PALMER STATION SCIENCE MONTHLY REPORT May 2004 NEWS FROM THE LAB Sonja Wolter, Winter Assistant Supervisor Despite the waning daylight hours, Palmer remained a busy place during May. The divers of B-022-P (Amsler / Baker / McClintock) were able to complete at least one dive on most days, even managing two on many of those days. Their work in the labs and the aquarium continued at a high pace, as well. Six members of the group departed station with the R/V LAURENCE M GOULD on May 19, leaving one member to continue his research for two more weeks. The ship's return voyage to Chile included two out-of-the-ordinary stops, one to pick up equipment from Rothera Station and another for a medical evacuation from Vernadsky Station. This necessitated a slightly earlier departure than scheduled, so all those leaving wrapped up their work a day in advance. In exchange, they got to enjoy a short visit at Rothera (and, in yet another exchange, be subjected to an extended, rough trip back to South America). During May, station personnel also continued fieldwork for B-013-P, making two trips per week to Humble Island to weigh the remaining Giant Petrel chicks. All the chicks save one had fledged before May 13, but the late bloomer eventually put on weight, lost its fluff, and gained enough strength to leave by the end of the month. On several trips to Humble Island, the petrel chick weighing crew spotted a Southern Elephant Seal with a transmitter on its head and tags on its rear flippers, as well as two elephant seals that appear to have been branded. This information was reported to B-013-L/P / B-198-P (Fraser). Antarctic Fur Seals departed the area early in May, but then returned en masse a couple weeks later, making travel on Humble Island, Bonaparte Point, and in the Palmer Station backyard a bit more nerve-wracking until the end of the month when numbers thinned out again. Numerous fur seals loitered about Palmer near the seawater intake, as well as one that shimmied up onto the pier as passengers were being called for the ship's departure. Other wildlife sighted at Palmer and within the two-mile boating limit include: Antarctic Terns; Antarctic Sheathbills; Kelp Gulls; Blue-Eyed Shags; Adelie and Gentoo Penguins; Leopard, Weddell, and Crabeater Seals; and a Whale (probably a Minke). May weather brought 91.7 mm of melted precipitation, part of that translating into approximately 34 cm of snow. Accumulated snow was at its maximum of 30 cm at the beginning of the month. Temperatures reached as high as +5.8¼C and as low as Š9.1¼C. Winds gusted to a maximum 77 knots and averaged 10 knots for the month. With the sun dipping ever farther beneath the horizon and behind the glacier, direct sunlight last graced the station on May 31. Clouds permitting, we hope to see it again some day in July. The following projects conducted research at Palmer Station during May: B-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: Kevin Peters Six team members departed Palmer Station on LMG04-04 the afternoon of May 19, 2004, leaving Kevin Peters on station to complete additional bioassays of sponge extracts on sea stars. During May, our group completed 17 dives. These dives targeted the collection of specific macroalgae and invertebrates for defensive chemistry analysis. Laboratory activities continued at a fevered pitch up until the last minute the team was scheduled to leave. Purification and/or quantification of secondary metabolites using calorimetric, HPLC, and GC techniques continued while feeding assays with some of the purified compounds were presented to a new "taste tester." The Antarctic rockfish, Notothenia coriiceps, joined the sea star, Odontaster validus, as a sampler in our feeding assays. These feeding assays are still ongoing with differing sponge extracts being presented to the sea stars. We are most thankful to the support that has been provided to our group throughout our season at Palmer Station. All of the RPSC staff has been most helpful whenever they have been needed or called upon and without them, most of the work would not have been possible. All of the dive tenders throughout the season have made our group a much more efficient machine. G-052-P GPS CONTINUOUSLY OPERATING REFERENCE STATION. Jerry Mullins, Principal Investigator, U.S. Geological Survey The Research Associate operates and maintains on-site equipment for the project. Throughout the month, 15-second epoch GPS data was collected continually at station PALM, compressed, and transmitted to the USGS in Reston, VA. Downtime for the main USGS server in Reston resulted in delays in delivery of two daily data files over the weekend of 22/23 May. The capacity of the batteries used to power the GPS Z-12 rover unit was checked. Even the best of the five batteries had less than half its rated capacity, and the worst lasted only a few minutes (and was discarded). These conditions