Scientific Research in Antarctica
Trip Start
Sep 30, 2008
1
12
18
Trip End
Feb 17, 2009
McMurdo Station, Antarctica
Friday, December 5, 2008
*The following information is taken from the USAP 2008-2009 Season Summary and Background publication
The U.S. Antarctic Program research projects and related activities in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean include the following area: McMurdo Station and field camps, South Pole, Palmer Station, and Research Vessels. Projects range in size from one person to tens of people, and time in the Antarctic ranges from a few days to years. Some of these 118 science and technical projects are active at more than one location. A few of the projects are described below.
10-meter Telescope - Construction of the 10-meter telescope, or South Pole Telescope (SPT), was completed as planned with the first light achieved in February 2007. The first winter of observations has proven the operational capabilities of the telescope and first observations of early galaxy clusters with the S-Z effect were achieved. The SPT will investigate properties of the dark energy that pervades the universe and accelerates expansion, to search for the signature of primordial gravitational waves in the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation, and to test cosmological models aimed at explaining the origin of the Universe.
IceCube - Work continues on the world's largest neutrino detector, which-after 6 years of work-will occupy a cubic kilometer of ice beneath the South Pole Station on Antarctica, deploying 4,800 photomultiplier tubes into holes that a hot water drill will make in the ice. Neutrinos are special, but hard to detect, astronomical messengers that can carry information from violent cosmological events at the edge of the universe or from the hearts of black holes.(http://astro.uchicago.edu/scoara/may2004workshop/TALKS/spt-carlstrom)
Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) - Two sites in Antarctica - the McMurdo Dry Valleys and the marine environment on the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula - are among 26 NSF-sponsored LTER sites dedicated to understanding ecological phenomena over long temporal and large spatial scales (most of the other sites are in the continental United States). (www.icecube.wisc.ed)
Weddell Seal Population Dynamics - Weddell seals in McMurdo Sound have been studied since 1968 - providing one of the longest intensive field investigations of long-lived mammals in the world. More than 15,000 animals have been tagged, and 145,000 re-sightings have been recorded. The project is a resource for understanding the life history and population dynamics of not only Weddell seals, but also other species of terrestrial and marine mammals. New work this season includes assessing the role of food resources in limiting the populations. (LTER network: http://lternet.edu/; McMurdo LTER: http://huey.colorado.edu/LTER/)
Adelie Penguin Populations and Climate Change - The Adelie penguin is tied to sea ice, a key environmental variable affected by rapid climate change. Researchers investigate the populations of Adelie penguins on Ross and Beaufort Islands, where colonies have recently expanded, relative to colonies at Cape Crozier that declined during the 1960's and 1970's. The information will be related to sea ice, as quantified by satellite images. Understanding the mechanisms behind this sensitivity will contribute greatly to predicting the effects of climate change on Antarctic marine organisms.
Ocean Acidification and Marine Ecosystems - As global carbon dioxide levels rise, the acidity of the southern ocean will increase. Excessive acidity in the marine environment can negatively affect the metabolism of planktonic marine organisms, including the ability to form shells. Researchers will evaluate the impact of elevated carbon dioxide on calcification, metabolic physiology, and organismal performance in Antarctic pteropods, an abundant, butterfly-like snail that lives in the southern ocean waters. They will begin to evaluate how impacts on the pteropod population affect the function of the larger marine ecosystem.(www.homepage.montana.edu/~rgarrott/index.htm)
Protein Function in Cold-Adapted Fish - Antarctic fish live in an unusually cold environment where basic processes such as protein synthesis are thermodynamically challenging. Researchers are examining whether Antarctic fish have unique adaptations for making proteins and are uncovering the genetic basis for these functions. Comparative studies with temperate fish will help to illuminate the evolutionary pathways of cold-adaptation and life in extreme environments. (www.csusm.edu/Biology/bios/fabry.htm)
Influence of Light, Iron and Carbon Dioxide on Ross Sea Productivity and Biogeochemical Cycling - The Ross Sea is a region of intense biological productivity, where phytoplankton biomass is dominated by two main taxonomic groups: Diatoms and Phaeocystis. It is well known that these two phytoplankton groups have different impacts on biogeochemical cycles in the Ross Sea, but the factors that control their relative abundance are not well understood. Researchers will investigate the effects of iron, carbon dioxide, and light levels in the Ross Sea on phytoplankton community structure. These studies will contribute to a broader understanding of carbon and sulfur cycling in the Southern Ocean. (www.whoi.edu/sites/corsacs)
