December 15, 2004, Wednesday - Andvord and Paradise
Bays
[Wind: NNE 15-17kn / Air Temp: 1.1C / Wind Chill: -12.2C /Depth: 391m]
Because there was a cruise ship in Paradise Bay (oh, spare me the civilization of it all!), we opted to first visit Andvord Bay by Rongé Island, also in the Gerlache Strait. We were in good company here, as a small sailboat was sighted making its way through the bay between icebergs and ice floe. Our Mate radioed and spoke with them – it was a 42-foot Dutch sloop with 7 people aboard. They were here on vacation. Zikes! What kind of craft is this that came here through the same dense ice floe we did???!?!? (Either skilled or just plain crazy – but it would have been worth many spendoolies to me to be out sailing on that bay with them!!)
42’ Sailboat in Andvord Bay, near Paradise Bay [Photo by Ellen Bailey]
To get to Paradise Bay this afternoon, we were able to follow a small cut on the southwest side of Andvord between Lemaire Island with it’s tall Rojas Peak, and Duthiers Point on the Continent. There was a Chilean station right on the point, which looked like a painting with a backdrop of snow covered mountain peaks. Paradise Bay is made up of the Antarctic continent on its east border, with Lemaire I. to the north, and Bryde Island to the southwest and west.
Chilean Station in Paradise Bay [Photo by Ellen Bailey]
Finally in the Bay-of-choice, we performed two Smith-MacIntyre grabs, which pulled up about a basin-full of fine dark gray muck. In it were several worms and a few isopods (you know, the little sandflea-like critters). Another Smith-Mac grab was done, and from that Ken decided to do a pair of Box Dredge tows, expecting to retrieve rocks (and this dredge can take it!). The first pulled up several interesting things, including a large amount of kelp. This kelp was about 8 inches wide and 15 feet long – imagine its living in this cooooooold water! In the second tow more kelp, but in amongst the kelp fronds were some equally long stringy pieces of – what?? They weren’t worms, and didn’t seem to have any roots. Someone in the gelatinous zooplankton group identified them as jellyfish tentacles!! Would we like to have seen the owner of those? Maybe… but from a distance, thank you.
Without being too repetitive, I wish to put in a word for Andvord and Paradise Bays. They were spectacular on this, yet another sparkling clear, sunny day. We all agreed that the snow on the bay-bordering mountain peaks all the way to the water looked like royal icing when it was smooth and shiny, or meringue - especially when it formed crevasses under its own weight. Both bays offered a fair number of small bergies floating by, probably still migrating from cove to cove as the springtime progresses and they bob and whittle down to nothing.
Mountains like royal icing [Photo by Larry Madin]
Iceberg like meringue [Photo by Ellen Bailey]
The dive team is getting some serious ice diving done these days, as we are traversing waters that still have a lot of ice floe. Besides being very quiet down there, the divers have a new safety hazard to be aware of. Under usual conditions (in non-ice laden waters), if a diver has an emergency, “safety is UP”. In ice diving, like diving under a ship or in a cave, if a diver gets into trouble, “safety is SIDEWAYS”, back in the direction they came, and then UP. Although they didn’t see salps or any living thing this evening, Sandy Williams reported seeing penguins right there by the zodiac on a small berg when he came up from the dive. One penguin waddled over to the edge and looked into the water for a moment. Suddenly he “plopped” into the water, and in an instant he popped up on the berg again with a fish in his mouth. Now, the divers had been down there for 20 minutes and saw nothing, and in a split second this penguin had lunch. Aren’t nature and instinct beautiful things?
Catch of the Day: Beautiful shot of peak on Anvers Island, by Adriene Burnette
Photo of sunset-lit peaks on Anvers Island [Photo by Adriene Burnette]
Dinner: Turkey and meatloaf.
December 16, 2004, Thursday - Palmer Station
[Wind: 3-4 kn / Air Temp: 0.6C / Wind Chill: 0.2C /Depth: N/A m / Seas 0ft – full ice floe]
We arrived at the long-anticipated Palmer Station at the SSW corner of Anvers Island around 7:30 a.m., tied up (it takes about a ½ hour!) and had breakfast on board before a 9 a.m. meeting with the Station Manager, sent to initiate us to the station. Joe Pettit gave us instruction on where we could go, how to sign in and out and where get radios (walkie-talkies) to take with us if we were going to explore beyond the station campus. It’s rugged terrain here, and because it is at the foot of a glacier, it has its unique hazards.