are not a surprise, as the batteries are now over seven years old, and most have gone through several periods of extended disuse. G-090-P GLOBAL SEISMOGRAPH NETWORK (GSN) SITE AT PALMER STATION. Rhett Butler, Principal Investigator, Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) The Research Associate 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 real-time to the U.S. Geological Survey. The only tape flush to /MT1 this month was successful, so the drives received from USGS will be kept as spares for use if further trouble is experienced. The seismic analysis program DIMAS was downloaded and installed to enable more detailed local processing and viewing of data. A vault visit was performed on 30 May to recenter masses, reassert bell jar vacuums, and check battery voltages. O-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 The station physician collects air samples on a semiweekly basis. 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. O-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 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. The station physician collects air samples on a weekly basis. O-275-O DOE-EML REMOTE ATMOSPHERIC MEASUREMENTS PROGRAM (RAMP). Colin Sanderson, Principal Investigator, Department of Energy, Environmental Measurements Laboratory 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. The Research Associate operates and maintains on-site equipment for the project. The capacity of the spare batteries was checked; all were marginal but acceptable, as befits their age of five years. O-283-P ANTARCTIC AUTOMATIC WEATHER STATIONS (AWS). Charles Stearns, Principal Investigator, University of Wisconsin The Research Associate monitors data transmissions for the project. AWS transmissions from Bonaparte Point, Hugo Island, and Racer Rock were monitored using the TeraScan system, with only Bonaparte Point currently operational. AWS data received was also forwarded to UCSB for B-032-P (Smith). A-306-P GLOBAL THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY AND ITS EFFECTS ON THE RADIATION BELTS AND THE LOWER IONOSPHERE. Umran Inan, Principal Investigator, Stanford University The Research Associate 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 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 recorded for 6 hours/day. Narrowband continuous data was collected for 12 hours each day. The BBC data acquisition computer froze on 01 May, missing much of the regular recording period and one special recording. A hard reboot was needed to restore proper operation. As this was a repeat occurrence from the previous month, a decision was made to begin rebooting the computer at least twice a week. Whether by causation or coincidence, there were no more freeze-ups of this type for the rest of the month. On 25/26 May, corrosion caused by water leaking into a connector in the VLF hut shorted the power lines to the VLF preamp, causing a complete loss of signal. The corrosion was flushed from the connector to restore operation in the near-term, and a few days later, with the assistance of the Communications Technician, a new connector was fashioned with a design to prevent recurrent dampness in the cable from intruding into the connector. Special broadband VLF recordings were made in support of two targeted campaigns this month. Data files coinciding with passes of the TIPER and QuakeSat satellites were recorded. T-312-O TERASCAN SATELLITE IMAGING SYSTEM. Dan Lubin, Principal Investigator, Scripps Institution of Oceanography The Research Associate 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. A weekly 85GHz SSM/I ice concentration image was produced and transferred to UCSB for B-032-P (Smith). Extensive sea ice imagery support, often two images a day, was provided to the R/V LAURENCE M. GOULD, O-124-L (Visbeck) and G-096-L (Domack). Both infrared and SSM/I microwave imagery of the area between Anvers and Adelaide Islands was provided to the R/V LAURENCE M. GOULD. The intermittent bar-coding seen in NOAA-16Õs AVHRR telemetry seems to have abated significantly, and NOAA-16 passes are being captured and archived once again. Apparently the AVHRR scan motor continues to experience some troubles, and these manifest themselves as areas of shaky imagery at the beginning of each scan line. Because of this defect, NOAA-16 is not being treated as a "primary" NOAA satellite but is scheduled in a supporting role. T-513-O ULTRAVIOLET SPECTRORADIOMETER NETWORK Charles Booth, Principal Investigator, Biospherical Instruments, Inc Site visitor: Seth White The Research Associate operates and maintains on-site equipment for the project. A BSI SUV-100 UV spectroradiometer 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. A BSI GUV-511 filter radiometer, which has four channels in the UV and one channel in the visible for measuring Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR), is