People thought Kerin Claeson was crazy for wanting to travel to Antarctica, but the goal of finding the connection between South America and Antarctica before they split was what drove her forward into the cold.

“Antarctica did not always look like it does now,” Claeson said. As part of Oswego State’s Science Today lecture series, Claeson, an associate professor of anatomy at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, discussed the logistics of her trip to Antarctica in 2016, as well as the ongoing discoveries that are being made from their found evidence of fossils on Tuesday.

There was also a curiosity of the connection between South America and Antarctica with Australia and the land and marine vertebrates, but Claeson had a focus on those that used to dwell in the water. Prior to their separation, the continents were known as Gondwana, the southern supercontinent.

“We know a lot about the cross connection and evolution of the land vertebrates and even a lot of the marine, freshwater vertebrates that would have been associated with this portion of the continents at the time,” Claeson said. “Again, we’re missing a lot of the information about what has happened between them and Australia.”

Expeditions have been made in the past to Antarctica but have mainly concerned subject matters like climate change.

After 24 hours on a plane, three days out on a boat battling rough seas and a week of training, Claeson and the crew arrived on the Ross Island Group.

Claeson’s training included water safety since that was a mode of transportation used, putting together their emergency kits, tents in frozen or thawed ground and preparing food.

Before leaving for the expedition, Claeson said she was met with a strike of good luck when she met actor Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson by chance.

“He was really interested in what we were doing,” Claeson said. “It was really nice, so we thought we were starting out on a win and it was a good stepping stone.”

A day later, with the rough seas and high waves crashing into their boat,  Claeson was bedridden with motion sickness.

Once in Antarctica, Claeson spent a week and a half in the field looking for fossils in the Seymour Island, where she found fossils of fish skull bones and vertebrae.

“This was better than just fish rubble that we were described in the initial paper,” Claeson said of a previous expedition of the spot years prior that was recorded.

Through her discovery of the fossils, it is now being questioned if these marine vertebrae were from before or after the separation of the continents began. This in-depth work with the specimens has only recently begun.

It was recorded around 150 specimens with 10 species were found during the expedition. Claeson said this was incredible since the diversity of the marine vertebrates was unknown prior to the discovery.

“We are obviously now being able to find some areas, where there is an accumulation of fossils because we’re looking at a beautiful exposure of marine rock,” Claeson said.

Claeson said she also believes that they have all parts to the skeletons. Other discoveries made at Seymour Island include that of a bird.

Before opening up the lecture to students for questions, Claeson answered three common questions. Claeson met a penguin, a juvenile who was lost from their family and followed her and part of the crew throughout the day. Claeson showed a video of the penguin running up to her.

The second answered question was that Antarctica was so cold she had to do push-ups to stay warm, but other days the temperature rose, allowing for the ground to thaw out.

The third question came from a fourth grade class, who Skyped with Claeson during the expedition and asked if the sky was upside down in Antarctica. The answer, through a series of pictures of the moon presented by Claeson, proved it does look like it is upside down.

Oswego State student Casey Brozowski said her favorite part of the lecture was hearing about Claeson’s trip and the conditions that she had to endure.

“As someone who is going to become an English teacher, I don’t really get the luxury of going on these types of adventures, but I feel like they’re important to learn about and listen to when people do that way you can…get an idea of why these things are important,” Brozowski said.

Photo Dori Gronich | The Oswegonian