Navigating Affective Extremes in Antarctica: Coping Strategies for Individuals and Teams in Confined Environments.

This article investigates the affective experiences and coping strategies of Antarctic summer research teams through two complementary studies, applying Affective Events Theory (AET) to understand daily emotional dynamics in isolated, confined, and extreme (ICE) environments. Study 1 involved interviews with eight experienced Antarctic researchers, identifying six categories of affective events: social, mission-related, and ecopsychological uplifts that foster positive affect (PA), and social, physical, and environmental hassles that trigger negative affect (NA). Study 2 used a mixed-methods diary approach with a two-person team on a 19-day expedition, confirming these categories and revealing five team coping strategies—reframing, praise, backup behavior, planning routines/private time, and playfulness—that operate both proactively and reactively to regulate affect and influence event occurrence. Quantitative analysis showed significant emotional synchrony between team members, suggesting affective crossover in close-knit teams. The findings highlight coping as a collective competence that shapes affective experiences and team functioning in Antarctic expeditions and analogous ICE settings, with implications for training and support in extreme environments such as space missions and submarine crews.