Almost Time to Journey Home...

Although it is hard to believe, our incredible Antarctic journey is drawing to a close.

Tonight we begin our transit backtowards McMurdo Station. Once there, we will disembark the Nathaniel B. Palmer, which has been our home for the last six weeks in the Southern Ocean.

Leaving Antarctica will be bittersweet; not knowing if I will ever have the opportunity to return and leaving scientists and crew who have become good friends during our time here. On the other hand, I am looking forward to being home again, and to resuming my own research and studies at Stony Brook University. I feel that I have a renewed vigor for conducting my own scientific research and advancing myself as a marine scientist.

This cruise has been a remarkable experience. Ever sinceI first learned of Antarctica, I had dreamed of coming here, but never thought that it would be possible. This trip has exceeded my expectations, and surpassed even my wildest dreams. I have experienced things that I never thought possible.

Antarctica is truly a special, almost magical, place. The massive effort and time that it takes to make travel to Antarctica possible is well-justified. Many of the scientists and crew who work here return regularly, and for good reason. I, too, hope that this is not my last visit to Antarctica, but I am taking a lifetime's worth of memories from this far-off , magical place, just in case.

Thank you for joining me on this incredible journey.

Geology Rocks!

Hello once again from the southcentral polynya! We are still located in this relatively ice-free region of the Ross Sea while the geologists conduct coring exercises. The coring process involves using a mechanical piston core to remove a long (up to 80ft) vertical section of the seafloor which is later analyzed to determine the different types (and amounts) of sediments which comprise the ocean bottom here.

With 5 days left before we depart the Nathaniel B. Palmer, our lab is busy packing up equipment and finishing up side projects.

Our arrival into McMurdo Station will be a bit interesting, as we do not yet know the conditions of the ice which typically surrounds McMurdo at this time of year. If the ice is very thick, it will take much longer to reach the base and we run the risk of missing our first-scheduled flight. Either way, however, our departure should be quite memorable as the plan is to either lower us down directly onto the ice and have an all-terrain vehicle pick us up, or to have a helicopter airlift us off the ship and fly us backto McMurdo (our ship has a helicopter pad!). Then its onto the airport where we travel on large, all-terrain 'buses' known as Terra Vans to the airport. The airport is actually an ice runway and our plane has skiis which enable it to land in the most remote regions of the Antarctic!

It should be quite the experience and the perfect ending to this incredible adventure.

Penguin in the Polynya

In the Polynya

Yesterday we broke down our sixth and final experiment! We have several more days to go before arriving (and departing from) McMurdo Station, so we are using this time to examine slides, analyze some of our results, and to begin the task of packing up our scientific gear for its return trip home.
Our ship has been remaining within the south-central polynya so that the geologists can use multibeam technology in the relatively ice-free waters here to map out the ocean floor. Here the seas are a bit rougher and despite having been at sea for more than 4 weeks now, many of us have been struggling again to get our sea legs. It can be a very different experience when the ship is in open water, not only for its rougher disposition, but for the reduced amount of scenery. While we are in the pack ice, there are frequent opportunities to spot seals and penguins. Here, however, we are onlyoccasionally treated to a passing ice floe, or a far-off iceberg on the horizon. It reminds us how unique this environment is and how fortunate we are to have the pack ice and ice floes to break up the monotony of open water travel.

Many research cruises spend weeks at sea in the open water without land or substrate of any kind, asituation similar to our experience here in the polynya. It is continuing to get darker each night and the temperatures have dropped slightly. In many areas, we have also seen pancake ice, which are small, pancake-shaped pieces of ice and are the first stages of sea ice formation; all of these indicators of an ending summer in Antarctica, and an end to our time in this beautiful, far-off place.

It's Cold in Antarctica...

Last night we arrived at the Ross Ice Shelf, a towering line of ice which spans the southern Ross Sea and rises 70 or so feet above the water. The air temperature here was the coldest it has been, -13.5°C, a direct consequence of our proximity to the shelf, and the very cold continental winds that blow over it. Once we arrived at the shelf, we deployed the zodiac to collect water and ran plankton nets to identify the phytoplankton and zooplankton communities here.

Unfortunately, what would have been a memorable zodiac ride near the ice shelf was ruined by a thick bank of fog which rolled in just as we were getting ready to depart. That did not stop us though from enjoying the strange entertainment such cold weather provides. For example, we all laughed at the expense of our zodiac captain whose eyelashes were dotted with snow crystals, and at the passenger who made the mistake of going out with wet hair and returning with it frozen solid. The air temperature was so cold, that the seawater in our carboy began to freeze immediately when we scooped up just enough to give the carboy a rinse before taking our
water sample. Another strange, but wonderful phenomenon was the experience of perfectly-shaped snowflakes which fell and landed in perfect geometric patterns (see picture).

Summer is ending here in Antarctica and the sun is dipping lower and lower in the horizon each night. Although the sun will not set here for another 2 weeks, the changes in the sun’s pattern here, creates vivid “sunset-like”colors in the sky each night, with awe-inspiring results.

Today marks two weeks until our return to McMurdo and the end of the second, and final, leg of our cruise (the geologists will stay on for another leg before the ship returns toLyttleton, New Zealand). Our flight from McMurdo is reportedly the last flight of the season. Rumor has it that we land in New Zealand at night and so in the dark, which will be a very strange experience for us, indeed.

Seal Karma

We began our fifth experiment yesterday in an eastern region of the Ross Sea known as the South central Polynya (much of our work was previously conducted in the western section). The polynya (an ice-free region) occurs seasonally and is dominated by a small phytoplankton known as Phaeocystis, which is considered to be – because of its small size and its ability to form gelatinous colonies –inedible to many zooplankton species. This experiment will help us determine what feeds on this small alga and if the structure of the microbial food web here differs as a result.

The other scientific team onboard is conducting seismic surveys of the region in order to distinguish the sediments that lie on and beneath the ocean floor. To do so, the boat travels at slow speeds in a relatively straight trajectory, breaking ice as necessary. This provides an excellent opportunity for wildlife viewing. We have been particularly fortunate in seeing emperor penguins in this region. Yesterday we passed a large ice floe with over 20 emperors onboard. The sight alone was incredible, but to add to the splendor, several of them could beheard calling in that classic penguin language you hear in "March of the Penguins" or any nature special. I even saw a juvenile penguin that was in the process of molting from its very bushy grey down to its sleek black adult feathers. Minke whales have been abundant here as well, and the seismic team must stop their “acoustic guns” whenever they are in the vicinity for fears that the large underwater sound pulses created by the guns may damage their very sensitive inner ears. For this reason, a scientist is always assigned on “marine mammal observation” and a hydrophonehas been deployed to listen underwater for any signs of their presence. We have spanned now the entire width of the Ross Sea. In the dense ice floes, I have even seen the rare Ross Seal, a shy inhabitant ofthe deep pack ice, whose sightings are enhanced through the use of large icebreakers such as theNathaniel B. Palmer. My sighting has caused one veteran crew member to rub my arm seeking some of my “Ross Seal mojo”. I guess all the marine mammal rehab work back home has paid off for me in my seal karma.


In other news, we had regular updates of the Superbowl game from phone calls made home, while we set up our experiment yesterday. All of the Stony Brook scientists applauded when the Giants took the title. It sounded like an incredible game to miss, but what memories I will have when I look back on the game in many years to come. Go Giants!