Antarctic Salp Genomics Cruise 2011

WE ARE DONE!

2011-12-05T21:32:00.006-05:00

On Nov. 30th, we left Palmer Station and headed for King George Island and the NOAA field camp, dubbed Copabanga, where we were able to go ashore and see dense penguin colonies (with all three species - Gentoos, Adelies, and Chinstraps - apparently co-existing), while we hauled trash and propane tanks from the field camp. With good weather holding, the LMG got underway for Punta Arenas about 12:00 Noon.

For a short while, we thought the Drake Passage would lie down for our transit. But by the afternoon of Nov 30th, it was clear that we were in for a usual Drake crossing. Winds gusted over 50 kts and we pitched and rolled our way into the wind and through 5 m swells (Fig. 1). By morning, we reached the Straits of Maire (Isla de Estados), where we were more protected from the winds and waves, and conditions improved.

Figure 1. Wind speed gusted over 50 kts (left) and wave heights were over 5 m (right) during our crossing of Drake Passage on 29-30 November 2011.

We pulled up to the dock in Punta Areanas about 10:00 AM on Dec. 1st. After the ship was cleared through Chilean customs, we were free to disembark. The science teams were allowed to stay onboard the LMG for the night, but some of us had reservations for nearby hotels (Fig. 2). In any case, everyone headed into Punta Arenas for some land-based R&R.

Figure 2 (left to right): The ship pulls up to the dock in Punta Arenas; our welcome party includes port agents and customs officials; soon the science teams are free to disembark and enjoy a sunny Spring afternoon in town. Photos Ann Bucklin

A post-cruise dinner the LMG11-10 was held that evening at Las Marmitas Restaurant (Fig. 3). Our celebratory dinner - which was also our Captain's birthday - concluded the cruise activities, which were judged overall to be both successful and enjoyable. The next day or soon thereafter, most of the scientists headed for home.

Figure 3. Everyone turned out for the LMG11-10 post-cruise dinner, which was also a birthday party for Captain Joe Abshire. Photos Peter H. Wiebe

So our Southern Ocean adventure is finished! We will keep our memories and mental images of Antarctica with us forever. We all feel that we have witnessed some of the most stunningly beautiful and unique landscapes and ocean vistas that our Earth can offer. But we are also longingly wishing for the comfort and welcome of home!

-- Ann Bucklin (University of Connecticut)

PALMER STATION AGAIN

2011-11-29T11:52:00.002-05:00

We returned for our second visit to Palmer Station, arriving as planned on the morning of Nov. 26th. The port call was needed to complete the cargo operations prevented by bad weather on our last visit and also to pick up scientists and Raytheon folks who returning from Palmer to Punta Arenas with us. Most of us also used the day for a quick trek up the Palmer glacier (Fig. 1).

Figure 1. A) Palmer Station seen in better weather at our second port call. B) Paola under a signpost at Palmer, including a marker for Stonington, CT. C) View of the ship from atop Palmer Glacier. D) Glacier hikers (from left) Joe, Melissa P., Chelsea, Melissa M., Katy, Peter. Photos Peter Wiebe.

During the afternoon, the Palmer Station residents generously arranged Zodiac trips – complete with safety briefings, emergency rations, and tour guides – to a nearby Adelie penguin rookery. We all suited up and headed off for a close-up view of Antarctic wildlife (Fig. 2).

Figure 2. A) Adelie penguin rookery near Palmer Station; a charter sailboat is in the background. B) Paola and penguins. C) Climbing over the rocks on the island are (from left) Ann, Joe, and Paola. Photos Peter Wiebe.

Our visit to the island gave us a great look at Adelie penguins up close. They have fascinating – and cute – behaviors that make simply watching them great fun. The penguins coexist happily with elephant seals, but the skua tries to drive the birds off their nests to steal their eggs (Fig. 3).

Figure 3. Adelie penguins being themselves: courtship display (A); snow bathing (B); and carrying a rock (C). D) A skua waits for an opportunity to steal eggs – but can also try to create one. E) An elephant seal keeping a watchful eye on us. Photos Peter Wiebe.

The next day, with our passengers and cargo aboard, we dropped the lines for departure. Once away from the dock, the Palmer Station residents bade farewell to their departing residents with a traditional display of affection and respect (Fig. 4). Brrrrrrrr!

Figure 4. Palmer Station residents turn out to see the LM GOULD off to Punta Arenas. A) Lines are dropped as we depart. B) Station folks gather at the dock. C and D) The traditional send-off for departing Palmer Station residents – a sign of affection and respect. Photos Peter Wiebe.

As we steamed away from Palmer Station, we were again treated to close-up views of stunning Antarctic scenery. The good weather gave us another chance to for up-close views of wildlife, including groups of crabeater seals hauled out on the ice (Fig. 5).

Figure 5. A) View of Palmer Station as the LM GOULD departs. B) Gathering on the 02 deck to view the sites, including crabeater seals hauled out on the ice. C) Paola (left) and Ann on deck for departure. Photos Peter Wiebe.

A bit later, we all headed out on deck again for a final view for this cruise of Neumayer Channel (Fig. 6). These mountains now look familiar to many of us. We will miss this vista!

Figure 6. Panoramic view of Neumayer Channel seen from the LM GOULD as we steam away and North toward Punta Arenas. Photo and photomerge by Peter Wiebe.

-- Ann Bucklin (University of Connecticut)

Picture of the Day - November 28, 2011

2011-11-28T10:18:00.000-05:00

A Gentoo penguin porpoising over its own reflection in Flanders Bay, off Gerlache Strait, Antartica. Photo Peter H. Wiebe.

VISIT TO “KRILL CITY” IN FLANDERS BAY

2011-11-27T12:42:00.000-05:00

Our last stop on our Salp Survey cruise was to Flanders Bay, a protected fjord off Gerlache Strait. We couldn’t have been luckier with the weather! The morning of Nov. 25th was sunny and calm, offering a stunning landscape of snow-covered peaks and glaciers and their reflected images in the still waters (Fig. 1).

Figure 1. View with reflections in the calm waters of Flanders Bay, Western Antarctic Peninsula region.

The good weather was particularly welcome since we had planned two launch two small boats from the LM Gould: one for salp and krill collection and the other for a small-scale bioacoustic survey. Both Zodiacs followed the ship’s trail through the ice (Fig. 2) to get closer to an area that Joe Warren had studied last year and dubbed “Krill City”. One zodiac was equipped for a small-scale bioacoustical survey of zooplankton distributions.

Figure 2. Left: The LM Gould clearing a path through the ice in Flanders Bay for the small boat operations. Right: Joe Warren standing in a zodiac equipped for small-scale bioacoustical surveys of zooplankton distribution and abundance.

The second zodiac was launched with a team to collect salps and krill. Our scientific pursuits did not at all interfere with the fund and adventure of being on the water in a stunning landscape of snow and ice and sparkling clear water (Fig. 3).

Figure 3. Small boat operations in Flanders Bay. A) The acoustics survey team included Kelley Watson (MT and Zodiac driver) and Katy Wurtzell. B) The salp- and krill-collecting team included MST Melissa Paddock (left) and MT Krista Tyburski (B) and Paola Batta-Lona (C). D) Krista at the helm.

As we navigated around bergy-bits and ice-flows, we came across wildlife that seems unconcerned by such strange orange beings (the float coats are required for on-the-water work, so everyone is very similarly attired). We heard a minke whale come up for air and were surrounded by penguins who kept a watchful eye of us, but stood their ground (Fig 4).

Figure 4. Gentoo penguins were everywhere in the Bay. They hung out on the ice and stood up to keep an eye on us.We also saw them porpoising through the water, including one who followed our zodiac for several minutes.

We also found at least some of what we were looking for. In Krill City, we collected the tiny larval (immature) krill that swarm under the ice bits (Fig. 5). These are the floating krill nurseries that contribute to the krill dense swarms of the Western Antarctic Peninsula region. The tiny krill feed on algae growing on the under-surface of the ice. We are particularly interested in the genetic make-up of these krill, which are a different generation from the juveniles and adults we have collected in other regions during our cruise.

Figure 5. Paola collecting larval krill from a floating “krill nursery” under a bit of ice.

The day in Flanders Bay was both thoroughly enjoyable and scientifically successful. For many of us, it was our favorite day of the cruise! It was also the last day of work for us. Later that night, we finished up our Salp Survey with a complete series of CTD cast, MOCNESS tow, and IKMT tow at the mouth of Flanders Bay. Then the technical team started breaking down our sampling gear and we steamed for our second port call at Palmer Station.

-- Ann Bucklin (University of Connecticut)
All photos: Ann Bucklin

Picture of the Day - November 25, 2011

2011-11-25T21:01:00.000-05:00

The sun sets over an Antarctic seascape of ice and calm waters off the Western Antarctic Peninsula. Photo: Ann Bucklin

MY FAVORITE ZOOPLANKTON

2011-11-24T09:57:00.000-05:00

Oceanographers are just like any other sort of people – they defy any categorization. Some of us are explorers, wishing to visit the farthest, deepest, remotest, or most challenging places on the Earth. Some of us are motivated by the technological challenges of understanding life in a medium into which we cannot see, requiring us to analyze or infer or extrapolate or interpolate or synthesize – or all of these – from bits of data to an integrated view. There are probably as many reasons folks do what they do as there are people who call themselves oceanographers!

One reason that I became a biological oceanographer is my (rather unscientific) appreciation for the animals that are the focus of my research. As a group, invertebrates (animals without backbones) range from absolutely lovely to really ugly to truly scary! I fell in love with marine invertebrates while I was a student at Oberlin College. I took a course in Marine Biology – a somewhat unlikely bet for “my favorite college course” in the fields of Ohio. The instructor was Dr. David Egloff, who somehow made the formalin-preserved, colorless, and looooong-dead animals we studied under our microscopes come alive. I came to appreciate the diversity of form driven by the many different ways that marine animals “solved” the challenges of life: feeding, swimming, floating, finding mates, reproducing, escaping predators, and so on.

Quite a few years later, I still feel pretty much the same way about marine invertebrates and especially about many zooplankton (animals that spend their entire lives drifting with ocean currents). I think most zooplankton are pretty cool and many are absolutely fascinating to watch while they are alive – one of the big benefits of going to sea. I wondered whether other members of our science teams on this cruise felt the same way. So I asked them: “Do you have a favorite zooplankton?” Here is what they said.

The salp Salpa cyllindrica showing its transparent complexity. Photo L.P. Madin (WHOI)

Paola Batta-Lona (Graduate Student in Marine Sciences, University of Connecticut)

Salps are my favorite zooplankton because they are transparent and simple-looking, but in fact – when you look at them closer or under the microscope – you realize they have interesting features. They share some characteristics with chordates like us. Salps also have an interesting and complex life cycle that involves sexual and asexual reproduction. This group of zooplankton is thought to play a major role in carbon export to the bottom of the ocean. There is some evidence indicating that salps are replacing key species like krill in the Southern Ocean. I find salps very interesting, and I look forward to find out more about them.

Jullie Jackson (Marine Projects Coordinator, Raytheon Polar Services Company)

Yes, so I have thought about this a bit and I think I am going to have to go for heteropods. Mostly because I think they look a little bit like Snuffalufagus

Melissa Paddock (Marine Science Technician, Raytheon Polar Services Company)

OK, here ya go, my favorite zooplankton is Clione limacina because how many times have you seen a flying snail underwater? They should have replaced the synchronized swimming hippos in Disney's Fantasia, because they are much more graceful, yet just as oddly shaped!

