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Maria VernetMaria Vernet has been a primary investigator on several research cruises off the Antarctic Peninsula, exploring one of the coldest marine ecosystems on earth. She's a marine scientist from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego. Maria has participated in various studies of phytoplankton ecology and physiology, from the effect of ultraviolet radiation on photosynthesis to grazing of coastal phytoplankton by the Antarctic krill. During winter 2008, she studied the ecology of phytoplankton within the marine ecosystem surrounding floating icebergs. From March 6 to April 15, 2009, Maria is on board the Nathaniel B. Palmer icebreaker in the northwest Weddell Sea, collecting plankton samples from under and around large icebergs that have broken off from an Antarctic ice shelf. Scientists are just beginning to study these intriguing iceberg ecosystems, which attract thriving communities of seabirds, phytoplankton, krill, and fish.

Project Page: Floating Ecosystems

All Posts By Maria Vernet


The End of Our Cruise

By Maria Vernet · May 1, 2009 · comments No comments yet
PUNTA ARENAS, CHILE-- Late last night we arrived at Punta Arenas, Chile. This marks the end of our Iceberg 3 cruise. We have finished analyzing the samples, re-calibrating instruments and we are now ready to start packing... {Read More »}


Experiments with Phytoplankton Growing Close to Icebergs

By Maria Vernet · April 24, 2009 · comments 1 comment
ABOARD THE RVIB N. B. PALMER, ON THE SOUTHERN OCEAN– We are experimenting with iron additions to phytoplankton populations to see possible effects of icebergs as a source of iron... {Read More »}


Primary Productivity at an Iceberg Site

By Maria Vernet · April 22, 2009 · comments No comments yet
ABOARD THE RVIB N. B. PALMER, ON THE SOUTHERN OCEAN– Not only do we want to know about what type of phytoplankton grow close to icebergs but we also want to know how well they grow... {Read More »}


The Iceberg Alley

By Maria Vernet · April 21, 2009 · comments 2 comments
ABOARD THE RVIB N. B. PALMER, ON THE SOUTHERN OCEAN– Within 40 nautical miles southeast of C18A iceberg, we found an area known as the Iceberg Alley: a large concentration of icebergs in western Weddell Sea, moving in a north-northeast direction following the clockwise circulation around the Weddell Sea gyre. Hundreds of icebergs... {Read More »}


A Trip to the Ice Edge

By Maria Vernet · April 16, 2009 · comments 1 comment
ABOARD THE RVIB N. B. PALMER, ON THE SOUTHERN OCEAN– After a four day trek looking for other icebergs we might want to study, we came back to continue studying iceberg C18A... {Read More »}


It’s a Blue Ocean

By Maria Vernet · April 14, 2009 · comments No comments yet
ABOARD THE RVIB N. B. PALMER, ON THE SOUTHERN OCEAN-- We are all used to thinking of the ocean as blue. Sometimes greenish, if close to the coast, or brownish if a lot of sediments are delivered at a river’s mouth, but mostly it is blue; a clear blue close to coral reefs, a dark blue when seen from space or a grayish blue during a storm. Why is the ocean blue?... {Read More »}


Reproduction in Antarctic Diatoms

By Maria Vernet · April 13, 2009 · comments No comments yet
ABOARD THE RVIB N. B. PALMER, ON THE SOUTHERN OCEAN– As most unicellular phytoplankton algae, diatoms usually reproduce by division. One cell becomes two after mitosis; the two new algae are called “daughter cells”. Once in a long while diatoms go through sexual reproduction. What brings this phenomenon? {Read More »}


Diatoms Can Be Toxic

By Maria Vernet · April 9, 2009 · comments 2 comments
ABOARD THE RVIB N. B. PALMER, ON THE SOUTHERN OCEAN– Phytoplankton cells can become toxic under certain conditions. Still a mystery to scientists why they produce toxins, there has been a proliferation of large concentrations of toxic cells, or blooms, also called red tides, during the last 20 years... {Read More »}


Our First Iceberg

By Maria Vernet · April 1, 2009 · comments 1 comment
ABOARD THE RVIB N. B. PALMER, ON THE SOUTHERN OCEAN-- C18A is a large iceberg, rectangular, shaped almost like a surf board, 18 km long and 6 km wide. It takes us about 4 hours at 11 knots to navigate around it... {Read More »}


All Kinds of Diatoms

By Maria Vernet · March 31, 2009 · comments 2 comments
ABOARD THE RVIB N. B. PALMER, ON THE SOUTHERN OCEAN-- After 4 days in transit we arrived at Clarence Island near the South Shetlands. It is too windy to test our new instruments here. So we turn northeast and after 8 more hours we arrive at the C18A iceberg... {Read More »}

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