Dozens of feet under the water’s surface, a Sea Scout, clad in scuba gear, kicks toward the ocean floor. He’s helping study the massive iceberg he’s swimming by — just one of hundreds he will see in the frigid waters of Antarctica.
He hopes his research will unlock a new understanding about the floating masses of frozen water — and how they could share clues about our planet’s climate.
Heading to Antarctica
A scuba diver since 2021, John Humphreys, a Sea Scout with Ship 185 “Valhalla” of Apollo Beach, Fla., joined a scientific scuba diving mission to Antarctica two years ago.
“It’s the place on Earth most like Mars,” says John, now 17. “Getting to go to the most remote places on Earth was pretty special to me.”
But the journey was also about the science. For a project with SCUBAnauts International, a youth aquatic exploration organization, John had hypothesized that icebergs’ size and texture could indicate changes in the climate. So to test his theory, John joined Blue Green Expeditions in 2024 as a citizen explorer to dive in the Antarctic Circle near the Antarctic Peninsula.
It wasn’t a Scout trip, but his experience in Scouting equipped him for the journey. (John is also an Eagle Scout and Order of the Arrow member.)
“Being prepared was the biggest part,” he says.
Before he could go, he needed to record at least 50 drysuit dives — including cold-water dives below 60 degrees Fahrenheit — and complete many certifications. Drysuits keep divers warm and dry as opposed to wetsuits. Living in Florida, he traveled to Buffalo, N.Y., to complete the cold-water dives in the Niagara River.
After raising thousands of dollars for the trip and diving equipment, John headed to Ushuaia, Argentina, the launching point for many Antarctic voyages. He boarded an expedition ship alongside scientists and volunteer ice surveyors. Together, they’d study more than 250 icebergs and make half a dozen dives around grounded icebergs, a safer place to swim than around floating icebergs.
Understanding the ice
John and 16 ice surveyors studied the size, color and shape of icebergs along the western coast of the Antarctic Peninsula.
To earn the MasterNaut rank with SCUBAnauts International, John hypothesized that the group would find certain types of glaciers in the warmer waters of the peninsula based on the movement of melted water.
Sure enough, the group found more spire-shaped icebergs in warmer areas. Although more research needs to be done, John’s work could help lead scientists to use icebergs as a tool for indicating climate change.
More studies
Observing icebergs was only part of the Antarctic trip. John helped with other research projects too.
“There was quite a bit of science to be done,” he says.
One team looked at the health of plankton and sea stars (the term scientists prefer over “starfish”). Another snorkeled to photograph ocean wildlife. Wearing an underwater camera, John dove down to the ocean floor to gather measurements for another project.
Back home, John still had work to do: analyzing the data and writing a report. And after presenting his research last year, he earned SCUBAnauts International’s MasterNaut rank. (Add that to his new Quartermaster rank, the highest within Sea Scouting.)
“All that training pays off,” John says. “I was the youngest one there, so there was a little bit of pressure. But once I did my first dive, I knew that I could do this.”