Once outdoors and off the ship, we explored the comfortable campus buildings and offices, including the Aquarium and science area, the dining hall, and sought out other pertinent information such as where to find the hot tub. This campus looks like the other stations we passed (only, the buildings were blue, not red), not unique in its outward character, but seemed functional and even homelike in many of its communal areas. The cast of characters there also appeared to have an air of solidarity in what could be loooooong seasons of isolation. I think of that isolation when I’m told that, although the continent has very little precipitation – averaging 4½ inches of snow per year, the peninsula has more like 25 feet of snow per year! It is the relative “rainforest” of the continent.
Our directive from Ken Halanych was to “meet on top of the glacier at 3 o’clock for a group photo – and be sure to wear your 2004 Antarctic Cruise tee shirts!!” (Rudi had them made for us before we left Cape Cod). We took off in small groups to travel the .8 miles, 460 vertical feet, on our own time [Note: the coordinates at the top of the glacier are, S64 degrees 46.452minutes W064 degrees 01.391 minutes]. I have to tell you, the .8 miles doesn’t sound like much until you try it in your Raytheon-issue layers of clothing and ultimately the ‘Sorel-like boots’ which Larry Madin describes as his “clown boots” – they are a couple of sizes too wide and one size too long, and we all look pretty clunky in them! Add to that the snow conditions which today were “loose granular under thin glacial hardpack” – which means, you never know which step you take will break through and sink you up to your knees in something I would not call “fluffy”. The weather was not too cold (around freezing), but overcast with occasional blizzards (weather passed through quickly here today!), so seeing the trail markers for or from any distance was at times what we might call “compromised”. The glacier was marked, we think by a professional street sign coordinator from Boston, with black-flagged poles at regular intervals of about 20 feet, except for the part we did not find ‘regular’, and probably went outside the lines for a bit… It was important to stay within those markers for safety – glacial ice and snow shifts are unpredictable, and especially in the melting springtime season. Crevasses are not our friends.
The short story from this point is that we all did make it, those energetic ones who hopped to the top by 2:30 were pretty cold by the arrival of the last, and were getting ready to draw straws on which one they would have to grill up and eat to survive the elements until Search and Rescue could find them… (Nerida - from Australia - has seen and already had enough of her first snow!) The camera arrived with a tripod, a committee was formed to figure out how to use them, and finally we were in formation by the “Danger - Crevasses - Stop!” sign. The first timed shutter release was done by Ken. Did I mention that you cannot run in this crusty breakthrough snow? Well, Ken dove and rolled into the picture after learning that running only made him break through more. Wisely, subsequent shots were delegated to the diminutive Adriene, who had some difficulty, but comically and with unbending determination, kept going back for more!
We doffed our jackets to show the tee shirts, just as one of the blizzards let up – so we have a GREAT TEAM PHOTO!!
The Salp Team then posed in pyramid formation for their group photo (always ‘one up’ this bunch, aren’t they?), which was very good, and then we headed back down (a much simpler terrain negotiation).
Cafeteria trays would have been welcomed for quick transport, except for that nasty unavoidable rock formation at the bottom of the glacier…
We were invited to the station for pizza dinner with blonde brownies and ice cream sundaes! It was a good opportunity to meet some of the Palmer staff. Five people are coming back with us to Chile, so we will make room for some welcome company (who would not be welcome into our friendly camaraderie?). All of them have “new” names, Katherine, Joe, Jude, Toby and Brad. We may be a bit feeble in the mind at this point in the cruise, so the challenge of names matching names we already know might be a little too much…
At the stroke of 6 p.m., we were on to THE STORE. The Station Store is in a room about 16’x10’ without inventory, and with 12 or so people in there at a time, it was sardine city – but we were desperate to spend money! It was hard not to leave a mess in there (tee shirts, especially, sorry!!). After shopping, we headed over to the recreation room where ship staff mixed with science mixed with station people in a very pleasant mood. We all were grateful for the night off with loud music and non-shop talk.
Many of us took advantage of our first chance since leaving Chile to phone home, from there at the station. It was a great opportunity to make some much-needed voice contact with our families.
