PALMER STATION SCIENCE SITREP MARCH 1998 William R. Fraser, SSL NEWS FROM THE LAB. Diane Wetterlin, Winter Assistant Supervisor, Laboratory Operations Numerous departures occurred during the month of March. The Instrument Technician and the Laboratory Supervisor have returned to civilization this month. All eleven of the researchers remaining here at the end of February have now departed, leaving the laboratories vacant. The Sheathbills have returned to the station increasing the diversity of wildlife by one, although, the number of summer inhabitants has markedly dwindled. The young animals can be seen doing some last minute practice of survival skills before their inevitable departure. The R/V Laurence M. Gould (LMG) made two visits to the station this month. The first trip brought scientists going on the cruise as well as long awaited supplies, freshies and mail to station personnel. The second cruise brought not only re-supplies for the station, but some of the winter personnel. During the time the ship was in port it was very stormy, making ship operations difficult. The storms were also a challenge to the researchers trying to wind up the 97/98 summer season. The disassembling of two of the Zodiacs had to be postponed and turned over to station staff to deal with when weather was more reasonable. Somehow the majority of the packing and loading was accomplished and the LMG sailed just before midnight on April 4th. The weather continued wet and windy into March. There was a total precipitation of 64.9 mm falling on 21 days with three more days of snow than rain. The sun stayed out long enough to be considered a "sunny" day only once, the day I arrived, with the rest of the month being overcast (25 days) or partly cloudy (5 days). The average temperature dropped a degree from last month to 1.0 C. The station turned back their clocks March 22nd to stay in synchronization with Punta Arenas. The nights continue to grow longer, the light fades out to darkness during our evening meal not to return until breakfast time. S-003 OZONE DEPLETION, UV-B RADIATION AND VASCULAR PLANT PERFORMANCE IN ANTARCTICA. Thomas A. Day, Department of Plant Biology and the Center for the Study of Early Events in Photosynthesis, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-1601. All personnel departed Palmer Station on March 17th. S-013 CHANGES IN ADELIE PENGUIN POPULATIONS AT PALMER STATION: EFFECTS OF LONG TERM HUMAN DISTURBANCE AND ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE. William R. Fraser, Montana State University. PERSONNEL ON STATION: William Fraser (shared with S-035) and Donna Patterson. See S-035 for end of season activities. S-016 LONG-TERM ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH ON THE ANTARCTIC MARINE ECOSYSTEM: AN ICE-DOMINATED ENVIRONMENT (PHYTOPLANKTON COMPONENT). Maria Vernet, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA 92093. PERSONNEL ON STATION: Karie Sines and Marnie Zirbel Full runs of Palmer inshore sampling at Stations E and B occurred six times during the month of March: the second, seventh, sixteenth, nineteenth and twenty-fourth. Regular sampling at three to four day intervals was impossible due to weather days. On March fifteenth Station B only was sampled due to large swells occurring at Station E. These swells made the accuracy of the measured light levels questionable and collection at Station E was aborted. On March 25th after the completion of experiments from the previous day tear down of Lab 10 and Lab 4 began. 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. Personnel on Station: Janice Jones (shared with S032), Tracy Shaw. Full acoustic transects done from the ROZE zodiac platform were completed from between stations A & E on 03Mar, 10Mar, 15Mar and 23Mar, and between stations J & F on 07Mar, 16Mar and 23Mar. Bad weather resulted in the cancellation of a transect between stations J and F on 05Mar. Animals were caught near Spume Island on 01Mar. Searches for krill on 20Mar and 22Mar were unsuccessful. There were 3 more beachings during March - 04Mar, 06Mar and 28Mar. Growth rate experiments were done on animals collected 01Mar and 06Mar. Length frequencies were done on animals collected 01Mar, 04Mar, 06Mar and 28Mar. CC/CF animals were preserved for chemistry from the 06Mar colllection. The trawl zodiac was pulled and stripped on 27Mar. We are busy packing gear. Thank you to all ASA staff for helping to make this another successful LTER season. 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: Janice Jones (shared with S028), DeDe Toole Full sampling runs from the ROZE zodiac platform (CTD and PRR casts, surface water samples collected for salinity and chlorophyll measurements) were completed at stations E and B on 02Mar. There were no PRR casts at runs done on 07Mar and 10Mar. The PRR failed and was replaced by Palmer Station's PUV for the runs done on 19Mar and 24Mar. A CTD cast was done at E on 06Mar but the rest of the run was cancelled due to bad weather. A CTD cast and a PUV cast were done at B on 15Mar but the rest of the run was cancelled due to bad weather. The E, H and J run on 07Mar did not have any optics data collected due to failure of the PRR. Full sampling runs at stations E, H and J (CTD and PUV casts, surface water samples collected for salinity and chlorophyll measurements) were done on 16Mar and 24Mar. S016 collected water samples for us at stations E and B for salinity and chlorophyll measurements on 02Mar, 07Mar, 10Mar, 15Mar, 16Mar, 19Mar and 24Mar. End of season packing is going smoothly. S032 would like to thank ASA personnel on station for making the 9798 sampling season a successful one. S-035 LONG TERM ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH ON THE ANTARCTIC MARINE ECOSYSTEM: AN ICE-DOMINATED ENVIRONMENT (Seabird Component). William R. Fraser, Montana State University PERSONNEL ON STATION: William R. Fraser (shared with S-013). Research related to this program is closely coupled with that