A year at the edge of the Earth, in conditions so extreme and at temperatures so low that oxygen is scarce and the cold is such that not even bacteria can reproduce. Twelve months away from the rest of the world, to carry out the Cnr’s national research program in Antarctica, at the Concordia base, 1200 kilometers inland from the South Pole and above a layer of ice 3 thousand meters thick. Gavoi’s engineer Marco Buttu46 years old, is on his third mission at the Italian-French international base, where life is very similar to that on the international space station: in the winter months there are 13 of them, including another Sardinian, the meteorologist from Austis Mario Lecapprox, which deals with atmospheric physics. Just over two weeks ago, on March 30, Marco Buttu published a video on Instagram, on his account @ marco.buttu, in which he shows how to dress to be able to go outside at -90 degrees. A video that in a very short time reached almost seven million views, with 246 thousand likes and over 4 thousand comments.
How is life on the base? How long do you remain completely isolated?
«Life on the base is very different depending on the season. From November to February it can be reached and hosts up to 70 people. The sun never sets, the temperature is around -30°C, we work intensely all day and the activities are multiple and transversal. You sleep in a double room. During the winter, however, which runs from February to November, there are 13 of us left on base here, isolated and unreachable from the rest of the world. We must deal with any type of emergency independently. Everyone has their own single room. The temperature drops to -80°C, the rhythms are slower, for more than three months the sun doesn’t rise, there is no privacy and you become a big family.”
How do you manage such an extreme situation on a psychophysical level? How is distance from family managed?
«We passed a selection that was not only technical, but also psychological and physical. An Enea psychologist evaluated and trained us. In addition, I practice yoga, a discipline that every day brings me back to a zero point where any problem is erased and I resume my day as if I were reborn. It is a discipline that helps me face the expedition, but also life in the “Normal World”, both from the point of view of physical and mental health. This year the distance from the family is felt much less thanks to a high-performance satellite connection: for the first time we have Internet on our cell phones and we can make daily video calls.”
How did the idea of telling your experience in Antarctica through Instagram come about?
«I have always kept a sort of logbook. In previous expeditions I only published photographs, because we had a very slow satellite connection. This year, thanks to a broadband satellite connection, I also have the opportunity to publish videos.”
His video showing how to cover up to go outside in -90 degree temperatures has gone viral. How was it born?
«The evening before I published the video I had a live connection with Rai. During the connection the outside temperature was -70°C, which due to the wind was perceived as -90°C. I was wearing a short-sleeved t-shirt and flip-flops on my feet, as usual here in Concordia. I was showing the base to the journalists and when I arrived in front of the exit door I opened it to show the containers where we keep the food, which are located in front of the base. As usual, since it would take me less than twenty seconds, I went out wearing summer day clothes in Sardinia. A journalist, with wide eyes, immediately asked: “How long can you last dressed like that, at those temperatures?”. The next morning, as I was crossing the tunnel that connects the two towers, passing in front of the exit door, I thought about the journalist’s question and it occurred to me to make a video on that topic.”
When you made the video, did you expect millions of views and so many comments?
«It was a quick and easy video to make, banal from my point of view, where I answered the question and in addition showed how to dress appropriately at temperatures of -90°C wind chill (the temperature felt due to the freezing wind, ed). A sort of “stop-gap” video, waiting to publish something more interesting. I took the video camera and, wearing the flip-flops and short-sleeved t-shirt I was wearing at the time, I went out as I had done the night before. I explained that you could stay outside dressed like that for just a few minutes. Then I showed how to dress appropriately for working outside. The easiest and fastest video I’ve ever made. I posted it and joined the others for lunch. An hour later, in disbelief, I saw that it had reached 1 million views.”
Living on base, from his stories on Instagram, gives the idea of life on a space station. What do these two extreme and distant environments have in common?
«In this period, the winter one, life in Concordia is similar to what we will have in the future on a base on another planet: we are unreachable for nine months, without the possibility of rescue; circadian rhythms are altered because the sun does not rise for more than three months at a time; the temperature drops to -80°C; there is no life form, there is a strong lack of oxygen and the air is dry. We are more isolated than the astronauts orbiting the Earth aboard the International Space Station. This small group of 13 people therefore lives a totally out of the ordinary experience, similar to what future astronauts will have to face when they set foot on Mars. For this reason, the European Space Agency (ESA) sponsors a doctor, an integral part of the team, who has the task of monitoring us as part of some research projects in the field of human biology. ESA wants to understand how the body adapts to an environment and living conditions similar to those of a future interplanetary mission.”
What do you miss about Sardinia? And what do you miss about Antarctica when you stay in Sardinia?
«In reality I don’t miss anything because I live my life in the present. Now I’m here and I’m only thinking about the shipping. When I’m in Sardinia I do the same, I enjoy the company of my wife, the beauty of our island and I try to live every day as if it were my last, without thinking about Antarctica and India where I spend a few months a year. I don’t have any big plans for the future, except for a novel that I started writing in 2020 and which I would like to finish within the next year.”
