Second Weekly Report NBP01-05  Palmer LTER Sea Ice Cruise
17-23 September, 2001

We were buoyed by the good news that Doug Martinson's operation was successful, that 
he is on his way to a full and complete recovery, and that he was discharged from the 
hospital and allowed to go home on Friday, 22.  All aboard wish Doug a speedy and 
restful recovery.
The week began at Ice Process Station #1 (near grid location 200.040 roughly 
40km west of the south end of Adeliade Island) with a suite of sampling areas including:
an uncontaminated area for snow collection for the Persistent Organic Pollutants (POP) 
studies, transect lines for snow & ice thickness studies, areas for coordinated snow pit
and core sampling, dive holes oriented so that above ice transects may be coordinated 
with below water diver transects, a location for under ice sediment trap, holes for 
biological experimentation and an undisturbed area for snow and ice optics 
measurements. The transects were also oriented so as to traverse the major ice types 
observed from the bridge during the along-track sea ice observations: 10/10's of 
first-year 
sea-ice of average thickness 80cm, vast (>200m) average floe sizes, topography of 10-
20% consolidated ridges with average sail heights of 1m covered with wind-packed snow 
of average thickness 30cm.  On the third night at Ice Station #1,  pressure from 
sustained winds in excess of 40 knotts and temperatures hovering just about zero, the 
ice station broke up. Upon leaving Ice Station #1 we moved to the polynya area off the 
south east end of Adeliade Island.  The roughly 50 nautical mile transect required 
over 24 hours of backing and ramming and we arrived in open water mid-afternoon on the 
19th.  Our primary objective in this location was to locate and obtain diet samples 
from satellite tracked Adelie penguins that were feeding in the polynya and hauling 
out on the pack ice surrounding the polynya during the late afternoon and night.  The 
next several days centered on this activity with MocNess tows and CTD operations 
primarily in support of BP-013 studying winter diets of Adelie penguins.  We paid a 
brief courtesy call at Rothera station and are now transecting to Ice Process Station 
#2 at the location of ice buoy #7949.  Transect speeds are slow due to the thick ice & 
snow and nearly constant strong winds from the north north east.
We continue to receive outstanding and professional support from Captain Joe 
Borkowski and his crew and from MPC Randy Sliester and his RPSC staff.  Individual 
group reports follow.

BP-013 (Chris Denker, Heidi Geisz, for Bill Fraser)
The primary goal of the LTER Ice cruise sea bird component is to collect Adelie diet 
samples, and maintain bird observations throughout the cruise.   The past week we were 
moderately successful with regards to the collection
of diets.  Following the collapse of Ice Camp 1, we held observations on the bridge in
search of Adelies concentrating on the afternoon hours when penguins are
typically hauling out for the night.  The first sighting 
of roughly 30 Adelies came late in the day on the 19th but snow & ice conditions 
prevented any capture.  On the 20th,  we accessed Avian Island via zodiac in search of 
Adelie activity with no success.  Later in the day we pursued groups of penguins on ice 
flows, and were able to collect four samples.  We spent the 21st searching the ice flows
for more Adelies, but unfortunately high winds and blowing snow created unstable ice 
conditions, the breaking up of large flows, and low visibility.  Due to smaller ice 
flows surrounded by brash, we were forced to approach close to the penguins with the 
NBP.  This resulted in birds moving into the brash ice, and overall inaccessible areas. 
We saw upwards of 75 birds, but were unable to collect them due to said conditions. 
Two satellite tagged birds had been tracked  in the eastern region of Marguerite Bay, 
so on the 22nd we moved to this location.  Finding no signs of Adelies on the islands 
close to Rothera Base, we headed towards Porquoi Pas Island, the direct vicinity of our
tagged birds.  Again, unstable ice conditions prevented us from catching Adelie 
penguins.  

