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Current Weather Conditions for Palmer Station, Antarctica:
Journal Entries
2005-06
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| Jump to a specific journal entry by Marianne Kaput: | ||
| August 2005 | 23 | |
| October 2005 | 31 | |
| December 2005 | 15 29 30 31 | |
| January 2006 | 1 3 4 5 7 9 10-11 12-14 15 16-17 18-19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 | |
| February 2006 | 1 2 5 6-8 10 | |
| Click here to access journal entries by Giancarlo Lopez-Martinez or Luke Sandro. | ||
January 12-14, 2006 — Palmer Station, Antarctica
Signs of Palmer Station:
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I am surprised by how many visitors we get here at Palmer. The personnel at the Station say that there are more ships visiting here than ever before. I wonder how the increase in tourism will affect the environment in Antarctica. Right now there’s a private sailboat docked in the harbor with a couple from Chicago, IL.
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They are planning to spend about a year and a half total sailing. This week Palmer is expecting visits from three big cruise lines and a film crew from Canada. Sometimes when a ship is in port, some of the station personnel are invited aboard for lunch. Our research team was lucky enough to be invited on the Explorer II, a luxury tourist ship. I enjoyed lunch with the company of a few of the women who work at Palmer and appreciated a fresh dark green salad. Salad is considered a freshie and in short supply. Freshies are food items that you can only eat when fresh, like vegetables and fruit. Our food is supplied from the ship that brought us here and we won’t see another supply until February. Even though Marge and Sue, our chefs, prepare meals that are known to be the best in the South, I still miss freshies.
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I want to share what’s being done on our research project. Mike, Josh, and GC are each working on separate aspects of the project. Giancarlo is looking at gene expression during larval dehydration or desiccation. I’ll explain what that means. Gene expression is the production of new RNA (ribonucleic acid). One type of RNA that GC is looking at is messenger RNA which (as it name implies) acts as a messenger for the production of proteins. So what, right? Protein is good! Enzymes are one example of protein. Another type of protein that he will look at is the one related to stress proteins. What kind of stress is Belgica under? Changes in temperature and body water content. In order to survive the stresses of the cold, Belgica loses water and dries up. Just about everything has heat shock proteins which help them to survive temperature and other stresses. Humans produce stress proteins for situations when we experience temperature changes. For example, when you are sick and have a fever, your body produces these to help you better tolerate the increase in body temperature. Right now GC is collecting the RNA to take back to the lab at The Ohio State University for further analysis.
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Mike is looking at the ability of the Belgica larvae to dehydrate during winter and remain unfrozen while exposed to subzero (below 0° C) temps and ice. While Belgica larvae are freeze tolerant year-round, they might be able to lose enough water entering winter to allow their melting point (the temperature at which the larvae’s body fluids freeze/melt) to reach equilibrium with the temperature of the surrounding soil. This prevents freezing. In order to deal with the freezing larvae must not only lose water, but also build up cryoprotectants. Cryoprotectants are molecules that protect cells from low temperatures and/or freezing. That Belgica is certainly a survivor!
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Josh is studying the adult Belgica. So far we have collected enough of the adult midges for him to begin lab work. Since the adults only live for two weeks he has to work very quickly before they die. I’ll discuss what he is doing in a couple of days because I want to get his input. I sure hope he has time to make it to the salsa dance class tonight!
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Time is flying by so quickly because so much is going on every day. It sometimes seems as if the entire evening is still left and then suddenly it’s midnight! I have still not adjusted to 24/7 daylight and not sure that I ever will because it is so unusual. This ends my second full weekend here and it’s beginning to feel like home because EVERYONE here is so nice and I have made many new friends. I only wish I could have my family, friends and students with me to share this incredible experience.
And again I am blessed with a beautiful ending to a great day...
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- Kaput-on-Ice