Return-Path: palmer@atsvax.rsmas.miami.edu Return-Path: Received: from atsvax.rsmas.miami.edu by crseo.ucsb.edu (4.1/SMI-4.4-Crseo Special) id AA03553; Mon, 31 Oct 94 13:54:12 PST Date: Mon, 31 Oct 94 21:19:28 GMT From: palmer@atsvax.rsmas.miami.edu Message-Id: <941031211928.21c08702@atsvax.rsmas.miami.edu> Subject: PALMER SCIENCE SITREP - Oct 94 To: palmer_science@atsvax.rsmas.miami.edu, smithgl.asa@asa.org, kiyotaki.asa@asa.org X-St-Vmsmail-To: MSG%"PALMER_SCIENCE",MSG%"smithgl.asa@asa.org",MSG%"kiyotaki.asa@asa.org" SEND PLM1641.OCT MSG%"PALMER_SCIENCE",msg%"smithgl.asa@asa.org",msg%"kiyotaki.asa@asa.org" PALMER SCIENCE SITREP - Oct 94 R 312034Z OCT 94 FROM: Kevin Bliss Responding: Please insert in message, all CAPS, with the ! in column 1: !TO PAL SCIENCE, MANAGER, LABMANAGER, ADMIN, SCITECH 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 CC LIST: SPOLE, DUKE, NATPALMER, ASACHCH@ASA.IAC.ORG.NZ, NSFCHCH@ASA.IAC.ORG.NZ, NSFMCM@MCMURDO.GOV, DPP-MESSAGES@NSF.GOV, CSULLIVA@NSF.GOV, PPENHALE@NSF.GOV, DPEACOCK@NSF.GOV, JCALLAHA@NSF.GOV, RBHANSON@NSF.GOV, CHAMBEJA.ASA@ASA.ORG, WOODBA.ASA@ASA.ORG, SHEPHECH.ASA@ASA.ORG, EVANSJO.ASA@ASA.ORG, GRESS@ASA.ORG, WOODKE.ASA@ASA.ORG, OWENSK.ASA@ASA.ORG, SPRAYBKA.ASA@ASA.ORG, PEOPLEAN.ASA@ASA.ORG, SMITHGL.ASA@ASA.ORG, KAREN@CRSEO.UCSB.EDU, RAY@CRSEO.UCSB.EDU, GAUTIER@ESRG.UCSB.EDU, ROBIN@CRSEO.UCSB.EDU, LANGDON@CRSEO.UCSB.EDU, FRAZER@LIFESCI.UCSB.EDU, OHOLMHANSEN@UCSD.EDU, DAN@FIZBIN.UCSD.EDU, KARENTZD@ALM.ADMIN.USFCA.EDU, CHAPPELL@UCRVMS.SPAN, BSIDELL@MAINE.MAINE.EDU, WEILER@WHITMAN.EDU, DALLUGE@ATMOS.OGI.EDU, SAVOIE@RCF.RSMAS.MIAMI.EDU, WWWEATHERS@UCDAVIS.EDU, MCK2@GERGA.TAMU.EDU, DUNTON@UTMSI.ZO.UTEXAS.EDU, FNTED@AURORA.ALASKA.EDU, 71552.1334@COMPUSERVE.COM, HOFMANN@KUROSHIO.CCPO.ODU.EDU, VLF@STAR.STANFORD.EDU, ROCKY@BIOSPHERICAL.COM, SUPPORT@CALIFIA.SEASPACE.COM, WHBOB@ARCANE.UCSD.EDU, PROSPERO@RCF.RSMAS.MIAMI.EDU, PALMER.SCIENCE@TELEMAIL: D.KARL, F.AZAM, G.MITCHELL, M.HUNTLEY, M.VERNET, N.SWANBERG, R.RADTKE, W.DETRICH, W.FRASER, W.TRIVELPIECE, PALMER STATION SCIENCE SITREP October 1994 S-013 LONG-TERM ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH (LTER) ON THE ANTARCTIC MARINE ECOSYSTEM: AN ICE-DOMINATED ENVIRONMENT (SEABIRD COMPONENT). William R. Fraser/Wayne Z. Trivelpiece, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT. PERSONNEL ON STATION: Eric Holm, Karen Carney, and Laura Somervill The three members of our group left Punta Arenas on October 14 and arrived at Palmer Station on 19 October after a smooth Drake Passage crossing. We arrived to find fast ice surrounding Palmer Station from Bonaparte Point to Torgesen Island and Adelie penguins already gathering in colonies on Torgesen Island. Since our arrival the fast ice has remained and more pack ice has been blowing in with the southerly winds. As of this writing (Oct.26) the ice extended out about two and one half miles. This has rendered boating impossible and therefore no visits to the islands have been conducted. Upon our arrival the group began the task of preparing the materials necessary to conduct field work. The field notebooks have been set up and the Adelie penguin bands have been color coded for use on the reproductive success and the tourist study sites on Torgesen Island. Also, part 1 of the boat safety course was completed. As observed from Palmer station, Adelie penguins are arriving in substantial numbers on Torgesen and Humble Islands. Giant petrels are also seen frequently from station with two pairs nesting on Bonaparte Point. A marine mammal census was conducted on 23 October in Kristi Cove which revealed a Weddell seal pup and an elephant seal pup, each with their mother. Intertidal Limpet size distribution analysis has been the main focus for lab work while the ice sits in the harbor. S-016 LONG-TERM ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH ON THE ANTARCTIC MARINE ECOSYSTEM: AN ICE-DOMINATED ENVIRONMENT (PHYTOPLANKTON COMPONENT). Maria Vernet, Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Personnel on Station: Maria Vernet, Doug Ikelheimer, and Wendy Kozlowski Science objectives include: Within the general LTER objectives centered on the influence of interannual variability in ice coverage on the trophic dynamics of the Antarctic food web, the phytoplankton component stresses: (1) The carbon cycle in the western shelf of the Antarctic in relation to phytoplankton composition, abundance, and production. (2) The role of phytoplankton in light absorption, nutrient uptake, zooplankton grazing and organic