FAQs for the general public

There are very few job opportunities in Antarctica for anyone who isn’t a scientist or skilled support worker. The Cool Antarctica website has a really detailed and informative section on finding a job in Antarctica.

National Antarctic programmes often have information about what it’s like to live and work in Antarctica.  Here are some examples:

• Australian Antarctic Division – People in Antarctica
• British Antarctic Survey – Life in the Polar Regions
• Office of Polar Programs (USA) – Jobs in Antarctica

There are some great websites where you should be able to find the answers to your questions:

• Discovering Antarctica
• About Antarctica
• Cool Antarctica
• Antarctic Glaciers (covers much more than just glaciers)
• Antarctic Factsheet
• Arctic and Antarctica
• Antarctic Images

The education websites listed above under “school project” have plenty of really useful information for all ages.

The New York Times has a series of four virtual reality films that take you on, above and below the Antarctic ice.

If you want more depth of knowledge, there are two excellent, free courses created by Victoria University of Wellington and available through EdX. The courses have finished but the archived course materials should still be available, and the courses may run again in the future:

• “Antarctica: From Geology to Human History”
• “Antarctica: Life on the Frozen Continent”

SCAR has no direct contact with anyone working in Antarctica as we don’t employ scientists of our own. Science is carried out through each country’s National Antarctic Programme so you will need to contact them. See the Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs (COMNAP) website for a list. The US Office of Polar Programs website has a useful FAQs section with information on the difficulties of communicating with researchers in Antarctica.

The SCAR community is made up of researchers who work at research institutes and universities in our member countries around the world. SCAR does not carry out any scientific research of its own, rather it enables Antarctic researchers to meet, cooperate and coordinate their research through our research programmes and specialist action and expert groups.

• Cool Antarctica resources
• EducaPoles
• Classroom Antarctica
• PolarTREC
• Explaining Climate Change
• Cool Australia – Arctic and Antarctica
• Antarctic Glaciers teaching resources
• British Antarctic Survey – Education
• Scott Polar Research Institute – Learning Resources
• Arctic and Antarctic Classroom Resources from US NSF
• Polar Educators International – science communication