Initially, you might be surprised to learn that moss grows at all in Antarctica, the common image of which is a harsh, cold environment in which nothing grows.  This is certainly true of large parts of the Antarctic continent, but on the Antarctic Peninsula, where temperatures are relatively much warmer and precipitation somewhat higher (Antarctica receives so little precipitation that it is technically classified as a desert), banks of moss have been slowly growing and accumulating for thousands of years.

Moss bank in the Antarctic Peninsula

Spectacular location for moss coring – Green Island, Antarctic Peninsula.

Polytrichum strictum moss bank, Green Island, Antarctic Peninsula.

Matt is currently involved with a project that aims to study these moss banks in order to learn more about climate change in the Antarctic Peninsula, which is currently one of the most rapidly warming parts of the planet.  You can find out much more about this on the project website by following this link.  You can also read about the day-to-day life of a moss-coring fieldwork trip to Antarctica on the project blog, which will be updated with progress reports over the time the project is running, from 2012 – 2014.