Left: The pelagic gastropod (heteropod) Cuvierina columnella seems to fly with wings. Right: The pelagic gastropod (pteropod) Clione limacina, a “flying snail”. Photos R.R. Hopcroft (Univ. Alaska)

Melissa Patrician (Graduate Student in Marine Science, Stony Brook University)

My favorite zooplankter is the copepod. I originally became interested in copepods because they are right whale food; but after studying them for several years, I began to appreciate them in their own right. I think the adaptation to over-winter by diapausing (which is basically like hibernation in bears) is fascinating and I'm also completely amazed by how quickly and how far they can move in short bursts for their body size.

Copepods are among the most abundant and diverse of zooplankton. These two copepods, a Euchaetidae (left) and Sapphirina metallina (right) show the diversity of form. Photos R.R. Hopcroft (Univ. Alaska)

Scott Davis (Chief Mate, LM GOULD)

I like the way the polychaete worms wiggle their waggle.

Chelsea Stanley (Fisheries Acoustics, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada)

My favorite zooplankton are larval octopi. I think they are beautiful and find the challenges in identifying them, which is based on the number and placement of chromatophores on the body, very interesting.

A pelagic larva (immature form) of Octopus defillipi with a rather ghostly look. Photo C. Clarke (Univ. Alaska); Right: The polychaete worm Tomopteris swims with a wave of wiggling modified legs or parapodia. Photo R.R. Hopcroft (Univ. Alaska)

Swimming bells of the siphonophore Diphyes antarctica. Photo Ryan Driscoll (AMLR, SWFSC, NOAA)

Joe Warren (Professor of Marine Science at Stony Brook University)

My favorite zooplankton is Diphyes antarctica. It's a siphonophore (need I say more?) These creatures are a colonial organism which means nobody really knows whether it's a single animal or a group of many animals working together in a coherent unit. The photo shows the bracht or nectophore (sometimes called the swimming bell) of the animal. Not shown are the tentacular appendages which it uses for feeding, as these are almost always destroyed by net sampling.

Katie Wurtzell (Research Technician, Gulf of Maine Research Institute)

Fish eggs caught on this cruise with the little fish very much alive in the egg casings. Photo Melissa Patrician

My favorite zooplankton we have found this cruise would have to be the fish eggs. They don't look like much in the bucket, but when you take them inside and look under the microscope - they're beautiful. They have bright blue eyes and pretty geometric markings on their bodies. They are also moving inside the egg, opening and closing their gills. You can tell they are on their way to being a full grown fish!

Ann Bucklin (Professor of Marine Sciences, University of Connecticut)

Images of living zooplankton in a poster for the Census of Marine Zooplankton (CMarZ; see www.cmarz.org)

I have the unfair advantage of answering my own question last. So I will punt and reply that I reply that I like all marine zooplankton best! One reason is that I was one of the lead scientists for a global study of marine zooplankton diversity, called the Census of Marine Zooplankton (CMarZ). We made a poster with some of the images of living zooplankton from the CMarZ project (and some of them are shown above too). These are a small sampling of the 7,000 described species of 16 different phyla that live in the pelagic realm of the world oceans. I hope you will take a look at the photo galleries of living zooplankton on the CMarZ website (see http://www.cmarz.org).

-- Ann Bucklin (University of Connecticut)

P.S. I once asked my Oberlin College instructor, David Egloff, if I might do anything to express my gratitude to him for being a wonderful teacher and introducing me to marine invertebrates. He said, “Why don’t you give me a warm acknowledgment in one of your papers?” Just in case you are checking the blogosphere, Mr. Egloff, here’s another ‘warm acknowledgment!’

2011-11-23T08:15:00.000-05:00

During our cruise, we sampled along Bransfield Strait as part of the survey for salps and krill. We entered the strait from the east by coming around Elephant and Clarence Islands after a series of stations along the Drake Passage north of the South Shetland Islands. The MOCNESS was towed obliquely to 1,000 meters at our Stns #14, #15, #17, #19, and #20 (Fig. 1).

Figure 1.Map of the stations in Bransfield Strait from which the temperature and salinity data were mapped. The Strait lies between the Western Antartic Peninsula and the South Shetland Islands. Stations are indicated by number; islands are indicated by letter and named at right.

During each MOCNESS tow, data were collected on pressure (P), the temperature (T), and salinity (S). The data were used to create a longitudinal view of the physical oceanography of the Strait, called a hydrographic section, from the surface to 1,000 m. The pressure, temperature, and salinity values from both the down- and up-haul of the MOCNESS were assigned geospatial (latitude and longitude) coordinates. The values were then mapped in relation to Stn #14, which was at the northern end of our section (Fig. 2).

Figure 2. A) Temperature and B) salinity sections for Bransfield Strait.Distance from Stn #14 is shown on the x-axis; tracks of the MOCNESS are shown as white vertical lines; the values were interpolated to provide the views shown using EasyKrig3.0 (Chu, 2004 and ftp://globec.whoi.edu/pub/software/kriging/easy_krig).

Although the number of profiles was small and the spacing wide, the T and S sections provide a basis for comparison with previous studies of the physical oceanography of Bransfield Strait.

Relatively warm deep (above O C) water from the offshore Antarctic Circumpolar Current enters the southern portion of the Bransfield Strait through a channel between Snow and Smith Islands. This water, which flows past Low Island and into the Strait between Deception and Trinity Islands, is identified by being warmer than 0o C and with a salinity of about 34.5 PSU. Such water is evident at Stn #20, which was situated between Low, Trinity, and Deception Islands.

According to Stern and Heywood (1994), “Deep basins within the Strait contain only Bottom Water, which is colder and more saline than the Antarctic Bottom Water of the Drake Passage and the Scotia Sea, and which is formed in situ during the seasonal freeze of Surface Water.” This water, known as the Bransfield Strait Basin Bottom Water, is also evident in our sections as the less than -1.0o C water in the center of the section at Stns #17 and #19 below about 400 m (see the dark blue area in Figure 2A). The cold (~ -0.5o C) less saline water at the surface is likely from Weddell Sea to the east of the Strait.

This type of analysis of the physical oceanography of the Southern Ocean regions we are sampling will be used to help us understand the ecology of the zooplankton we collect. In particular, the different origins of the water in the Bransfield Strait will have a strong influence on the distribution of the target species, salps and krill, that we are studying.

-- Peter Wiebe, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Reference:

Stern, M. and R.B. Heywood (1994) Antarctic environment - physical oceanography: the Antarctic Peninsula and Southwest Atlantic region of the Southern Ocean. In Southern Ocean Ecology: the BIOMASS Perspective, [Ed] S. Z. El-Sayed, Cambridge University Press, New York. Pages 11-24

2011-11-22T11:01:00.000-05:00

Livingston Island, Antarctica, viewed from the LM Gould (November 20, 2011).
Photo Peter H. Wiebe

WHAT’S IN SEAWATER?

2011-11-22T10:54:00.001-05:00

Figure 1. Deploying the CTD and Niskin bottles in order to study what exactly is in this seawater the ship is sailing through.

“What’s in seawater?” I asked some folks in the lounge this evening (while watching our 3rd episode of the television series “Weeds” – I’m TOTALLY hooked!)The answers I got ranged from “dinosaur pee” and ”the world’s toilet” to ”pollution from our ship” and ”whale poo.” It has become apparent to me that perhaps it is time to have a quick lesson in what exactly IS in seawater and why are we out here studying it.

One aspect of the water we are interested in is its physical properties (such as its temperature, salinity and density). We study these properties with an instrument called a CTD (Conductivity Temperature Depth sensor). Both temperature and salinity (i.e. the salt content of the water) affect the water’s density. In most parts of the world’s ocean, temperature is the most important factor controlling the density of the water. However, the Southern Ocean is different. Here, the temperature doesn’t change much…its cold…often. The salinity, however, changes much more because of the melting of the seasonal sea ice. Therefore, the changes in how much freshwater is melting into the ocean from the ice change the density of the water here much more than the small seasonal changes in temperature.

Another thing we study when looking at the water is its biological and chemical properties. In order to do this, we collect water from bottles (called Niskin bottles, named after Shale Niskin, who patented the bottle design in

Figure 2. A look at the vertical profile of the water column at one of our stations. This information is being sent live over a data wire from the CTD, so we can see in real time what the water looks like!

1966) located around the CTD; we shut these bottles at various depths to collect water from the bottom of the ocean all the way to the surface. We then filter this water to look at these properties. The Warren lab is filtering water for chlorophyll. This is a pigment found in the phytoplankton (the ‘plant plankton’ of the ocean). By measuring the amount of chlorophyll, we can look at approximately how much phytoplankton (i.e. salp and krill food) is in the water. This is a useful piece of information for us!

Both the Warren and Bucklin science teams on our cruise are filtering water for clues about the environment here. I’ll hand this over now to Paola to talk about what her group is interested in finding out about the seawater.

Figure 3. Paola and Chelsea pause for a photo while collecting water from the Niskin bottles around the CTD. They will bring this water inside and filter it to look at the seawater’s various biological and chemical properties.

-- Melissa Patrician (Stony Brook University)

In our hunt for salps, we are trying to understand their distribution patterns and the chemistry of the ocean holds lots of clues as to where we might find these gelatinous critters! The Bucklin lab is looking at both the nutrients and particulates in the seawater.

In the area of Antarctic waters where we are working, concentrations of nutrients (nitrate and phosphate) are much higher than those found in other oceanic waters. They tend to be lowest at the surface and greatest in the warm deep waters.

Particulates, alternatively referred to as particulate organic matter (POM), are tiny particles of solid material present in the water column. Particulates within the water column come in a multiplicity of sizes and from a great variety of sources: dead phytoplankton cells, fragments from attached macroalgae, dead bacteria, dead protozoa, dead micro- and macro-zooplankton, crustacean exuvia, and fecal pellets, especially those from copepods, euphausiids, and salps.

Figure 4. Paola concentrating on filtering the seawater for nutrients and particulates.

Salps are indiscriminate filter feeders, utilizing an internal mucus net to capture particles as water is pumped through the body. Therefore, they are assumed to ingest all particulate matter (both living and dead) small enough to fit through their oral opening and large enough to be retained by the mucus net. This may include particles as small as 1 to 2 microm.

So, if we want to look at the big picture and understand the behavior or occurrence of salps in the Southern Ocean, the characterization of the chlorophyll by the Warren team will help with understanding the prey (phytoplankton) distribution. The Bucklin side of the analysis will help with understanding under what nutrient and particulate concentrations we tend to find salps more frequently.

Well, that’s it for today’s lesson: “What’s in Seawater?” Hope you learned something!

-- Paola Batta-Lona (University of Connecticut)

Picture of the Day - November 21, 2011

2011-11-21T00:08:00.000-05:00

Cape Petrels ride the waves in Bransfield Strait, Antarctica.
Photo Peter H. Wiebe

THREE WEEKS LATER

2011-11-21T00:02:00.000-05:00

We have now completed work at 13 stations (Fig.1) and completed 14 CTD casts, 15 MOCNESS tows, and 14 IKMT tows. We are on track – in terms of progress through our cruise plan – to complete work at nearly all of our planned stations. At this writing, we are heading back into the open waters of Drake Passage with the goal of working at four deep-water locations (Stns #6, #5, #4, and #24), two shelf stations (#23 and #3), and a station in protected waters of Gerlache Strait.

