Julia Uberuaga

Julia "Jules" Mary Uberuaga (born February 26, 1955) is an American civilian contractor for the National Science Foundation, based in Antarctica. At age 24, she became one of the first women working as a summer-over employee. Since then, Uberuaga has worked more than thirty seasons in Antarctica as a heavy equipment operator. and grew up speaking the Basque language in her large local Basque community. Her duties included maintaining the airstrip, refueling the fuel tanks, and melting snow into water at Williams Field. Uberuaga received her first promotion during the 1997 season and became the first female heavy equipment operator on the continent.

In 2012, she worked on a NASA weather research project that involved releasing helium balloons into the atmosphere.

In 2017, Uberuaga was featured in Season 9, Episode 5 of Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown highlighting her heavy equipment operator career on the continent. By the end of her final season in 2017, Uberuaga had made 38 consecutive deployments to the continent. { "type": "FeatureCollection", "features": [ { "type": "Feature", "properties": { "title": "Uberuaga Island, Dailey Islands, Antarctica", "description": "Named in honor of Julia Uberuaga", "marker-color": "#3366cc" }, "geometry": { "type": "Point", "coordinates": [ 165.283333, -77.883333 ] } } ] }

Uberuaga Island On November 4, 1999, the New Zealand Antarctic Place-Names Committee (NZAPC) named an island located in the Dailey Islands after Uberuaga. Uberuaga Island is located at . The island has a weather station named Jules Station.