Journal Entries

2005-06

 

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Click here to access journal entries by Giancarlo Lopez-Martinez or Luke Sandro.

 

January 10-11, 2006 - Palmer Station, Antarctica

You know you are at Palmer Station, Antarctica when you...

• hear a burp and know it’s from an elephant seal.


• consider 1,000 specimens a good day’s catch.


• stay up till midnight to watch the sunset that doesn't end.


• don’t really mind the smell of penguin guano (poo) as much as you first did, but still comment on it.


• dodge when you see a skua swoop.


• have a full house at the Wednesday evening science presentation.


• don't think about what you want to eat because you are always full from the fabulous meals that are prepared for you.


• are among those whose lives are devoted to science because they are passionate about what they do.

Yesterday a friend e-mailed me and commented on how cool it is to be able to communicate with someone who is on the bottom of the Earth. It still hasn't hit me that it’s me and I really am on the bottom of the Earth. It just feels like I'm in this really cool place where science is the topic of the day and the focus of everyone’s work. Can you imagine living in a world of science? That’s what I’m doing and I love it!

For example, last night I attended a science lecture presented by Richard Lee, the Principal Investigator of my research expedition. He was at Palmer Station around 20 years ago and talked about what it was like back then. He showed this picture of the station and everyone commented immediately on how much the glaciers have melted.

Compare how close the glacier comes to Palmer Station in the first picture to how far it has receded in the picture I took today.

That’s a lot of change. What causes ice to disappear? Melting! Remember the water cycle? (If not, click here for a quick and easy overview.)

The ice has melted because the temperature at Palmer Station has increased. The Energy Information Administration reports, "Over the course of the past 50 years, Antarctica's average year-round temperature has warmed by about 3-4 degrees Fahrenheit — more than 10 times the average worldwide increase during that period." Imagine that! What other aspects of the Antarctic environment would you suspect are affected by this increase in temperature? That’s what many of the scientists at Palmer are trying to figure out. They are collecting data to see what’s changing in the environment, what extent things are changing, and how these changes affect the environment.

Rick Lee's presentation was about Belgica antarctica and what our research team is trying to find out about this interesting insect of the ice. At first when I found out that we were going to Antarctica to study an insect, I wasn't too enthusiastic about this little creature, but I have learned that the more I know about something, the more interesting it becomes. This is true about Belgica. It is a real survivor in the true sense of the word.

I guess the best place to start is at the beginning. Belgica begins as an egg. The adult female lays an egg sac, which soon develops into the larval state. Their developmental process is very similar to that of a butterfly — egg, larva, pupa, and then adult. The BIG difference is that Belgica spends about two years in this larval state until one day it pupates and then out comes the adult! Finally! Could you imagine waiting two years to emerge? And now hold on to your socks — the adult only lives for about two weeks!! But in those two weeks it performs one of the most important functions of all living things — it reproduces. Reproduction is one of the basic functions of all living organisms and ensures continuation of that species. For Belgica, the reproductive process occurs when the male adult fertilizes the female’s eggs. Shortly after the eggs have been laid, the adults die having accomplished their big goal in life. What other animals can you think of that go through similar processes?

Want to know what a mighty survivor Belgica is? When it gets really cold, it actually dehydrates or dries out just like a raisin! That helps keep it from freezing. Mike (from my team) is conducting some experiments on Belgica related to moisture loss and how Belgica does this. He is using an osmometer (which measures vapor pressure of a Belgica sample) to collect data.

We took the Zodiacs out to two islands that we haven’t been to before. It's surprising how different each island is even with no trees and only one type of grass. First we went to Stepping Stones:

There we met another team of researchers from Palmer who were studying the plants. They were taking temperature readings around different sites and had little plots of land fenced off to monitor the plant growth. The fences were to keep the fur seals from destroying the patches of ground that the scientists were examining. We also found another HOBO, the device that measures temperatures throughout the year so we can tell exactly what kind of temperatures Belgica experiences.

Next we went to the island right across the bay from Palmer called Bonaparte Island. We had to walk through some snow that was surprisingly deep.

There I had my best collecting spot ever! I was getting discouraged because everyone else was having luck but me, so it came just in time. The island is a nesting ground for a very large and common bird around here called a giant petrel.

We had another surprise waiting for us at the boat — a leopard seal having lunch. It had this big fish in its mouth and kept surfacing with it as if to say, "Hey look what I got!" I say it can have it! Yuck, you should have seen the teeth on that proud seal!

And sometimes after a long day we are rewarded by a sunset...

 

- Kaput-on-Ice

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