The clothing you wear in Antarctica is very important, because cold is the biggest enemy. Inside Base Camp you can wear normal clothes, but you must dress very carefully when you go outside, to avoid frostbite and hypothermia.

Layers

The secret of keeping warm in a very cold environment is to dress in lots of layers. This traps warm air between, and keeps you a lot warmer than wearing one thick layer. The outside layer should also keep out the wind, because the wind chill factor makes the body lose heat even faster. Keeping a human being warm is hard because of moisture created by the body when it is too warm. Materials close to the skin need to be kept dry, so that you don't get damp and sweaty.

To dress for the cold, you need to think in four layers:

1. First Layer: tight, nonabsorbent materials to keep body moisture away

2. Mid Layers: loose fit, trap air and keep body moisture away

3. Insulation Layer: thickness

4. Shell Layer: windproof, waterproof, and breathable to let moisture out

It is very important to keep your head warm, because you lose a lot of heat from your head.

Materials

Back in the days of early explorers, they wore a lot of wool, and even animal skins to keep warm. Nowadays we have even warmer materials available to use, and prefer not to kill scarce animals for their fur. A lot of the clothing worn in Antarctica is made from polar fleece, and underwear or first layers are made from polypropelene.

Wearing gloves and mukluks (soft boots). Notice the sun glasses to protect eyes from the glare.

Here is the list of clothes that US scientists in Antarctica are given.

*	2 sets of long underwear (different weights)
*	water bottle
*	3 pairs of gloves (different types)
*	6 pairs of wool socks
*	3 outer jackets (different types)
*	hat
*	1 fur-lined outer jacket
*	boots
*	3 pairs of mittens (different)
*	pair of glove liners
*	2 outer layer pants (different weights)
*	goggles
*	neck gaiter (kind of scarf)