Figure 1. Station locations for LMG11-10. As of 20 Nov 2011, work has been completed at stations shown with circled station numbers. The cruise track and order of stations were changed to accommodate weather. The star shows the ship’s location at 8:00 pm on Nov. 20th.

Our cruise has already been very successful. Our samples from vertically-stratified MOCNESS tows at each station are yielding a useful view of the pelagic community of the Drake Passage and Bransfield Strait. Taxonomic analysis of these quantitative samples will help us characterize the early spring assemblage of the Western Antarctic Peninsula region. We will compare our findings with an earlier study, the comprehensive US GLOBEC Southern Ocean Program carried out during Fall and Winter, 2001 and 2002. Peter Wiebe led four US GLOBEC cruises as chief scientist; he collected zooplankton samples using a MOCNESS just like the one we are using now and equipped with strobe lights to reduce net avoidance by krill.

Our nets have brought up huge catches of krill, usually in surface nets sampling during the dark, have contrasted with generally sparse MOCNESS and IKMT samples. We have caught only a small number of salps. Our team has processed 65 aggregates and 10 solitaries – some of them exceptionally large and packed with embryos, which can quickly generate a population “bloom” of chain-forming aggregates. Other specimens collected, identified, and flash-frozen for genomic and transcriptomic analysis (please look up the definitions of those terms yourself) include ~300 individuals of Euphausia superba (including larval, juvenile, and adult stages), with the telson (tail) preserved separately in alcohol, so individuals can used for analysis of cohort (life stage) structure. We have also flash-frozen various zooplankton that caught our interest, including copepods, gastropods, ctenophores, and amphipods, among others.

Our goal is to obtain material for genomic and transcriptomic analysis, especially for the Southern Ocean salp. The best source of material for these analyses is from our IKMT tows, which are shallower and usually yield living zooplankton. These specimens are identified and flash-frozen for analysis at UConn.

Why so few salps this year? In December 2004, salp researchers caught tens of thousands of salps, which they caught live by SCUBA diving! In December 2010, hundreds of salps were caught at many of the same locations we are visiting this year. We speculate that the Spring population increase of salps may be delayed this year. Several knowledgable people have remarked on the late ice cover this year of coastal waters of the Western Antarctic Peninsula region.

So our salp hunt continues, and we are looking forward to seeing what the open shelf and offshore waters may hold.

-- Ann Bucklin, University of Connecticut

PLAYING THE WAITING GAME IN THE ANTARCTIC SPRING

2011-11-19T22:10:00.000-05:00

The Drake Passage, the narrow passage that extends from the tip of South America to the tip of the Western Antarctic Peninsula is well known for treacherous sea conditions. Many sailing ship’s of past centuries ended their careers while sailing around “the Horn” (Patagonia) and into the Drake. The past 24 hours has seen the kind of wind and seas for a sustained period of time that must have caused sailors grave concern. It has certainly cost us valuable “ship time” (the number of cruise days alloted to our project by the NSF). We have been standing by near our Stn #19, which is at the western end of Bransfield Strait, waiting for weather and sea conditions to moderate to a level where we can carry out our planned work. Similar to most stations, we want to do a series of observations and sample collections: CTD cast to 1000 m, MOCNESS tow to a 1000 m, IKMT to shallower depths, and an acoustic “Towfish” as we steam toward the next station (see ours blog s for Nov. 10th, 17th, and 18th).

Figure 1. Wind speeds between 30 – 50 kts, barometric pressure dropping, and other weather data shown on the ship’s DAS (Data Acquisition System) screen for the previous 24 hrs from 11:00 am (1300 GMT) Nov. 19th.

For the past 24 hours, we have had sustained winds between 30 and 50 kts out of the East (Fig. 1). The barometric pressure had been up around 1004 mb 2 days ago, when we had flat seas, clear skies, and excellent working conditions. It had dropped to 969.2 mb by this morning and seems to be bottoming out. This may be the longest stretch of high winds and seas we have had this cruise.

In planning our cruise, selecting our station locations, and laying out the cruise track, we assumed Bransfield Strait would be protected from the prevailing winds, which are usually out of the N-NW. We expected the early Austral Spring would be stormy, but we did expect that stations in the lee of the islands would be workable despite high winds because of the short fetch (distance the wind blows across the water to whip up the waves). Instead, there is an intense low pressure to our North, and the winds are coming from the East and blowing directly down the Strait. The long fetch has built the large swells that we are experiencing now.

So where did this severe weather originate? The isobar images that we get daily on the ship provide an answer. The low that settled in over the Drake Passage formed as a relatively weak low in the South Pacific Ocean off the west coast of South America on Nov 15th. It began moving SE towards the Drake Passage on Nov. 16th (Fig. 2A). The system intensified while still West of the southern tip of South America on Nov. 17th (Fig. 2B); it moved into the Drake Passage and pushed our good weather off to the East during Nov. 18th (Fig. 2C). The latest image shows the low pressure intensified, with barometer reading of 976 mb at the center (Fig. 2D).

Figure 2. Isobar images of the pressure fields around the Antarctic Continent for: A) 16 November, B) 17 November, C) 18 November, and D) 19 November 2011. The small yellow dot marks the position of our Stn #19 at the western end of Bransfield Strait; the low pressure system that is causing our high winds and seas is marked by the arrow.

The current pressure isobar image underestimates the intensity of the low, since at the ship we had a minimum barometer reading of 969 mb. With the barometer beginning to rise and from the wind chart (Fig. 3), which has light winds forecast for later today and tomorrow, work here at this station may resume in another 6 to 12 hours.

Figure 3. Forecast wind speeds and directions for the period 19-20 November 2011. Our area (Stn 19 is marked by the yellow dot) is forecast to have light winds for the next 24 hours or so. Note the red LMG dot on the chart is an old LMG position.

And so we will continue to stand by at our Stn #19. Work in Antarctic waters adds new meaning to the phrase: “Hurry up and wait!”

-- Peter Wiebe, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Picture of the Day - November 18, 2011

2011-11-18T22:44:00.000-05:00

View from Bransfield Strait during a lovely Spring day in Antarctica.

(Photo by Peter H. Wiebe, 17 November 2011)

USING SOUND TO SEE INTO THE OCEAN

2011-11-18T16:47:00.000-05:00

Land creatures – including us - are used to using our vision to detect the world around us. Ecologists walking in forests, meadows, grasslands, or deserts can immediately pick out the patterns of the life forms inhabiting the space and easily design sampling protocols to see the relationships to each other and their environment. Not so in the ocean environment. As we stand on the deck of a ship peering into the darkness of the sea surface, we can rarely visualize the animals and plants living just below the surface – much less those living in the depths of the ocean. Divers swimming in the shallow reaches of the ocean have limited visibility (only a few meters in coastal regions, up to 20-30 meters in very clear water), because seawater is a very poor medium for transmitting visible light. Light is absorbed, scattered, and reflected more in seawater than in air by orders of magnitude. This limitation affects even the remotely operated and autonomous vehicles with cameras and video systems that can roam the ocean depths, although this technology has given us images of the organisms living deep in the ocean and are leading to new insights about their spatial patterns and behavior on small spatial scales. So how is it possible to view the fascinating 3-dimensional ocean habitat and visualize the spatial arrangement and behaviors of marine organisms on larger spatial and temporal scales?

The transmission of sound at low and moderately high frequencies (1 Hz to 100 kHz) is much more efficient in the ocean than in air. Above 100 kHz, sound is more rapidly attenuated, largely because of absorption due to the salt (principally magnesium sulfate) in seawater. Despite this limitation, high-frequency sound in the 38 kHz to 500 kHz range is proving exceedingly useful for studies of zooplankton (our target organisms), because it can be used to detect the presence of animals 10's to 100's of meters away from the transducer producing the sound.

Figure 1. Echograms of 38 and 150 kHz acoustic data (Nov. 18, 2011). The vertical axis is depth (m); the horizontal axis is time. Intensity is shown by color (see color bar). The intense scattering shown on both echograms is probably krill patches. Image J.D. Warren

On this cruise, there are several acoustic systems being deployed to provide information about the distribution of zooplankton and larger organisms (such as fish) in the water column. The ship has a hull-mounted Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) with 38 and 150 kHz transducers, which is principally used for measuring current speed and direction with depth under the ship. This system depends on organisms in the water column to reflect sound and produce backscattering (i.e., the portion of the transmitted sound that is reflected off organisms back to the transducer receiver). This can be interpreted as current flow from Doppler shifts (i.e., shifts in the frequency of sound emitted by the transduers) in the returning echoes. Also recorded is the intensity of the sound returned as echoes off the organisms. As the ship steams along, the ADCP provides echograms of the backscattering intensity at two frequencies (Figure 1), providing a continuous indication of high and low concentrations of organisms below the surface.

Figure 2. A) The BioSonics towfish equipped with 38 and 120 kHz transducers being launched from the LM Gould (15 November 2011). B)The echogram display of the BioSonics frequencies. Photo and Image P.H. Wiebe

A second system is a dual frequency BioSonics echosounder with 38 and 120 kHz transducers mounted in a towed body (Figure 2). This system is being towed off the starboard quarter of the ship for two hours at the end of a station while heading for the next station when sea conditions are good.

Figure 3. A) Joe Warren and MPC Jullie Jackson discuss the zodiac setup; note the orange transducer module on the end of the stainless steel square tubing next to the engine – it will be moved to a down position underwater during the survey. B) The Zodiac is launched. C) Joe Warren climbs down into the zodiac. D) Kelley Watson, Krista Tyburski, and Joe Warren during a small-boat survey. Photos P.H. Wiebe

The third system is a Simrad echosounder that is battery powered and has transducers operating at 38 and 200 kHz. It is being used from a Zodiac small boat (Figure 3) to conduct surveys of krill distribution over small spatial scales in areas of interest, where our large vessel is unable to go due to water depth. At our Stn #16, all three echosounders were operated for the first time during this cruise. Conditions were ideal, with low winds and seas – except for a long-period swell running through the survey area.

To help interpret the acoustics data, the small boat survey was conducted along the towing path of the MOCNESS, which provided depth-specific collections of animals and environmental measurements (especially temperature and salinity) in the water column at the station. The combination of the MOCNESS and IKMT zooplankton samples and the acoustic data will provide a comprehensive picture of the vertical and horizontal distribution of zooplankton living in this Antarctic ecosystem and will allow evaluation of their status in the face of the rapid environmental changes now taking place here.

-- Peter H. Wiebe (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) and Joseph D. Warren (Stony Brook University)

P.S. This is Ann Bucklin with a postscript for today’s blog. Bioacoustics is an aesthetically-pleasing (echograms in deep shades of blue and red) and computationally-challenging (huuuuuge data files) field. The simplicity of the underlying concept – bouncing sound off bugs – is captured in slogans used on Peter and Joe’s T-shirts: “We only measure voltage and time”. It is also apparent in Peter’s haiku poetry on the subject, including this one:

Echoes

A loud ping goes out
A whisper echo returns
From deep-sea creatures

-- Peter Wiebe

Picture of the Day - November 17, 2011

2011-11-17T19:47:00.000-05:00

WHAT DID WE DO TODAY?

2011-11-17T19:18:00.000-05:00

What a difference a day makes! Our weather was absolutely tropical today. We have been working at our Station #16 throughout the day. We are protected by surrounding islands in relatively shallow water (about 500 m). We have had the luxury of working steadily throughout the day, without the down-town necessitated by waiting for workable weather.

