PALMER STATION SCIENCE MONTHLY REPORT May 2003 Dr. Bruce Sidell, Station Science Leader NEWS FROM THE LAB Sonja Wolter, Winter Assistant Supervisor By May 3rd, three members of BO-037-L/P (Detrich); the TEA working with BO-022-O (Amsler); the VLF grantee for AO-306-O (Inan); a three-person rigger team tasked with restringing the rhombic antenna; the RPSC Dive Coordinator; the Capital Equipment Specialist; a Carpenter, a Maintenance Specialist; and a Waste Specialist had finished their work at Palmer Station and headed back to Punta Arenas on the R/V LAURENCE M. GOULD, leaving a station population of 31 people for two weeks. The GOULD returned on May 14 with two grantees for BO-037-L/P (Detrich); five new RPSC winter-over personnel including a Winter Assistant Supervisor of Laboratory Operations, Research Associate, Physician, Carpenter, and Carpenter Helper; and three RPSC personnel on a site visit including a two-person team tasked with installing the CTS Trakker and a BioMed Technician, thus raising the station population up to 41 people. While in the Palmer area, the R/V LAURENCE M. GOULD conducted two science cruises. Members of BO-036-L/P (Sidell) and BO-037-L/P (Detrich) completed a four-day fishing trip to Dallmann Bay, and members of BO-022-O (Amsler) completed a one-day diving trip to Dream Island. In addition, station personnel boarded the ship for a goodwill trip to Vernadsky Station. The transit through the Lemaire Channel was stunning due to clear skies, calm seas and an abundance of wildlife including: Humpback and Minke Whales, Gentoo Penguins, Snow Petrels, and a few Crabeater Seals. The Ukrainians were gracious hosts and everyone involved had a good time during the short visit. When not on the ship, the three science groups used their captured species in the Palmer laboratories to continue their ongoing research. The variety of wildlife in the Palmer area continued to decrease as the winter season progressed, but people continued to report sightings of: Adelie Penguins, Blue-Eyed Shags, Sheathbills, Antarctic Terns, Snow Petrels, Giant Petrels, Pintado Petrels, Kelp Gulls, Elephant Seals, Fur Seals, and Leopard Seals. One item of note included small flocks of snow petrels regularly seen circling the station after dark. May brought 64.7 mm of precipitation on 27 of the month’s 31 days. This included 25 cm of snow on 23 days, which accumulated to a maximum 39 cm near the middle of the month. Clouds covered the Palmer skies during 23 days, but the station population enjoyed five partly cloudy days and two splendidly clear days. Temperatures reached as high as +3.1ºC and as low as – 9.8ºC. The winds gusted to a maximum of 58 knots and averaged 11 knots for the month. The following projects conducted research at Palmer Station during March: BP-013-P: PALMER, ANTARCTICA LONG-TERM ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH PROJECT: LONG-TERM ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH ON THE ANTARCTIC MARINE ECOSYSTEM: CLIMATE MIGRATION, ECOSYSTEM RESPONSE AND TELECONNECTIONS IN AN ICE-DOMINATED ENVIRONMENT: SEABIRD COMPONENT William R. Fraser, Principal Investigator, Polar Oceans Research Group, Sheridan, MT. Personnel on station: None Station personnel monitored the growth of Giant Petrel chicks on Humble Island. Once a week during the first half of the month, as weather and ice conditions allowed, the chicks were weighed and presence of parents noted. The final visit of the season was on May 17 when only one chick was weighed. BO-022-P: THE CHEMICAL ECOLOGY OF SHALLOW-WATER MARINE MACROALGAE AND INVERTEBRATES ON THE ANTARCTIC PENINSULA Charles Amsler and James McClintock, Principal Investigators, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Bill Baker, Principal Investigator, University of South Florida Personnel on station: Chuck Amsler, Maggie Amsler, Anne Fairhead, Yusheng Huang, Kevin Peters, Stephanie Weiss During the first three weeks of May we concentrated on completing the season's suite of laboratory bioassays and chemical purifications of extracts and discrete compounds from macroalgae and invertebrates. Many extracts and a number of purified compounds showed feeding deterrence against sea stars and amphipods at ecologically relevant concentrations in May bioassays. We also continued diving collections to support laboratory experiments, albeit at a reduced rate. We logged 15 dives within the small boat limits as well as 5 during a two day, one night 'science of opportunity' cruise aboard the ARSV Laurence M. Gould in the vicinity of Dream Island and the Stayaway Skerries. During the final week we completed a final series of bioassays and concentrated on packing and other season’s end duties. The group redeployed on LMG03-04A, sailing from Palmer on the morning of 1 June. We are grateful for the generous and professional assistance of numerous RPSC staff throughout the season. Of those closing the season with