LARISSA (Larsen Ice Shelf System Antarctica) - Is a multidisciplinary project to study the region of the spectacular Larsen Ice Shelf collapse in 2002. The project combines ice-core paleoclimate science, marine geology, glaciology, oceanography, and marine ecology to address the changing environment in the past and present with an eye to understanding what lies ahead in the rapidly warming Antarctic Peninsula region. The emplacement of high-precision GPS stations in the bedrock at locations on the western side of the Peninsula this year will set the stage for a major ship- and aircraft-based field effort next year. Data from the GPS stations will allow determination of the rates of rebound of the Earth's surface since the large glacial mass believed to have been centered on the Peninsula has retreated. This, in turn, will aid in understanding the past climate of the region in addition to reducing uncertainties in GRACE satellite gravity-based measurements of current ice loss from the region that contributes to sea-level rise. This element of the LARISSA project is synergistic with the international POLENET project. (www.hamilton.edu/news/exp/LARISSA/index.html)
Seismograph - The world's quietest location for an earthquake detector is 8 kilometers from the South Pole, 300 meters beneath the ice sheet surface. Completed in 2002, the station is detecting vibrations four times smaller than those recorded previously. Other seismographs have been in place since 1957, and long-term, high-latitude data have helped to prove that the Earth's solid inner core spins faster than the rest of the planet. Also, Antarctica is the continent with the fewest earthquakes, so the new station will record small regional earthquakes, leading to new insights into the Antarctic Plate. (www.iris.washington.edu/about/GSN/)
West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) Divide - This project, a collaboration among several research teams, will collect a 3,400-meter-deep ice core in West Antarctica. The main objectives are to develop the most detailed record of greenhouse gases possible for the last 100,000 years; to determine if the climate changes during the last 100,000 years were initiated by changes in the Northern or Southern Hemisphere; investigate the past and future stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet; and to investigate the biology of deep ice. This is the second season of deep drilling with the DISC Drill. The project will drill 24 hours per day, 6 days per week. The project team will resume drilling 580 meters and must get through all the brittle ice by the end of the season. This requires reaching a depth of at least 1,400 meters. (http://waisdivide.unh.edu)
U.S.-Norway Scientific Traverse - In the second year of this 2-year International Polar Year project, U.S. and Norwegian investigators will make an overland traverse to the Norwegian Troll Station from the U.S. Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. Scientists will investigate climate variability in Queen Maude Land on time scales of years to centuries; establish spatial and temporal impact of atmospheric and oceanic variability on the chemical composition of firn and ice in this region; and revisit areas and sites first explored during 1960s-era traverses to look for changes and establish benchmark data sets. This project is a genuine collaboration between nations; the scientists involved have complementary expertise, and the logistics relies on assets unique to each nation. It is truly an endeavor that neither nation could accomplish alone. (http://traverse.npolar.no)
The Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets (CReSIS) - is a multi-year program designed to develop special sensors and research platforms for investigating ice thickness and to use these sensors and platforms to produce ice-thickness data. Researchers will survey along and across the Thwaites Glacier flow in three regions of interest - the transition from interior ice-sheet flow to rapid basal sliding; one or two locations in the main body of the glacier; and at the grounding line of the glacier. They also will conduct high-resolution, three-dimensional surveys above the transition and within the main body of the glacier. These surveys will be repeated within a season and, if possible, repeated after 1 year to monitor changes in bed properties. Researchers will also study the englacial, bed, and subglacial properties at the WAIS ice divide using active-source seismic techniques. (https://www.cresis.ku.edu)
Old Buried Ice - Ice has covered Antarctica for 34 million years, but the ice is not that old. Most of it arrives as snow and leaves as icebergs within a few hundred thousand years. Buried in the McMurdo Dry Valleys is a rare ice that offers an archive of atmosphere and climate extending back millions of years. These records are important to understanding climate in a warming world. This season sees the testing of new drilling system to core the ice. (http://people.bu.edu/marchant/themesBuriedIce2.htm)
AGAP (Antarctica's Gamburtsev Province) - This project explores the Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains, the world's last unknown mountain range. Buried beneath miles-thick East Antarctic Ice Sheet, the mountains will be mapped and characterized with aerogeophysical and seismic methods. The project's goal is to understand how the mountains formed and their relationship to development of the ice sheet. The project is led by the United States and involves scientists and logistics support from the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, China, and Japan. (http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/research/marine-geology-geophysics/agap-exploring-gamburtsev-subglacial-mountains-antarctica-during)