BP-016 (Maria Vernet,  Irene Garibotti, Wendy Kozlowski, Karen Pelletreau, Karie 
Sines,  and Pamela Yeh.  Nutrient analyses were provided by Andrew Ross from Oregon 
State University. ) During the week of 17-23 September, the phytoplankton group within 
the LTER 2001 Ice cruise sampled a 3-day ice station and the polynya to the South East 
of Adelaide Island. At the polynya, phytoplankton biomass was low (highest surface 
concentration was 0.078 milligrams per meter cubed) and the integrated primary 
production within the euphotic zone (0-50 m) was also very low (13.3 mg C m-2 d-1). 
Surface nutrient concentrations were high, higher than at coastal areas near Anvers 
Island or on the shelf. A steep nutricline was observed across the permanent pycnocline.
Photosynthetic activity (Photosynthesis versus Irradiance curves) indicated a 
phytoplankton community adapted to low light conditions  (Pmax = 0.25 mg C mg chla-1 
h-1, alpha or light-limited photosynthesis = 0.0061 mg C mg chla-1 h-1 per microE m-2 
s-1 and light saturation (Ik) at 41.9 microE m-2 s-1), similar to under-ice communities.
Variable fluorescence measured by a Fast Repetition Rate Fluorometer (FRRF) was low 
throughout the mixed layer suggesting cells are stressed, presumably by low light 
conditions. In the coming week we will continue characterizing algal communities, both 
in the ice and in the water column.  

BP-021 (Rich Iannuzzi & Raul Guerrero, for Doug Martinson)
The physical oceanography team made 15 CTD casts from 17:00 Sept. 17 to 12:00 Sept. 
23 bringing the cruise total to 29.  At the start of the week the CTD was still being 
cast from the A-frame and serious connectivity problems caused several mid-cast 
failures.  
Jeff Otten, Raytheon ET, and Raul Guerrero, worked persistently until the problem was 
fixed.  A main cause was the slide ring on the port trawl winch, although at least one 
smaller connection problem was discovered in the process.  After Ice Process Station 1 
was broken up, the CTD was moved back into the Baltic room where it has operated 
flawlessly since.  Salts have been run and while the conductivity cells have a 
noticeable offset of approximately 0.02 PSU, we see no drift and continue to use the 
same sensors.  
This is being monitored continuously.  Thermisters are tracking impressively within 
limits and the oxygen, par, transmissometer, and florescence data have all been plotted 
and placed in the CTD binder with the temperature and salinity data.  The temperature 
data in the Marguerite Bay polynya showed appreciable cooling after the air temperature 
dropped suddenly to -15 on the morning of 9/21 and remained below -10. T/S diagrams 
are also being plotted and evaluated. The plans for ice station 2 are to continue CTD 
casts in order to keep the other groups supplied with water and to take a day for 
yo-yo casts in order to get an idea of the time scale of change.  Further cast plans 
will be adjusted according to those results.  We plan to continue to monitor the 
conductivity sensors.

BP-028 (Langdon Quetin, Charlie Boch, Amy Kaiser, Tim Newberger, Stephanie Oakes,  
Holly Rodrigues, Jordan Watson, Jenny White) 
We completed 5 dives at Ice Station 1 over a period of two days before waking up the 
morning of the third day to find our dive tent buried in a ridge and quickly sinking 
from sight.  During our two days at Ice Station 1 we were able to collect larvae of 
Euphausia superba for analysis of length and stage frequency, growth, chemical 
composition and elemental carbon.  We found that the inter-molt period was 27-31 days 
and most larvae were F6 or juvenile.   We were also able to set up two permanent 
transect lines, complete three krill transects, mark krill schools, measure the depth
of the ice along two transects, 
and put in lag screws to determine the growth or melting of the underside of the ice.  
Unfortunately, we had to depart the station prior to revisiting krill schools to 
determine 
changes in numbers and orientation, lag bolts, and to collect samples of the 
microplankton from under-ice surfaces.  After abandoning Ice Station 1 we headed for 
the north side of Marguerite Bay where we completed 5 MocNess tows in support of BP-
013 studying the winter diets of Adelie penguins, and managed a short visit to Rothera 
Station.  Both E. superba and E. crystallorophias were present in the MocNess tows and 
distributed over a depth range of 240 m.  E. superba was less than 4% of the krill in 
the catches, and E. crystallorophias was more abundant toward the back of  Marguerite 
Bay. 
Feeding experiments with E. superba larvae have been problematic due to temperature 
fluctuations in the cold room on board, but a solution was found in the aquarium room by
using one of our jar racks as a water bath for the experiments.  The first successful 
feeding experiment was completed September 21.  E. superba larvae appear to be feeding 
much more than during the earlier Globec cruise. We completed the week by beginning 
the transit to the Pal LTER station 200.-080 where we will deploy the ctd followed by 
the transit to Ice Station 2. Thanks again this week to all aboard for making this a 
fun, compatible cruise.   