The activities that went on later in the evening and perhaps into the morning hours are left to mere rumor and speculation, as I was not in attendance. There was pool-playing and darts-throwing and music-cranking-and-dancing. The hot tub was utilized with gusto, everybody played nice, and a few even took the “Polar Plunge”, which means running from the hot tub into the cold harbor!! The next day, the reminiscences of the merriment did not include any regrets or apologies. That, my friends, adds up to a successful party.
All in all, a good time was had by all, and the tradition of the Palmer Station stop towards the end of a cruise remains in good standing.
December 17, 2004,
Friday - Jaeckle and Balser
Long/Lat: S064 degrees 48.410 W063 degrees 33.671
(~1 p.m. – I got to sleep through my midnight shift!!)
[Wind: 2-3kn / Air Temp: 2.7C / Wind Chill: 2.6C /Depth: 319m / Seas 0ft ]
We departed Palmer Station at about 10:30 a.m. in sort of gray skies, but with a definite air of celebration. This is the last leg of our journey, the beginning of the trip home. We now have 5 of the Palmer staff of 42 with us, so a bugle was blown at Palmer to beckon all of the hardy souls who were staying on, and out they came to the dock to see us (and their friends) off.
Crew at Palmer Station rally to wave farewell to the 5 members who are coming with us to Punta Arenas [Photo by Ellen Bailey]
Palmer Station and the farewell committee [Photo by Ellen Bailey]
It was a really fine sendoff – we had enjoyed ourselves with enthusiasm at this fine US Research Station, and were privileged to have had a glance at what the dedicated staff who commit themselves to this kind of work, do.
Once again, we were able to transit the beautiful Neumayer Strait (this time in the light of day, and I watched it all from the Bridge), on to the Gerlache again, with a cut through Boyd Strait and then along Livingston Island with its exceptionally large mountain peaks. We made a short pass to the east to Point Shirreff on Livingston I to pick up a 6th new passenger, Mike (we idled a couple of miles offshore while the zodiac went in to retrieve him). We are now out in the Drake Passage again. If I didn’t mention it before, the Drake has the well-deserved reputation of having some of the harshest winds and waters on earth. We are watching the ‘isobars’ in the weather pattern printout to help forecast the conditions ahead of us. At present, they are looking favorable to a gentle passage across to South America, destination Staten Island (then a cut through in the Straits of Magellan and back to Punta Arenas). We have the technology as an aide, but in fact we all have our fingers crossed…
In the final few Journals, I’d like to introduce you to the lead scientists on this cruise, and give you a pinhole of an idea of what they came to do, and what they found out.
Will Jaeckle’s course of study is larval nutrition, and he teaches Evolution, Microscopic Anatomy and Comparative Chordate Anatomy (heady, isn’t it?). He works with invertebrates, which, simply put, are animals without backbones. (I personally don’t like labeling an animal merely because it won’t stand up for itself or its loved ones, but what do you do? I’m just doing my job.) Will’s larvae include bipinnaria or the larvae of sea star echinoderms (which means “spiny skinned”, and the family includes sea urchins) and ribbon worms called a nemerteans. They have a larva called a pilidium that looks like a small green ball inside a clear larger, helmet-shaped one.
Bipinnaria, which looks like an amoeba that has swallowed its bubble gum [Photo by Susie Balser]
Pilidium, larva that will become a sea star [Photo by Susie Balser]
Will’s purpose on this cruise is to capture the larvae live, and try to find out how these critters transport nutrients to all part of their bodies, especially the clear outer ‘skin’. You see, they have a ‘mouth’ and a ‘gut’ or digestive system, but no circulatory system for transport of nutrients like we do. So the question is, do they take food in and move it with microscopic “pumps”, or can it just be distributed by diffusion in a cell-to-cell manner? This is something that had not been studied or written about in any particular detail before, and Will would like to write that paper
Susie Balser, who I must say has the very best eye and specialized patience when it comes to microscopic photography, is a professor of Biology and teaches Invertebrate Zoology. Yup, you’re right, ‘no backbones’ again. Susie is studying pterobranchs on this trip. Pterobranchs are small animals (only about 5 mm in length) that live in tubes on the sea bottom. They use their “feather-gills” (hence the name pterobranch) to capture suspended food such as single-cell plants and animals from the water. In the picture you can see one large zooid and other smaller zooids—all of which make up what is called a “colony” of interconnected animals. The animals shown have been removed from their tube. Each of the small zooids grows from a disc at the end the large zooids stalk. This animal can have up to 10 other members in its colony.
