PALMER STATION SCIENCE SITREP January 2002 William R. Fraser, Station Science Leader NEWS FROM THE LAB Cara M. Sucher, Sr. Assistant Supervisor, Laboratory Operations The New Year got rolling right away with the January 6th arrival of the R/V LAURENCE M. GOULD for the annual LTER summer cruise. Principal Investigators and field team members from BP-013-P (Fraser), BO-045-O (Ducklow), and BO-212-O (Suhr) arrived along with David Bresnahan, the NSF Systems Manager, Operations and Logistics, and participants in the Artist and Writer and TEA programs. Although all field team members of BP-016-P (Vernet), BP-028-P (Quetin/Ross) and BP-032-P (Smith) left station during the cruise, the labs were extremely active in January, with four groups remaining on station. The R/V LAURENCE M. GOULD returned at the end of the month, and the two remaining field team members of BO-022-O (Amsler/Baker/McClintock), one field team member of BP-016-P (Vernet), one from BP-013-P (Fraser) and one of the Principal Investigators from BO-045-O (Ducklow) departed with the vessel. As always, January brought the start of a very active tour season. Three yachts and six tour ships called at Palmer as well as the British Royal Navy's HMS ENDURANCE and Armada Argentina's vessel ARA SUBOFICIAL CASTILLO. A few visits were quite unique. The M/S EXPLORER brought 75 high school students sponsored by Forrest Mars (founder of M&M Mars Corporation). After everyone toured the station, science team members joined the NSF Representative, the Area Manager and the Sr. Asst. Lab Supervisor onboard for a barbeque and question and answer period with the students. The visit was well received by the students and staff alike. A minor medical emergency brought the British Army Antarctic Expedition onboard the S/Y JOHN LAING to Palmer Station. The 15 members of the expedition were given tours of the station after which they gathered with community members in the lounge for an informal reception. Andy Bristow, skipper of the expedition, gave a spontaneous talk and slide show on their experiences, and in what was probably a first for Palmer Station, an expedition member in traditional Scottish dress gave an impromptu bagpipe performance on the GWR deck. New this season is the Palmer Station "Offshore Lecture Series". The purpose of these lectures is to familiarize Antarctic tourists on cruise ships too large to visit Palmer Station with the US Antarctic Program and the role Palmer Station plays in antarctic and global scientific research. The NSF Representative, Palmer Area Manager and Sr. Asst. Lab Supervisor gave a 40 minute PowerPoint presentation to 415 passengers on board the M/S MARCO POLO and two presentations in the 600-seat auditorium onboard the M/S RYNDAM in order to accommodate the 1100 passengers. The talks were enthusiastically received by the both passengers and crew. Five science lectures were presented this month. Chris Denker, field team leader for BP-013-P (Fraser), started off the New Year with stunning pictures and tales from his river guiding experiences in a talk called "Alaska's Alsek and Tatshensini Rivers, from Headwaters to Saltwaters". The following week, TEA participant Susan Cowles spoke about her work in a lecture titled "X-treme Life-long Learning: Adult Literacy in Antarctica" and encouraged everyone on Station to contribute math problems to her classes back home. NSF representative David Bresnahan spoke about his experiences on a Treaty Inspection cruise in a talk titled "Cape Adaire and Turn Left". He shared unique pictures and descriptions of eight international research stations along the east coast of Antarctica. Both Hugh Ducklow and Rebecca Dickhut, principal investigators for BO- 045-O, gave interesting lectures on their work at Palmer Station and beyond. Hugh Ducklow spoke about how his research on bacteria ties in with the LTER research program and with other research he's been involved in around the world. In a talk titled "POPs in Antarctica", Rebecca Dickhut explained what Persistent Organic Pollutants are, why the Antarctic Peninsula is an ideal place to study them and their potential affects on the environment. The weather this month remained cool and wet, with temperatures averaging 2.2°C, 80mm of rain and 5cm of snow. January 2001 saw similar temperatures, but received far less precipitation: 21.8mm of rain and 3cm of snow. The wind was fairly mellow, though several gusts over 40 knots were recorded throughout the month. Clear skies continued to evade us, and we were only able to see some blue for about seven days. The following projects conducted research at Palmer Station this month: BO-022-O: THE CHEMICAL ECOLOGY OF SHALLOW-WATER MARINE MACROALGAE AND INVERTEBRATES ON THE ANTARCTIC PENINSULA Drs. Charles Amsler and James McClintock, Principal Investigators, University of Alabama at Birmingham Dr. Bill Baker, Principal Investigator, University of South Florida Personnel on Station: Margaret Amsler (University of Alabama at Birmingham); Chris Petrie (University of South