So what did we do today? We collected zooplankton in IKMT and MOCNESS tows, and then worked quickly to observe and measure the living organisms and also prepare, process, and preserve samples. Here is a sampling of our work on board the LM GOULD.

A) When the MOCNESS is recovered after a tow, 3 or 4 people – including scientists and technicians – are needed on deck to wash down the nets while they hang of the stern gate, and then lift the cod ends over the gate, where they are detached from the net.

B) Each of the nine cod ends is brought into an “aquarium room” with running sea water, where the zooplankton sample can be processed. Paola is using a seawater hose to wash the cod end after the sample is removed.

C) The catch from one net: we have been sampling dense swarms of Southern Ocean krill in the surface layers (above 50 m), especially during the night. The bright red color is characteristic of krill; if you look closely you can see that their guts look greenish – they have been grazing on phytoplankton. For more about other zooplankton we have caught, see Melissa Patrician’s blog for today at http://aleslab.blogspot.com/. Be warned, it’s a quiz!

D) Each step in the processing of samples is recorded, with separate logsheets for each procedure or analysis. We keep track of all the collection information (called “metadata”) for each sample. Here Melissa M. is keeping track of specimens removed from the samples.

E) The sample is pourted from the cod end into a device that divides the sample into equal halves, so they can be shared between the science teams and preserved for different types of analyses. Joe is holding the “box splitter”, while Paola pours out the sample.

F) The box splitter is rocked back and forth to separate the sample into two chambers, which can be poured off separately. Joe is splitting the net sample.

G) Each half of the sample is washed into a sieve to remove the sea water. The zooplankton can then be washed into a plastic sample jar. Paola demonstrates our sieving technique, with a seawater wash bottle.

H) One half of the sample is preserved in formalin for later identification of species and determination of their abundance or concentration in the volume of water sampled by each net. Melissa preserves samples in buffered formalin, working in a fume hood in the ship’s hydrolab.

I) Living specimens of species of interest – including salps, krill, jellyfish, comb jellies, chaetognaths, amphipods, and many other species of diverse animal groups – are removed from the samples for special analysis. Ann is measuring individual alive-and-kicking krill inside the “freezer van” on the LM GOULD, before flash-freezing them in liquid nitrogen for genetic analysis.

J) The specific gravity of specimens of a variety of zooplankton groups is being measured by Joe Warren’s team. Katie is setting up the experiment in a ship’s “cold van”. For more explanation about this study, see Joe Warren’s blog for November 14th at http://aleslab.blogspot.com/.

We can only hope for more lovely work days like today, but the weather forecast suggests that the Southern Ocean may have something else in store for us. Here we go again!

-- Ann Bucklin (University of Connecticut)

WHY ARE WE HERE?

2011-11-16T20:17:00.001-05:00

Figure 1. Changes in krill and salp densities over time: a) Krill density in the SW Atlantic sector; b) post-1976 krill density in scientific trawls; c) 1926–2003 circumpolar salp data. Figures from Atkinson et al. (2004)

We might ask ourselves this question on a day like today, when the winds have sprung back up, whipped up the waves, thrown ice bergs in our path, caused the ship to pitch and roll ceaselessly, and stopped us from carrying out the sampling we had planned for today. But in fact, this question – in a larger context – is important to many of us who have spent much of our lives studying the ocean, especially the Southern Ocean.

We are here in the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) region of the Southern Ocean because it is a bell-weather region for climate change and global warming. A 2004 paper by Angus Atkinson and others summed it up well:

“The western Antarctic Peninsula is one of the world’s fastest warming areas, and (atypically for the Southern Ocean) winter sea ice duration in this sector is shortening. Key spawning and nursery areas of krill are thus located in a region that is sensitive to environmental change. Deep ocean temperatures have increased, and a circumpolar, pre-1970s decrease in sea ice has been indicated at several locations. The regional decrease in a high-latitude species with high food requirements (krill) coincides with an increase in a lower-latitude group with lower food requirements (salps). However, as the mechanisms underlying these changes are uncertain, future predictions must be cautious. These changes among key species have profound implications for the Southern Ocean food web. Penguins, albatrosses, seals and whales have wide foraging ranges but are prone to krill shortage.”

Figure 2. Southern Ocean food web. Image British Antarctic Survey

The vulnerability to climate change of the Southern Ocean pelagic ecosystem – and the special

Figure 3. Top: The Southern Ocean krill, Euphausia superba (Photo Uwe Kils). Center and bottom: The Southern Ocean salp, Salpa thompsoni, solitary and aggregate forms (Photos Larry Madin, WHOI)

vulnerability of krill - is of deep concern to oceanographers and climate scientists. Krill are a keystone species for this ecosystem, meaning they are pivotal to the nexus of relationships among species that live here and are connected in a “who-eats-who” framework, known as a food web. The Southern Ocean food is pretty simple compared to many other ocean regions. There are fewer species and fewer trophic steps to the top predators or “charismatic megafauna” (seals, whales and porpoises) that many people know and love best. This cruise is focused on salps and krill, and our goal is to help ensure that many people know and love these creatures best – or at least as much – too. To help make our case, here are the major protagonists of our story, alive and well and looking their charismatic best (Fig. 3).

-- Ann Bucklin (University of Connecticut)

Citation for quotation:

Angus Atkinson, Volker Siegel, Evgeny Pakhomov & Peter Rothery (2004) Long-term decline in krill stock and increase in salps within the Southern Ocean. Nature 432: 100-103

Picture of the Day - November 15, 2011

2011-11-15T18:05:00.000-05:00

Early morning sun shines on the ice cliffs of Clarence Island, Antarctica.
Photo Paola G. Batta-Lona

EUREKA – WE CAUGHT A SALP!

2011-11-15T18:02:00.000-05:00

The Southern Ocean pelagic ecosystem is known to be highly variable among different Antarctic regions and to show dramatic variation among both seasons and years. This year, many people have commented on the unusual amounts of remaining ice. Perhaps Austral Spring is late this year. Our studies will help analyze this variation in species composition and abundance over time and space. Prof. Joe Warren (Stony Brook University) and his students – carrying out another salp project on our cruise – are measuring “biovolume” of our plankton catches. At SBU, other students will determine the abundance of different zooplankton species in the preserved samples. These data will be compared with results from other Southern Ocean regions and years.

Figure 1. Living Southern Ocean krill soon after capture.

Our zooplankton catches have been rather smaller than we expected. – but with many different species. Important for our study, we have sampled dense patches of juvenile and adult Southern Ocean krill (Euphausia superba; Fig. 1). Krill are a keystone species for the pelagic ecosystem here and dominate the zooplankton assemblage in biomass and abundance. They are an important species for us too, since they are important player in the dynamic balance between salps and krill in the Southern Ocean food web. Our goal is to understand the population dynamics of both species in relation to the zooplankton community and environmental conditions in the Southern Ocean.

Figure 2. Station locations for the Salp Survey cruise, including sites in the Drake Passage (Stns 4-11) and Bransfield Strait (Stns 14-21). We have completed work at stations with red numbers.

Back to our unfolding oceanographic adventure! Yesterday the winds blew at 30 – 40 kts as we steamed SE in the Drake Passage from our Stn 11 (Fig. 2), where we had completed work in a patch of good weather amidst days of howling winds and high seas. We arrived at Stn 12 during the morning, but the seas were still up and swells were coming from two directions. We waited until conditions calmed down and went to work in the early evening.

Figure 3. Fifteen seconds of fame for the first salp caught on our cruise! With the star is its biggest fan, UConn PhD student Paola Batta-Lona. Photo Ann Bucklin

Eureka! We caught our first salp in Net 4 (which sampled from 200 – 100 m) in our fifth MOCNESS tow of the cruise. We preserved the salp separately to give it some special attention (Fig 3). We hope to find many many many more salps! And we may catch a bit of luck with weather, with forecasts for winds between 15 and 20 kts for the next 24 - 48 hrs in our area. That should give us time to sample our northern-most stations and head back south through Bransfield Strait, where we should find some protection from the westerly winds. Salps, Ho!

-- Ann Bucklin (University of Connecticut)

ARE WE HAVING FUN YET?

2011-11-14T16:33:00.000-05:00

The Southern Ocean in shades of blue and gray. Photos Peter H. Wiebe

Today finds us standing by near our Station #12, which is NE of Elephant Island. We are waiting on the weather to start working at this site, which is at the northern end of our sampling region and therefore of particular interest to us. Farther north means farther along in Austral Spring, so perhaps our favorite species, the Southern Ocean salp, will be more abundant. In fact, we will be happy to see our first salp on this, our sixth day of salp hunting!

So here we sit, waiting for the weather to be nicer – a lot nicer! Last night, we had sustained winds at 50 kts, with gusts to 60 kts. The motion of the ship in this weather makes lying down hard work. Sitting in a chair, working in the lab, and eating a meal are even more challenging.

So, are we having fun yet? Well, not everyone is. Sometimes the changing motion can make you seasick even after you get your “sea legs”. (After a few days, you get used to having the floor rock and roll under you. In fact, you can get so used it, you can get “land sick” until you get your “land legs” back). But I am in fact having a bit of fun. For whatever reason, since my first cruise as a postdoc at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in 1980, I have loved it best when the seas kick up and toss us around. I suppose it makes me feel connected to the forces of nature. And the ocean is lovely when it gets churned up: the waves become a kaleidescope of colors – all shades of blue and grey here in the Southern Ocean. Elsewhere in the world ocean, there are shades of turquoise, green, and blue.

One problem with weather like we have had on our Salp Survey cruise is that we can’t actually get much work done. The weather decks are closed since the waves crash over them regularly, so we can’t easily reach the aquarium room or our laboratories in the “freezer van” lashed to the back deck. We certainly can’t put anything over the side or collect any samples in this weather.

Everyone finds something to do (see Melissa Patrician’s Nov. 13th blog at http://aleslab.blogspot.com/). Some of us watch movies, read books, play video games, sleep more, and/or keep working. And some of us – including me – enjoy the ride.

-- Ann Bucklin (University of Connecticut)

Picture of the Day - November 13, 2011

2011-11-14T07:29:00.000-05:00

Photographs don't seem to capture the huge swells driven by high winds blowing over the vast reaches of the Southern Ocean. The blue-gray color of the ocean, with petrels careening in the fierce winds, is typical of the past two stormy days.

Picture by Peter H. Wiebe.

WHAT LIVES BENEATH?

2011-11-13T20:48:00.000-05:00

The ocean pelagic habitat has been divided vertically into five zones: epipelagic, mesopelagic, bathypelagic, abyssopelagic, and hadopelagic (Table 1). Most sampling is done in the top 200 m, called the epipelagic zone. A great deal of sampling has been in the top 1,000 m or through the mesopelagic zone. Little sampling is typically done below 1,000 m, in the bathypelagic (1,000-4,000 m), and much less even deeper.

Table 1. Depth zones of the pelagic habitat, with total volume in the world oceans in millions of cubic km [Vol (106 km3)] and percent volume (% Vol) of the total. Note that most of the ocean volume is considered bathypelagic (from Hedgepeth, 1957).

The vertical partitioning of the ocean, including the Southern Ocean, is very important, since the different zones have quite different environmental and habitat charateristics – and sometimes very different zooplankton species composition. Although some planktonic species vertically migrate each day, visiting the surface waters during the night and hiding from visual predators in the deep dark waters during the day, other species live in the deepest layers of the ocean all the time. In general, the very deep sea is thought to be a region of low biomass, low abundances, and high diversity. Since the deep layers are rarely sampled, they are also a zone of discovery – of new species and unsampled populations of known species.