matter sedimentation. Cruise party (D. Ikelheimer, W. Kozlowski, and M. Vernet) departed from Punta Arenas on board the R/V Polar Duke on 14 October and arrived in Palmer Station on 19 October. Arthur Harbor, where the sampling is concentrated from October to January, is frozen and no sampling has been done. The time has been dedicated to establish the methods which will be in use, including photosynthetic pigment analysis by high-performance liquid chromatography, nutrient analysis, and primary productivity based on radiocarbon uptake (Photosyunthesis versus Irradiance curves, Simulated in situ incubations, and growth rate determinations by 14C-chlorophyll a). Both the HPLC system and the incubations for primary production estimates are being tested. Analysis of nitrate and nitrite are underway, silicate analysis is being installed and we will finish with ortophosphate analysis. Other analyses will include collection of preserved phytoplankton samples for microscopy, particulate organic carbon and nitrogen determinations, and analysis of Transparent Exopolymer Particles or TEP (in collaboration with U. Passow, University of California Santa Barbara). S-028 LONG-TERM ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH ON THE ANTARCTIC MARINE ECOSYSTEM: AN ICE-DOMINATED SYSTEM. Robin M. Ross and Langdon B. Quetin, University of California, Marine Science Institute, Santa Barbara, California 93106. Personnel on Station: Langdon B. Quetin, Bruno Rowell, Janice Jones (split position with S-032). After a smooth crossing of the Drake Passage S-028 arrived at Palmer Station Wednesday October 19. Pack ice was encountered at the southern end of the Bransfield Strait, but both Dallmann Bay and Gerlache Strait were clear. Consolidated pack ice extends 2-3 miles from Palmer Station so zodiac operations are not yet possible. Since we arrived the pack ice has thickened due to cold southwest winds, and zodiac operations will not be possible until we have strong winds from the northeast. Laboratory and zodiac preparations continue to go well. All shipments arrived and were found with minimal hassle and all equipment tested to date is working. We have yet to test and service the trawl winch and fathometer for the Rubber Duke (trawling zodiac). By the end of the week the laboratory will be completely set up and we will begin diving operations early next week if ice conditions are favorable. We would like to thank the crews of Polar Duke and Palmer Station for their enthusiastic and efficient assistance during the initial set up for the field season. We would also like to thank the Palmer Station crew for quickly assimilating our personnel into station life. S-032 LONG-TERM ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH (LTER) ON THE ANTARCTIC MARINE ECOSYSTEM: AN ICE DOMINATED ENVIRONMENT. Ray Smith, University of California at Santa Barbara. Personnel on Station: Dave Menzies, Carter Ohlman Janice Jones (shared position with S-028) Team members Dave Menzies, Carter Ohlman, and Janice Jones arrived 19 Oct aboard R/V Polar Duke. Fast ice in Arthur Harbor has precluded any field sampling, but the ROZE zodiac equipment has been set up in the boat shop and we have completed a checkout of new sampling equipment and software. The chlorophyll filtration equipment was set up in the aquarium room. The fluorometers were set up and cross-calibrated with the S-016 team. The LTER CTD package was recalibrated and the transmissometer repaired during the off season. A new, more compact, Optical Free-Fall Instrument (OFFI) is now part of the ROZE sampling equipment. The fine-tuning of the floatation and tethering took place in Santa Barbara prior to deployment. S-033 SURFACE UV IRRADIANCE AND PHOTOSYNTHETICALLY ACTIVE RADIATION VARIABILITY OVER ANTARCTICA. Catherine Gautier, University of California at Santa Barbara. Personnel on Station: Paul Ricchiazzi, Bill O'Hirok The GTR-100 radiation monitor was fully operational during the month of October. The procedure required to maintain the operations of this instrument has been reduced to a simple matter of supplying new floppy disks as required, usually every 4 days. At this point we have accumulated irradiance measurements for 34 days. During this reporting period we obtained BRDF measurements on the one day in the month sufficiently clear for these observations. Unfortunately, the clouds cleared late in the afternoon when the sun was already quite low in the sky. Measurements of BRDF for higher sun angles will have to wait for