Dr. James G. Bockheim, from University of Wisconsin and 35 years of teaching experience, arrived in Chile as a Specialist Fulbright Scholar in Environmental Sciences at the University of Magallanes, Punta Arenas. He gave a short course on permafrost to postgraduate students and investigators last april.

Pedro Cid-Aguero (left) and James Bockheim (right) at Centro Austral Antártico.

He spent a month in southern Chile and was hosted by Dr. Pedro Cid-Agüero in the Dirección de Programas Antárticos y Subantárticos of Universidad de Magallanes, UMAG, under a grant from the Ministry of Education, “Gaia Antarctica: Knowledge and Culture of Antarctica”.

The host institution has been developing a unique graduate program within the country, oriented to create the critical mass of Antarctic scientists needed to explore the fast environmental changes showed within both, the Antarctic Peninsula and the Patagonia with an interdisciplinary approach. Dr. Bockheim has been to Antartica in over 100 trips and is recognized as one of the few world´s expert in this area.

On the other hand in Chile, neither the institution nor the country have the expertise in permafrost or frosted soils to face the challenges on this subjects, therefore the specialist provided the methodology to generate this classification as well as initiated a scientific collaboration program for further research within the area. The specialist also provided training in the studies of Antarctic permafrost to graduate students and faculty at the Antarctic Program at UMAG, and participated as an expert in the soils description of the Magallanes region.

While in Chile, Professor Bockheim participated in several activities: He gave a keynote address at the XII Congreso Nacional de la Ciencia del Suelo (National Congress of Soil Science) on “Cryosols as a test of our knowledge of Earth as a system.” The international congress was attended by approximately 70 persons from all over Chile, Germany, the USA and Argentina, of whom about 75% were graduate students. He also went on a full day tour in the Rio Verde region, following the Congress´ activities where he helped describe three soils that were viewed by participants and reported some soil and geomorphological features to students.

He visited the Lago Porteño area of Torres del Paine with Dr. Sergio Radic and helped three undergraduate students in Agronomy of UMAG to describe soils and landforms. In that same area he began co-tutoring a MS student, Sebastian Ruiz, in the UMAG Antarctic Glaciology program. They designed an experiment together with Dr. Cid to study the thermal properties of the active layer (seasonal thaw layer) and near-surface permafrost in Torres del Paine National Park.

He also taught a two-week (27-hour evening class) course on Antarctic permafrost to nine MS students in Antarctic Sciences and three observers at UMAG and spent 3 days at Torres del Paine National Park viewing the research area and constructing and deploying equipment for monitoring the thermal regime of permafrost at 1,250 meters in the Paso John Gardner, Lago Grey area.

Dr. Bockheim also met with UMAG faculty in Agronomy, Antarctic Sciences, and the Instituto de la Patagonia and with eight secondary and primary school students and their teachers at UMAG to exchange cultural information and promote Antarctic research.

In an press interview from Gaia Antártica, for a radio spot (http://www.umag.cl/gaiaantartica/?p=1491 and El Pingüino, Dr Bockheim was asked about his speciality on antartic soils. Later on made references to his stay in Chile to a journalist and photographer for the Ciencia (Science) section of the Sunday (April 6, 2014) edition of the newspaper, “El Magallanes”. He stated: “The month that I spent as a Fulbright Scholar was a productive and worthwhile experience. The Chilean people were very welcoming to me and appreciative of my work in their country. I expect to return to UMAG in some capacity and to have UMAG and other Chilean faculty and graduate students visit the University of Wisconsin and the USA. We have begun collaborative research in the southern Andes and hopefully will do likewise in maritime Antarctica.

Right Image: Dr James Bockheim and Mr. Sebastian Ruiz, a MS student in Antarctic Glaciology at UMAG.

Sebastian Ruiz and Eneko Beriain, MS students in Antarctic Glaciology, hauling gear to our permafrost research site at Paso John Gardner in Torres del Paine Nacional Parque, with the Grey Glaciar in the background.