For our project, our particular interest is in investigating earlier reports of very deep populations (below 2,000 m) of our target salp species in the deep waters of the Western Antarctic Peninsula region. We wonder whether there are unsampled deep-living populations of this species, or whether perhaps the species migrates between the surface and such great depths. Our molecular genetic and genomic analyses are designed to help answer this question.

For our salp survey, we are sampling from surface to as the near the bottom as possible. For stations deeper than 1,000 m, we sample to 1,000m, except for stations deeper than 2,500 m, when we sample to that depth. We are sampling zooplankton with a complicated instrumented net system, called a MOCNESS (Multiple Opening-Closing Net and Environmental Sensing System; Fig. 1) that provides data in “real time” (immediately) through a conducting cable to a ship-board computer.

Figure 1. The MOCNESS is launched from the LM GOULD. You can see the electronic instrumentation in pressure cases at the top and cod ends (PVC buckets) at the end of the nine nets. Photo Peter H. Wiebe

Yesterday we steamed NE in the Drake Passage and arrived at our Station #11 during the afternoon. We are particularly interested in this sampling area, which is offshore and among the deepest of our stations (estimated depth 3,069 m), so we asked that the LMG remain near the location so we can wait for better weather. We (Ann, Joe, and Peter) headed for bed, with a request to be waked up when conditions were workable. Amazingly, we got our “weather window” - winds below 30 kts (see Fig. 2) – and got the wake-up call at 3:30 am. Work could begin!

Figure 2. The red line shows wind speeds over the previous 24 hr at 12:00 Noon GMT or 9:00 am local time on Nov. 13th.

After an initial CTD cast, we launched our first “deep tow” of the cruise. The MOCNESS went over the side about 6:30 am and was recovered at 11:45 am. The net system had traveled 5,000 m in about five hours. Throughout the tow, environmental data (temperature, salinity, particulates, chlorophyl) and net information (depth, angle of the net, volume of water filtered) are displayed on the ship-board data acquisition computer (Fig. 3). During the uphaul, eight nets are opened and closed successively, sampling discrete depth zones of the ocean.

Figure 3. MOCNESS data acquisition screen, showing net trajectory (with different nets in different colors), environmental parameters, and position during a 2,500 m tow.

We were happy to have completed this deep tow successfully and felt fortunate to have a long enough patch of good weather. This came after a very bad two-day stretch of wind and sea that prevented work. During the tow, we kept a close eye on the wind speed and also the barometer, which was moving from low to higher pressure as the storm center moved away. During the tow, the barometer peaked and the winds dropped to below 20 kts for a short time and then the barometer began to fall again. Unfortunately, our target species, the salp, Salpa thompsoni, was not present. However, salps are colonial animals that can form large patches or blooms very quickly. When we do find salps – and we remain quite optimistic that we will – we will likely find LOTS of them!

-- Ann Bucklin (University of Connecticut) and Peter Wiebe (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Picture of the Day - November 12, 2011

2011-11-12T21:46:00.000-05:00

The Multiple Opening-Closing Net and Environmental Sensing System (MOCNESS) is launched from the LM GOULD. The nine nets are opened in sequence on the uphaul to sample discrete depths of the water column. You can see the cod ends (PVC buckets) at the end of the nets, which will retain plankton during the tow.

Photos by Peter H. Wiebe

OCEANOGRAPHY IS A TEAM SPORT

2011-11-12T10:45:00.002-05:00

Oceanographers frequently work in teams to carry out both laboratory and field research. At sea, everyone on the ship must do their job well to ensure the safety of everyone and the success of the mission. For US Antartic Program (USAP) vessels, the Raytheon Polar Support Co. (RSPC) provides extensive technical and logistical support. This support is absolutely critical to the success of research on ships in the Southern Ocean and at research stations and camps on Antarctica. Here is a bit about the people on the LMG11-10 RSPC technical support team.

The RPSC team on our cruise on the LM Gould consists of the Marine Projects Coordinator (MPC), four Marine Technicians (MTs), one Marine Science Technician (MST), and two Electronics Technicians/Marine Computer Instrument Specialists (ET/MCIS).

Marine Projects Coordinator (MPC)

Jullie Jackson is the MPC for LMG11-10

The Marine Project Coordinator for our cruise is Jullie Jackson. She is the senior RPSC person on board and the liaison between cruise scientists, the RPSC staff, the ship’s Captain, and the port agent. She coordinates the support effort among the various parties involved. The MPC is the first contact for issues related to on-board operations, cruise plans, etc. Jullie stands a 12-hr watch everyday, but she is always on call and usually puts in very long days at sea.

MST Melissa Paddock brings extra sample jars for us – saves the day!

Marine Science Technician (MST)

Melissa Paddock is the Marine Science Technician. She is responsible for vessel lab operations and will assist cruise scientists with lab instrument set up, hazardous waste disposal, and sample packaging. The MST is responsible for ensuring that we follow proper safety procedures are followed at all times. Melissa helps us with all aspects of our laboratory work at sea.

Marine Technician (MT)

The Marine Technicians are responsible for deck safety and the safe rigging and deployment of all over-the-side operations. A well-equipped workshop is available for equipment repair, troubleshooting, and limited construction.

On our cruise, there are four MTs and they are very busy with a very wide range of tasks. The MTs are on deck during any gear deployment and recovery. They are responsible for checking the gear before it goes over the side. Between stations, the MTs have designed and built racks for our sample jars and water bottles, repaired nets that ripped during tows, and millions of other tasks that keep us in business.

Marine Technicians (MTs) for our cruise LMG11-10 are (left to right): Alan Shaw (at right in photo), Kelley Watson, Kari Anderson, and Krista Tyburski

Electronics Technicians (ET)

The Electronics Technicians (ETs) are responsible for all electronic scientific equipment and some ship’s operational systems. Our ETs are George Aukon and Kris Merrill. They help with equipment set up and troubleshoot the electronics of all scientific. For our cruise, the ETs have worked hard to upgrade and trouble-shoot the MOCNESS, calbrate our acoustic profiler, setup a freezer van on the deck for our experimental observations of living zooplankton (think: cold!), and designed and rigged up recording temperature probes for our planned salp cultures.

Left: ET George Aukon (left in photo) prepping the MOCNESS for deployment. Right: ET Kris Merrill getting the Biosonics echosounder ready for field calibration

Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT)

RPSC sails a minimum of one EMT on each cruise, and for our cruise both MPC Jullie Jackson and ET Kris Merrill are EMTs. Once the cruise is underway the EMT is the primary medical care provider onboard. They are available to consult with anyone on aboard for any health or injury-related matters.

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The RPSC operational and technical support team has been of invaluable assistance in every aspect of our cruise activities. As individuals and as a team, they are our source of expertise, knowledge, understanding, and wisdom, as well as lots and lots and lots of hard work! Hats off and a big “thank you” to the entire team!

-- Ann Bucklin, University of Connecticut

Picture of the Day - November 11, 2011

2011-11-11T14:29:00.000-05:00

AWAY AT LAST! An LMG Zodiac plows through the waves toward Cape Shirreff, Livingston Island, Antarctica. At the helm is Jullie Jackson (LMG11-10 Marine Projects Coordinator) with bowman Alan Shaw (Marine Technician); their (happy if a bit damp) passenger is Mike Goebel, team leader for the NOAA Marine Mammal Observing Station, which was opened today and can be seen in the distance.

--Text and photo by Ann Bucklin

CAPE SHERIFF PUT-IN: FINALLY!

2011-11-11T14:22:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we steamed back to Cape Shirreff to have another shot at bringing our resident seal and penguin biologists back to land. We had been anticipating a “weather window” (the weather is anticipated to get rough again today, Friday) and wanted to take the opportunity to give it our best shot. Sure enough, the conditions were much nicer than when we tried a few days earlier. Much less of a swell and no fog!!

Joe, Kelly, and Paola helping sort the “freshies” – fresh fruits and vegetables to help consolidate space in the zodiac. Photo by Ann Bucklin

Unfortunately, the science party was unable to go to shore and help upload the zodiacs. This didn’t stop us from helping, though! We needed to move all of the food for the field camp for the next four months from the refrigerator and freezer and protect it from getting soaked with salt spray with plastic bags. I was pleasantly surprised by the variety of food – everything from apples and oranges, to artichokes and leeks; chicken and beef, to conger eel and duck! They even had a whole turkey – my guess is for Thanksgiving. It looks like our friends will be eating well for the next four months!

The final zodiac leaving the LMG with Jullie, Alan, Mike, and the last of the supplies for Cape Shirreff. Photo by Melissa Patrician

After about six hours of extremely hard and cold work by the MTs and ETs, we waved goodbye to the final zodiac and our new friends now at Cape Shirreff and are headed to our third science station!

The zodiac en route to Cape Shirreff. Photo by Melissa Patrician

-- Katie Wurtzell, Stony Brook University

Picture of the Day - November 10, 2011

2011-11-10T20:26:00.000-05:00

View from the LM Gould steaming through Neumeyer Channel, Western Antarctic Peninsula Region. Photo by Peter H. Wiebe.

GETTING DOWN TO WORK

2011-11-10T20:22:00.001-05:00

We heard the ship’s alarm at 0600 – and were delighted to be waked up this way! The weather had cleared enough to finish off-loading the cargo, including a large aluminum landing craft blocking the operation of the winch, and we were ready to go! The lines were dropped at 6:45 am (Fig. 1), and we got underway, steaming through the channel leading to Bismark Strait. Several small groups of penguins were on the small island across from the station. We headed east for the Neumayer Channel and then into the Gerlache Strait, heading back again toward our Station #22.

Figure 1. Lines were dropped in the early morning as we depart Palmer Station. Photo Peter Wiebe

The scenary was stunning and uniquely Antarctic (Fig. 2). Sun was peaking out from behind the clouds giving rise to great highlights on the black rock walls along the channel and the thick sheets of ice and snow that cover most of the mountains. Shear cliffs of the ice several hundred meters tall mark the waters edge along the channel. Winds in the channel are much lower than in the open sea and are now less than 10 kts.

Figure 2. Our return passage through Gerlache Strait: a sparkling blue-and-white morning! Photo Ann Bucklin

As we approach Stn #22, the MOCNESS was moved out to the stern, positioned for deployment, and given a last check by an Electronics Technician (ET; Fig. 3). All members of the science and RSCP technical teams worked this station. The station location was over a deep trough in the main channel that goes down to 1000 m. Our plan for the station work includes a CTD cast to 1,000 m, an IKMT tow, and finally the MOCNESS tow. Weather conditions looked good for our first station; the seas were very nice and the winds were light.

Figure 3. George Aukon (LMG ET) checks out the sensors and instruments on the MOCNESS. Photo Peter Wiebe

The station work proceeded according to plan and – as expected for a first station – everything takes an extra bit of time. The CTD cast was deployed from the Baltic Room through a huge door that opens in the side of the ship (Fig. 4). The CTD rosette carries Niskin water bottles that can be “tripped” or opened at specified depths. We tripped two bottles at each of seven depths from the surface to 1,000 m. The water samples were collected by the science teams (Fig. 5), and the water was filtered immediately for analysis at the UConn and SBU laboratories for chlorophyll, nutrients, particulates, and C:H:N ratios. Such biological characterization of the water column is critical to understand the “ecological niche” of our target species, the Southern Ocean salp, Salpa thompsoni.

