Environmental balancing below zero: in the spirit of international cooperation, marine biologists and oceanographers from Peru gather information in the Antarctic region to better understand the influence of global warming on this polar ecosystem and its effects on the hemisphere.

• Author: Balaguer, Alejandro

The sea that surrounds King George Island is icy and turbulent--indomitable. The island is one of many in the South Shetland Islands archipelago, a neighbor to the Antarctic Peninsula. Nearby, the Humboldt--a scientific research ship and a veteran of many Peruvian expeditions in the Antarctic--weaves its way between giant ice castles floating on the steel-colored sea. Hundreds of these mountainous ice floes are carried by currents and savage gusts of wind towards an inexorable ending in the tempestuous Drake Sea.

Sitting atop the ice, leopard seals rest after feasting on krill and watch the red silhouette of the Peruvian ship challenging the hostile Antarctic. Aboard the Humboldt, scientists from various countries can't contain their excitement when they see the emerging profile of King George Island and the Chilean base, Presidente Eduardo Frei Montalva. This is the first stop on the latest Peruvian scientific expedition in the Antarctic.

Known by the navigators and cartographers of yesteryear as Terra Australis Incognita, Antarctica--approximately 5.4 million square miles in size--is the third largest continent and the coldest and least inhabited one on the planet. This solitary and immaculate world, formed by layers of ice that can be up to 13,000 feet thick, holds 90 percent of all the ice on the planet. It is also the largest reserve of fresh water and the place that produces the great expanses of cold water that, further north, turn into the Humboldt Current, a kind of submarine river rich in plankton. Plankton is the first link in a fabulous food chain that is surprisingly productive and reaches all the way up the continent to Central America.

"When Antarctica sneezes, Peru catches cold," says Yuri Hooker from the Cayetano Heredia University of Lima. This Peruvian scientist with the first name of a Russian astronaut and last name of an English corsair is right: polar climate dynamics have a great influence on the climate and productivity of the Americas. Hooker adds: "German scientist Alexander Von Humboldt observed that the waters off the Peruvian coasts were colder than they should be for the latitude they were in. He came to the conclusion that the movement of the trade winds permitted the large expanse of cold water to come to the surface, bringing with it a large quantity of nutrients. This is what makes the Pacific South so productive."

Peru built on this natural connection and increased its ties with Antarctica in the 1980s when some countries began expressing interest in extracting minerals and hydrocarbons from the white continent. The possibility that mining could occur in Antarctica was a particular motivation for Peru to become a member country of the Antarctic Treaty. "This was related to the fact that the geological structure of Antarctica is [similar to that of Peru] ... and that Antarctica has the same minerals that Peru has. If a convention of this type were to have been approved, the prices of these minerals could have fallen drastically. Besides, this debate caused a big stir in the international community because the Antarctic was seen as a place that should be protected and kept free of all exploitation," recalls rear admiral of the Peruvian Navy, Hector Soldi.

"The only way that Peru could defend against this possible mineral exploitation was to become part of the Antarctic Treaty. First it had to meet a series of requirements having to do with how to carry out an expedition, install a base, and demonstrate legitimate interest in scientific research. When all of these requirements were met, Peru was able to become a consulting member in 1991. And this was how mineral extraction in Antarctica was blocked. What was initially a convention for the exploitation of minerals became, in the end, a convention to protect them," said Soldi, who is also an oceanographer and pioneer for Peru in Antarctica.

The Antarctic Treaty, in effect since 1961, has now been signed by 45 nations. It describes the Antarctic as a zone of peace, free from weapons and nuclear testing, where all extractive practices are prohibited, including fishing and mining. All territorial claims have also been frozen. The only objectives allowed now are scientific: research on climate, the behavior of biological species, the search for natural compounds for curing diseases, and studies on geologic history and the history of glaciers, among others.

Across from the Presidente Frei base, a safe distance away from the floating ice, the Humboldt completes its anchoring. Near the Chilean airstrip, we make our way down a glacier towards a rocky beach with Weddell and elephant seals. They are so big that it's hard to believe that they basically exist on a tiny shrimp called krill. This crustacean is the species with the most biomass in the world and is the object of constant attention in these latitudes.

Later, back in the hospitable warmth of the Humboldt, Alberto Hart, a high official of the Peruvian Foreign Ministry, talks to a group of Brazilian and Argentine scientists about Peru's contribution in the Antarctic. "Since the Humboldt is equipped with special sonar to detect biomass, it was the ideal ship for researching krill," he says with an authority that comes from having coordinated several Antarctic expeditions. "We also had scientists who were very experienced in studying anchovy populations...