Florida). January continued the busy, yet productive pace of BO-022-O, despite shrinking to a two-member field team. In the laboratory, feeding bioassay emphasis switched to the fish Notothenia coriiceps. A total of 37 experiments testing the palatability of macroalgal thalli, organic extracts of macroalgae, and one dried invertebrate species were conducted with the fish. This phase of our work would not have been possible without the volunteer fishing efforts of angling station personnel, most notably fishermen Jeff Gustafson and David Ensworth. An additional 9 feeding bioassays with amphipods and 11 with sea stars were also completed. Sea star bioassays were also used for bioassay-guided purification of active feeding deterrent compounds from several species of sponges. Crude extracts which deterred sea star consumption were fractionated using preparative sephadex and silica columns. These fractions were then bioassayed and the fractions which deterred sea star predation were then subjected to HPLC. The resulting HPLC-isolated fractions were subjected to further sea star bioassays to identify those with the specific defensive compounds. Isolation and purification of these compounds will continue at the University of South Florida. The project logged 6 scuba dives in the vicinity of Palmer Station during January. The diving activity this month concentrated on the substrate experiment that we deployed just south of the seawater intakes in December. Two dives were made to maintain and clean the five remaining experimental substrates. Another dive was made to harvest the plants attached to ropes on the substrates. The plants were reweighed in the laboratory, a portion of each of the brown algal plants was analyzed for phlorotannin content, and all experimental plants were frozen for future chemical composition analysis. A final dive was made at the experiment site to retrieve the concrete substrates. Two dives to collect macroalgae and invertebrates for experimentation and extraction were also recorded this month. We are extremely appreciative of Boating Coordinator, Jeff Bechtel and many RPSC staff for their strong, warm and cheerful dive tending. In preparation of departing Palmer Station, significant time was devoted to packing gear and samples to be shipped north. The project acknowledges the able assistance of Logistics specialists Carmen Lemon and Rick Lichtenhan. Seven boxes were sent CONUS. A practical solution to shipping our twelve extra large freeze safes was suggested by the RPSC home office and those samples will transit to Port Hueneme in a freezer van. Our final chore on station, lab cleanup, was made easy with the kind and indulging help of Lab Manager Cara Sucher and Barb Watson. Emptying the Aquarium Building tanks of sea stars and fish was a social event with Jeff Gustafson and Sue Cowles leading the liberation of the experimental animals back into Arthur Harbor. The field team redeployed with the northbound LMG02-01 on 28 January. Our group is very grateful to the entire RPSC staff for helping us to have a productive and enjoyable field season. BO-045-O TRANSPORT AND FATE OF PERSISTENT ORGANIC POLLUTANTS (POPs) IN ANTARCTIC COASTAL SEAS Drs. Hugh Ducklow and Rebecca Dickhut, Principal Investigators, The College of William and Mary, Virginia Institute of Marine Science Personnel on Station: Hugh Ducklow, Rebecca Dickhut, Amy Chiuchiolo, and Michele Cochran The POP research group arrived at Palmer Station on Jan. 6, 2002. After a weeks worth of orientation and set-up, we started an intensive schedule of sampling air, surface water, snow, and phytoplankton for POPs. Due to fairly good weather in Jan., three full weeks worth of sampling were completed by the POPs team. This included collection of 22 high volume (1000-1800 m3) air samples, 15 surface water samples (?150-530L each) at LTER inshore grid stations A, B, E, G, and I, 3 winter '01-'02 snow samples from Old Palmer Station, Torgersen Island, and the Marr Ice Piedmont, and 9 phytoplankton samples from LTER inshore grid stations A, B, E. Sampling of glacier ice from the Marr Ice Piedmont was also initiated. In addition, krill were collected for POPs analysis by Ross and Quetin (BP-028-0) during the LTER summer cruise. All of the samples are being preserved for POPs analysis via gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, which will be conducted later at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. A regular program sampling bacterioplankton properties and rates in conjunction with POP sampling was also initiated. Water samples are being collected every other day at Station A off Gamage Point, and twice weekly at Stations B (Bonaparte Point) and E (offshore, south of Hermit Island), all stations regularly occupied by the Palmer LTER. We are measuring bacterial production using 3H-Thymidine and 3H-Leucine incorporation rates. Preliminary results indicate production rates comparable to the annual maxima observed elsewhere in Antarctic waters. Samples have been preserved for epifluorescence