Left, Figure 4. The CTD rosette with Niskin bottles deployed through the Baltic Room door of the ship. Photo Peter Wiebe. Right, Figure 5. Paola Batta-Lona (left) and Chelsea Stanley collect water samples for analysis from the Niskin bottles. Photo Ann Bucklin.

Immediately after the CTD cast, an Isaacs Kidd Midwater Trawl (IKMT) net was deployed from the stern and recovered after a tow to 175 m (Fig. 6). This net is particularly useful for collection of living zooplankton, especially the fragile gelatinous salps that is the focus of our study. The catch in the IKMT was pretty light, with juvenile krill, amphipods, and several ctenophores and jellyfish, but no salps.

Figure 6. Deployment and recovery of the IKMT off the stern of the ship. Left: A winch is used to lift the net over the stern gate of the ship, guided by the Marine Technicians (MTs) and scientists. Right: The recovery was made in calm seas; you can see the pentagonal mouth opening of the IKMT as it reaches the surface. Photos Peter Wiebe.

After a break so everyone could eat dinner (quickly), we finished the setup and checkout of the MOCNESS and started the tow about 7:30 pm. The MOCNESS can be controlled from computer on the ship, with commands sent down the conducting wire to the net. During the descent or downhaul, the first net, Net 0, was opened. At the bottom of the tow (at 822 m), a computer command was given to close Net 0 and open the next one, Net 1. During the uphaul, a total of eight nets was opened in succession to sample discrete depth strata through the entire water column: 822-600, 600-400, 400-200, 200-100, 100-75, 75-50, 50-25, and 25-0. The tow was carried out without difficulty and the MOCNESS was recovered about 10:30 pm (Fig. 7). No salps were caught and most of the zooplankton – juvenile krill – was in the upper 25 meters.

Figure 7. Left: Peter Wiebe (left), Joe Warren (center) and LMG Marine Technicians (MTs) ready for the MOCNESS for deployment at our first station. One cod end (in green racks) is attached to each of the nine nets. Right: The MOCNESS is recovered over the stern gate, requiring coordination by the Mate driving the ship, winch operator, and MTs. Photos Ann Bucklin.

Our work at Stn #22 – including clearing our gear off the deck, filtering the water samples, splitting and preserving the zooplankton samples, updating our data records and event logs, and cleaning up the shipboard laboratories – continued for several hours. We finished up just in time for “mid-rats” or Midnight rations, served for the ship’s crew, technicians, and scientists, who work as teams 24 hrs a day. After a quick debriefing in the mess, we headed for bed, while the Gould set course back to Cape Shirreff, a 9-hr steam. We hoped for good weather to allow the scientists to disembark via Zodiac and set up their summer camp.

-- Ann Bucklin (University of Connecticut)

Picture of the Day - November 9, 2011

2011-11-09T20:02:00.000-05:00

After two days of storms, our return passage through Gerlache Strait is lit by sunshine reflecting off the ocean and surrounding peaks. A sparkling blue-and-white morning!

Photo and text by Ann Bucklin

COLLECTING LIVING PLANKTON FOR EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES

2011-11-09T14:46:00.000-05:00

Collecting planktonic animals alive and in excellent condition for experimental work is difficult using conventional nets. Often the delicate animals are damaged when they enter the net and brush against the sides of the netting or when they are crowded and crushed, this usually occurs with small cod-end buckets and during tows longer than 40min. On this cruise, it is very important that we collect the salp, Salpa thompsoni in as pristine condition as possible because individuals will be put into an aquarium on the ship to study how being in different food regimes and temperatures affects the key genes that control physiological and biochemical processes. “Blue water” diving in the upper 20 to 30 m of the water column from a zodiac away from the ship is one technique used to capture animals without damage, but that option is not available to us. Instead for sampling animals alive, we brought along a simple net system that was devised years ago to capture animals in very good condition. In 1981, Dr Michael Reeve took a conventional ring net and equipped it with a large weighted cod-end. He then lowered the net to a particular depth and then hauled it vertically very slowly back to the surface (5 to 10 m/min). The animals collected in this manner were usually in very good condition.

While steaming down the Gerlasche Straits during the afternoon of Nov. 7th, we assembled a Reeve Net for use on this cruise. First we undid the lashing holding an old 1-m ring on a 1-m diameter pipe ring. New nylon line was provided by Kelly Watson, a Marine Technician (MT) on our cruise. This line was used to lash a new Reeve net with 505 um mesh onto the ring. The Dacron collar at top of the net has a series of brass grommets through which the line was drawn and then lock-stitched (see Fig. 1), thus attaching the net to the ring.

Fig. 1. Paola attaching the Reeve net to the ring with nylon line.

The net is 4.1 m (13 ft) long. After getting the net attached to the ring, we assembled the cod-end bucket, which is a large PVC bucket [0.46 m (18") tall; 0.32 m (12.75") in diameter]. The cod end was inserted into a support bag made of mesh netting. The bag was then attached to the back of the net with a heavy-duty zipper. Then the top of the bucket was taped with black electrical tape and duck tape to prevent chafing. A piece of Tygon tubing with a hose clamp inside was placed just under a lip of PVC to seal the mesh bag and prevent animals from passing down the outside of the bucket and out through the coarse mesh.

Four ½" nylon lines run from the top of the pipe ring to the cod-end (Fig. 2). These were adjusted in length so that - when attached by shackles to straps on the mesh bag - they were loose and not supporting the bucket. The lines are intended to be used in retrieving the bucket after a tow; during a tow the net supports the bucket.

Fig. 2. Paola standing next to the Reeve Net hanging in the Baltic Room on the LM Gould. She is holding one of the lines used to haul in the cod-end bucket. Photo by P.H. Wiebe

Finally, we made a bridle from which the net will be towed. Using Stainless steel thimbles also supplied by the MT shop, the remainder of the nylon line was used to fashion a towing bridle.

Additional sampling gear such as the Multiple Opening/Closing Net and Environmental Sensing System (MOCNESS) and the Isaacs-Kidd Midwater Trawl (IKMT) will be used on this cruise. After looking at samples collected by these gears, we can determine whether we have encountered a patch of higher salp abundance or not. The MOCNESS will also provide information about the depth at which the salps reside. Once we have this information, we can use the Reeve net to target the areas and depths where we can collect salps in good condition for the shipboard experiments.

-- Paola Batta-Lona (University of Connecticut) and Peter Wiebe (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Picture of the Day - November 8, 2011

2011-11-08T20:21:00.000-05:00

Arrival of the LM GOULD at Palmer Station, Antarctica, on November 7, 2011

Photo by P.H. Wiebe

Spanning the Latitudes - The Canadian's turn to Blog

2011-11-08T12:28:00.002-05:00

Last year at the endof October, I was returning from 32 days in the Canadian Arctic as aparticipant in the Joint Ocean Ice Study (JOIS), a collaboration betweenCanada, the USA and Japan. This project set out to study the Beaufort Sea andits ice coverage as well as look at the variability in the Beaufort Gyre. Wecollected water for multiple analyses (oxygen, salinity, nutrients, dissolvedinorganic carbon (DIC) to name a few), took plankton samples, deployed bothfloating and ice-situated moorings and took ice thickness measurements from theship. All the while being amazed by the Aurora Borealis, Polar Bears andsunsets over an ice-covered vista,

On the ice in front of the Canadian Coast GuardShip, Louis St. Laurent (Photo by Jeffrey Charters)

Skip ahead a year and I am preparing to head tothe other end of the world. This time 30 days in the Antarctic, as the tokenCanadian aboard the Laurence M Gould. As an Acoustic Research Technician forthe Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, my interests lie in the fieldsof fishery and plankton acoustics. What this basically means is looking at fishand plankton in the water using a big, fancy, scientific fish-finder. When theopportunity to apply to participate in the 2011 Antarctic Salp cruise waspresented to me, I jumped at the chance. Not only would I get to seeAntarctica, but acoustics were going to be a major part of this cruise. For thenext few weeks, I plan to annoy...I mean learn from the researchers on thiscruise as they utilize acoustics and different methods of plankton sampling toanswer the questions posed on this survey. Needless to say, I am very excitedto be here! The learning should start soon, as we spend today at Palmer Stationunloading supplies for the station, hoping to head out and start our Salpsurvey tomorrow. Wish us luck in the form of ice-free waterways and little tono wind!

Happy to be at Palmer Station (Photo byMelissa Mazzocco)

-- Chelsea Stanley, Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (Sidney, BC)

WEATHERED OUT AT CAPE SHERRIFF, LIVINGSTON ISLAND

2011-11-07T12:07:00.003-05:00

Just before 12:00 Noon on Nov. 5th, we arrived as planned at Cape Shirreff. The weather is iffy, with winds blowing 30 kts out of the N-NW; air temperature at 2.7 degrees C; and the barometer reading 993 mb. After waiting a bit for our best weather window, a first attempt was made to launch a zodiac (Fig. 1), intended for a scout team that would survey the area and check out the research station. A few minutes after the launch, it was clear that conditions were too rough to go any further, and the zodiac was brought back aboard. We held position off Cape Sherriff for the afternoon and through the night, hoping for workable conditions for small boat operations needed to transfer people and gear to open the NOAA Marine Mammal Research Station for the summer season.

Figure 1. Launching a zodiac in rough weather takes excellent coordination of the ship’s crew and technical support team.

The next morning (Sunday, Nov. 6th), winds blew at 15 - 20 kts out of the NE, with choppy seas and a few white caps. A check of the conditions indicated: air temperature = -0.1 degrees C; sea surface temperature (SST) = -0.9 degrees C; and salinity = 33.9 PSU. The barometer reading (986 mb) was far lower than the past few days, indicating a low pressure area and indicating bad weather might be coming our way – and so it was!

By mid-morning, low fog moved in, reducing visibility from the ship and obscuring the land – not safe conditions for small boat operations. By early afternoon, it was snowing and the wind picked up to around 20 kts. Air temperature was 0.5 degrees C; the barometer reading (978 mb) indicated that the low pressure system to the west had moved in ahead of schedule. A panoramic view of Cape Sherriff (Fig. 2) shows the conditions and lay of the land clearly – so near and yet so far away!

Figure 2. Panoramic view of Cape Shirreff from open sea to the east to open sea to the west (left to right in image) assembled from 12 images merged using Adobe Photoshop.

The winds really picked up during the afternoon, blowing 30 - 35 kts. Low clouds moved in and the barometer was at 976 mb and falling. By 5:00 PM, winds were gusting out of the West to 55 kt (Figure 3). The only good news was that the barometer was starting to move back up! The wind and weather forecast for tomorrow indicated high winds would continue through the day.

Figure 3. The ship’s Data Acquisition System (DAS) screen showing wind speeds and gusts up to 50 kts during Nov. 6th.

The Captain (Joseph Abshire), Marine Projects Coordinator (Jullie Jackson), Chief Scientist (me), and lead scientists (Joe Warren and Peter Wiebe) met to discuss options and priorities to work toward the cruise scientific objectives despite the bad weather. After listening to our recommendations and considering the many competing needs and objectives of the cruise, the Captain decided to steam away from Cape Shirreff and head for our Station 22. We hope the protected location of the station at the entrance to Gerlache Strait will allow us to occupy our first station, carrying out planned sampling and data collection. Our ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival) for Stn 22 is 5:00 AM on Monday, Nov. 7th. We left our requests for wake-up calls with the bridge, and headed to our bunks for a short night.

