Jobs in the Polar Regions

Lynnette Harper with frost-covered eyelashes

Credit: Brien Barnett / NSF

Lynnette Harper, materials manager at Amundsen-Scott
South Pole Station.

5/11/2007

Scientists who work in the polar regions go into the field only after spending years acquiring doctoral degrees in specialized fields and possibly deploying as a graduate student. But it is possible to find work in the Arctic and Antarctic by joining the ranks of those who support the scientists.

Private contractors hire people with experience in a wide vartiety of trades and professions. Mechanics, equipment operators, science and computer technicians, field camp personnel, research vessel and laboratory staff,  administrative personnel, food service and janitorial staff, and a broad array of other specialist and generalist positions support U.S. scientists and research projects in the Arctic and Antarctic.

Specific employment information--including the physical requirements that must be met to qualify for these jobs--can be found on the Web sites listed below. 

VECO Polar Resources, of Littleton, Colo., provides support to science in Greenland and elsewhere in the Arctic.

Raytheon Polar Services Co., of Centennial, Colo., supports the U.S. Antarctic Program.

PHI, Inc., of Lafayette, La., flies and maintains the helicopter fleet for the U.S. Antarctic Program.

Kenn Borek Air Ltd., of  Canada, flies aircraft in the Arctic and Antarctic.