Research of the Chilean Patagonia
No, sorry this is not a travel guide. But if you are interested in research or science in the incredible lands of Patagonian Chile this is for you.
The wow stats: Key words here are remote, spectacular, unexplored, unknown, mountains, fjords, fire and ice. Chilean Patagonia is about the size of California with less than 2 people per square kilometer on average, making it one of the most sparsely populated regions on earth. Its coastline of fjords, channels and islands hosts a large variety of different habitats stretching a total distance of 80, 000km. One road runs down it’s spine, the ambitious and scenic Carretera Austral (route 7), which ends several hundred kilometers before the end of Chilean Patagonia mainland. To go further South to the Punta Arenas region you must travel through Argentina, fly, or sail. In fact the vast majority of Chilean Patagonia has no trails, no roads, and no guides. Chilean Patagonia boasts thousands of islands, most completely uninhabited. Biodiversity and endemism in Chile is high. With rapidly growing tourism, industry, and conservation interest in the Patagonia the land is changing from an unknown wilderness to an international destination.
Science is only beginning to catch up. The paucity of local experts, support, or Science funding spent on the region is staggering. Imagine the entire West Coast of the U.S. being largely uninhabited and regularly studied by only a handful of research teams. Currently, I have the privilege of volunteering with one of those teams at the Huinay Field Station, in the Comau fjord. Working here has been a fun challenge, and I am constantly awed by the beauty of this place, even without leaving the station. Pods of dolphins are regularly seen playing from office windows. Marine birds like pelicans, cormorant species, gulls, penguins, herons, and hawks forage. Sea lions and the occasional Sea Elephant, Orca, or even Blue Whale (the latter I have not seen) visits us. The diving in the area is phenomenal as well, with many steep granite walls filled with marine life. And this is just our tiny, fairly accessible region of Patagonia.
But an absence of researchers is also an absence of competition, or rather a wide open doorway to the world of completely novel discoveries. The scientific director for our research station, Dr. Vreni Haussermann, is the perfect example. She first came to the Patagonia in 1998 and fell in love with the region. Specializing in Anthozoa, particularly Sea Anemone taxonomy (subclass Hexacorallia), she saw massive opportunity. In 2003 she was hired by Fundación Huinay to take over research operations here. With her staff she now explores the Patagonia. Currently Dr. Haussermann and collaborators have described over 70 species new to Science that are endemic to Patagonian Chile with many additional specimens just waiting to be described. She has lead about 30 dive expeditions across the Chilean Patagonia all the way down to the Straight of Magellan. She is the only scientist in this field working in Patagonia.
However, there are a growing number of research institutions and accomplished Chilean Universities with field stations in the area. As part of my volunteer position I’ve made a map with all known research facilities in Chilean Patagonia, all of which are available for collaboration. Places like Universidad Austral de Chile, i-MAR and Fundación CEQUA are expanding research efforts and training up a new generation of Chilean scientists. New field stations are opening like the planned station Puerto Eden. But Chile has yet to fully connect and modernize it’s research efforts. I had a tough time finding any of these places, website and facility locations require asking and multi-lingual online resources are sparse. To my knowledge, for the moment this map is the most complete visual catalog of research facilities in the Chilean Patagonia. I made it with ArcMaps 10.2. Shapefile available upon request.
There is endless potential for scientific investigation. The variety of fjords with widely varying salinity and currents make for fascinating case studies. Salmon aquaculture and invasive salmon populations are currently causing untold ecological damage to the entire region. Extremely deep fjords and trenches host unknown abyssal life. Fast melting glaciers retreat across the Patagonian ice sheet. Highly productive ocean waters and temperate rain forests host new species, new medicines, and new discoveries. Volcanoes are very active throughout Chile and many in the Patagonia are yet to be investigated. The list goes on. All this reminds me of the vast mysteriousness of our planet and the wealth of life yet to be known and understood in the world. For those looking to explore these depths Patagonia is quietly waiting.