microscopic and flow cytometric analyses of total prokaryote (Bacteria + Archaea) abundance, and Archaeal abundance. We also collected chlorophyll a samples at these stations, to continue monitoring the summer phytoplankton bloom while the BP-016 (Vernet) team was at sea on the summer LTER cruise. Our future sampling will be coordinated with S-016. Assisted by S-013 (Fraser & Patterson), we collected terrestrial vegetation and Adelie guano samples from several land-based sites for POP and lipid biomarker analyses. Bacterial and biomarker work is being laid down as a foundation anticipating future research in PAL-LTER. We thank the Palmer Lab support team (Cara Sucher and Barb Watson) and vessel coordinator (Jeff Bechtel) for facilitating our lab and field work. Special thanks also to FEMC staff (Jeff Gustafson and Tom Curran) for help throughout the various iterations of setting up and securing the air samplers in the backyard. Thanks as well to members of the Palmer Station Glacier Search and Rescue team for helping set up our glacier sampling. BO-212-O BIOLOGY OF BENTHIC FORAMINIFERA IN A SHALLOW-WATER ANTARCTIC MARINE ENVIRONMENT Stephanie Suhr, Principal Investigator, Southampton Oceanography Centre, UK Personnel on station: Stephanie Suhr After settling in, the boating courses and setting up of the lab spaces, approximately 10 days were spent finding appropriate sampling equipment and locating a sampling site which is easily accessible (frequent sampling), suitable for sampling with the available gear and sampling platform (small grab deployed from Zodiac), and which shows relatively high abundances of the organisms to study. Once the site (off Old Palmer Station) was determined, another couple of days were spent trying to incubate live foraminifera. This proved to be difficult, both because of the microscope set-up available on station and the environmental conditions during sorting (temperature). As a temporary solution, samples were sorted at ambient temperature (1 C) in the environment room adjacent to the aquarium. During the call of the LMG on 27-28 January, two microscope cold stages currently not in use on the ship were set up in the microscope room at Palmer Station. However, the work schedule had to be adjusted after the first two weeks: instead of concentrating on experimental work, a high resolution sampling regime was started to study the development of fatty acid profiles in the calcareous foraminiferal species Globocassidulina crassa. Parallel to this, continued efforts are made to work experimentally and to determine metabolic activities in the most common benthic foraminifera (>250?m) around Palmer Station. I would like to thank Jeff Bechtel for the boating support, and Cara Sucher and Barbara Watson for assistance and help in setting up the lab. Thanks are also due to Jordan Watson from Marine Operations for setting up the microscope stages, and all the RPSC staff at Palmer who has taken the time to assist me on my sampling trips. I very much appreciate the effort everyone has made and is making to accommodate my project at Palmer Station and I am glad about the chance to be here! BP-013-O: LONG-TERM ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH ON THE ANTARCTIC MARINE ECOSYSTEM: AN ICE DOMINATED ENVIRONMENT (SEABIRD COMPONENT) Dr. William R. Fraser, Principal Investigator, Polar Oceans Research Group, Sheridan, MT. Personnel on station: William Fraser, Donna Patterson, Chris Denker, Heidi Geisz and Brett Pickering (HG and BP on LTER cruise) Poor weather during the first two weeks of January severely impacted our abilities to reach island study sites. This produced a delay in implementing some of our research protocols. Affected most negatively was work on the foraging ecology of Adelie penguins, in particular the application of radio and satellite-linked transmitters (PTTs), which this season we completed on Jan 15 and Jan 19, respectively, or about 10 days later than we had planned. Fortunately, work on the diets of these birds, which does not require dry weather, commenced on schedule (Jan 7), hence we were able to preserve some continuity with past seasons. Together these data serve as indices of krill availability in the marine foraging environment of Adelie penguins, and as proxies for looking at changes in krill demography that may be important to understanding other aspects of the ecology of these penguins. Somewhat less impacted by wet weather was the timing of several censuses we conduct in January to assess breeding chronology and chick survival. These censuses were completed on January 27, coincident with chick creching, which also concluded our studies on Adelie Penguin breeding biology initiated in early October. The annual LTER January cruise was also concluded on this date. Heidi Geisz and Brett Pickering completed more than 300 transects detailing the abundance and distribution of seabirds and marine mammals in the LTER grid. Adelie Penguin diet sampling near the Avian Island (Marguerite Bay) rookery was also