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French geophysicist’s epic experience in Antarctica
Published on: Sunday, May 26, 2024
By: Kan Yaw Chong
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The French base in Adelie Land, Antarctica.
I have heard one Sabahan researcher had been there but not interested to talk.
However, retired French geophysicist and oil & gas explorer for French oil giant, Aquitaine Oil, was more than willing to share a free-flow account of what seems like a spectacular experience with Daily Express.
Boeldieu Jean-Paul, 80, who lived in Antarctica in 1967-69, had chosen Sabah as his second home.
Actually Jean-Paul had given a talk to Rotary Club of Likas about his journey to Adelie Land – a French-claimed coastal territory in Antarctica – first sighted in 1820 by European explorers, Russians especially.
Jean-Paul speaking during the interview with Daily Express.
If we imagine Antarctica as a mere empire of massive flat sheets of thick ice, we err, as there are more than 2,600 continental peaks, with Mt Vinson towering at 16,050ft – higher than Mt Kinabalu at 13,435ft (4,095m).
Life, big life, even diverse life, thrives but restricted at the coast, with at least 15 species of whales and more types of seals and a crowd of 6,000 cute Emperor penguins, birds, as Jean-Paul remembered seeing, but life is non-existent on the continent and certainly no polar bears in Antarctica.
Adorable Emperor penguins in Antarctica. They reproduce in the winter.
“I remember the exciting time. I could live 57 years again in 1967- 69,” Jean Paul said.
Why was it exciting? “For me, this opportunity was marvellous because if you don’t have a very good reason to be there, you cannot go, not for tourists. It makes exciting time because of the discovery of something new for me – a very special environment, with very special people, very special activities, it was very exciting,” he beamed.
High IQ physicist sought for epic French expedition
So, what got Jean-Paul there?
“After studies in physics and earth sciences in Sorbonne University, Paris, the Globe Physics Institute prepared myself to join the 18th French Polar exploration in 1967 to 1969.”
Most importantly, they were looking for a high IQ physicist, and they found one who scored 140 – Jean-Paul, that is.
Actually, France mounted its first venture to the Antarctica on Jan 21, 1840, when a few officers and crew members of Dumont d’Urville’s expedition landed on the coast of “Terre Adelie” (Adelie Land) at the Rocher du Debarquement and took rock samples.
“After that, the second French exploration was in 1950 but in the meantime, no French people went there for some reasons, the British yes, on another part of Antarctica,” he said.
Wild differences between summer and winter
“I stayed one summer, one winter and the following summer at the Dumont d’Urville base that is located on the southern polar circle, close to Astrolab glacier, the geomagnetic pole and a colony of about 6,000 Emperor penguins,” he recalled.
Curious, I asked what’s the difference between summer and winter in Antarctica?
“In summer time, we don’t see the sun below the horizon, it’s always above the horizon, day and night! But come winter, the sun is always below the horizon, always night!”
The obvious frozen, icy condition of Antarctica.
“For me, the pole experience is unique and none like it – six months of day and six months of night because of the tilt of the Earth on its axis so that each pole is tilted towards and away from the sun for six months each!”
“Temperature wise, on the coast where we were, it’s only minus 30, summer zero degree but in the middle of the Antarctica continent, summer is minus 50, winter minus 90!” he noted.
‘My task’ – pin down earthquake & watch tsunami
“My task as the geophysicist researcher was to fill the position of a seismologist and a tsunami watch forecaster,” he said.
Geophysicists are far and few in Sabah, so what is a geophysicist?
“I am a physicist about the earth. The earth has physics activities – seismology, I was the guy in charge, it has dynamics such as magnetism of the earth, gravitation, electrical and electromagnetic fields, radioactivity and passage of elastic waves.
“I maintained the short wave station, completed the long wave station, recorded Earth’s seismic activities and interpreted precisely their origins,” he said.
Short waves, long waves
“I was the Head of Seismology. My job was the study of seismic earthquakes around the world.