Beautiful image of a pterobranch - notice its "feather gills" [Photo by Susie Balser]
It is known that peterobranchs are part of the same family tree as humans. But because they are considered especially “primitive”, they present a good starting place to get a handle on the changes that occurred at the beginning of their development as other science looks on up the tree at chordates and eventually us – big vertebrates. Although we’re part of the same ‘tree’, Susie would like to help find out from which ‘branch’ they stem. We pulled many pterobranchs up from the bottom with our benthic tows, and gave them to Susie to look at under her microscope. Prior to this trip, Susie had seen only 2 species of pterobranchs. But it appears that she has seen 4 different species out here this month, and perhaps even a 5th (2 that look similar, but seem to have some differences). This means she may have some up-to-date information on species that hadn’t been described in science in more than 20 years. (This is always good for putting a researcher more visibly “on the map” in respect to their field.)
We will continue for four more days across the Drake Passage, making stops for plankton sampling until we get to Staten Island. The labs are, for the most part, packed up and ready for offloading when we get to the docks in Punta Arenas. No more icebergs, no more grandiose superlatives (is that redundant?) to describe the scenery. From here on in, it’s just humble respect and awe for this long ocean passage, with maybe a fiery sunset or two.
Dinner: Curried Lamb, Lasagna (veg and meat)
December 18, 2004,
Saturday - now we’re in
the Drake!
Compass Heading: 66 degrees
Back up a bit. We didn’t pick up Mike at Shirreff until this date…
We are steaming off Hoseason Island at midnight, and the half moon is shining above the snowcapped peak before us. The sky is still pretty well lit (like late dusk at home), but it is evident that we are seeing more northern skies – we actually have a bit of a ‘dark night’ now. I didn’t expect to be so surprised to see the difference, and I’m finding that I’m feeling a bit melancholy about it. This also surprises me…. come on, it’s Christmas time!! I realize now that we didn’t see the moon while in the Antarctic, nor any stars, maybe because the sky was too light all the time. Joe Pettit from Palmer Station says they saw the moon all the time when there was a clear sky (and that in Antarctic Winter, moonshine sometimes makes more light than they see in the day). Perhaps I just wasn’t paying attention to looking for the moon, we were so focused on watching the sunsets and sunrises between midnight and 3 a.m.!
The ocean is calm as we pass Snow Island to the south and steam along the west end of Livington Island. Our borders include Rugged Island off to the far west, and Byers Peninsula. Our plan is to head around to Cape Shirreff along the northern shore of Livingston, to pick up another US-bound traveler. It’s a regular Greyhound Bus shuttle, this ship!
I see nothing to the north, west and south, except one huge iceberg in the distance. It is long and flat and looks quite uniform from here, though I now know they each have unique character. This may be my last iceberg… (Melancholy? I’m getting downright morose!!)
"The Last Iceberg" in Bransfield Strait as we head back to the Drake Passage [Photo by Katherine Schwager]
Our first plankton tow in the Drake was near Fortin Rock at Cape Shirreff, on our way out. Salps, salps, and more salps!!! The cod end (little filter catcher at the end of the net where our plankton is usually trapped, and we rinse it to fill a large bowl for sampling) was overflowing and the catch volume expanded well into the net with salps. Looking over the side, we could see them, attached in long aggregate chains, doing their S-curved dance in the briny blue. Hundreds of chains just at the surface, and this expanded probably for miles, and who knows how deep?! Well, the Salp Team was happy (“..just when you think it’s safe to pack up your lab and get a good night’s sleep….”) and blew out of their bunks like jackrabbits. And although I don’t have a photo of it, I think this Load ‘o Salp will be considered the Catch of the Day
Load of Salps in lab basin. These are then separated and sorted and documented. [Photo by Larry Madin]
Salp chains in open water
Ken Halanych and Rudi Scheltema at Paradise Bay in the Southern
Ocean, Antarctica, Dec. 2004 [Photo by
Adriene Burnette]
The early thinkers on
the possibility of benthic larvae being transported across large open ocean
currents were at odds as to whether this was possible. Many didn’t believe that animals in the
larval stage had enough time to travel much of a distance before their need to
metamorphose into adults. However, in
1968 Dr. Scheltema published an article in Nature that
described larvae of a number of benthic invertebrate species and presented
evidence that larvae could be dispersed in both directions between the eastern
and western Atlantic. Since then it has been established in the
laboratory that some benthic animals found in the open ocean and held in the
laboratory have larvae with a very long development (in one instance more than
a year) and can delay their metamorphosis in the absence of a suitable
environmental cue. Dr. Scheltema’s
course of study then followed this theme, leading to many cruises and many more
papers, and ultimately (up to now, anyway) this cruise with Ken Halanych.