located next to the SUV-100. Data from the GUV-511 instrument is made available on a daily basis on the projectÕs website www.biospherical.com/nsf/ . A scheduled absolute calibration was performed on 09 May. Due to a serial communications error, the T-513 auxiliary GUV instrument failed to properly open its daily data file on 04 and 20 May; stopping and restarting data collection forced the files to open. The annual site visit began on 19 May. The site visit provides a yearly opportunity for calibrations, maintenance, and upgrades. TIDE GAGE Tony Amos, Point of Contact, The University of Texas Marine Science Institute The Research Associate operates and maintains on-site equipment for the project. Tide height, seawater temperature, and salinity are monitored on a continual basis by a gage mounted at the Palmer Station pier. Early in the month it was determined that the temperature reading from the tide gage C/T sensor has been drifting over the last couple of months, so the data acquisition program was modified to use only the temperature provided by the water level sensor, which appears to be working fine. Both scheduled and unscheduled network file server outages resulted in occasional minor interruptions in data collection. On 26 May, the tide gage spontaneously switched from a two minute sampling interval to a 12 minute interval, and readings appeared "stuck", with only minor variation for an extended time period. Rebooting the computer several times and stopping and restarting the acquisition program eventually returned operations to normal, with data from a seven hour period missed or unreliable. METEOROLOGY The Research Associate acts as chief weather observer, and compiles and distributes meteorological data. At the end of the month a summary report is prepared and sent to interested parties. Weather data collected using the automated electronic system is archived locally and forwarded semimonthly to the University of Wisconsin for archiving and further distribution. Synoptic reports are automatically generated every six hours by the Palmer Meteorological Observing System (PalMOS) and emailed to the NOAA for entry into the Global Telecommunications System (GTS). Current weather observations for all Antarctic stations, including Palmer, are available on the web at: http://www.wunderground.com/global/AA.html. The two PalMOS LiCor irradiance sensors were replaced with more recently calibrated units. The replacement took several days, over the period 10-13 May, due to inclement weather and heavy corrosion of the level mounts, which necessitated extreme measures to remove. The new sensors were installed using different level mounts, and the Power Plant Mechanic graciously machined new set screw holes for all mounts, in hopes that larger screws would allow for simpler removal in the future. The electronics enclosure was accessed frequently during the replacement, with odd and at this point unexplained impacts on the air temperature and light sensors data channels. Fresh desiccant was installed in the enclosure when all work was complete, and all operations returned to normal. Approximately a week later, PalMOS experienced several extremely brief periods of corrupted data, again generally including erroneously high air temperature and irradiance readings. The source of the problem is still unknown, though itÕs likely to be in the electronics enclosure, perhaps in the datalogger itself, or in the communications line, rather than in the instruments. Palmer Station will no longer be including cloud coverage readings in weekly SitReps or monthly weather summaries. Since the discontinuation of manual observations in December 2003, these values have been generated using readings from the automated PalMOS ceilometer. Unfortunately, simply by the nature of its operation, the ceilometer is unable to distinguish between clear conditions and those conditions in which obscuration or the form of the cloud does not allow for a discrete cloud height measurement, which renders it inappropriate for estimating cloud coverages. Those looking for other methods of estimating sky conditions at Palmer are encouraged to refer to the various irradiance data provided by the NSF's UV Monitoring Network, administered by Biospherical Instruments, Inc. (email to nsfdata@biospherical.com, or on the web at http://biospherical.com/nsf), or to the LiCor pyranometer and quantum sensor data embedded in the PalMOS data stream, made available by the Antarctic Meteorological Research Center at the University of Wisconsin (email to amrc@ssec.wisc.edu, or on the web at http://amrc.ssec.wisc.edu). In addition, those who wish to use the straight ceilometer data to determine periods of verifiable cloudiness can find it in the PalMOS data stream as well. Questions may be directed to the RPSC Meteorology Coordinator, Ms. Kathie Hill (email to kathie.hill@usap.gov).