PoleNet (Polar Observing Network) - This project measures current motion of the Antarctic plate in response to tectonic forces and ice sheet loading. The project will ultimately lead to more precise measurement of the changes in the mass of the Antarctic ice sheet in response to global warming. The project is led by the United States and involves scientists and logistics support from 20 other countries including New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Italy, China, and Germany. (www.polenet.org)
Infrared Measurement of the Atmosphere - Winter measurements of atmospheric chemistry are providing data for predicting ozone depletion and climate change. Since most satellites do not sample polar regions in winter, these ground-based measurements are expected to make important contributions. (www.fastlane.nsf.gov/servlet/showaward?award=0230370)
Surface Carbon Dioxide in the Drake Passage - The Southern Ocean is an important part of the global carbon budget, and the Drake Passage is the narrowest place through which the Antarctic Circumpolar Current travels. This chokepoint is an efficient site to measure the latitudinal gradients of gas exchange, and the research icebreaker Laurence M. Gould will support a project to measure dissolved and total CO2, providing data that, with satellite images, will enable estimates of the net production and export of carbon by oceanic biota. (www.ldeo.columbia.edu/res/pi/CO2)
Ice Coring Drilling Services - This project, one of the technical services in support of Antarctic science, provides ice core drilling to the U.S. Antarctic Program and NSF's Arctic Research Program. (www.nsf.gov/od/opp/antarct/artist_writer/fy07awards.jsp)
It is such an amazing experience to be in the midst of science and new discovery! We are lucky to be able to learn about what projects and scientists we are supporting by attending the weekly lectures given by the scientists and the opportunity to assist them in their work by going out into the field with them when possible. A few of the projects we going on right in town and we got a chance to go out and see and experience them for ourselves!
SCINI (pronounced 'skinny') Submersible Capable of under Ice Navigation and Imaging
Remotely Operated Vehicles or ROVs, are underwater robots that are vastly expanding the scope of marine science, allowing us to do research at greater depths and in more remote regions. SCINI, the Submersible Capable of under Ice Navigation and Imaging, is specifically built to operate through the frozen ocean surface in polar regions. By being "skinny" SCINI needs only a small hole in the ice to reach the sea, freeing science from dependence on substantial logistic support needed to make large holes in the ice. The increase in location and scope to perform science is immensely valuable!
Marine ecological research has focused on the most easily accessible areas of the ocean, the shallow seafloor and surface layers that are within range of Scuba divers. But this thin rind is less than 2 percent of the World Ocean. Greater depths remain relatively unexplored, especially in regions where ice cover makes them doubly inaccessible, especially to our existing robotic tools that are the size of small cars.
ROVs are controlled from the surface via a joystick and tether. The tether carries information up to the pilot (for example, images of the seafloor, navigational data) and commands from the pilot to the robot (such as turn right, or move forward). ROVs come in a range of sizes from the micro class VideoRay to heavy work class ROVs that can weigh 4 tons. The remote presence allows us to explore and research inaccessible habitats that are too dangerous for direct human presence - places like deep water under the ice in Antarctica.
To learn more about the SCINI and their research go to: http://scini.mlml.calstate.edu
Long Duration Balloon - LDB (Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility Antarctic Operations)
Balloons have been used for decades to conduct scientific studies. While the basics of ballooning have not changed, balloon capabilities have increased and their dependability has improved greatly.
Scientific Balloons can be launched from locations worldwide to support scientific needs, offer a low-cost method of conducting science investigations, provide a stable platform for longer flight durations and can be readied for flight in as little as six months.
Scientists use scientific data collected during balloon flights to help answer important questions about the universe, atmosphere, the Sun and the space environment. The scientific balloons are used to research: Cosmic Ray studies,
Gamma Ray and X-Ray Astronomy, Optical and Ultra-Violet Astronomy, Infrared Astronomy, Atmospheric Sciences, Magnetospherics, Micrometeorite Particles, and Cosmic Microwave Background Studies
Standard NASA scientific balloons are constructed of polyethylene film; the same type material used for plastic bags. This material is only 0.002 centimeters (0.0008 inches) thick, about the same as an ordinary sandwich wrap. The film is cut into banana-peel shaped sections called gores and heat sealed together to form the balloon. Up to 180 gores are used to make NASA's largest balloons. These standard zero-pressure balloons are open to the atmosphere at the bottom to equalize the internal pressure with the surroundings. The balloon system includes the balloon, the parachute and a payload that holds instruments to conduct scientific measurements.