I’ll give a short
history on the genesis of this collaboration.
Rudi Scheltema and Izzy Williams went on their first cruise to
Antarctica in 1994 on another scientist’s research. As a result of this, Rudi applied for and won a grant called a
“Small Grant Exploratory Research” so he could come back and continue larval
studies on his own in 2001 and 2002.
Ken Halanych, a new scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution, joined Rudi to assist on this trip. He went back to the Antarctic with Rudi in 2002, this time
performing a few ‘benthic grabs’ to look at certain things regarding his own
scientific interests. Working together
on these two cruises led to the submission of a collaborative research grant
through the National Science Foundation (NSF), which they won, and that grant
is funding this first of two Antarctic cruises to combine the larval and
benthic interests.
Dr. Scheltema’s interest
for this project involves studying the way larvae are transported across the
Drake Passage, possibly maintaining a connection with species of certain ocean
bottom invertebrates believed separated by the currents of the Drake’s waters
when the continents separated about 35 million years ago. On this cruise, we took plankton samples in
the Drake Passage (including both sides of the prevailing west-east current) to
see if we could find larvae that may explain such a connection, and
the similarity among certain invertebrate groups between the two
continental waters. Of special interest
are the larvae of polychaete worms (what I saw as worms with legs) and those of
echinoderms (brittle stars, sea urchins, etc.)
The research of Ken
Halanych attempts to determine a genetic similarity (through DNA testing)
that could support an exchange and genetic connection between
these animals in Antarctica and South America. The research on
dispersal by Scheltema and genetic similarity or differences made by Halanych
may make a contribution to the biogeography and evolution of the Antarctic
and South America. To do this, the
benthic samples will be transported back to the lab at Auburn University, to
have their DNA analyzed. Dr.
Scheltema’s plankton samples will also be identified via DNA analysis, and the
two groups may then be matched and some important conclusions drawn.
An important aspect of
this whole study is that using DNA to connect larvae to adults has not been
done before to this extent in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. Another aspect that particularly interested
NSF is the interplay between the use of ‘traditional’ and ‘more recent’ techniques
– that of plankton net and benthic trawl sampling, followed by genetic (DNA)
analysis tools. In the case of this
study, the two techniques complement each other nicely.
In addition to what is
described above, studies were also made on the occurrence of
planktonic larvae of benthic invertebrates in the Bransfield
Straits, the vicinity of the South Shetland Islands, the Adelaide Islands
and southward all the way to the Antarctic Circle (66º 33') . Very
few attempts of this kind have been made in the Antarctic region.
The present collections are possibly part of the most comprehensive of their
kind which includes a total of over 150 plankton samples, some taken
in the austral summer during the present expedition and others
previously taken during winter months.
Studies using these collections will continue for some time.
One more day of active
Journal information, the Salps Lab Scientists, and we will be getting close to
port. Man, what a ride!!
December 19, 2004, Sunday - Salps Team
[Wind: 4-6kn / Air Temp: 0.3C / Depth: 3884m / Seas calm]
We are finishing up the plankton tows and packing up labs for arrival at Punta Arenas early on Wednesday. We’re in Drake Passage, and contrary to its nature, the Drake’s cooperating nicely. To have to pack up the details in rough weather would have been prohibitive and we might have had to save a lot of it to do once we were tied up at the dock again. This is a blessing, and has everyone, tired as we may be, in very good spirits. Of course, the constant re-supplying of homemade cookies is a huge help!!
