It’s summer here now, and it’s sunny day and night. The temperature is around freezing, but I’ve been here when it was 35 below zero, centigrade, or minus 31, Fahrenheit, in my tent. The wind can become so strong that it flattens our tents and blows the food off the shelves in the Quonset hut.

I become a little annoyed with myself when I don’t dress appropriately for the temperature or forget to bring along extra layers or extra socks in case my feet get wet. Antarctica is relentless; you can’t let your guard down. You might walk out of camp on a sunny, warm morning but find that the weather can quickly change.

The first time I came to this field camp, I had to take a course in survival tactics that involved staying overnight in an igloo on the Ross Ice Shelf. There were eight of us. We learned things like how to recognize the signs of hypothermia. Each time I return, I have to take a refresher course.

People react differently to the isolation. It can be difficult if you’re here over the holidays, but the science motivates us. We’ve explored places where no one else has ever been. And what I’m studying has implications for the search for other life in the universe, and for the way that life interacts with the elements that sustain our planet. It’s humbling.

One area where I work is called the Valley of the Dead because it’s so barren and contains carcasses of seals that lost their way and became mummified. The landscape is so beautiful that I sometimes stop for a few seconds and just look around.

THERE are so many awe-inspiring moments here. It’s breathtaking to step out of my tent and to peer over a glistening lake to the vast landscape beyond. I’ve also seen the Southern Lights streak across our field camp. You feel the reality of being on a spinning rock somewhere in the universe.

Sometimes, what you do for work chooses you as much as you choose it. I have always loved the cold and snow. I took three years off after college, snowboarding and seeking the “endless winter.” Actually, I was a ski bum, tending bar at night and snowboarding all day, but I was also curious about the world I lived in.

On a whim, I took a course in microbial ecology and learned about life in glacier ice and the possibility of life on Mars, our cold neighbor. I became hooked on the icy life. That meant Antarctica would be the place to go.