Out here in the Southern Ocean, surrounded by ice and darkness, things can get a bit lonely. As we slowly work our way north through the ice, stopping for Belgian Biogeochemical Stations, for Autonomous Underwater Vehicle missions, and to drop buoy arrays, we wait for the sun to rise again, and we daydream about what we’ll do when we get home.

Fortunately, we have been getting regular updates from our friends, family, and followers on land who let us know they are keeping close track of our progress and talking about the life and science aboard the NBP ice breaker.

Thanks to everyone who has sent us messages and posted on the blog. With this post, we want to give a shout out to everyone out there who has been keeping track of our progress! Let me tell you about a few of them.

PIPERS has a West Texas and Mexican Caribbean connection thanks to the work of Annie Wiesling who is completing a PhD in education. Annie hails from the town of Xalaopa in the state of Veracruz, Mexico. Her deep roots in the town mean that she is still active in promoting education in Xalapa. Annie has partnered with the Julie Soto who teaches technology at the Escuela Simon Bolivar at the Briones Campus. Starting in 2007, a group of students has been studying polar exploration and sea ice issues. This group (pictured) is about to graduate secondary school, but they are active in making the younger grades at Simon Bolivar interested in polar studies. Together, Annie, Julie and the students maintain a Spanish-English blog titled: http://antarcticnbp17.blogspot.mx. Have a look if you get the chance!

At the Red Cross Nordic United World College in Norway (http://uwcrcn.no), foundation year students have been discussing the PIPERS expedition during their English language class. Students at the Red Cross United World College hail from Cambodia, Western Sahara, Thailand, and Nepal. The students posted some excellent questions and PIPERS participant and global modeler Laetitia (Lettie) Roach was corresponding with them through her friend and their teacher.

Celia Sapart, who is Swiss by birth, but currently lives in Belgium as a researcher at the Universite Libre du Bruxelles, is keeping a blog on the PIPERS expedition for friends, family and French speakers alike. You can find Celia’s blog at: http://antarcticoceanexperience2017.blogspot.com