PALMER STATION SCIENCE SITREP March 2002 William R. Fraser, Station Science Leader NEWS FROM THE LAB Cara M. Sucher, Sr. Assistant Supervisor, Laboratory Operations In step with the rest of the summer season, March continued to be a busy time at Palmer Station. Research continued at full steam, and midway through the month the R/V LAURENCE M. GOULD (LMG02-01B) arrived with half the winter crew including the Assistant Area Manager, the new Winter Assistant Lab Supervisor and many FEMC personnel. A busy port call ensued, with fuel transfer, much cargo, a brief science mission – retrieval of a mooring - and many fast and furious turnovers. Field teams for BO-045-O (Ducklow) and BP-028-P (Ross/Quetin) completed their season and departed on LMG02-01B along with the Area Manager, Summer Construction Coordinator and many other summer personnel. Laboratory Staff spent the first months of 2002 inventorying, packing and moving all science equipment and instruments out of the Bio Machine Shop and surrounding laboratories. Almost immediately after the arrival of LMG02-01B, the eager construction crew began work on the new Earth Station and the BioLab remodel. Packing and moving items from the rest of the labs continued up until the end of the month while FEMC began the first stage of the BioLab remodel: demolition. This included removing furniture, tearing down walls and disconnecting plumbing and electricity in the Bio Machine Shop, the dark room, and Labs 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. Although Lab 10 will not be remodeled, the furniture was moved aside and the wall to the hallway removed for easier access to the areas under construction. Labs 1, 2, 3 and 4 continued to be used by researchers until the end of March. Work on these areas will begin in April. On 24 March, Palmer Station hosted a visit by the British Antarctic Survey’s vessel RRS SHACKLETON. The ship stopped by after picking up summer staff from Port Lockeroy and Rothera to retrieve cargo for Stephanie Suhr (BO-212-O), a BAS scientist who spent two months at Palmer Station, and to pick up 10 giant isopods collected by BO-022-O (Amsler/Baker/McClintock) earlier this season for another Rothera researcher. Passengers came ashore to see Station and Palmer folks were offered tours of the SHACKLETON. The second shuttle (LMG02-02) arrived on 26 March, bringing the remainder of winter personnel, the winter supply of frozen food, and copious amounts of construction cargo. The rest of the science community and summer RPSC staff departed with the ship on 29 March. The summer science lecture series finished the season with a full schedule. Karie Sines, field team leader with BP-016-P (Vernet), started the month off explaining their research as the phytoplankton component of the Palmer LTER. The following week, Donna Patterson (BP-013-P, Fraser) spoke about her work with Southern Giant Petrels and the possible effects illegal fishing in the Southern Ocean might have on the birds’ survival in the early years of their lives. Back by popular demand, Bill Fraser (BP- 013-P) offered a special eyewitness commentary and question/answer period after a showing of the Bahia Paraiso video. The final week of the season, Umran Inan (AO-106-P) closed the lecture series with a standing- room-only talk about his research on lightning and ionospheric and magnetospheric phenomena. The weather finally dried up a bit, with only 34mm of rain and 8cm of snow (as compared to 141mm of rain and 13cm of snow last month). We even had one clear and two partly cloudy days – quite a change from wet, gloomy February. The temperature began to drop a bit, averaging just below freezing, but the winds remained low; good weather for the science folks collecting their end-of-season samples. The following projects conducted research at Palmer Station this month: 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: Rebecca Dickhut, Amy Chiuchiolo, Michele Cochran The POP research group completed an intensive schedule of sampling air, surface water, snow, glacier ice and phytoplankton for POPs during the first week in March and departed Palmer Station on March 14th. This included collection of 8 high volume (1000-1400 m3) air samples from March 1st to 8th, 6 surface water samples (?150L each) at LTER inshore grid stations A, B, E, G, and I, a glacier ice (0-1m) sample from the Marr Ice Piedmont, and 6 phytoplankton samples 2 each from LTER inshore grid stations A, B, E. In addition, limpets were also collected from various islands surrounding Palmer Station. 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. Bacterioplankton production and abundance were measured twice weekly coordinated with measurements of phytoplankton productivity (S-016, Vernet) and POP sampling during the first week of March. Surface water samples were collected at Station A off Gamage Point, and at 0 and 20 m at Stations B (Bonaparte Point) and E (offshore, south of Hermit Island), all stations regularly occupied by the Palmer LTER. A depth profile (11 depths) of bacterial properties was also measured at Station E on March 6th. Bacterial production was measured using 3H-Thymidine and 3H- Leucine incorporation rates. Samples have also been preserved for epifluorescence microscopic and flow cytometric analyses of total prokaryote (Bacteria + Archaea) abundance, and Archaeal abundance. We thank