Some of our plankton tows are the usual nets we set out with the ship moving 1-2 knots. But we are trying a few “drift tows” as well, where the ship’s propellers are set in idle, and we actually drift with the sea for about a half hour, and the net is about 35 meters down. Will Jaeckle has gotten some very nice samples using this method, and we’re hoping to make a comparison between this method and the method where the plankton are …pushed… into the cod end net with a bit more force. (Will compares this ‘under power’ method to a human’s being forced into a chain link fence with a firehose. He does a nice impression of the larvae point of view.)
Will Jaeckle does his impression of a zooplankton larva 'under pressure' [Photo by Ellen Bailey]
Unfortunately, we
are heading into a pretty dense phytoplankton zone (remember, dun-dun-daaaaahn, phytoplankton bad, zooplankton good?), so
the nets are skimmed with green slime.
Green slime translates into pureed spinach soup consistency sample in
microscope dishes, and that makes for some difficulty finding microscopic
critters. You’ve heard of finding a
needle in a haystack? Well, this gives
that a whole new meaning.
One thing that has been bountiful in this
neck of the woods (an abstract term for me, remember, I haven’t seen a tree in four
weeks!!) is ….Salps! One
plankton netful brought up more salps than we could fit in a bucket. And although the Salps Lab had for the most
part been packed away, those folks jumped out of bed and started it all over
again. Never enough salps! (I think they’re possessed!!) …Which leads me to my next installment of
“Meet the Scientists” written by Dr. Larry Madin of the Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution.
Salp Project on
LMG04-14
Larry Madin and Pat
Kremer
Our project, B-307, is a study of the biology of salps in the waters
around Antarctica. Salps are large,
gelatinous animals that swim freely in the water, feeding on small algae
(phytoplankton). They belong to a group
of animals called tunicates, and are distant cousins of the vertebrates (and
people). Salps are hollow, transparent animals, up to 6 inches long, that pump
water through their body to bring in food and to provide jet propulsion. They
have an interesting life cycle that alternates between a ‘solitary’ form that
produces hundreds of identical offspring connected together in a chain, and the
‘aggregate’ form in the chains, which have one baby that grows up into the
solitary stage.
Solitary stage of
Salpa thompsoni. Mouth is at the left,
stomach is brown ball at right, chain of baby salps is underneath. Small shrimp
inside are parasites. [Photo by Larry
Madin]
Chain of aggregate
stage of Salpa thompsoni. Each is a separate individual, but they are connected
together into a coordinated chain. Each will have one baby. [Photo by Larry Madin]
One species of salp, Salpa thompsoni, is often very abundant in
the plankton during the austral summer around Antarctica. They may compete with krill, the shrimp that
are the other major herbivore in the Southern Ocean and have been studied much
more than salps. During this cruise we located populations of Salpa
thompsoni, collected them alive, and made measurements in the laboratory of
their feeding, metabolism, growth and reproduction. As they are fragile and damaged by usual methods of collection
involving nets, our main tool for collecting live salps is blue-water SCUBA
diving. A team of 4 divers, wearing
special dry suits for protection against the freezing water, dives from a small
rubber boat away from the main ship.
They look for the salps swimming underwater, and collect them in plastic
jars to bring back alive to the ship.
Tucker trawl, the
net used to check presence of salps in the water prior to starting Dive Ops (to
see if it's worthwhile) [Photo by
Thomas Dahlgren]
Our dives this trip provided hundreds of healthy salps up to about 14 cm
(5 ½ inches) long. We ran experiments
to measure how much they ate and their metabolic rates, and were able to keep
some alive in the ship’s laboratory for two weeks to see how fast they
grow. The salps are quite hardy and
survive well in buckets and tanks of cold seawater. We also counted and measured many salps collected in a large net
from different locations and will use this information to understand how the
population is growing. By measuring the
amount of chlorophyll in their stomachs, we can estimate how much algae they
have been eating. Combining this information with the algal stock in the water,
we can calculate the importance of the salps as grazers in the regions where we
found them in abundance. Our
measurements of defecation rate will enable us also to calculate the importance
of salps to the vertical flux of organic matter from the upper water column to
the bottom.