Upon our arrival at Stn 22 in the early morning of Nov. 7th, it was clear that we didn’t have the protection from wind and weather we wanted to carry out our first “training station” of the cruise. Winds were still in the 30+ kt range, with gusts to 50 kts. After some discussion with the Captain and MPC on the bridge, the decision was made to head directly for Palmer Station. We hope to be able to tie up to the dock by this evening, off-load people and cargo tomorrow, and head back to sea tomorrow evening.

-- Ann Bucklin, University of Connecticut

Picture of the Day - November 7, 2011

2011-11-07T07:37:00.000-05:00

Photos by P.H. Wiebe

Picture of the Day - November 6, 2011

2011-11-06T15:36:00.001-05:00

The NOAA Marine Mammal Research Station at Cape Sherriff, Livingston Island.

A team of US scientists led by Mike Goebel (Antarctic Ecosystem Research Division, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, La Jolla, CA) and team members Kevin Pietrzak, McKenzie Mudge, Nicole (Ashley) Cook, and Jay Wright will spend up to 3 and 1/2 months here. The resulting long-term observations of Adelie, Gentoo, and chinstrap penguins, fur seals, leopard seals, and other birds and mammals are leading to new understanding of how polar and sub-polar species may respond to climate change. Although everyone is eager to transport the scientists and their gear to shore and allow them to open their summer camp, we are waiting for safe weather conditions in which to operate the small boats.

(Photo by P.H. Wiebe)

Meteorological and sea surface data

2011-11-06T10:00:00.000-05:00

Peter here to talk a bit about the meteorological and sea surface data that we get on a daily or more frequent basis that helps us make decisions and plan our scientific activities. The L.M. Gould has several real-time displays of the air and sea surface water properties along with navigation information. The Data Acquisition System (DAS) provides this information. The information is displayed on monitors in the labs and other public spaces on the ship (see Fig. 1) and also on the ship’s intranet website. A recent display shows, for example, that the wind speed from both the port and starboard anemometers was about 16 kts out of the northeast, the air temperature was about 1 degree C (33 degrees F), and the sea surface temperature was -0.9 C.

Fig 1.

When this image was taken on the morning of Nov. 6th, the Gould was sitting close to the Cape Shirreff camp site on Livingston Island, waiting for the fog to lift so that the setup of the camp for the summer season could begin. Much higher winds and seas on Nov. 5th prevented the movement of gear, food, and other supplies to be ferried by zodiac boat from the Gould to the shore at the foot of the camp. With the winds in a safe working range and the seas diminishing, what was needed was for the camp to be visible from the ship, but fog hampered the start of the operation. The navigation information on the DAS display provided the ship’s position (latitude and longitude), speed, course, yearday, and time.

Fig. 2.

Also available on the website are isobar images of sea level pressure (millibars), sea ice images, wind charts, wave height charts, and weather forecasts. The wind charts are especially useful because they provide not only the current status, but also forecasts for 24 or 48 hrs ahead of the current day. See the chart (Fig. 2) showing the region from the southern part of South America on the right to the Western Antarctic Peninsula on the left. The red dot just north of Livingston Island marks the location of the Gould. This chart is a 24 hr forecast for the wind strength and direction for Nov. 7th. The bars on the stick flags provide a measure of wind speed. One full flag bar is 10 kts and a half-bar is 5 kts. Thus 2 ½ is 25 kts. Wind direction is indicated by the stick with flow towards the stick base away from the flag. While working conditions were good on Nov. 6th, with winds around 15 kts, on Nov. 7th the winds will be much stronger (around 30 kts) and blowing from west to east at Cape Shirreff.

Once the camp at Cape Sherriff is setup, the Gould will begin the trek to Palmer Station to offload more gear, supplies, and people. On the way, we will do a first station where we will take an IKMT trawl sample, do a CTD cast, and take a MOCNESS tow. We will use the wind chart above to help us determine which of the station locations we have chosen to sample at to do first. It will have to be protected from the high winds and seas.

-- Peter Wiebe (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Bonus Post

2011-11-06T09:13:00.000-05:00

Joe Warren is a professor of Marine Sciences at Stony Brook University; he is the lead investigator for a different NSF-funded project on our cruise, LMG11-10. You can follow Joe’s blog at: http://aleslab.blogspot.com/. Here are the extra-credit questions Joe has posed for his SBU Physical Oceanography students. -- Ann Bucklin

On the boat we get a couple different kinds of weather and satellite maps which we use to help us try to understand what the weather will be like during our trip. We also get a daily forecast sent to us for the general area by the Navy which is very handy and supplements the following maps.

Ice Coverage


Satellite image of ice cover from 01 Nov 2011

Satellite maps of ice coverage are useful for us to determine how likely we will be to open the field camp and drop off the penguin and pinniped researchers. Land masses are filled in blue. Ice coverage can be seen, although in some cases it is difficult to determine ice vs. cloud cover vs. other reflectances in the images. Icebergs appear as small white dots or specks. There are many different stages of ice (brash, grease, frazil, pancake, fast, first year, second year, etc), and these images often can't distinguish these types from one another. Our last night in Punta Arenas, we ate dinner next to a group of pilots from NASA who are flying radar and other instrumentation aerial surveys of ice cover and thickness on Antarctica (mostly ice on land, not sea ice). Their instruments can measure ice thickness, heat content, or other data types that help us to understand the movement of heat in this region.

Barometric Pressure Maps


Combination visible satellite and barometric pressure map (green lines) for today

The Chilean Navy's maps relay on hand drawn isobars and contours. You can see from the map, they welcome reports of current conditions to help their forecasts as there are very few weather stations in this area to provide input data into predictive models.

Underway Meteorological Observations

The ship has monitors in most labs (and state rooms) that display the current meteorological conditions. This (as well as deck cameras) is very useful information to have when getting ready for deck work on the ship as you have some idea of what it's like outside before you actually go outside. I've blacked out the wind speed and direction information in this image, but you can look at what the current air and sea surface temperatures are right now.

Questions for students

1. What is your prediction (based on the satellite image above) for the level and type of ice we'll encounter tomorrow when we get to the camp. We will be anchoring the boat NE of the Cape Shireff peninsula about 1.5 km from land. Provide an estimate of % of surface covered by ice and thickness (in cm) of the ice that we might find (guessing open water / no ice is also an option).

2. What would the presence of a 10 cm thick layer of ice over the surface of the water around this island mean in terms of the temperature and salinity profiles here ? That is, draw T and S vertical profiles for a spot just off of Cape Shireff (assume water depth is 200 m) for early austral spring (November) for the region with and without a layer of ice.

3. Our ship is currently located at 59.5 S and 62.5 W. Using the two above maps (and no other resources), provide a prediction of the following for today: wind direction (remember we're in the southern hemisphere) and rough guess at the speed and % cloud cover. And for tomorrow (05 Nov – noon – you can assume all times on the maps and for predictions are GMT), predict what the wind speed (qualitatively) and direction will be at Cape Shireff (roughly located at 62 S, 62 W). Provide an explanation for what your predictions are.

4. From the meteorological plot, do you think we are on the North or South side of the polar front (i.e. Antarctic Circumpolar Current) ? Provide an explanation of why you picked which side.

Answers will be posted in due time both here and on the Warren Lab home page. See http://aleslab.blogspot.com/

Posted by Joseph D. Warren (Stony Brook University)

Launching the XBT

2011-11-05T09:34:00.000-04:00

This morning started at 6am since I volunteer for the XBT/XCTD/water watch from 6-9am with Julie Jackson and Joe Warren. The XBT stands for Expendable Bathy Thermograph and XCTD is an Expendable Conductivity-Temperature-Depth probe. Both are missile-like probes that have heavy tips and are launched with a black device that looks like a gun, so we couldn’t resist taking some cool looking pictures.

Both the XBT and XCTD are connected by a thin copper wire to a computer on board, so when we launch them they collect data on the temperature and salinity of the ocean continuously through the water column. The probe drops until it reaches 1000m which takes about 5-10 min, then we break the copper wire and the data collection stops.

The XBT and XCTD stations are spaced so we collect data every 5-6 miles. Occasionally we have to take some water samples to measure salinity, CO2 and oxygen of the water where we launched the XBT and XCTD. All these data are collected as an ongoing collaboration with researchers from different parts of the world, who are interested in characterizing the water properties of the Drake Passage. The R/V L.M. Gould has been collecting these data every 6 weeks for the last 5-6 years.

Even though our hands get cold during these stations, the weather has been nice to us and we haven’t encountered the bad weather that is usual for the Drake Passage. We have 5-6 ft swells with wind speed of 25 knots, which makes it a little challenging to type in the laptop since occasionally you have to use one hand to hold on to the bench.

Stay tuned for more news, since tomorrow we’ll be arriving at Cape Sheriff (Livingston Island) and helping NOAA scientists on board to get settled for their 4 month long camp!

Submitted by Paola Batta-Lona – November 5, 2011

PICTURE OF THE DAY (November 4, 2011)

2011-11-04T17:38:00.000-04:00

Cape Petrels fishing in our bow wave in the Drake Passage (Photo by Peter H. Wiebe)

DEPARTURE and CROSSING

2011-11-04T13:39:00.000-04:00

The last days and hours before an oceanographic cruise are filled with intense activity. The LM GOULD was docked in Punta Arenas (Photos A and B), while people, personal belongings, scientific equipment and supplies, fresh food, and much more were moved aboard, stowed, and lashed down securely. We got underway at 12:00 Noon (Photo C) and headed down the Straits of Magellan to the northeast.

The first afternoon after leaving port was filled with safety briefings. All members of the science teams and the technical staff met for a review of safety procedures by the Marine Program Coordinator (MPC) and Chief Mate; we all put on life jackets and the survival suits. We then heard a briefing about the vessel life boats – and all climbed into one boat and strapped ourselves into the seats. A bit later, a lab safety briefing was given by the Marine Science Technician (MST), followed by a deck safety briefing by a Marine Technician (MT), who explained how to wear the float coats and hard hats required for work on deck. [The exceptionally hard-working and knowledgeable technical support staff employed by Raytheon Polar Services Co. (RPSC) will be introduced in a later post.]

We have crossed the Polar Front and now the SST is 1.5 degrees C. [See Photo E with sea surface temperature (SST) superimposed on the area bathymetry (depth contours).] Winds have picked up and they are now around 25 kts, but both wind and seas to our back. The ship is rolling heavily as we continue on course across the Drake Passage to Cape Sheriff, Livingston Island (Photo E).

Submitted by Ann Bucklin – 04 November 4, 2011

ODE TO THE SALP

2011-11-03T09:39:00.000-04:00

While in port, a poem appeared on the white board outside the chief scientist's office. We were able to discover who left this "anonymous" masterpiece: our Raytheon Special Projects Manager, John Evans, who admitted that his inspiration had origins in a more famous poem. Do you know the original poem? Here is the "salpy" version:

MATCHING WITS WITH THE WILEY SALP

I think that I shall never see

A salp as lovely as a tree

In fact – as best I can recall –

I’ve seldom seen a salp at all!

I’ve plowed the seas from west to east,

In search of this elusive beast.

A beast of cunning, craft, and guile

With habits gross, appearance vile.

A beast of loathsomeness unmatched

When found with amphipod attached

O salp! O creature least divine!

You’re nothing but transparent slime.