us, we are particularly grateful to Brett Pickering, Barb Watson, and Stian Alesandrini for facilitating our laboratory and field operations. BO-036-L/P COLD BODY TEMPERATURE AS AN EVOLUTIONARY SHAPING FORCE IN THE PHYSIOLOGY OF ANTARCTIC FISHES Bruce D. Sidell, Principal Investigator School of Marine Sciences, University of Maine Personnel on station: Jeffrey Erickson, Jamie Hendrickson, Timothy Moerland and Bruce D. Sidell Laboratory work for our project this year at Palmer focuses on two areas of emphasis: 1) We extended our survey of myoglobin expression in hearts of Antarctic notothenioid fishes to encompass as wide a variety of red-blooded nototheniods as possible. Heart muscle was harvested from as many different species as are captured and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) and Western Blot (immunoblotting) were used to detect the presence/absence of myoglobin in cardiac muscles (Sidell). To date, 10 species of red-blooded nototheniod fishes examined all express myoglobin in their heart ventricles. 2) We performed experiments that will contribute to an extensive biochemical and biophysical characterization of the intracellular Ca++- binding protein, which is integral to relaxation of glycolytic muscle in these animals. To this end, we purified parvalbumins from Antarctic fish species by chromatographic methods (Erickson). These purified proteins also were used to measure kinetics of both Ca++ binding and dissociation to the protein, using the stopped-flow kinetics accessory to the station's Perkin-Elmer LS-50 spectrofluorometer (Erickson/Moerland). A parallel study examined the possible interspecific relationship between fiber diameter of muscles and parvalbumin concentration of the tissue (Moerland). For these studies, muscle tissue was fixed and a subsample of tissue from the same animals frozen; these samples are being transported to our CONUS laboratories for subsequent electron microscopic examination and biochemical analyses. cDNA of the parvalbumin gene from muscles of Antarctic species was prepared on site using the reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and oligonucleotide primers that we developed at our home laboratory, based upon mass spectrometer sequence data of purified parvalbumin from the Antarctic icefish, Chaenocephalus aceratus (Hendrickson). Additional tissue and blood samples were harvested from several species and frozen for later analyses at our CONUS laboratory. A successful fishing effort was conducted (in conjuction with Project BO-037) in Dallman Bay between 16-19 May, providing a resupply of experimental animals for our laboratory work. Fishing operations were conducted using both benthic Otter trawls and baited fish pots. (Please see LM Gould SITREPS for details of catch.) Fish were immediately transferred to aquaria at Palmer Station upon our return. All personnel departed Palmer Station on 1 June aboard the ARSV L.M. Gould and arrived at Punta Arenas on 5 June where Cruise LMG 03-04A terminated. We wish to thank RPSC personnel, both at Palmer Station and aboard the L.M. Gould and Master, officers and crew of the L.M. Gould for their exceptional support this season. They have made critical contributions to both the scientific success and the personal enjoyment of our work in Antarctica this year. BO-037: STRUCTURE, FUNCTION AND EXPRESSION OF TUBULINS, GLOBINS, AND MICROTUBULE-DEPENDENT MOTORS FROM COLD-ADAPTED ANTARCTIC FISHES H. William Detrich, Principal Investigator Dept. of Biology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA. Personnel on Station: H. William Detrich, Ennio Cocca, Steven Hann, and Barbara Methé The second half of our field season (May) coincided with personnel turnover. On 3 May, Sandra Parker, Chris Amemiya and Naomi Ward departed Palmer Station aboard the ARSV Laurence M. Gould and arrived in Punta Arenas, Chile, on 7 May to terminate cruise LMG03-04. Ennio Cocca and Steven Hann remained at Palmer Station and continued their work. Meanwhile, H. William Detrich and Barbara Methé departed Punta Arenas, Chile, on 10 May at the start of cruise LMG03-04A and arrived at Palmer Station on 14 May. During May, Cocca and Detrich completed the pilot experiments to evaluate transfection procedures for globin promoter analyses in Notothenia coriiceps spleen in vivo. The optimal transfection method was the use of a BTX ECM 830 electroporator with tweezertrodes, which gave low, but reproducible luciferase reporter activity. The activities observed were consistent with a low rate of hemoglobin turnover in adults in vivo. Significantly greater activity was recorded in one juvenile fish, which was probably experiencing erythrocyte expansion to meet its metabolic needs. By contrast, polyethyleneimine-(PEI-) mediated and Gene-Shuttle liposome- mediated transfections gave only background levels of luciferase activity. We feel confident that these results set the stage for the