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Publication Date: Wednesday, October 30, 2002

Art Ford: To the ends of the earth

By Marion Softky

Almanac Staff Writer

Do you know the differences between the North and South poles?

For starters, the South Pole is some 10,000 feet high on a continent; the North Pole lies in an ocean 10,000 feet deep.

"The interior of Antarctica is the world's largest desert. It has less rain than Yuma, Arizona," says Menlo Park geologist Art Ford. "In the Arctic, you see only snow, ice, water, and polar bears."

Dr. Ford knows what he's talking about. He spent 35 years with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) studying geology in the remotest spots on Earth, both in Antarctica and Alaska. He's visited both poles.

Now happily retired, Dr. Ford is sharing his knowledge, experience, and passion for polar places with passengers on cruise ships. In 22 trips to Antarctica, he's introduced them to penguins, volcanoes, and plate tectonics. Last summer at the other end of the world, he lectured on geology, while the world's largest ice breaker crashed through sea ice to the North Pole.

"I was surprised how much water there was," he says in an interview in the Menlo Oaks home where he and Carole have lived for almost 40 years. The house is crammed with spectacular pictures of scenery and penguins; there are penguin models in every cranny. "This is definitely a penguin house," says Mrs. Ford.

Mrs. Ford, who has accompanied her husband on a few trips, will be heading out with him after Christmas on his third and last Antarctic trip this winter. "I had to go to find out what he loved," she says. "I fell in love with it too."
A career of exploration

In 1960, a telegram changed Art Ford's career from academic geologist to polar explorer.

The young man from Emunclaw (means "home of evil spirits"), Washington, was teaching geology at San Diego State University. He had married Carole, his high school friend and college sweetheart, and had earned a fresh Ph.D. from the University of Washington.

The August telegram from the USGS invited him to join the first expedition into Antarctica to study the geology of the Thiel Mountains, 500 miles from the South Pole. After consulting Carole, he accepted. "How could I say no?" he asks.

In less than a month, he was on his way, in charge of the geologists for the first of two summers he spent studying the uncharted range.

In 1960, Dr. Ford gave up his academic career to join USGS. He moved to Menlo Park in 1964, where he and Mrs. Ford raised two daughters -- who graduated from Menlo-Atherton High School, and recently returned for its 50th anniversary reunion.

For 35 years Dr. Ford journeyed frequently to Antarctica, and occasionally Alaska. He became such an authority on Antarctica that in 1974 the Encyclopedia Britannica invited him to write its chapter on the southern continent. "All in all, I went on 13 expeditions. I was expedition leader in about half," he says.

During his time working in the interior of a continent the size of the United States plus Mexico, Dr. Ford encountered all sorts of things besides rocks and ice. There were also occasional "moments of terror."

While there is virtually no wildlife now in the continent's interior, Dr. Ford and other scientists have discovered fossils, signaling a far different climate long ago. At one time, five species of dinosaurs roamed Antarctica. Plants laid down a thick deposit of coal some 300 million years ago, he says.

Possibly his group's most exciting discovery was a meteorite, still the third largest ever discovered. Dr. Ford remembers picking up the two strange rocks -- about 75 pounds total -- and passing them around. "None of us had ever seen a meteor before," he says. "It was very heavy, very magnetic and made of iron. We suspected it was not of earthly origin."

As for one moment of terror, Dr. Ford still vividly remembers an aero-magnetic survey back in 1960. They were towing a magnetometer behind a DC-3 when the plane flew into some clouds where no mountains were charted. Soon, the magnetometer readings became very strong -- which meant they were close to rocks; then the readings went flat when the "bird" hit a rock and broke off. With zero visibility, the pilot tried to fly out.

"At one point we felt the plane shudder when the pilot was turning to fly away," Dr. Ford recalls vividly. "The next day we saw the wing tip dented and scratched. Two inches closer, and we would still be there."
Sharing the polar experience

"The best way to get close-up pictures of penguins is to sit on the ground and let the penguins come to you," says Dr. Ford. "They're very curious."

Part of Dr. Ford's job as staff on Antarctic cruises is to keep passengers at least five meters from penguin nests. The most curious of 17 varieties of penguins is the knee-high Adelie penguin, he says. "They'll come right up to you."

Dr. Ford was first asked to lecture on an Antarctic cruise in 1996, not long after he retired from USGS in a big shakeup. Peninsula naturalists and popular tour leaders Doug and Gail Cheeseman invited him on their second cruise to Antarctica. Since then, he has lectured on Cheeseman Antarctic safaris, as well as Quark and Clipper cruises.

Dr. Ford especially enjoys the Cheeseman trips. "It's the best tour," he says. "If you want to go to the Antarctic, go on a small ship of 100 or less. We can visit three or four more penguin colonies than you can on a large ship, and we can get closer to shore."

The problem with really large cruise ships -- carrying more than 100 passengers -- is that the international Antarctic Treaty allows only 100 people to go ashore at one time, to protect the wildlife, Dr. Ford explains.

Besides penguins, the Antarctic experience includes birds -- albatrosses, gulls, petrels, skuas, and more -- and mammals, from little fur seals to massive elephant seals, and whales. "Sometimes leopard seals hunt in pairs," Dr. Ford says. "One chases a penguin in the water onto the ice where the other grabs it."

Then in the Antarctic, there's scenery -- deep narrow channels through glacier-covered mountains; spectacular icebergs. "One of the highlights is cruising among icebergs in zodiacs," he says. "Every landing is a wet landing."

But summer weather in Antarctica is surprisingly mild, he adds, generally high 30s and mid 40s in mid-summer. But it's often wet.

Next summer, Dr. Ford is already signed up for two Cheeseman trips to the Arctic, north of Norway. Participants will enjoy spectacular scenery and abundant wildlife, including polar bears, walruses, birds, and rocks, he says.

Meanwhile, Dr. Ford remembers last summer's Arctic high point: the Quark cruise to the North Pole aboard the giant Russian ice breaker, Yamal.

"There were 45 passengers and 40 GPS (global positioning systems) instruments to make sure we got to the North Pole," he says. "We had a celebration party with champagne on the ice. "A few daredevils went swimming and got a certificate, 'I swam at the North Pole.'"
If you're interested

Art Ford has lectured with these companies that cruise to Arctic and Antarctic regions:

** Cheesemans' Ecological Safaris, 1-800-527-5330; www.cheesemans.com

** Quark Expeditions, 1-800-356-5699; www.quarkexpeditions.com

** Clipper, 1-800-325-0010; www.clippercruise.com

In addition, Adventure Network International flies tourists from Argentina to the South Pole, where they stay at Patriot Hills base camp and explore. For information: 1-866-395-6664, www.adventure-network.com.

For an overview of Antarctica, Dr. Ford recommends a new coffee-table book first published last year in Australia. He contributed articles on geology to "Antarctica: The Complete Story," by David McGonigal and Dr. Lynn Woodworth, forward by Sir Edmund Hillary. Five Mile Press, 2001, $60 ($45 on Amazon.com, he says).