Helium, the same gas used to fill party balloons, is used in NASA balloons. These very large balloons can carry a payload weighing as much as 3,600 kilograms (8,000 pounds), about the weight of three small cars. They can fly up to 42 kilometers (26 miles) high and stay there for up to two weeks.
The balloon is launched by partially filling it with helium and launched with the payload section suspended beneath it. As the balloon rises, the helium expands, filling the balloon until it reaches float altitude in two to three hours. After the science measurements are complete, flight controllers send a radio command that separates the payload from the balloon. The payload floats back to the ground on a parachute where it can be retrieved and flown again. Payload separation creates a large tear in the balloon material, which releases any remaining helium. The balloon also falls to the ground, where it s retrieved and discarded. The balloon and payload land approximately 45 minutes after separation.
The Balloon Program's capabilities are being expanded with the development of an Ultra Long Duration Balloon (ULDB). The ULDB is made of advanced materials and uses a new pumpkin-shaped balloon design to achieve flights of up to 100 days. The ULDB is completely sealed and pressurized in order to maintain constant altitude night and day. The ULDB payload consists of a solar power system, radio receivers and transmitters, computers, batteries and other systems required for science experiments.
There are three LDB's that are being launched this season: CREAM, ANITA and ULDB
To learn more about the Long Duration Balloon project or to view their circumnavigation go to: http://www.csbf.nasa.gov/antarctica/ice0809.htm or http://www.csbf.nasa.gov/mission.html
We also had the incredible and rare opportunity to meet several members of Shackleton's Centenary Expedition as they spent the night at Hut Point before continuing on their journey. *Information listed below was taken from the Matrix Shackleton's Centenary Expedition website. For more information on their journey and to see their route go to http://www.shackletoncentenary.org
"Shackleton's Centenary Expedition team sets out to finish the task Shackleton and his men set out to achieve, one hundred years (to the day) later. We will conquer the Pole, on foot. We will take the route taken in 1908, and we will complete the mission. Midday in Midwinter, EA Wilson (1902) where the original team was forced back by hunger and cold, we hope and intend to continue onwards. The modern team will be comprised of descendents and relatives of Shackleton's own adventurers. In this project, we are honored to have the kind support of both HRH The Princess Royal and Robert Swan OBE, the only modern explorer to have followed in Shackleton's footsteps in Antarctica, and the first man to have conquered both North and South Poles on foot.
Following intensive ice training in Norway, Baffin Island and Greenland, with fitness program assistance from the OMI (Olympic Medical Institute, London) the team will follow the same route to the Pole as Shackleton's Nimrod Expedition of 1908-9. We fly in from Punto Arenas, Chile. Having refueled at Patriot Hills base, we will be dropped on Ross Island, at the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf. As befits a modern expedition, our trip will be entirely carbon-neutral, with all CO2 emissions offset.
The team will first climb Mount Erebus, the world's most southerly volcano. We then intend to depart from the Shackleton Hut at Cape Royds on October 29th 2008 at 10am, exactly a hundred years to the day since Shackleton and his men set out. Travelling unguided on skis, we will cross the Ross Ice Shelf, individually hauling our expedition supplies in sledges.
We then ascend the seldom-crossed Beardmore Glacier, en route collecting blue ice samples for scientific analysis back in the UK. Then it's on to the Polar plateau, 400 miles towards the Pole itself. It will be a long, hard march from here to the 97-mile point, which we intend to reach exactly on the centenary of the original team's achievement. Instead of turning back, as they were then forced to, we will reach the South Pole, and thereby complete unfinished business. The total distance we expect to cover is 900 miles, and journey time is around eighty days."
Meet the Team
Henry Worsley has been in the British Army for 25 years, and is searching for a link with Frank Worsley, Shackleton's skipper on the Endurance. He has wide expedition experience, and has completed the Haute Route and Yukon Arctic Ultra. This journey will fulfill a lifelong ambition.
Will Gow is related to Shackleton by marriage. The Centenary Expedition combines his desire to travel in the last great wilderness and reunite Shackleton's descendents at the Pole.
Henry Adams is a shipping lawyer and the great-grandson of Jameson Boyd Adams. Since boyhood he has dreamed of reliving his great-grandfather's Polar experience.
Patrick Bergel works in advertising. He is the great-grandson of Shackleton. Patrick will support the fundraising effort and intends to meet the ice team at the Furthest Southerly Point reached in 1909, from there to complete the last 97 miles to the Pole.
Tim Fright is the great-great-nephew of Frank Wild, the only explorer to accompany Shackleton on all his missions. Tim will also complete the final 97 miles from the Furthest Point.
