Fifth Weekly Report -  NBP01-05 Palmer LTER Sea Ice Cruise
08-14 October, 2001

We continue to be beset in very heavy snow and ice - with 
unfavorable winds from the NW to NE contributing to 
considerable pressure on the pack. We will be unable to maintain 
our scheduled arrivals at Palmer Station and Punta Arenas.  The 
snow and ice thickness is such that until conditions change we will 
remain in position until we can make efficient progress. That is the 
bad news.  The good news is that these ice conditions, unfavorable 
as they might be for ship traffic, appear to be a fact of this 
ecosystem and we are getting a rare and unusual opportunity to 
sample and experience it.  We are taking every opportunity, when 
weather conditions and safety considerations permit, to make good 
scientific use of the time we spend waiting for the situation to 
improve. We began the week with an ice station, complete with 
dive and experimental holes through the ice and a 60 meter 
transect perpendicular to the ship, which we were forced to 
abandon after five hours of work as high winds broke the station 
apart. We watched over the next six hours as the whole ice station 
(some 90 meters marked by our bamboo staked transect) was over 
rafted.  We continue to operate with the CTD off the stern of the 
ship (where we can maintain open water) and we are now 
accessing the ice by using a personnel basket from the bow.  This 
has allowed us several days of access to the ice for science 
operations. Our latest diving operations were carried out from a 
zodiac in an open area cleared to the rear of the ship on the 
starboard side.  Capt, crew, support and science groups continue to 
work as an integrated team and moral remain high in spite of 
conditions that severely limit our originally planned activities. 
King Neptune paid a visit this week.  Individual group reports 
follow.

BP-013 (Chris Denker, Heidi Geisz-for Bill Fraser)
Unfavorable sea ice conditions have made our work this week 
somewhat frustrating.  Adelie penguins were sighted throughout 
the week, possibly in reference to a lead that opened up off the 
bow, but unsafe conditions did not allowing us the opportunity to 
collect diet samples.  As it is said, the birds were so close yet so far 
away!  However, observations were conducted with total numbers 
of birds being slightly lower than previous weeks.  The majority 
are still the Antarctic petrels flying in rough flocks of 15 to 25 with 
fewer snow petrels arriving in the evening.  Giant petrels have 
been rare, but pass by every other day.  An adult emperor penguin 
visited the ship, and remained in close proximity for over 24 hours 
using the open water immediately aft of the ship for its dive hole.  
Proving to be quite the daytime feeder, it slept rather soundly 10 
yards off the starboard beam throughout the night of the 12th.  A 
minke whale has also visited the open water created by the ships.  
A number of crabeater seals are hauled out on the sea ice, one of 
which gave birth on the 11th while another was observed traveling 
from a great distance in a straight line to the open water provided 
by the NBP.  We will continue to observe avian and mammalian 
life, and hope to collect more Adelie penguin diets as opportunity 
permits.

BP-016  )M. Vernet, W. Kozlowski, K. Sines, K. Pelletreau, I. 
Garibotti, and P. Yeh. Andrew Ross from Oregon State University 
provides nutrient analysis.)  
During the week of 8-14 October, the phytoplankton group within 
the LTER 2001 Ice cruise continued field sampling and 
experiments to characterize the ice and plankton communities at 
the mouth of Marguerite Bay.  Water column was sampled with a 
CTD rosette or with Niskin bottles deployed from the ice. 
Phytoplankton biomass and primary production in the water 
column remain low (i.e. 0.31 milligrams chlorophyll a per cubic 
meter and 36 mgC m-2 d-1). With less than 1% of incident 
radiation reaching underneath the ice, plankton communities 
remain low-light adapted (Pmax = 0.49 mg C mg chla-1 h-1, alpha 
or light-limited photosynthesis = 0.0085 mg C mg chla-1 h-1 per 
microE m-2 s-1 and light saturation (Ik) at 62 microE m-2 s-1). 
Macronutrient concentrations remain high at the mixed layer: 
phosphate 2.1 micromolar, nitrate 30 micromolar, silicic acid 70 
micromolar. Community composition in the water column shows 
high diversity, very similar to summer communities, albeit with 
lower concentrations. Main carotenoids are fucoxanthin, 
19'hexanoyl-oxy-fucoxanthin, alloxanthin and 19'butanoyl-oxy-
fucoxanthin in addition to the presence of chlorophylls a, b, c2 and 
c3. Communities are dominated by diatoms and prymnesiophytes 
and to a lesser extent, cryptomonads and other flagellates. 
Chlorophyll concentrations at the snow-ice interface are high and 
patchy, with concentrations varying from 1.8 to 24.5 mg m-3 
within a few meters. In addition to field sampling, we are studying 
the effect of ultraviolet radiation on carbon uptake on ice 
populations and determining the effect of temperature and cell size 
on photosynthesis. Analysis of ice cores is done in collaboration 
with Smith's group and biological analysis of cores is done jointly 
with Karl's, Ducklow's and Quetin's groups.  