successful, thus further adding to the significant time series being developed for this region. As in past seasons, we have continued the acquisition of basic data on the demography, breeding biology and foraging ecology of Giant Petrels, KelpGulls, Blue-eyed Shags and Brown and South Polar Skuas. These data add to several species-specific time series that began in the mid- 1970s. Our work in January benefited greatly from the able assistance provided by Raytheon Polar Services Company employees Jeff Bechtel, Dave McDonald, Barb Watson and Chris Vitry. BP-016-O LONG TERM ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH ON THE ANTARCTIC PENINSULA, AN ICE DOMINATED ECOSYSTEM - PHYTOPLANKTON ECOLOGY COMPONENT Maria Vernet, Principal Investigator, Scripps Institution of Oceanography Personnel on station: Lisa Ferber, Wendy Kozlowski, Karen Pelletreau, Karie Sines and Michael Thimgan The first week in January was spent packing for the upcoming LTER cruise with sampling of Palmer inshore station B taking place on 02 January and station E on 04 January. On January 6th the LM Gould arrived on station and remained until the 7th January during which time labs were organized onboard for science groups BP-016 and BP-032. With the arrival of the Gould came field team members Stephanie Coronesi, Lisa Ferber, Karen Pelletreau and Marnie Zirbel. The LM Gould departed from Palmer Station on the evening of January 7th to return on January 26th. Over the course of the cruise Palmer inshore stations B and E were sampled twice each on 08 and 25 January. On 27 January, after what seemed a very short portcall, the LM Gould departed from Palmer Station taking with her team members Stephanie Coronesi, Wendy Kozlowski, Micheal Thimgan and Marnie Zirbel. January 27th- 30th was spent setting up labs with the final Janurary sampling of stations B and E occurring on the thirty-first. Chlorophyll a and productivity levels reached a high for the 2001-2002 season on 25 January with integrated chlorophyll measuring 291µg/L and 243µg/L for stations B and E respectively and productivity at 3702mgC/m2 and 3161mgC/m2. BP-016 and BP-032 would like to thank boating coordinator Jeffrey Bechtel for his upkeep and repair of the "Bruiser" platform and zodiac. We would like to thank FEMC for the brand new paint job and their assistance in cruise preparations. Thanks also to Cara Sucher and Barb Watson for their patience in dealing with those very last minute details! BP-028-O LONG TERM ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH ON THE ANTARCTIC PENINSULA, AN ICE DOMINATED ECOSYSTEM: PREY COMPONENT. Robin Ross and Langdon Quetin, Principal Investigators, Marine Science Institute, University of California at Santa Barbara Personnel on station: Stephanie Oakes, Michael Caldwell, Charlie Boch, and Sam Couture (Marine Science Institute, University of California at Santa Barbara) During the first week of January field technicians Charlie Boch and Sam Couture completed regular acoustic transects along stations A-E and F-J which indicated krill were not present in the area. Trawling efforts continued but also indicated no krill were present. Charlie and Sam departed Palmer Station on 7 January to join the 2002 LTER summer cruise aboard the LMG. All personnel from BP-028 participated in the cruise and BP-028 station operations ceased until after the cruise. Please refer to 2002 LTER cruise report. The Biosonics acoustic equipment was moved from the zodiac sampling platform to the LMG for the LTER cruise. During this time boating coordinator Jeff Bechtel oversaw the painting and maintenance of the zodiac platform. Stephanie Oakes and Michael Caldwell arrived at Palmer Station after the LTER cruise on 27 January. The initial focus of operations was to transfer equipment from the LMG to station and ready the laboratory and zodiac sampling platform to resume weekly sampling. Stephanie and Michael completed boating I and II and Michael was trained on zodiac sampling procedures. On 30 January the first attempt to complete acoustic sampling along stations A-E and F-J was made. The transect from A-E was not completed due to failure of the 12 volt gel cell batteries used to power the Biosonics unit. During this time the base holding the davit (that supports the transducer tow body) in place began to slip and had to be held in place by hand during deployment of the tow body. Despite obstacles, the transect from stations F-J was completed thanks to a battery loan from BP- 016. Acoustic signals indicated possible young of year near the 100 meter depth around station I and J. It was later determined that the batteries were no longer good and the batteries were replaced. Jeff B. quickly repaired the tow body davit. A second attempt to complete the transect from station A-E was made on 31 January. The transect was ended just after station B due to bands of pack and brash ice. Further attempts to locate krill were made using the fish finder in areas less impacted by ice. Thanks to the Raytheon support staff and BP-016 