the many members of the Palmer Station community, and specifically, Jeff Bechtel, Jeff Gustafson, Dave McDonald, and Johan Booth for their help with field work and in transporting our heavy samples from the boats and glacier to the lab, as well as Cara Sucher and Barb Watson for facilitating our laboratory activities. BP-013-P: 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 R. Fraser, Donna L. Patterson and Heidi Geisz. Significantly improved weather conditions during March gave us excellent access to our island study sites, and allowed us to complete the acquisition of the final LTER Seabird Component core field data. This included obtaining the final Adelie penguin chick weights and diet samples, late season diet samples from adult Adelie Penguins, maintenance and retrieval of our telemetry equipment and deployment of several satellite-linked transmitters on adult Adelie penguins. Although the remodeling of the Palmer labs impacted our activities somewhat, we nevertheless also completed most of our season's data management tasks, the analyses of remaining diet and sediment trap records and prepared our equipment and field team for deployment on the upcoming GLOBEC III cruise. As in past seasons, we continued the acquisition of basic data on the demography, breeding biology and foraging ecology of Giant Petrels, Kelp Gulls, 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 March benefited greatly from the able assistance provided by many Raytheon Polar Services Company employees at Palmer Station. BP-016-P AND BP-032-P: LONG TERM ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH ON THE ANTARCTIC PENINSULA, AN ICE DOMINATED ECOSYSTEM - PHYTOPLANKTON ECOLOGY COMPONENT AND BIO-OPTICS, REMOTE SENSING, SEA ICE COMPONENT Dr. Maria Vernet, Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Dr. Raymond C. Smith, ICESS, University of California at Santa Barbara, Principal Investigators Personnel on station: Lisa Ferber, Karen Pelletreau, Karie Sines and Jordan Watson During the craziness of March BP-016 and BP-032 sampled Palmer Inshore Stations B and E a total of six times. Sampling occurred on 01, 04, 07, 11, 14, and 18 March. On these occasions all core measurements were obtained: PRR, CTD, Ring net, Chlorophyll, and Water column. Over this time period productivity and chlorophyll levels in the water column continued to drop. The low point for Station B occurred on March 18th with production levels dropping to 234.3mgC/m³/d and on March 4th when Station E was measured at 311.1mgC/m³/d. BP-016 moved from lab 10 into labs 2 and 3 during March 8-10 in preparation for the winter lab remodel. It was during this time that the HPLC was prepped to run the end of season samples for the 2002 Palmer LTER. From March 19-25 BP-016 and BP-032 dismantled the Bruiser platform, packed up for the season and prepared for the upcoming GLOBEC cruises. BP-016 would like to thank Cara Sucher and Barbara Watson for their patience with our untimely packing and boating coordinator Jeff Bechtel for continued boat safety upgrades and maintenance. BP-028-P: LONG TERM ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH ON THE ANTARCTIC PENINSULA, AN ICE DOMINATED ECOSYSTEM: PREY COMPONENT. Drs. Robin Ross and Langdon Quetin, Principal Investigators, Marine Science Institute, University of California at Santa Barbara Personnel on station: Stephanie Oakes and Michael Caldwell (Marine Science Institute, University of California at Santa Barbara). During the first week of March we completed regular acoustic transects along stations A-E and F-J twice per week. Increased acoustic signals were noted along the transects. When sufficient signals were noted, target net tows were made. Additional searches made using either the BioSonics or the fish finder. The increase in acoustic signals and frequent sightings of whales indicated that krill were possibly returning to the Palmer area at the beginning of March. On March 4 we were successful in catching krill in an area where we noted bird feeding activity. The catch consisted primarily of subadult krill with a few juvenile and adult krill. From the catch we were able to complete the 10th instantaneous growth rate experiment for the season, a length frequency and a complete set of chemical composition and condition factor samples. Field team member Michael Caldwell finished measuring the volume of krill eggs from spawning experiments conducted during the 2002 January LTER Cruise. Graduate student Stephanie Oakes continued to analyze epi-fluorescent slides from larval krill feeding experiments conducted during the 2001 LTER Ice Cruise. Regular seasonal sampling ended on March 8th so the lab could be packed up and vacated by the March 11th deadline. Michael Caldwell and Stephanie Oakes departed Palmer Station on March 14th. BP-028 would like to thank Carmen Lemon and the logistics crew for assistance with end of season cargo, Cara Sucher and Barb Watson for assistance closing out the lab, and Jeff Bechtel for use of the boathouse for drying equipment and packing. Thanks to all RSPC and science personnel for a wonderful end to a successful season! ANTARCTIC ARTISTS & WRITERS PROGRAM Personnel on station: Meredith Hooper, Visiting Research Fellow in the History of Science and Technology, The Royal Institution, London. As a member of BP-013-P I worked from 6 January until 