Extreme Living: Scientists at the End of the Earth

Ever thought an exciting career taking you to the ends of the earth would be for you?! Try this:

http://www.livescience.com/11273-extrem ... earth.html
Extreme Living: Scientists at the End of the Earth

Beneath the Surface Credit: Peter West / National Science FoundationPrincipal Investigator James Morison, of the University of Washington, takes water samples from the Arctic Ocean near the North Pole. The sampling is one of several measurements taken annually as part of the National Science Foundation's North Pole Environmental Observatory project.


Rough Waters Credit: Peter West / National Science FoundationAssisted by a member of the Healy's crew, Stephane Plourde, of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, fends off ice flows to retrieve the sampling net during the Western Shelf-Basin Interactions research cruise off Barrow, Alaska. Long hours and hard work are elements of any scientific research cruise.

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/field ... -katey-09/
Katey Walter Anthony, Aquatic Ecologist and Biogeochemist

It's a good thing Walter Anthony loves the solitude and stark beauty of Arctic landscapes. Her fieldwork is wet, risky, and very, very cold. "Just when temperatures dive, snow starts piling up, and everyone heads inside, we pack up our tents and go camping," she smiles. Some areas she visits have been dubbed "drunken forests"—places where thawing permafrost has transformed woodlands into soggy wetlands dotted with dead and dying trees tilting at haphazard angles. "We get up in the morning, put on frozen-stiff clothes, and venture out onto thin lake ice," she describes.

After shoveling off snow, Walter Anthony's team hacks open holes in the ice and lowers plastic bubble traps into the water. "A valve allows us to take a sample and bring it back for lab analysis," she says. But for on-the-spot confirmation of gas contents, Walter Anthony strikes a match. When flames leap—often as high as trees—she's found methane.

You don't have to become a scientist to work like one (although I highly recommend it!) :thumbsup:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/artic ... -the-world
"Voluntourism": See the World--And Help Conserve It
"Voluntourism" ramps the ecological impulse up a notch, providing ways for vacationers to help save the world's sustainable resources
By Jim Cornfield | October 15, 2008

The trend has been described as a kind of mini version of the Peace Corps​. Depending on your interests, you could find yourself repairing trails leading to Old Faithful, tracking sharks in the Atlantic, or mixing cement for housing in the Andes. Voluntourism is becoming a significant growth sector of the travel industry. Online trip planner Travelocity, for example, now partners with tour operators such as GlobeAware, Cross-Cultural Solutions and Take Pride in America, which specialize in launching voluntourists on service-oriented vacations.

One organization, the Massachusetts-based Earthwatch Institute, places travelers in cutting-edge field research projects around the globe. During these stints, most lasting one to two weeks, volunteers work alongside professional, peer-reviewed scientists, all authorities in their disciplines and all expecting meticulous performance and dedication from their newfound assistants.

Slide Show: Exotic "Voluntourism" locales