Salps in dishes on light table for study [Photo by Larry Madin]
Single salps dish on light table, closeup
[Photo by Thomas Dahlgren]
Our results will help us understand
how salps in Antarctica can be so successful and abundant in the cold but rich
ocean around Antarctica. We think that
their efficient way of feeding and their ability to reproduce quickly are
important parts of their adaptation. They are beautiful and fascinating
creatures and we were glad to find so many to study on this cruise. We will return next year for a second cruise
to investigate these animals. We plan
to build on what we have learned this trip to increase our understanding of the
ecology and population dynamics of Antarctic salps by including more sampling
of their vertical and horizontal distribution.
The Madin/Kremer
lab here is also staffed by Erich Horgan, Larry Madin’s Research Associate and
‘right hand man’ here and at WHOI; Jeff Godfrey from UConn, Dive Safety
Coordinator,; Kerri Scolardi, grad student specializing in the study of
ctenophores; Brennan Philips, UConn grad student; and Sandy Williams of WHOI,
diver and engineer in the generation and analysis of important data. All of these people are divers, and able
on-call laboratory personnel as well.
We will be arriving
in Punta Arenas in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. Between now and then, activities will involve packing up the last
of the labs, sealing and labeling boxes for shipping or for storage in the
Warehouse here in Chile. It will be
easier for the scientists to come back in 18 months for the second cruise of
their grant with certain things already here, ready to go back onto the ship,
as long as they don’t need them in their labs at home.
So, this is my last science
entry, I’ll write one more time before we get off the ship to close down the
Antarctic Cruise Outreach Journal. But
the website will be up for a while, so if you have any late breaking thoughts
or questions, please write to Antarctic Outreach at: ebailey@whoi.edu
I will be watching for correspondence and keeping the website updated
with any new or better information for a while longer.
Ellen also sent us this:
On the 1st day of Cruise-mas
The Captain gave to me
A pass to board the L-M-G
On the 2nd day of Cruise-mas
Thanksgiving out at sea
2 times up-chucking
and a dream of going out to sea
On the 3rd day of Cruise-mas
The Chief Sci gave to me
3 Hours of sleep
2 Benthic Sleds
and a dream of going out to sea
On the 4th day of Cruise-mas
King Neptune gave to me
4 buckets brimming
3 trays of sea stars
2 giant worms
and a wind chill of minus12C
On the 5th day of Cruise-mas
King Neptune gave to me
Five Sil-ver Sieves!
4 foot seas
3 bites of Jell-o
2 huge Blake Trawls
and a dream of going out to sea
On the 6th day of Cruise-mas
King Neptune gave to me
6 cameras clicking
Five Sil-ver Sieves!
4 Smith Mac grabs
3 Freezers full
2 Diving Ops
and another load of Salpa T
On the 7th day of Cruise-mas
King Neptune gave to me
7 Sphaerosyllids
6 ctenophores
Five Sil-ver Sieves!
4 polychaetes
3 Albatross
2 Tucker Trawls
and a dream of going out to sea
On the 8th day of Cruise-mas
King Neptune gave to me
8 penguins sliding
7 seals a-sunning
6 petrels swooping
Five Sil-ver Sieves!
4 hours of slime
3 showers
2 bad dreams
and a wish for just one good mo-vie
On the 9th day of Cruise-mas
King Neptune gave to me
9 white buckets brimming
8 shovels slurping
7 jars of small stuff
6 labels each
Five Sil-ver Sieves!
4 XBT’s
3 interpretations
2 cursing techs
and a chance to drop the CTD
On the 10th day of Cruise-mas
King Neptune gave to me
10 shots of one sunset
9 kinds of cookies
8 shapes of icebergs
7 loads of laundry
6 rocky peaks
Five Sil-ver Sieves!
4 Mustang suits
3 Extra Large
2 missing tools
and a Green Flash that could go on TV
On the 11th day of Cruise-mas
King Neptune gave to me
11 pipettes broken
10 forceps missing
9 records typos
8 printouts missing
7 things mislabeled
6 boots unhealthy
Five Pounds Put On!
4 Fire Drills
3 bowls gone
2 hours of sleep
and a dream of going out to sea
On the 12th day of Cruise-mas
King Neptune gave to me
12 discs of photos
(11 of Deception)
10 calm days running
9 gorgeous sunsets
80 massive icebergs
7 herds of penguins
6 sparkling harbors
Five Whale Sight-ings
4 Scenic stops
3 days off
2 more days at sea
and a Pisco Sour in Chil-ee