thorough in vivo analysis of the alpha and beta-globin promoters in the future. To support his CONUS studies, Hann continued the isolation of total RNA from spleen, head kidney, heart, brain, red and white blood cells, and muscle of N. coriiceps, Chaenocephalus aceratus, Gobionotothen gibberifrons, and Chionodraco rastrospinosus. Blood smears and head kidney and spleen tissue prints were also prepared. Methé completed the work initiated by Ward on the microbial ecology of 9 species of Antarctic fishes. At The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR), Methé and Ward will analyze their rRNA samples to determine the categories of microbes that inhabit the guts of ecotypically distinct fish species. The long-term goal of this study is to determine whether the gut flora of Antarctic notothenioid fishes have evolved characters that assist their host's ability to metabolize food efficiently at low temperature. At the conclusion of the season, Detrich supervised a thorough clean-up of the BO-037 labs and materials stored on site. Equipment and most chemicals were returned to Palmer laboratory stocks. Some chemicals were set aside for use by the ICEFISH 2004 cruise on board the R/V Nathaniel B. Palmer. We thank the RPSC personnel of Palmer Station and the captain, crew, and RPSC marine personnel of the ARSV Laurence M. Gould for their exemplary help in making our 2003 field season a success. GO-052-P GPS CONTINUOUSLY OPERATING REFERENCE STATION. Jerry Mullins, Principal Investigator U.S. Geological Survey The Science Technician operates and maintains on-site equipment for the project. The roving GPS unit was used to mark passive tracers drilled into the glacier to monitor glacial motion. Throughout the month, 15-second GPS epoch data was collected continually at station PALM, compressed, and transmitted to the USGS in Reston, VA. GO-090-P GLOBAL SEISMOGRAPH NETWORK (GSN) SITE AT PALMER STATION. Rhett Butler, Principal Investigator Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) The Science Technician operates and maintains on-site equipment for the project. The mass on the vertical seismograph was re-centered this month in order to compensate for seasonal changes in ambient air pressure. The vacuum was also re-pumped on this instrument. 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 real time. OO-204-O A STUDY OF ATMOSPHERIC OXYGEN VARIABILITY IN RELATION TO ANNUAL TO DECADAL VARIATIONS IN TERRESTRIAL AND MARINE ECOSYSTEMS. 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 sent 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 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 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). 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. OO-283-P ANTARCTIC AUTOMATIC WEATHER STATIONS (AWS). 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 RACER Rock anemometer is broken. The Hugo Island AWS is not currently transmitting. The Bonaparte Point AWS failed during the month and was repaired. AO-306-P GLOBAL THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY AND ITS EFFECTS ON THE RADIATION BELTS AND THE LOWER IONOSPHERE. Umran Inan, Principal Investigator Stanford University. The Science Technician operates and maintains on-site equipment for the project. The daily time interval in which broadband continuous data is recorded was changed this month at the request of Stanford. Data is now recorded from 0700 UT to 1000 UT. 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 strikes that are a principle source of natural VLF signals. Broadband synoptic data was recorded on a schedule of 3 out of every 15 minutes each day, and broadband continuous data was collected for 9 hours/day. Narrowband continuous data was collected for 6 hours each day. TO-312-O TERASCAN SATELLITE IMAGING SYSTEM. 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 and NOAA satellite telemetry, capturing approximately 25 passes per day. Weekly 85GHz SSM/I “ice concentration” images were produced and transferred to UCSB for BP-032-P (Smith). 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. 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 seawater temperature and salinity are monitored on a continual basis by a gage mounted at the Palmer Station pier. METEOROLOGY The Science Technician acts as chief weather observer, and compiles and distributes meteorological data. Each day, three synoptic weather observations were performed, coded, and sent to Rothera Station via HF radio. At the end of the month, a summary report was prepared and sent to interested parties. The Science Technician is working with the RPSC meteorologist, project engineer, and Coastal Environmental Systems, the maker of the software, to establish automated synoptic report generation. The process of converting to electronic data collection was initiated. The electronic barometer replaced the analog barometer as the instrument of record.