for helping get sampling underway. SYNOPTIC WEATHER OBSERVATIONS Daily weather observations were collected and sent to Rothera Research Station via HF radio. GO-052-P GPS CONTINUOUS OPERATION REFERENCE STATION. J. Mullins, Principal Investigator, U.S. Geological Survey. The Science Technician operates and maintains on-site equipment for the project. On 19 January 2002 the system stopped saving data to disk. A restart of the GBSS software on 20 January 2002 fixed the problem. GO-091-P GLOBAL SEISMOGRAPH STATION AT PALMER STATION. R. Butler, Principal Investigator, Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS). The Science Technician operates and maintains on-site equipment for the project. The system has been running normally. The vault was accessed on 15 January 2002 for science support purposes. AO-106-P STUDIES OF LIGHTNING-INDUCED ELECTRON PRECIPITATION OF THE IONOSPHERE. U. Inan, Principal Investigator, Stanford University. The Science Technician operates and maintains on-site equipment for the project. The system has been running normally. Repairs were made to the top west back-up guide cable for the antenna tower, and cables were removed from ice and snow throughout the month. OO-275-O DOE-EML REMOTE ATMOSPHERIC MEASUREMENTS PROGRAM. C. Sanderson, Principal Investigator, Department of Energy, Environmental Measurements Laboratory. The Science Technician operates and maintains on-site equipment for the project. Performed weekly filter changes. The ARGOS antenna has been offline, affecting daily data transmissions to the US. Data is still being saved to disk and will be shipped to the US as per the SOP. A new antenna will be shipped down by OO-275-O. OO-283-P ANTARCTIC AUTOMATED WEATHER STATIONS. Charles Stearns, Principal Investigator, University of Wisconsin. The Science Technician monitors data transmissions for the project. Automated Weather Station (AWS) transmissions from Bonaparte Point, Hugo Island, and RACER Rock were monitored using the TeraScan system. The Bonaparte Point unit continued to send an invalid wind speed, presumably due to a CPU failure. The Hugo Island and RACER Rock units still remain off line. Repair of the AWSs is contingent on the arrival of new parts and on vessel scheduling. R-035 TIDE GAUGE. Tony Amos, Point of Contact, The University of Texas Marine Science Institute. The Science Technician operates and maintains on-site equipment for the project. The tide gauge display stopped functioning on 01 January 2002 and returned to normal operation on 8 January 2002. During this time, data continued to be saved to disk. TO-312-O TERASCAN SATELLITE IMAGING SYSTEM R. Whritner, Principal Investigator, Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The Science Technician operates and maintains on-site equipment for the project. Failure of the SUN TeraScan acquisition system occurred on 23 January 2002. A new, upgraded system was put into action, going online 1 February 2002. TO-513-O UV MONITORING NETWORK. C. Booth, Principal Investigator, Biospherical Instruments, Inc. The Science Technician operates and maintains on-site equipment for the project. The wavelength control drifted off 147.6 nm; it was recalibrate and the system resumed normal operation. Absolute Scans were performed on 6 and 28 January 2002, and the SyQuest disk was changed on 7 January 2002. OO-204-O MEASUREMENTS OF ATMOSPHERIC O2 IN RELATION TO THE GLOBAL CARBON CYCLE. Ralph Keeling, Principal Investigator, Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Air samples are collected on a semi-weekly basis by the station physician. The goal of this project is to resolve seasonal and interannual variations in atmospheric O2 (detected through changes in O2/N2 ratio), which can aid in determining rates of marine biological productivity and ocean mixing. The results are also used to help determine the terrestrial and oceanic distribution of the global anthropogenic CO2 sink. The program involves air sampling at a network of sites in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Palmer Station is especially well situated for resolving signals of carbon cycling in the Southern Ocean. Samples taken from the station are return-shipped to Scripps where the analysis of O2 and CO2 content takes place. OO-264-O COLLECTION OF ATMOSPHERIC AIR FOR THE NOAA\CMDL WORLDWIDE FLASK SAMPLING NETWORK. David Hofmann, Principal Investigator, Environmental Research Laboratories, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Air samples are collected on a weekly basis by the station physician. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory (CMDL) team continues its long- term measurements of carbon dioxide and other climate-relevant atmospheric gases. The Palmer Station air samples are returned to the NOAA laboratory for analysis as part of NOAA's effort to determine and assess the long-term buildup of global pollutants in the atmosphere. Data from this experiment will be used in modeling studies to determine how the rate of change of these parameters affects climate.