I’ve read a bit about international law and how Antarctica isn’t quite the lawless can-theoretically-get-away-with-murder zone some people think it is, but I’m curious about anecdotes and day-to-day practicalities.
How often do people have legal issues down there that need to be brought to a court?
Are there squabbles over just what is legal and what is illegal (No! I’m a legal resident of Texas, still subject to its laws, and I’m allowed to do that!), or what court should handle the case, or does everyone more or less get along informally and real lawsuits or prosecutions are very rare?
What happens if someone has a need to get some ordinary act legally approved (e.g. getting divorced, changing their name, getting married in a civil ceremony)? Do you have to fly to NZ or something to do that?
Are there immigration or customs checkpoints going to or coming back? “Purpose of trip to Antarctica?”
It is much worse that even that depressing story. So much money is being wasted on plans to move into caretaker status. The gov will reopen eventually and much work and money and data will be lost forever and more money is being spent on trying to close these places down. Science is wrecked in many ways.
On a more personal note. Many peopkle here especailly the support crews work on a 6month on 6 month off on rotation or somethign like that, it is a littel more complicated but gerneraly speeking it is true and have just deployed counting on this season after being off for 6 months. There are winter crews and summer crews, some of the summer crews will be out of work till next summer. They are looking at a year and a half with out work in their chosen field.
It is a logistical nightmare.
There is a fantastic Faceook group that was set up. I wont name it here as we want to keep it to ice folk. The group is heartwarming. It is a fantastic resourse. jobs and beds all over the world. I counted over 40 states and 20 countries represented to help.
Currently at Palmer we are in the process of shutting everythign down and going to skeleton crew.The boat leaves Thursday and things can change at a moment. and many folks are holding thinking the Gov may turn around at the last moment and they can unpack their science or suppor gear and salvage the season. the daily talk is what is we set out to the Drake and things chance will the boat turn around. calusing addional logistical problems as many up us will need to be reticketed. This has always been my scheduled departure. but I do not have my tickets home yet as the appoval process has slowed down.
Significant legal issues are rare. It takes a great deal of personal effort to get down here. Most poeple behave themselves at least within the bounds of the law. And we all go through background checks. I can not answer for outside of a US station or field camp. So if you shoot someone on a self funded trip to the ice I am not sure about that. But US federal laws are upheald here. There was a major event at the South Pole this austral winter. I am not sure how much I am allowed to talk about it we didnt sing papers to keep it secret but have been asked to not spread rumors outside of the progam. Just know this. They sent two ski equiped Twin Otters with Federal Marshalls down to The Pole at the earliest flight in history to remove a few people and charges are expected to be filed. This has been a brutal winter for the Pole and it keeps comming at them.
I have only been to Palmer so we travel through South America and Chile. The programm is well recognized. We are greated with a local Liason that works with the USAP and we get special treatment and are taken to the head of all the lines thrgouh coustoms, Passport stamps, security and such. We have a special waiting room with coffe and stuff in the upper level of the Santiago Airport. I imagine New Zealand is even more accomidating. At both locations we go way past the Standard visa in that country but we are in Antarctica and never get an exit stamp. It is all taken care of. When we come back we are waved.
I hear in Christchurch there are multiple businesses that offer discounts to the USAP participants. There is a great relationship with amongst treaty signers.
Yup, I got the Antarctica Service Medal, the bronze Winter Over clasp, the Ribbon and a pin. Oh and a nice signed document from teh head of the National Science Foundation.
The occasion you are refering to was Independence Day. Our doctor was really going downhill. Mentally and well just every concevable way. I invited him to fire up the grill. Got him all set up prettmy much I did all the work he grilled up the standard stuff and then we had a secret event later that night. It was super fun and brought the doctor back into spirits for a couple hours. I know it was impactfull to him as he chose the photo as part of our winter over photo. aside from him everytime we get everyone involved at the same even it is super fun and just celebratory. Oh yea, we ran out of beer super early on and some secret stashes found their way out for the event. That seemed to happen all winter.
You will find conflicting reports as you read about Antarctica and the US stations. I can however assure you that there are not permanent Marshal posts at the three stations. Maybe occasionally at McMurdo but rarley if ever at Pole and Palmer and never at filed camps unless there is a problem. Supposildy the stations Managers are Marshals as well but that is no longer the case.
Makes sense. I would expect that most people who make it through the screening process are people who are going to find some way to get along with others without committing major social no-nos like theft or murder, and also have the patience to deal with minor foibles of others without feeling the need to sue at the drop of a hat, so potential legal questions about jurisdiction, substantive law in effect, etc., simply never make it to a court.
Is there any family law down there? If you are down there and want to get married <3, can you? Can you divorce that scumbag co-worker six months later while still on-site, or do you need to fly home to file a divorce there? If someone gets pregnant down there, can they file for child support locally? If you wake up one morning during the polar night and decide that you really do hate your parents’ guts and want to change your last name, can you do that right there at the base or do you need to fly to a country that has a regularly operating legal name change procedure in place?
Can you share some interesting actual legal cases involving Antarctica? I.e. not law review articles or speculation, but real cases where John said that Mary stole his pet penguin, Mary said that penguins cannot be personally owned pursuant to her home country’s Wildlife Act of 2005, John said that his own country’s laws allow personal ownership of penguins, then a secondary argument broke out over whether or not a conviction for penguin theft requires registration on the Wildlife Offenders and Crimes Against Cute Creatures Registry, Mary says no because the registry only applies to offenses committed within the territorial limits of the registry’s country, John says it applies because he is a citizen of the country that maintains the registry, etc., then the judge decides that the case can’t go forward because he doesn’t have quasi-personal limited in rem jurisdiction, only civil maritime in personam jurisdiction and territorial appellate admiralty jurisdiction, and the case needs to be refiled in McMurdo District Court instead of the South Pole Court of Common Pleas?
I hope it’s not too late for another question. I’m wondering if researchers and scientists have much of an idea of what’s under all that antarctic ice? Do we know much about the features of the landscape beneath? Have there been any anomalous discoveries?
Know a guy named Mike? Dark hair, sort of chiseled face, looks vaguely like Sterling Archer, recently lived in MD? Guy I went to grad school with (well, he was a post-doc) has wintered over there in the past couple years…