And yet I seek thee all the while

Here in thy salpy domiciles

How is it that I search for thee?

What secrets might thou share with me?

And may those secrets be descried

Immersed in glutaraldehyde?

How is it that our lives entwine?

What links thy destiny with mine?

And tho’ I’ve searched for thee in vain

I have no wish to cause thee pain.

So e’re we part, I’ll simply say

Have a happy, salpy day!

By John Evans

Special Projects Coordinator

Raytheon Polar Services Co.

With apologies to a more famous poet!

Sunset in the Straits of Magellan

2011-11-03T09:32:00.001-04:00

The view from the LM Gould this evening as we sailed eastward into the Straits of Magellan

Picture of the day, 11/02/2011, by Peter Wiebe.

Who We Are

2011-10-31T23:12:00.078-04:00

Who We Are: The Antarctic Salp Genomics Science Team

Oceanography is a scientific discipline that requires enormous resources to launch expeditions to every corner of the world’s oceans, and allow scientists to make measurements and observations from the surface of the ocean to the deepest abyss. When scientists join oceanographic research cruises, they frequently work in teams. Depending on the size of the vessel – and the number of cabins for the scientific party – a research cruise may include as many as 5 or 10 teams of scientists working on different projects. Within each team, the members work together to complete the many tasks associated with sea-going research. Team members are assigned to 6-, 8- or 12-hour watches, and work at sea usually continues 24 hours a day. The different teams on a particular cruise also coordinate their activities, to ensure that everyone is able to meet their scientific goals and objectives to the extent possible.

The Antarctic Salp Genomics science team for our cruise includes four scientistists with different backgrounds and expertise. Here is who we are:

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Ann Bucklin is a professor and head of the Department of Marine Sciences and director of the Marine Sciences and Technology Center at the University of Connecticut. She received a B.A. in Biology from Oberlin College and the Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of California, Berkeley. The theme underlying her research interest – spatial and temporal patterns of molecular genetic variation in marine organisms – developed from her early studies of sea anemones. Her current focus is the molecular systematics, phylogeography, and phylogenetics of marine crustacean holozooplankton (i.e., animals that spend their entire lives in the pelagic zone). Recently she was a lead scientist for the Census of Marine Zooplankton (CMarZ), an international initiative during 2004-2010 to study global patterns of zooplankton diversity. She has participated in 21 oceanographic research cruises, serving as chief scientist for six of these. The Antarctic Salp Survey is her first field experience in the Southern Ocean – a long-awaited and very welcome adventure!

Peter Wiebe grew up near the seashore in central California, where he developed a love for and a curiosity about the oceans at a very early age. As a youth, he spent hours free-diving in the Monterey Bay area; he assembled his first SCUBA gear in 1954. After undergraduate studies in Northern Arizona, a region whose oceans disappeared 40 million years ago – thus making him too late to study them first hand – he went to southern California and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography to obtain a Ph.D. in Biological Oceanography. Now an Emeritus Senior Scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, his interests have most recently been focused on the dynamics of zooplankton populations on Georges Bank and on krill living on the continental shelf region of the Western Antarctic Peninsula. His area of expertise is in the quantitative population ecology of marine zooplankton, including small-scale distribution and abundance of zooplankton, biology of cold-core and warm-core Gulf Stream Rings, and determination of zooplankton biomass, abundance, and size by acoustical backscattering. He has been involved in the development of a number of instrument systems, including the Longhurst-Hardy Plankton Recorder; Multiple Opening/Closing Net and Environmental Sensing System (MOCNESS); Bioacoustic Sensing Platform And Relay (BIOSPAR), a free-drifting buoy; and three towed body systems: Greene Bomber and two versions of the Bio-Optical, Multifrequency Acoustics, and Physical Environmental Recorder (BIOMAPER; BIOMAPER-II).

Paola Batta-Lona is a PhD student at the Department of Marine Sciences at the University of Connecticut. She earned the M.Sc. in Oceanography at UConn in 2005 and a B.S. in Biology with Honors from the Autonomous University of Baja California, México. Her research interests are the genomics and genetics of Southern Ocean zooplankton, with an emphasis on population genetics and environmental genomics. Salps are the main focus of her doctoral research; she is studying their population genetics and gene expression patterns as a result of its interaction with the changing environment in the Southern Ocean. This is her seventh oceanographic research cruise, including previous Antarctic expeditions on German, Japanese, Norwegian research vessels. This cruise will provide useful and exciting new data to investigate and learn more about the population dynamics of the Southern Ocean salp, Salpa thompsoni.

Chelsea Stanley is an Acoustic Research Technician for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), Canada. After pursuing a B.Sc. in Biology from the University of Victoria and a diploma in Environmental Technology, she began to work for the DFO, with interests in fisheries and plankton hydroacoustics and marine mammals. She has diverse oceanographic research experience, including collection and analysis of acoustic data using primarily a Simrad EK60 echosounder; calibration of ship-mounted acoustic equipment; sorting, identification and sampling of trawl net samples (including fish and invertebrates); plankton sampling; CTD and rosette operations; and oxygen titration; and ammonium and salinity analysis. To date, she has spent more than 400 days at sea. After spending time in the Pacific Ocean (off the coast of North America) and the Beaufort Sea (in the Canadian Arctic), she is excited to be in the Antarctic and to be a participant in this year's Salp Survey cruise.

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Our team has gathered in Punta Arenas, Chile, where the R/V Laurence M. Gould is docked to prepare the ship for the cruise. We are preparing our laboratories, aquariums, and field sampling gear for action. We are almost ready to go!

Planning our cruise

2011-10-26T09:52:00.003-04:00

Oceanographers plan cruises very carefully to meet the scientific goals of the project. In the Southern Ocean, those plans can be foiled by weather, as well as the usual difficulties of gear failures. For salps, there is the added challenge of their episodic and patchy patterns of distribution and abundance. Regardless, we have made careful and detailed plans for sampling during our “November Salp Survey” cruise (LMG11-10). Keep reading for (lots) more information and see the image of our station locations in the Western Antarctic Peninsula region.

Station plan: At each station, a standard set of deployments will include one CTD cast with Niskin bottle water sampling to a depth of 750 m or the bottom (estimated time ~ 1 hr); one 1-m² MOCNESS cast to 1000m (~ 4 hr); and one IKMT tow to 175 m (~ 1 hr). Net tows will be done at night (dark) when logistically possible, but we will not delay station operations to ensure this.

Small boat (Zodiac) operations: We will carry out small boat operations opportunistically and on a site-specific basis. These will include hand-net or bucket collection of salps and small-scale acoustic surveys. Estimated time for each small boat operation is 6 hrs. Eight operations are planned throughout the cruise.

Deep MOC-1 tows: MOCNESS tows will be carried out to near-bottom depth (2,500 m) at deep offshore stations. Estimated time for each tow is ~7 hrs. Deep MOC-1 tows will be conducted at four offshore stations.

Acoustic Towfish: The Biosonics towfish will be deployed for survey transects between stations for a 2 hour period at a speed of ~ 5 knots, depending on sea state, presence of animals in net tows, ice conditions, etc. The timing and duration of these tows may change due to shipboard operations and the station schedule.

Cruise plan: The cruise track will include 24 stations, each with a standard array of deployments; 8 sites for small boat operations; and 4 deep MOCNESS tows. Our cruise plan has been designed based on information available at this time and per RPSC estimation that time available for our use may total 17 days (408 hrs).

30 Oct Leave Punta Arenas

3 Nov Cape Shirreff

5-7 Nov Palmer Station

8-24 Nov Salp Survey [17 days total]

25-26 Nov Palmer Station

30 Nov Arrive Punta Arenas

The course under ideal weather conditions and ship operations will require 135 hrs steaming and 214 hrs station work, for a total of 355 hrs (Table 1). This leaves 53 hrs (2 days) for weather and other possible delays. We will drop deployments or stations as necessary to accommodate longer delays.

Station 1: A first station will be occupied near Cape Shirreff, Livingston Island after the ship is done offloading the field camp (estimated 03 Nov 2011). Deployments will include CTD, MOCNESS, and IKMT tows. Station time estimated ~ 6 hrs.

Stations 2 – 22: After departing Palmer Station, we will follow a cruise track offshore and sample at Stns. #2, 3, 4. We will steam northeast to sample at Stn. #5. The cruise track then takes us to the stations offshore of the South Shetland Islands (Stns. #6-12), turns back to sample the Bransfield Strait (Stns. #13-20) and coastal waters of the WAP (Stns. #21, 22).

Stations 23 – 24: Time and weather permitting, we will steam farther to the SW to sample shelf and slope waters at Stns. #23-24, before returning to Palmer Station by 25 Nov 2011.

Here we go!!

2011-10-21T10:37:00.008-04:00

Cruise LMG11-10 will support Palmer Station, the seasonal opening of the Cape Shirreff marine mammal research facility plus the two NSF-funded primary research projects described below. These two projects operate in close collaboration, and the term “salp survey” is used in reference to both collectively.Dr. Ann Bucklin, the PI for project B-285-L, has been designated as Chief Scientist for the cruise. This means that in addition to her own research project, Dr. Bucklin has the added responsibility of ensuring that all other projects on the cruise are given appropriate support.

Science Overview

Population Ecology of Salpa thompsoni based on Molecular Indicators.PI: Dr. Ann Bucklin, University of Connecticut

Science objectives:The overall objectives of this effort are to examine genome-wide patterns of gene expression, target gene expression levels, and patterns of population genetic diversity and structure of the Antarctic salp, Salpa thompsoni in relation to biological and physical environmental parameters in the Western Antarctic Peninsula region.

Major activities: Four people will deploy for this project. High-frequency acoustics data will be used to provide information about the distribution of salps, krill, and other zooplankton. Sampling from shelf and oceanic waters between 0 and 2,000 meters will take place at selected stations using a 1-m² MOCNESS to characterize the planktonic assemblage and a Reeve net to collect live material for molecular and biochemical analysis. Environmental parameters to be measured include standard hydrographic variables (temperature, salinity, depth), as well as fluorescence and turbidity. Water samples will be collected using a CTD rosette to determine chlorophyll concentration

The Vacuum cleaners of the Ocean

You are probably wondering what kind of creatures salps are and what they look like. Well, they are almost like vacuum cleaners of the ocean. In general they are like a cylinder with muscle bands contracting along their body with a size of a few centimeters. The contraction provides a pulse of water through their body, producing a jet propulsion for the salp, which is a similar principle found in squid.

The distribution of these muscle bands is very useful to identify different salp species. Each species consist of two forms; the solitary and the aggregate. The solitary form as the name indicates lives on its own (upper picture), whereas aggregate forms lives in chains consisting of 100–150 members (lower picture). They can form large swarms consisting of thousands of individuals.

Salps and krill

Previous studies have suggested that salps and krill have a tight relationship, since they consume similar food organisms and represent potential competitors for plankton. However, salps tolerate higher temperatures than krill. In the winter, when the sea ice is formed, the krill in Antarctica eats algae growing underneath it. The sea ice will decrease if temperatures of the Southern Ocean continue to increase. Consequently, the ice algae, a valuable food resource for the krill particularly in winter, will be less abundant and affect krill survival. Since salps are able to survive at higher temperatures than the Antarctic krill, the salps may then favour a warmer climate and gradually dominate over krill as a major species in the Southern Ocean.

(Text by Ann Bucklin and Paola Batta Lona, UConn; Pictures by Larry Madin, WHOI)