Map of Antarctica

Dear Friend,

I’m Bob Marstall, a landscape artist and kids’ nonfiction-book illustrator. I’m writing to you from Antarctica—the coldest, driest, highest (on average), and windiest continent on Earth. Brrr!

I’m in this amazing place thanks to an Artists and Writers Grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The NSF, a government organization that encourages scientific study, runs programs that help scientists and others to visit Antarctica so that they can study and share information about it.

My journey began on November 3, 2002, in Christchurch, New Zealand—9,400 miles away from my home in Massachusetts! I was aboard a United States Air Force C-141 military cargo plane (about the size of a 747) along with about thirty scientists and support workers. We had a five-hour flight to McMurdo Station, where I’ll be based for the next month.

I’ll send a Polar Postcard whenever I can. That way you can see some of the things I’m seeing, and you can hear more about what life is like here.

Thanks for sharing my adventure with me.

Your friend,

Bob