BP-021 (Rich Iannuzzi & Raul Guerrero, for Doug Martinson)
The physical oceanography team made 9 CTD casts from 00:00 
Oct. 8 to 23:00 Oct. 14 bringing the cruise total to 54.  All the casts 
of this week were performed from the A-frame with the rosette 
remaining on the back deck for the whole week.  The rosette is 
wrapped in a tarp when not in use and the temperature of the 3 
thermisters is being monitored and controlled.  The oxygen sensor 
failed on the first cast of the week, and was believed to be a 
continuation of the problem from the final casts of the previous 
week.  It was replaced and a new configuration file was created for 
use in seasoft.  Continued maintenance of the 2 conductivity cells 
shows stable offset.  CFC samples on six casts were collected for 
Bill Smethie of Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory.  The salinity 
profiles of this week show that the clear seasonal mixed layer of 
last week has freshened the entire mixed layer to ~33.75 psu, 
which is roughly what was measured for the surface cap of last 
week.  Some warmer water was seen intruded into the bottom of 
the mixed layer on casts earlier in the week.
On the morale front, Raul has contributed with creation of a team 
fusbol tournament which had 21 participant teams and has 
generated much excitement throughout the ship.

BP-028 (Langdon Quetin, Charlie Boch, Amy Kaiser, Tim 
Newberger, Stephanie Oakes,  Holly Rodrigues, Jordan Watson, 
Jenny White)
>From October 8 - 14 our field activities have been limited by the 
winds of fate.  However, on board experiments to determine the 
ingestion and fecal pellet production rates and feeding selectivity 
of larval krill have continued.  Results from these experiments 
must wait until analyses can be completed at our home institution.  
On October 13 we completed 4 dives, took video and still pictures 
and collected krill for experiments.  Though we were diving in an 
area disturbed by the ship, the area was the most heavily over 
rafted we have seen to date with rafting down to 20 m.  Krill larvae 
were not abundant under the ice and were found mostly in the 
water column, not strongly associated with the upward facing 
surfaces of ice floes as seen on previous dives.  We plan to keep 
collecting AC0 krill, if the situation allows, to document changes 
in the population during early spring.  Our hope is that this work 
does not carry on into early summer.

BP-032 (Ray Smith, Enrique Curchister, Rob Massom, Yuko 
Massom & Sharon Stammerjohn)  Sea ice cover continues to be 
dominated by heavily rafted and ridged thick first-year ice and a 
very thick snow cover.  As has been the case throughout this 
eventful cruise, ice station  periodicity and duration have been 
dictated by the heavy snow and ice conditions, periodic 
cataclysmic deformation events, and the need to 
conserve fuel. In spite of the difficulties, we have collected 
excellent  snow and ice samples from 4 ice stations (one extending 
over 2 days) during this past week. A 
continuing feature has been almost daily snowfall accompanying  
predominantly northerly winds, with significant accumulation and 
drifting.  Warm temperatures, up to and greater than 0 deg C, have  
resulted in a granular, icy snow cover.
An important feature of the last two stations has been the 
presence of a 
highly-colored (yellow/greenish) horizon of friable refrozen slush 
at the base  of the snow layer. This layer has provided much 
material and interest for the biologists and two transects this week 
were carried out to estimate the spatial variability of this material 
in collaboration with the Vernet, Ducklow and Karl groups. 
Colored ice continues to be an important feature overall, in spite of 
the thick (>40 cm) snow cover.  The landscape is dominated by 
small (~10-25 m) cake floes separated by 2 m ridges, with rafting 
producing very thick ice (estimated by the divers to exceed ~15 in 
places).  Indeed,  transects for the past two stations have shown ice 
thickness  in excess of 4 to 5 meters and we have been unwilling to 
chance longer augers to completely penetrate the ice.  We continue 
the physical characterization of ice cores, including both thick and 
thin sections, as well as samples for chlorophyll, nutrients, and 
d18O analysis. We also completed two sets of optics 
measurements during this week but were only able to characterize 
the snow since we were unable to drill through the ice. 

BP - 045: (Rebecca Dickhut, Hugh Ducklow, Amy Chiuchiolo and 
Shelby
Walker) "Persistent Organic Pollutants in Antarctic Sea Ice" The 
VIMS group
continued to collect and process samples for POPs and bacterial 
biomass and activity when conditions and work schedules 
permitted. The extension of the cruise has been fortunate because 
we had only obtained three ice samples and four snow samples 
prior to the past week. Our continuing occupation of a station near 
68S, 70W has now yielded two additional large volume ice 
samples and an additional large volume snow samples, 
significantly increasing our sample numbers.  We were also able to 
complete a water column profile for POPs by collecting pycnocline 
and deep (800m) water at this location during week 5.  Three 
complete sets of air samples for POPs were also collected during 
week 5, with favorable wind conditions for sample collection. Our 
group will continue
to sample and conduct experiments on bacterial ecology until the 
ice releases us.

BP-046 (Chris Carrillo, Matt Church, Shaun Johnston & Tamara 
Pease for Dave Karl) 
As the NBP-01-09 LTER winter cruise continues because of heavy 
snow and ice conditions, BP-046 adapted to an extended-cruise 
mode of operation.  The snow and ice conditions have provided a 
unique opportunity to study changes in the microbial ecosystem as 
the season progresses. BP-046 continues to monitor the water 
column through periodic CTD casts for physical, chemical and 
biological changes that may signal a transformation from winter to 
spring conditions.  To date, we have not yet observed any 
significant changes. Surface seawater oxygen and pCO2 values 
have remained steady at 315 uM  and 400 uatm respectively. We 
continue making the suite of core measurements on ice cores made 
available when conditions are safe. Investigations are continuing 
on the precipitation and dissolution of calcium carbonate within 
sea ice. We continue to take samples for archaeal lipids and 
abundance within sea ice and in the water column.  BP-046 will 
continue to study the microbial community, oxygen and carbon 
dynamics as the sea ice ablates.      

Respectively submitted,
Ray Smith,
Chief Scientist