29 March on tracking the work done in the field by the Seabird component of the LTER, and on interviewing team members. My project at Palmer - to write a book about the doing of Antarctic science focusing on the life's work of Dr William Fraser - necessitated a sequence of in depth discussions with Dr. Fraser. My work included context setting both in the precise world of support offered at Palmer Station, and in the wider context of a range of the science taking place concurrently - on station, and on US vessels intersecting with Palmer - during my visit. The intention underlying my narrative, to advance the public understanding of science, and to heighten public awareness of Antarctica, has driven all work this season. My thanks to the individual members of BP-013 for their consistent support: and to all members of station for their input and help. AO-106-P: GLOBAL THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY AND ITS EFFECTS ON THE RADIATION BELTS AND THE LOWER IONOSPHERE Dr. Umran Inan, Principal Investigator, Stanford University. The Science Technician operates and maintains on-site equipment for the project. The Stanford equipment receives and records Very Low Frequency (VLF) radio waves in order to study natural ionospheric and magnetospheric phenomena, as well as to study the distribution of the lightning strokes that are a principle source of natural VLF signals. In the process of trying to restore the N/S computer to full networking capability, on the off chance that lack of networking was impacting the restarting problem reported last month, the machine was rendered inoperative. A new computer was configured with minimal hardware, O/S, drivers, and acquisition software to allow data collection to resume. No acquisition took place on 07 March, but when collection resumed on 08 March, the restarting problem had been solved. In early March the antenna loops were adjusted to restore proper configuration. In the middle of the month the posts supporting the cable run up the glacier were replanted, and after some minor excavation to remove it from the ice, the cable was re-hung. The messenger cable still needs to be tightened, and more attachments (string or tie-wrap) are needed between the messenger and signal cables, but the cable is now in no danger of freezing into the glacier should a warm spell be followed by a cold snap. During recording of the Beta voice announcement on 16 March, the PCM levels did not indicate a signal. Investigation revealed a faulty cable connector at the video input of Beta recorder #1. Recording proceeded normally after the problem was rectified, and a review of previous days’ recordings showed no sign of the problem prior to its discovery. Following some equipment shuffling during the installation of a new computer on 22 March, the synoptic broadband computer crashed and briefly but repeatedly refused to boot properly. Reseating all the cards, including the memory modules, in the computer solved the problem. Two synoptics were missed. The Principal Investigator was on-site from 26 through 29 March. During his visit, VLF noise surveys were performed at Old Palmer, on Janus Island, and at four sites in the backyard and on the glacier, along the current cable run and beyond the antenna. A new broadband continuous data acquisition system was put into service. GO-052-P: GPS CONTINUOUSLY OPERATING REFERENCE STATION Dr. Jerry Mullins, Principal Investigator, U.S. Geological Survey. The Science Technician operates and maintains on-site equipment for the project. Throughout the month, 15 second epoch GPS transmissions were collected continually at station PALM. Each day, the previous day’s data file was examined for completeness, compressed, and transmitted to the USGS in Reston, VA. On 14 March, the data logging program was disconnected in order to add the program version number to the RinEx header information. Three epochs at the beginning of the day were lost while this was being done. Static GPS surveys were performed on the benchmark CHR1 on 01 March and on the benchmark TOR1 on 18 March. The Z-12 rover was used in CPD mode to survey positions for S-003’s (Day) study areas on one of Stepping Stones Islands on 17 March. GO-090-P: GLOBAL SEISMOGRAPH NETWORK (GSN) SITE AT PALMER STATION Dr. Rhett Butler, Principal Investigator, Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS). The Science Technician operates and maintains on-site equipment for the project. Station PMSA is one of more than 130 sites in the GSN, monitoring seismic waves produced by events worldwide. Data files are recorded to tape and also sent to the USGS in near real time, as the local Internet connection allows. An automatic tape save failed on 09 March due to a medium error. Data files were automatically saved to the tape in the other drive. OO-204-O: A STUDY OF ATMOSPHERIC OXYGEN VARIABILITY IN RELATION TO ANNUAL TO DECADAL VARIATIONS IN TERRESTRIAL AND MARINE ECOSYSTEMS Dr. 