Abstract
We studied pre- to post-expedition changes in hand temperature measured by infrared (IR) thermography and energy expenditure during whole body cooling of Inspire-22 participants (6 M,3 F). Measurements were made in a whole-body calorimeter at the end of a 36-h protocol when the ambient temperature was reduced by ≈ 5.5 °C over a period of 2 h after which IR images of both hands were taken. After 1-h of re-warming, the imaging was repeated. The mean temperature of the finger and non-finger regions were determined. A line-of-best-fit and its 95% CI were used to estimate the change in energy expenditure (EE) for 100 min of cooling. Pre-expedition 5 participants showed an increased, 2 no-change and 2 decreased EE; post-expedition the corresponding values were 5, 1 and 3 respectively. There was no difference in these proportions between pre- and post-expedition measurements (χ2; p > 0.05). An Applied Rank Transform non-parametric ANOVA for small samples found no significant difference in the cool-warm temperatures for sex of the participants nor whether measurements were made pre- or post-expedition (p > 0.05). Graphical analysis showed no association between the change in EE and the change in hand-to-background temperature on cooling suggesting reduced peripheral circulation was not an explanation for reduced EE on cooling.
Data availability
Data cannot be shared publicly because the small number of participants are potentially personally identifiable due to the publicity surrounding the Inspire-22 expedition. Data are available from the Director of Research for the UK’s Ministry of Defence (contact via [ukstratcom-dms-dmd-rci-clearance@mod.gov.uk] (mailto: ukstratcom-dms-dmd-rci-clearance@mod.gov.uk) ) for researchers who meet the criteria for access to confidential data.
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Acknowledgements
INSPIRE-22 Science Team (in alphabetical order): Robert Gifford, John Hattersley, Chris Imray, Natalie Taylor, Doug Thake, Adrian Wilson, with support from Mark Christian, Fiona Koivula and Prof. David Woods. INSPIRE-22 participants whose support was essential in obtaining the data reported (in alphabetical order): Nadja Albertson, Roger Alcock, Stefano Capella, Henry Crosby (deceased), Mike Eager, Pat Harper, Chris Imray, Stephanie Innes Smith, Natalie Taylor. For the work reported in this paper we acknowledge nursing support from Alison Campbell and her team and technical support from David Dixon.
Funding
The scientific study was principally funded by a grant from the UK Ministry of Defence, Royal Centre of Defence Medicine (RCDM) https://www.uhb.nhs.uk/services/royal-centre-for-defence-medicine and sponsored by the department of Research and Clinical Innovation, RCDM (awarded to RG and NT). The study was also generously supported by the Drummond Foundation, a committee of the Royal Army Medical Corps charity (https://www.ramcassociation.org.uk ) which awarded a donation (to NT) from non-public funds. In addition, the study received support from the women in ground close combat study funded by the Ministry of Defence (ref: ASC task 108, awarded to RG). Civilian funding for the scientific study came from: The Charles Swithinbank Award to the Inspire-22 expedition from the Andrew Croft Memorial Fund (https://www.acmf.org.uk/ ), the Mount Everest Foundation (https://www.mef.org.uk Ref: 22/03, awarded to CI), the Gino Watkins Memorial Fund (https://www.spri.cam.ac.uk/about/funding/ginowatkins, awarded to CI), and the JABBS Foundation (awarded to CI). Commercial and individual philanthropic support for expedition and on-ice logistics was provided by (in alphabetical order): AlleyCorp (https://alleycorp.com ); Empatica Inc. (https://www.empatica.com); FJ Labs (https://fjlabs.com ); Fabrice Grinda (https://fabricegrinda.com ); Taavet Hinrikus; Jack Kreindler; Medable Inc. (https://www.medable.com ); OzCo Building Products (https://ozcobp.com); Arnis Ozol (https://www.ozoco.eu); Plural UK Management Ltd., (https://pluralplatform.com ); Printify Inc., (https://printify.com ); Kevin Ryan; WellFounded.Health Ltd., (https://wellfounded.health ) None of the scientific nor expedition funders had any role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. None of the authors received personal support from any of the funders. All commercial and philanthropic support for the expedition was applied for and awarded to the Inspire-22 expedition.
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The Inspire-22 study was conceived by C.I., WBC & IR thermography measurements were designed and overseen by J.H., A.J.W. implemented the image analysis and data processing routines; A.J.W & J.H oversaw the data interpretation. The original version of the manuscript was written by J.H. & A.J.W. All authors reviewed, contributed to and approved the final submitted version.
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Hattersley, J., Imray, C. & Wilson, A.J. Changes in peripheral IR thermography and energy expenditure on cooling in men and women following sustained strenuous activity in Antarctica. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-35294-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-35294-y
