On the boat again… I’m sad to leave because I shared such beautiful memories with the people here, like a huge family, and I enjoyed so much this field campaign with emperor and adelie penguins, snow petrels, cape pigeons, southern fulmar, wilson petrel, and wedell seals, living in such gorgeous icy landscapes with blue ice, sea ice, icebergs, glaciers… It’s very hard to describe the purity and immensity of this landscape and the beauty of wildlife. I hope that you enjoyed these beautiful instants through this blog and you understand the importance to study those species to better protect them from climate change and resource and habitat exploitation. Antarctica is a continent devoted to peace and science with strong international collaborations. I really hope that the Antarctic Treaty System (which regulates international interactions dealing with Antarctica) will hold for several decades and that our work will illustrate how ecosystems are sensitive to climate change.

I would like to thank our excellent fieldworkers Sophie and Agnes, and our exceptional colleagues Anne-Mathilde, Aurelie, Basile, Coralie, Matthieu, Nicolas, for their happiness and help during this field campaign; as well as other technical personal for their assistance and their good temper making the life here good (especially Jules, Serge, Philou and Valentin).

This field campaign has been supported by the French Polar Institute (“Institute Paul Emile Victor”) and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (project funded by Access to Sea and Ocean Life Institute).