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 Dr. David Hofmann, Principal Investigator, Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory, 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 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. OO-275-O: DOE-EML REMOTE ATMOSPHERIC MEASUREMENTS PROGRAM (RAMP) Dr. Colin Sanderson, Principal Investigator, Department of Energy, Environmental Measurements Laboratory. The Science Technician operates and maintains on-site equipment for the project. The RAMP system is part of a global network seeking to characterize the quantity and distribution of radionuclide particles occurring both naturally and artificially in the atmosphere. One sample filter was exposed for the duration of each week, and a weekly schedule of calibration, background, and sample counts was maintained. Spare batteries were recharged and load tested on 02/03 March. The new ARGOS antenna was mounted and connected on 04 March. The computer clock was set back by an hour on 11 March, as Palmer local time shifted from daylight savings back to standard. OO-283-P: ANTARCTIC AUTOMATIC WEATHER STATIONS (AWS) Dr. Charles Stearns, Principal Investigator, University of Wisconsin. The Science Technician monitors data transmissions for the project. 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 remain off line. A new solar panel and batteries were received; repair of the nonfunctional AWSs is now contingent on those being the right parts and on vessel scheduling. TO-312-O: TERASCAN SATELLITE IMAGING SYSTEM Dr. Dan Lubin, Principal Investigator, Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The Science Technician operates and maintains on-site equipment for the project. Throughout the month, the TeraScan system collected, archived, and processed DMSP, NOAA, and encrypted SeaWiFS satellite pass telemetry, maintaining a schedule of 20-25 passes per day. Beginning in the early morning on 06 March, the TeraScan antenna began to experience difficulty tracking in the elevation axis during high elevation satellite passes. The stepper motor was replaced, and the spare ACU was tried, but the problem remained. Followup consultations with SeaSpace ultimately turned suspicions to the stepper motor signal cabling, and in particular to wires running from a mounting strip on the azimuth yoke to a mounting strip near the stepper motor. These wires were bypassed by connecting the stepper motor directly to the yoke mounting strip, and proper operation resumed. Half a day of data was lost, and two other days were compromised by gaps in high elevation passes. On 10 March, the legend on the images that are remotely displayed in the comms area was adjusted to account for Palmer’s return to standard time. More archiving difficulties were encountered in the middle of the month while making a backup copy of a data tape. A new tape drive was installed in hopes of fixing, or at least isolating, the problem. Numerous visible light images of the Marguerite Bay area were provided to the POC for the GLOBEC cruises to assist in cruise preparations. An overview of Palmer TeraScan capabilities was also provided to the POC in order to facilitate imaging support during the cruises. Images of the region from Anvers Island to Adelaide Island were produced from different satellite types and wavelength channels in order both to illustrate the different resolutions available and to show ice conditions in the area to assist in planning for a possible cruise stop at Vernadsky Station. Clear satellite passes were archived when available throughout the month for BP-032-P (R. Smith), and 85GHz SSM/I “ice concentration” images were produced and transferred to UCSB for BP-032-P (R. Smith) on a weekly basis. TO-513-O: ULTRAVIOLET SPECTRORADIOMETER NETWORK Charles Booth, Principal Investigator, Biospherical Instruments, Inc. The Science Technician operates and maintains on-site equipment for the project. The BSI UV monitor produces full sky irradiance spectra ranging from the atmospheric UV cutoff near 290nm up to 605nm, four times per hour, while the sun is above the horizon. Limited preliminary results are available on-site in near real time, while fully calibrated data sets are made available by BSI on a periodic basis. Absolute Scans were performed on 13 and 24 March, with the latter being the quarterly triple lamp intercomparison. Preliminary data files were produced for the many days in January and February that had not been processed previously. Preliminary UV data files for the months of January and February were provided to Chris Hewes of UCSD. Preliminary UV data files were made available on-site on a daily basis for BP-016-P (Vernet). TIDE GAGE Tony Amos, Point of Contact, The University of Texas Marine Science Institute. The Science Technician operates and maintains on-site equipment for the project. Tide height and sea water temperature and salinity are monitored on a continual basis by a gage mounted at the Palmer Station pier. Two minor adjustments, both time zone related, were made to the data acquisition and display program. First, the Daylight Savings subroutine was modified to use a Chilean date, rather than a US date, to determine when to “fall back”. Second, an offset from UT to local time was added to the display of daily predictions to more closely align the predicted and observed tide heights. SYNOPTIC WEATHER OBSERVATIONS Each day, three synoptic weather observations were performed, coded, and sent to Rothera Station via HF radio. Spurred by a request from a grantee with GO-052-P (Mullins) for weather data from 2001, a QA/QC review of that period was begun. Observations from January through October were checked, and corrections were made wherever necessary and possible. New observers were trained.