a day displaying clear conditions starting before local noon. This month we were able to use our helium balloon to obtain measurements of the surface albedo in the vicinity of Palmer Station. In addition we used the balloon to obtain aerial photographs of the station which will be used to analyze the albedo data. S-044 EFFECTS OF OZONE-RELATED INCREASED UV-B FLUENCES ON PHOTOSYNTHESIS, PHOTOADAPTATION, AND VIABILITY OF PHYTOPLANKTON IN ANTARCTIC WATERS. Osmund Holm-Hansen, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego. Personnel on station: E. Walter Helbling, Virginia Villafane, Gustavo Rae, Walt Dunlap, Osmund Holm-Hansen. Four of us arrived on station Oct. 4; Walt Dunlap, from the Australian Institute of Marine Science, arrived on the 19th. After four days of setting up our instrumentation and incubators we started our experimental studies to assess the impact of enhanced UV-B radiation on phytoplankton and the extent to which phytoplankton can acclimatize to increases in UV irradiance. Water samples have been obtained every morning through a hole chopped in the ice at the end of a 3-meter floating dock extending out from the shoreline close to the water intake hut. Our daily incubations include a standard test to measure the magnitude of inhibition of photosynthesis by UV-B and UV-A radiation, and various experiments designed (i) to measure the threshold irradiance value for UVR inhibition of photosynthesis, (ii) to better understand the relationship between daily inhibition tests and the final biomass reached in long-term incubations lasting 1-2 weeks, (iii) to determine the differential sensitivity of various species to UVR, and (iv) to determine the extent to which UVR-induced inhibition of photosynthesis is reversible. Long-term cultures, both of natural assemblages and also of isolated phytoplankton species, are being used to determine to what extent the phytoplankton can minimize UVR-induced damage, either by synthesis of UV-absorbing compounds or by favoring the growth of the more resistant species in the natural assemblages. The mycosporine- like amino acids are being separated, identified, and quantitatively measured by HPLC techniques. All our experimental work is being supported by continuous recording of spectral UVR incident upon our cultures, and data on column ozone concentrations. In the 17 standard tests made to date, the mean percent enhancements of photosynthetic rates by filtering off all UV-B or UV-B + UV-A radiation were 28% and 105%, respectively. The increase in photoinhibition caused by enhanced UV-B radiation resulting from low ozone conditions (column ozone values, obtained from the 1600Z spectral data from the NSF UV-Spectroradiometer, varied from 145 to 365 Dobson Units during our work period) is measurable, but is not dramatic in magnitude. As Arthur Harbor is still ice-covered, our work has been restricted to deck incubations; as soon as boating is possible, we will start our in situ studies. S-091 PALMER IRIS SEISMOLOGY. R. Butler/G. Holcomb, U.S. Geological Survey, Albuquerque, NM. No personnel were on station. The system has been monitored by the station science technician. Data acquisition software was reloaded into the DA computer on October 05 to restore E-W data streams which had stopped updating several days earlier. The system recovered normally after an unscheduled power outage on October 07. New IRIS2 Q/R software version 1.2 #22, containing new server designed to ignore soft errors from the digitizer, was loaded on October 19. S-106 VERY LOW FREQUENCY (VLF) REMOTE SENSING OF THUNDERSTORM AND RADIATION BELT COUPLING TO THE IONOSPHERE. U. Inan, Stanford University. No personnel were on station. The system has been operated by the station science technician. A loose connection was found and repaired in the microphone used for voice annotations on the Beta and 1/4" analog tapes. The UPS lasted the duration of an unscheduled power outage on October 08, and all systems recovered normally. S-254 CHLORINE- AND BROMINE-CONTAINING TRACE GASES IN ANTARCTICA. R.A. Rasmussen, Oregon Graduate Institute for Science and Technology. There are no personnel on station. Air samples are taken on a weekly basis by the station physician. The samples are returned to the Institute for analysis of a number of trace components, especially chlorine- and bromine-containing gases. These elements have been implicated in the chemical processes that contribute to the austral-spring depletion of the ozone layer over Antarctica. This work will contribute to a better understanding of the buildup of trace constituents, particularly those of high-latitude marine origin. S-257C COLLECTION OF ATMOSPHERIC AIR FOR THE NOAA/CMDL WORLDWIDE FLASK SAMPLING NETWORK. James T. Peterson, Palmer Station, Environmental Research Laboratories, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. There are no personnel on station. Air samples are taken on a weekly basis by the station physician. