JAN93 Palmer SITREP - W.Fraser Posted: Thu, Feb 4, 1993 7:51 PM EST Msg: KGJD-5545-1023 From: PALMER.STA To: PALMER.SCIENCE Subj: PSDN-330 SCIENCE SITREP SEND PLM254.FEB MSG%"PALMER_SCIENCE",msg%"ASAHQ@asa.org" PSDN-330 SCIENCE SITREP R 042128Z FEB 93 FROM: Dr. William R. Fraser, S-013, Science Leader P A L M E R S T A T I O N A N T A R C T I C A TELEMAIL::PALMER.STA PHONE/FAX: 011-874-150-3157 SPAN::PALMER@ATSVAX.SPAN TELEX: 5841503157 PNHG INTERNET::PALMER@ATSVAX.RSMAS.MIAMI.EDU !TO ASA SHEPHERD !TO SPOLE NSFREP !TO MCM ASASAT, ASALABM, ASASUP, NSFMGR CC E-MAIL::ANTARCTIC.OPS, NSF.DPP.OCEANOPS, P.PENHALE, T.DELACA, R.HANSON, E.HOFMANN, R.BOOTH, O.HOLM.HANSEN, G.MITCHELL, M.VERNET, M.HUNTLEY, R.WHRITNER, D.KARL, W.FRASER, B.SIDELL, W.DETRICH, M.KENNICUTT, K.DUNTON, W.STOCKTON, L.QUETIN, R.ROSS, Sea.Space, W.TRIVELPIECE, R.SMITH.UCSB, GMCC.BOULDER(pass to B.Mendonca), F.AZAM, R.RADTKE, S.WEILER, SPOLE, DUKE, NATPALMER, ASAHQ, VLF@STAR.STANFORD.EDU, NSFMCM (includes all McMurdo addresses) KARENTZD@ALM.ADMIN.USFCA.EDU, CHAPPELL@UCRACC.SPAN, J.PROSPERO, TFOSTER@UCSCC.UCSC.EDU, DALLUGE@ATMOS.OGI.EDU, N.SWANBERG, ENELSON%MINES.BITNET@SDS.SPAN, R.BIDIGARE, SRCFNSF@CMV.DSIR.GOVT.NZ (includes all CHCH addresses. Responding: Please insert in message, all CAPS, with the ! in column 1: !TO PAL SCIENCE, LABMANAGER, ADMIN,MANAGER S-013 LONG TERM ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH ON THE ANTARCTIC MARINE ECOSYSTEM: AN ICE-DOMINATED ENVIRONMENT. William R. Fraser and Wayne Z. Trivelpiece, Seabird Component, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia. FIELD TEAM: Brent Houston, Elise Stephens, Bill Fraser Wayne Trivelpiece, Donna Patterson and Lucy Keith. Calm weather conditions allowed access to all study sites during January except on 1/14. Adelie penguin colonies continued to be monitored for overall nesting activities, reproductive success and daily censusing. Known-aged birds on Humble Island and reproductive study sites on both Torgersen and Humble Islands continued to be monitored daily for chick losses, creche dates and arrivals of non-breeding adults. The weighing of adult Adelies every 6 days at 25 sites was completed on the 8th and the data were analyzed for comparison to a similar study conducted on King George Island. Adelie 1:2 chick ratio counts on all colonies (Torgersen, Humble, Litchfield, Christine, Cormorant and Dream Island) were completed on January 6th. Adelie diet sampling (n=5) began on the 11th, and continued once a week on Torgersen Island, except during the period of January 18th - 24th, when we obtained 10 diet samples daily. Adelie and Chinstrap chick counts (overall productivity) were completed for all colonies (see islands listed above) on the 26th. Radio telemetry of adult Adelies on Humble Island began on 1/11 with the deployment of 40 transmitters, and data from these birds continues to be gathered continuously and logged daily. South polar and brown skua study sites continue to be monitored periodically on Humble, Litchfield, Dream, Christine and Cormorant Islands to determine egg laying, chick hatching and chick growth and development. Unbanded breeding adult skuas were captured and banded at key sites. Diet samples from South Polar Skuas continue to be collected from 70 territories at 3-day intervals on Shortcut Island. These data are currently being analyzed concurrent with skua diet samples obtained from 1988 to 1991. Cormorants continued to be monitored weekly at two sites until 1/31 when chicks began to creche and fledge, and the final counts were completed. Giant petrel surveys continued January 7th - 9th and the 13th - 15th on all islands within the 2 mile boating limit. Reproductive success of petrels is being monitored on Stepping Stones Island and on Norsel Point. Kelp gull reproductive studies are complete, except for a final chick/fledgling count in February. Marine mammal surveys continue daily focusing primarily on seal damage to penguin rookeries and vegetation. Lab work has consisted of compiling, entering and analyzing data as time permits. On 18-25 January Fraser and Trivelpiece joined the 1993 LTER cruise during Phase II, coincident with intensive sampling of the Palmer Basin and nearshore marine environments important to the foraging ecology of South Polar Skuas and Adelie Penguins breeding in the vicinity of Palmer Station. Our primary objective was to determine the pelagic and nearshore abundance and distribution ofthese and other seabirds in the study area. Secondary objectives included using these data to identify key foraging areas important to populations being studied as part of our land-based work, and to relate changes in pelagic abundance and distribution of seabirds to variability in the physical and biological characteristics of the marine environment. S-028 LONG TERM ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH ON THE ANTARCTIC MARINE ECOSYSTEM: AN ICE-DOMINATED ENVIRONMENT. Robin Ross and Langdon Quetin, Prey Component, University of California, Santa Barbara, California. FIELD TEAM: Vance Vreedenberg