Surviving Antarctic storms

Video by David F. Salisbury and Tim Cully
 
Miller, who is now one of the oldest women doing fieldwork in Antarctica, is spending what could be her last visit to the polar continent, continuing her research with the aid of Vanderbilt graduate student Nichole Knepprath.

"This will be number five. I'm getting a little old for it so I probably won't be able to do too many more," admits Miller. "We do an awful lot of hiking. In fact, physical fitness is a key issue. I am well known at the campus fitness center. It is physically challenging and that is my concern. I would keep going forever except that I don't want to slow down my coworkers."

The physical challenge includes surviving in extreme situations. Miller's closest call occurred several years ago when a large storm hit the Transantarctic Mountains where she was working. She and her colleagues had just set up camp when it began snowing.
 
Field party returning to camp in high winds
Courtesy of Molly Miller
"There was a three to four day storm," Miller says. "We had this little handheld weather station and the winds were about 50 miles an hour and snowing hard. We were dug in for four days. That was pretty sobering. There were times when I just thought, 'I'm cold, I'm cold and I don't know anything to do to get warm.' We spent a lot of time just holed up in our sleeping bags trying, mostly successfully, to keep ourselves warm. That was my most ‘on the edge' experience. Although it was tedious and sometimes unpleasant, it was not really dangerous.”

It is not surprising that Miller views Antarctica as a both a scientific and character building experience. "When you have experiences that put yourself in the perspective of a larger place, I think those are the most meaningful types of experiences," Miller says. "Working in refugee camps was very similar to learning about geology. In the camps you are putting yourself in the context of world population and the whole world today. In geology you are putting yourself in the perspective of the entire history of the earth and life." She adds, "When you are in Antarctica you see yourself as part of the entire system. You are a little more vulnerable and thus more a part of it."