Ecosystem | Ice Stories: Dispatches From Polar Scientists

It’s All About the Krill

By Cassandra Brooks · February 20, 2008 ·

There are 19 scientists on board the Yuzhmorgeologiya and we’re all dedicated to studying Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) and their ecosystem. I am on the zooplankton (the ocean’s small, drifting animal life) team and collectively… {Read More »}

Bouts of Bad Weather

By Cassandra Brooks · February 17, 2008 ·

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Last night we arrived at our destination, South Orkney Islands, northeast of the Antarctic Peninsula. In most years the AMLR cruises just survey the South Shetland Islands, but because this is International Polar Year, the… {Read More »}

Preparing for the Expedition

By Cassandra Brooks · February 9, 2008 ·

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On February 11th, 2008, I will join the AMLR scientists in Punta Arenas, the southernmost town in Chile. We will then depart on a charted research vessel for the South Shetland Islands off the Antarctic… {Read More »}

The Microbial Loop

By Maria Vernet · February 8, 2008 ·

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The Microbial Biogeochemistry group (B-045) (under the direction of Dr. Hugh Ducklow) is one of the science groups here on board the LM Gould. Our goal is to study the bacteria that live in the… {Read More »}

Avian Island in Pictures

By Maria Vernet · February 4, 2008 ·

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Each year on the PAL-LTER summer cruise, members of the seabird group (B-013) spend 5 days working on Avian Island. Avian Island is located just off the southern tip of Adelaide Island, south of the… {Read More »}

Fun With Phytoplankton

By Maria Vernet · January 30, 2008 ·

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Today we will introduce you to the work of B016, the researchers here on the LTER cruise that study phytoplankton (microscopic plants.) This is the 14th year for the group! They study the plant life… {Read More »}

Zooplankton Under the Microscope

By Maria Vernet · January 27, 2008 ·

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As you may have seen in one of our earlier dispatches regarding the zooplankton sampling methods (to read the dispatch click here) the zooplankton team scours the ocean with two nets, the smaller of which… {Read More »}

Marine Mammals

By Maria Vernet · January 24, 2008 ·

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Each year on the cruise, we are privileged to have many encounters with marine mammals -- mammals that live and feed primarily in the ocean. Mammals originally evolved on land and a subset later adapted… {Read More »}

Penguins: Barometers of Climate Change

By Maria Vernet · January 23, 2008 ·

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While it may not be initially intuitive to think so, penguins make up a major proportion of top predator species found in the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP.) This means that measurements of their population sizes… {Read More »}

Water Sampling

By Maria Vernet · January 22, 2008 ·

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Monday we reached the first station of the southernmost portion of the LTER grid and started the “200” line. We began sampling offshore at station 200.260 (“260” indicates that the station is 260 km from… {Read More »}

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