of S-013, but objectives diverge to focus more specifically on understanding how annual variability in the marine (foraging) and terrestrial (breeding) environment affects Adelie Penguin demography. In February, combined with S-013, we completed our work related to the effects of marine variability. In March we focused on the terrestrial nesting environment and began mapping and georeferencing our study area with a portable GPS referencing system. Although we had hoped to obtain baseline data on all five Adelie Penguin rookeries, poor weather and some minor equipment problems allowed us to complete only three, those on Torgersen, Humble and Litchfield islands. This was still very satisfactory, as the data obtained will permit us to begin some preliminary queries regarding nesting habitat effect on demography. This aspect of our work is expected to continue for at least three more seasons. Special thanks are extended to ASA's Kevin Bliss for outstanding assistance with our GPS work and to Marian Moyher for arranging equipment purchases and training last season. S-085 GPS CONTINUOUS OPERATION REFERENCE STATION. J. Mullins, U.S. Geological Survey No personnel on station; the station science technician has monitored the system. For the month of March, GPS data was collected continuously. Daily data was converted to a RINEX format, compressed, and FTPed to Reston, VA. The average daily data transfer to Reston was 2.65 MB. Throughout the month of March, RINEX base station data was supplied to S-013 for postprocessing with field data collected on the Reliance decimeter GPS system. During field operations, the base station storage rate was increased from once every 15 seconds to once every second. S-091 GLOBAL SEISMOGRAPH STATION AT PALMER STATION. R. Butler, Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) No personnel on station; the station science technician has monitored the system. On 10 March, from 1840 - 1935 UT, the seismic vault was accessed. While in the vault, the bell jars were evacuated and the mass positions were zeroed. Additionally, desiccant was place in all three of the feedback electronics boxes. On 20 March, the data log stopped updating on the data processor (DP) computer. A reset of the DP was required to get the system to resume data logging. S-106 STUDIES OF LIGHTNING-INDUCED ELECTRON PRECIPITATION OF THE IONOSPHERE. U. Inan, Stanford University Personnel on station: Mike Johnson. On 25 March, a fuse blew in the preamp power supply. The system was down from 1540 - 2015 UT. During the month of March, 14 of 31 narrowband recording sessions were truncated. On 30 March, Mike Johnson arrived on station to begin the annual site visit. S-204 MEASUREMENTS OF ATMOSPHERIC O2 IN RELATION TO THE GLOBAL CARBON CYCLE. Ralph Keeling, Scripps Institution of Oceanography No personnel on station; the station science technician has monitored the system. Air samples are collected on a semi-weekly basis by the station physician. The samples are return shipped to Scripps for analysis of O2 and CO2 content. The goal of the program is to resolve seasonal and interannual variations in atmospheric O2 (detected through changes in O2/N2 ratio) which can aid in the determination of rates of marine biological productivity and ocean mixing and aid in the separation of the global sink for anthropogenic CO2 into terrestrial and oceanic components. The program involves air sampling at a network of sites in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Palmer Station is especially well situated to resolve signals due to carbon cycling in the Southern Ocean. S-254 CHLORINE-AND BROMINE-CONTAINING TRACE GASES IN ANTARCTICA. R.A. Rasmussen, Oregon Graduate Institute for Science and Technology No personnel on station; the station science technician has monitored the system. 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, Environmental Research Laboratories, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration No personnel on station; the station science technician has monitored the system. 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. C. Sanderson, Department of Energy, Environmental Measurements Laboratory No personnel on station; the station science technician has monitored the system. One sample filter was exposed for the duration of each week, and and a weekly schedule of calibration, background, and sample counts was maintained. On 22 March, Palmer Station went off Daylight Savings Time. To remain on local time, the Zenith laptop's system time was set back one hour. T-312 TERASCAN SATELLITE IMAGING SYSTEM. R. Whritner, Scripps Institution of Oceanography No personnel on station; the station science technician has monitored the system. Throughout the month of March, the TeraScan system collected, archived, and processed DMSP, NOAA, and ORBVIEW-2 telemetry, maintaining a schedule of 17-19 passes per day. NOAA, DMSP, and ORBVIEW-2 telemetry were archived for S-032 when the LTER grid was clear. AWS transmissions were monitored from Bonaparte Point, Hugo Island, and RACER Rock. During the month, imagery of the Marguerite Bay area was processed and provided to Marine Ops in support of the upcoming Ice Trials cruise. Until the Seastar Ground Processor is configured and Solaris is installed on the Sun computer sometime early next month, SeaWiFS data cannot be decrypted at Palmer Station. On 23 March, a sample of encrypted SeaWiFS data was sent to SeaSpace to ensure that valid data was being collected. T-513 UV MONITORING NETWORK. C. Booth, Biospherical Instruments, Inc. Personnel on station: James Robertson. Throughout the month, raw irradiance data were collected daily and transmitted to BSI, and preliminary irradiances and integrals were produced in support of Science. A scheduled absolute calibration scan was performed on 12 March. On 26 March, closing calibrations were performed by the science technician. On 30 March, James Robertson arrived on station to perform the annual site visit.