Jim McClintock loves his job so much that he just can’t stay away from the office. Which is pretty impressive when you consider that one of his workspaces sits 6,898 miles away from Birmingham, at Palmer Station in Antarctica.

McClintock is UAB’s Endowed University Professor in Polar and Marine Biology. He and fellow UAB biology professor Charles Amsler, Ph.D., conduct frequent Antarctic research expeditions supported by the National Science Foundation. Their team often dives into the frigid seas beneath the ice to study chemical ecology and the frontline effects of climate change — particularly ocean acidification — on marine organisms.

But when those expeditions end, McClintock finds it hard to leave the icy continent behind. So every December, he packs his bags and returns to Antarctica to lead a different kind of expedition — aboard an Abercrombie & Kent cruise ship full of curious tourists.

Behind the Scenes of Science

At first, McClintock wasn’t sure about tourism. “Antarctica is a sensitive habitat, and I considered whether it was a good thing to bring people into it,” he says. But “I was impressed that the companies taking tourists are aware of and proactive about environmental issues,” he says. In fact, the entire 10-day Abercrombie & Kent cruise is devoted to the topic, branding itself as the Climate Change Challenge. As expedition leader, McClintock shares his firsthand scientific observations and knowledge with the 200 guests—on board, on shore, and sometimes while piloting them past sky-blue icebergs in a Zodiac inflatable boat. One highlight of the journey is a visit to Palmer Station to meet McClintock’s fellow scientists. “The guests love that they can go there with somebody who works there and knows it,” he says. “They can see a sparkle in my eye when I talk about my friends we’re going to see.”