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory team continue long-term measurements of trace atmospheric constituents that influence climate. The Palmer Station air samples are returned to the NOAA laboratory for analysis of trace constituents, including carbon dioxide. These measurements are part of NOAA's effort to determine and assess the long-term buildup of global pollutants in the atmosphere. These data will be used to determine how the rate of change of these parameters affects climate, particularly by including them in climate model studies. S-275 UM/DOE-EML REMOTE ATMOSPHERIC MEASUREMENTS PROGRAM. J. Prospero/T. Snowdon, University of Miami; C. Sanderson/N. Chui, EML/DOE N.Y. No personnel were on station. The system has been operated by the station science technician. One sample filter was exposed for the duration of each week, and a weekly schedule of calibration, background, and sample counts was maintained. The air sampling pump was off for the duration of an unscheduled power outage that occurred on October 07 from 0028-0035UT. On October 17, the clock on the Zenith PC was set ahead one hour as Palmer Station went onto Daylight Savings Time. S-293 OZONESONDE MEASUREMENTS OF STRATOSPHERIC OZONE OVER ANTARCTICA. Arnold L. Torres, Goddard Space Flight Center/Wallops Flight Facility. Personnel on Station: George B. Brothers, E. Charles Seman Ozone balloon soundings continued throughout the month on a three day interval with an off day between each three day interval. Continued to have some problems, but towards the end of the month determined most of these problems may have resulted from a fault with the computer hard drive. Through October 28, 21 soundings were taken. Of these 21, there were 18 soundings which provided good to very good data, however, 5 had some missing data. Of the other 3, one sounding had an early burst due to severe upper atmospheric weather conditions, another had too much missing data to be considered, and the computer locked up 50 minutes into the third and the flight data was not able to be saved. Total ozone in Dobson Units on October 2 were 113 DU. Ozone values continued to rise through October 6 which was 244 DU. From that point ozone continued downward to a low point of 120 DU on October 18. Ozone reached a high October 24 at 381 DU and on the sounding of October 27 it was 334 DU. For the month of November, ozone soundings will continue on a 3 day interval for a week and eventually drop to one every other day. The final sounding is expected to be November 20 after which we will dismantle our system for shipment back to the states and take down the balloon shelter. T-312 TERASCAN SATELLITE IMAGING SYSTEM. R. Whritner, Scripps Institute of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA. No personnel were on station. The system has been operated by the station science technician. DMSP and NOAA telemetry were collected, processed, and archived. DMSP infrared telemetry was examined on a daily basis for clear conditions in the Amundsen and Bellingshausen Seas and in the vicinity of Palmer Station. Several IR images were produced and given to the R/V Polar Duke during her stops at Palmer Station. Ozone concentration maps were produced to support local science on station. T-313 UV MONITORING EXPERIMENT. C. Booth, Biospherical Instruments, Inc. No personnel were on station The system has been operated by the science technician. Throughout the month, raw irradiance data were collected daily and transmitted to BSI. Preliminary irradiance data and inferred ozone abundances were produced in support of Science. Absolute calibrations were performed on October 10 and on October 22. High voltage levels were adjusted to account for increasing brightness, and data scans were added at 0000Z and 0800Z. No scans were lost during an unscheduled power outage that occurred on October 08. After the power outage, a wavelength scan was performed, and the system was found to have a two nanometer offset. The offset was removed by running a wavelength calibration. 31183303.138 PLM1641.OCT