remained on station while the other members of S-028 were aboard the RV Polar Duke January cruise. Weekly sampling of guano from South Polar skuas on Bonaparte Point continued and analysis indicates that krill were less abundant in the diets compared to last month. The predominant fish in the diets continues to be Electrona sp. with a slight increase in the number of Pleuragramma sp. Fish otoliths are currently being analyzed for species and size; later, weight and annual growth rates will be determined. Samples of krill from the local area (caught last month) continue to be analyzed for size frequency, sexual maturity, ovarian stage and growth. S-106 STANFORD VLF. U. Inan, Stanford University. No personnel on station; system is operating normally. Daily data continues to be collected. The VLF antenna, which was beginning to melt as a result of glacial melt, was provided with additional support at its base. Most of the labor was provided by ASA construction. Supporting guy cables were tensioned and slack was removed from antenna loops. System is being operated by ASA science technicians Bill Hassel and Andy Archer. S-200 REPRODUCTIVE EFFORT IN ADELIE PENGUINS FIELD TEAM: D. Janes and C. Peterson We continued our collections of urine, feces, salt gland secretion, and spilled regurgitated krill from Adelie penguin chicks of various sizes and ages on Torgersen Island. We also continued our weekly growth measurements of 20 marked, known age chicks. We have successfully collected ureteral urine from chicks using a hand-blown glass cannula placed opposite the ureters. This cannula blocks flow from the large intestine but allows ureteral urine to pass through an opening in the side of the cannula. The cannula is put in place for approximately one minute while 20-100 microliters of urine is collected. We are interested in determining the role of the cloaca and large intestine in ion excretion and conservation, and hence must collect both urine that has been exposed to the cloacal wall and urine that is fresh from the ureters. We continued our salt loading experiments, in which we brought 10 chicks into the lab and administered oral salt loads. Urine and salt gland secretion were collected quantitatively over a six hour period after the salt loading. We continued our feeding experiments in which we brought 13 chicks into the lab, fed them for 5 days, and quantitatively collected all urine and feces. We will measure the caloric content of food, urine and feces to determine the assimilation efficiency of chicks feeding on krill. We thank M. Melcon for the quick "emergency" production of three excellent new penguin chick guano collectors. We also thank J. Close for assistance in getting to Torgersen during periods of high winds. We thank S-028 for continuing to provide us with fresh krill for use in our chick feeding experiments. S-254 CHLORINE- AND BROMINE-CONTAINING GASES IN THE ANTARCTIC. R. A. Rasmessen, P. I., Oregon State University. No S-254 personnel are on station; the project is being monitored and maintained by the station physician. Current canister inventory includes 128 empty, 18 full and 0 delivered to cargo for retro. S-257 GEOPHYSICAL MONITORING FOR CLIMATE CONTROL (GMCC). J. T. Peterson and L. Waterman, P. I.'s, NOAA. No S-257 personnel are on station; the project is being monitored and maintained by the station physician. Current flask inventory includes 20 empty, 06 fill and 0 delivered to cargo for retro. S-275 UM/DOE ATMOSPHERIC MONITORING PROGRAM AT PALMER STATION. T. Snowdon, University of Miami; C. Sanderson/N. Chui, EML/DOE N.Y. No personnel on station. System being run by ASA science technicians Bill Hassel and Andy Archer. System continues to operate with normal weekly schedule of calibration, background, and sample counts, with one sample filter being exposed for the duration of the week. T-312 TERASCAN SATELLITE IMAGING SYSTEM. R. Whritner, Scripps Institute. No personnel on station. System being run by ASA science technicians Bill Hassel and Andy Archer. The system is currently unable to archive data as a result of failure of tape drive(s) and/or tape controller card. Performing capture, process and archival of minimal data sets on a daily "fly by" basis to meet LTER's needs. Several hardware and software problems presented themselves and were reported to Scripps and Seaspace. Also the HP9000 computer's 1/4" cartridge tape drive, used for software updates and system back-up has failed. T-313 UV Monitoring Experiment. C. Booth, Biospherical Instruments. No personnel on station. System being run by ASA science technicians Bill Hassel and Andy Archer. Daily data packages are sent to Biospherical via E-Mail. Absolute calibration scans were performed on 1 JAN 93 and 29 JAN 93. Periodic cleaning, inspection and calibration are being performed on Turner Designs 10-1005R fluorometer and the Perkin- Elmer LS-5B luminescence spectrometer. Construction of the building addition at T-5 for the T-313 UV monitor has been underway and is nearing completion. W. FRASER/PEOPLES PLM254.FEB