“I recorded the waves of earthquakes with the devices that I had. I had a short waves station, that means around one Hertz or one period per second. I installed the long period station, the period was about 1 per 10 seconds, so very low frequency, meaning long waves or very slow movements.
“Both the short waves and long waves all come from earthquakes. These earthquakes are made by the movements between tectonic plates and these movements generate waves and if you look at the waves, the first to arrive are the fastest waves and seconds later you have the middle ones and then the long ones,” Jean-Paul explained.
‘Pacific Ring of Fire’: Japan – most seismic active
Since his job was to interpret precisely the origins of the earthquakes, a natural question was where did most of the seismic waves originate or where were the most seismically active regions?
“We say it’s the Pacific Ring of Fire – a tectonic belt of volcanoes and earthquakes because that’s where the plates are moving and the movement could be anywhere along this belt but sometimes when there were big activities, you have huge seismic waves once, with many smaller ones following or even before as well,” he said.
“I remember I recorded 200 earthquakes in one week off shore east of Japan, I mapped them with the date.”
Precise work of a near genius!
“Japan is very active because the plates are here. If you look at the Pacific water bed, you find the 2,540km long, 11km deep Mariana Trench in Western Pacific, the 10,539m deep Philippine Trench, the 497 mile (800km) long and 8,046m (16,050ft) at its deepest Japan Trench (which triggered the massive tsunami in March 2011 after a 9 magnitude quake.
Killer whales of Antarctica which support at least 15 species of whales.
A Leopard seal of Antarctica.
“Every day there is at least one earthquake with magnitude over 5 in Japan – all offshore because of movements of the Pacific plate going below (subducting) the Asian plate, yes,” he remembered.
“So what I recorded was mostly in the Ring of Fire. Every time it happened, I was able to trace their origins with precision, very accurately because I knew how to compute even though I didn’t have any computer that time,” said Jean-Paul, reportedly scored an IQ of 140 – a near genius or genius.
Warning potential killer tsunamis
Since he doubled up as a tsunami watch forecaster, did he ever detect a killer tsunami?
“Yes, because I was the guy in charge of tsunami watch forecast, I recorded some very strong earthquakes that could generate deep water tsunami that were dangerous for coastal populations on account of the strength and location with water waves going in all directions.
“The thing is nobody knows when an earthquake may strike, but I can say when the waves are coming because the velocity of the seismic waves is 200 times faster than the water waves, I knew in advance when these waves would arrive at the coast in so and so how many hours and warn the people you will get a tsunami.”
1968 – Japan listened
Did he see any potential killer tsunami coming?
“Yes, of course, mainly offshore Japan, including a likely Level 8 to 9 intensity tsunami in 1968, after magnitude 7.5 quake in April followed by a magnitude 8.2 quake in May.
“I gave the information, in Japan they listened, everybody around the Pacific listened, from Japan to Brazil, Australia etc heeded but not so the coastal populations of Southeast and South Asia, for various reasons,” Jean-Paul lamented.
The colossal tsunami of 2004
So, he said, he wasn’t surprised that more than 167,000 Indonesians, 61,000 Sri Lankans and 2,000 Europeans in Thailand tragically perished when a colossal tsunami hit on Dec 26, 2004, triggered by a 9.1 magnitude quake west of northern Sumatra, although he claimed that the countries were forewarned.
However, the infamous 3/11 (March 2011) Great Tohoku and Great Sendai earthquakes in northeast Japan too, killed 20,000 Japanese and infamously wrecked the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
In the course of his seismological work, Jean-Paul said he was stunned to realise that famous island countries like Fiji, Tonga and even New Zealand are actually “peaks” of a seismically active massive underwater continent as big as the land mass of Australia!
The terrific ‘katabatic winds’ of Antarctica
“The environment of Antarctica was very hard for the group of 27 men,” he recalled.
For example, not many know that Antarctica is the windiest region on earth, with crazy wind speeds that often exceed 100 miles per hour or even a record 200 miles per hour (300km/hour) called katabatic winds, Jean-Paul cited that word.
