIA

JANUARY 3, 2013, 08:39 AM
54° 49.8' SOUTH AND 35° 59.8' WEST
AIR/WATER TEMPERATURE 6°C/2°C
DRYGALSKI FJORD, SOUTH GEORGIA

JANUARY 1, 2013, NOON
53° 17.3' SOUTH AND 45° 7.2' WEST
AIR/WATER TEMPERATURE 4°C/3.8°C — SPEED 12.2 KNOTS
SAILING FROM THE FALKLAND ISLANDS TO SOUTH GEORGIA