BP-032 (Ray Smith, Enrique Curchister, Rob Massom, Yuko Massom & Sharon 
Stammerjohn).  At Ice Process Station #1 snow, ice & optics team completed: an 80 
meter snow, wicked, slush & ice thickness transect including snow/ice temperatures and 
ice freeboard; two core sites with physics cores for temp, salinity, d180, chl and 
structure analysis in concert with cores for biological and chemical analysis; a 
bamboo thickness array; three snow pits for structural analysis, temp, salinity and
d18O analysis. Cores at both coring sites along the thickness transect were isothermal 
with core/snow (average) 
thickness of 85/21 cm and 145/27cm respectively; air temperatures during coring 
activities were –15.2C and –1.3C respectively.  Chlorophyll concentrations have 
also been determined on all snow & ice samples. The breakup of  the ice station 
prevented recovery of the bamboo thickness array.
An eye-opening aspect of the cruise so far has been the presence of a thick snow 
cover, averaging >30 cm over typical first-year ice. Not only has this hampered the 
progress of the ship, but it has also had a significant effect on the underlying sea ice
cover. The first long station afforded the  opportunity to measure snow thickness and 
properties in concert with the sea ice thickness and core measurements along prescribed 
transects, while below-ice conditions were observed by the dive team. Detailed data were
collected in 3 snowpits, with sample and temperature profiles of the vertical snowpit 
face. Preliminary analysis has revealed a snow cover typical of the transition to the 
relatively warm conditions at the time, with a predominance of small rounded crystals 
in the upper 
profile and a damp/wet saline snow in the lower. Measured densities ranging from 168 kg 
m-3 for new snow to 920 kg m-3 for seawater-saturated snow, and salinities from 0.0 to 
22 ppt. Oxygen isotope analysis will subsequently be carried out on these samples. Due 
to the loading effect of the snow, and the persistence of warm northerly winds for much 
of the time, flooding of the snow-ice interface has been a widespread phenomenon. 
Measurements of the snow conditions, ice thickness and freeboard at 1-m intervals along 
the transects on September 16 and 17 revealed a predominance of negative freeboards 
and the common presence of a slush layer. This layer, when refrozen during cyclical 
"rebounds" to cold conditions, appears to make a significant contribution to the sea ice
thickness distribution by the formation of snow ice. The magnitude of this will be 
estimated by the analysis of the ice cores (both thin section and oxygen isotope 
analysis, the latter to determine the proportion of ice of meteoric origin).
Observations of snow and ice thickness have also been collected continuously 
along-track during hourly ice observations from the ship's bridge. In addition to the 
standard protocol, contemporaneous observations have been carried out of the proportion 
of overturned ice "stained" brown/green by the presence of ice algae. This has been 
found to be uniformly high, with concentrations occurring throughout the ice column.

BP 045 (Hugh Ducklow, Rebecca Dickhut, Amy Chiuchilo & Shelby Walker)
We completed sampling at the curtailed Ice Station 1, completing all our required 
sampling there: snow, ice core and water samples were collected in collaboration with 
the other groups as planned. We also obtained AC0 krill for analysis of POPs, courtesy 
of Langdon & Co's divers. In cooperation with Maria's group and Matt Church, we are 
participating in a long-term incubation of seawater inoculated with  melted ice and the 
attendant ice algae and microbes. The experimental treatments are showing significant 
proliferation and enlargement of  prokaryotes relative to controls. Following departure 
from the ice station we sampled the water column in the polynya in Marguerite Bay for 
POPs, bacterial abundance and production rates. Two krill samples for POP analysis were 
also collected from the polynya. And throughout the week we collected air samples for 
POPs when relative wind across the samplers allowed.

BP-046 (Chris Carrillo, Matt Church, Shaun Johnston, Tamara Pease for Dave Karl)
Initial analysis of oxygen concentrations along the 600.100 to 300.100 LTER grid line 
show surface water ranges from 315 to 330 uM with higher concentrations found at the 
600.100 and 500.100 stations. Underway surface seawater pCO2 values are 
supersaturated with respect to atmospheric values throughout the area surveyed. 
Sediment traps were recovered after being deployed for 2 days under the ice and initial 
indications suggest a high particulate matter flux. At stations within Marguerite Bay 
and within sea ice, samples for archaeal lipids have been collected. BP-046 is looking 
ahead to occupying the second ice station to continue investigations of  microbial 
activity and carbon flux associated with sea ice.

Respectively submitted,
Ray Smith
Chief Scientist