“People caught in terrific katabatic winds can easily be swept to their deaths if they don’t have a rope to hang on to or stay put in your cells and not venture one step outside when it happens,” he said.
The unforgettable horrific winds
Katabatic winds are caused by heavy cold dense air flowing out from the polar plateau of interior Antarctica down the steep vertical drops along the coasts (where the French base camp was located) and it’s at the narrowing steep edges of Antarctica that super fast katabatic winds form as heavy high density cold air rush over the land mass towards warmer lower density coastal air.
Jean-Paul said he could never forget the blinding sheer terror of such horrific winds.
Exactly what triggers katabatic winds is interesting science but is a bit complicated best left to interested readers to find out.
Even mundane food and water generate their own tales.
There was always enough food to last a winter and enough sea water to desalinate.
The good reason to sail from Hobart
“My adventure started in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia where we embarked on board the Danish polar vessel Thana Dan, with good reason.
“When you sail south from Africa, America, the state of the sea becomes very rough under howling and roaring winds. Many adventurers perished under conditions of permanent record storms where compasses become unreliable when you approach the geomagnetic pole,” Jean Paul explained.
“We had enough food and fuel for more than a wintering time.”
No need to bathe – no dust, no bacteria, no sweat
Fresh water wise, though there were no rivers the draw fresh water from, they would find enough sea water below the sea ice to desalinate.
“But production of fresh water was very slow, we had on average 40 litres per person per day and we stocked that mostly for cooking, not bathing.
“Because here is no dust, no bacteria, the air is considered sterile, it means you don’t have to clean yourself, you don’t bathe, it’s impossible with 40 litres per day per person, we cannot do that and we were not sweating.
“Dust, sweating and bacteria are the reasons you take a shower, otherwise you don’t have to take a shower, maybe just a rare one or two per month!
“The air is always dry, very dry, no clouds, no rains, I saw once snow, that’s all but it’s very rare, a very unique experience of being in Antarctica, you don’t have to bathe, and when I say no bacteria, it means less than 1 in 1 cubic centimetre instead of here in Sabah you have billions of bacteria per cubic centimetre, I never got ill there, some people arrived with flu but the flu disappeared after arrival,” Jean Paul recalled, although a Belgian expedition reported Covid in 2022.
Explosive static electricity sparks
Because the air was very dry, no cloud and no rain, “it provoked large amounts of static electric sparks on any metal”, he claimed.
“That’s the case, if you touch metal – pup, it’s static electricity but is it is not circulating, there is no intensity, electric intensity is measured by amperes or flow of a charge, there is little or no amperes, so it’s not dangerous, it does not hurt even though it gives a mild shock,” Jean-Paul assured.
Spectacular sight: Aurora in Antarctica.
Here’s one inevitable question: Does the handphone work in Antarctica?
The short answer is “no”, because Antarctica is still a remote and wild destination!
So one experience that stuck till this day is the big price every expedition member had to pay – loss of family news, Jean Paul said.
Where communication was ‘impossible’
“That’s because we had only Morse, communications were restricted. As we were in a special part of the earth, the Aurora australis of southern lights place, 20 degrees around the pole, you have a lot of particles and in these places inside this area there is no electronic activities.
“So it means it’s impossible to have communication, our communication use using electromagnetic fields of the earth but over there, there is none. I remember May-June, there was no news from outside, impossible, what I would call blackout, no communication possible, nothing!”
Sad homecoming for some expeditioners
Because of these extreme working conditions, expeditioners were paid salaries 2.7 times higher – a lot more money paid into their accounts in France but the sad part is on return to France, some expeditioners discovered their money in the bank gone and spouse (the woman) also gone missing!
But Jean-Paul said he chose to go to Antarctica as a volunteer except for the last four months when he was also paid 2.7 times, so the big Antarctica experience never made him big money!
“But that time was one of my very happy adventurous life,” he concluded.
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