#AntarcticLog is a series of comics by Karen Romano Young. You can find the originals here.

Still full from Thanksgiving? Then maybe you’ll be able to resist a continuation of the cake theme I began last week with my fruitcake comics from the JOIDES Resolution’s expedition to the Amundsen Sea, into which the Thwaites and Pine Island Glaciers are both flowing faster and faster… Pause. Take a deep breath. Time for cake. 

The celebration is real: 62 years since the first Antarctic Day, which marks the signing of the Antarctic Treaty. 

I’ve been baking cakes each year and flying my Antarctic flag since 2017, when #AntarcticLog began, thanks to the National Science Foundation and the Antarctic Artists and Writers Program. 

These cakes were iced to celebrate the start of the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration. While that brilliant expedition continues, this year’s cake — with its big number 2 — gives a nod to new initiatives designed to make Antarctica more inclusive. 

Those decorations stand for Minorities in Polar Research, ROAM2 – a PolarTrec program that brings undergraduates into the field, and Pride in Polar Research. 

–Karen Romano Young is a writer, artist, deep-sea diver, and polar explorer. Follow her on Twitter & Instagram.