TITLE:     The Palmer LTER: A Long-Term Ecological Research Program at
	   Palmer Station, Antarctica

AUTHORS:   R.C.Smith, K.S.Baker, W.R.Fraser, E.E.Hofmann,D.M.Karl,J.M.Klinck,
	   L.B.Quetin, B.B.Prezelin, R.M.Ross, W.Z.Trivelpiece, M.Vernet

JOURNAL:   Oceanography, pp.77-86
           Palmer LTER Contribution No. 78 

DATE:      1995


TEXT: 	   The Antarctic marine ecosystem-the assemblage of plants, animals,
ocean, sea ice, and island components south of the Antarctic Convergence-is
among the largest readily defined ecosystems on Earth (36 x 10^6 km^2)
(Hedgpeth, 1977; Petit et al., 1991).  This ecosystem is composed of an 
interconnected system of functionally distinct hydrographic and biogeochemical 
subdivisions (Treguer and Jacques, 1992)and includes open ocean,
frontal regions, shelf-slope waters, sea ice, and marginal ice zones.
Oceanoic, atmospheric, and bio-geochemical processes within this system are
thought to be globally significant, have been infrequently studied, and are
poorly understood relative to more accessible marine ecolsystems (Harris and
Stonehouse, 1991; Johannessen et al., 1994). The Palmer Long-Term Ecological
Research (Palmer LTER) area west of the Antarctic Peninsula (Fig.1a) is a
compley combination of a coaastal/continental shelf zone and a seasonal sea
ice zone, because this area is swept by the yearly advance and retreat of sea
ice.  The Palmer LTER program is a multidisciplinary program established to
study this polar marine ecosystem.