The “yellow brick road”
January 22, 2019 (Note: this is #21 in a series of posts describing my NSF-sponsored fieldwork in Antarctica aboard the Laurence M. Gould) At lunch today, my colleague Kim Thamatrakoln asked me if I have been able to collect all the samples I hoped to get. I’m not sure if I audibly sighed, but I certainly sighed…
Read MoreThe slope
January 21 2019 (Note: this is #20 in a series of posts describing my NSF-sponsored fieldwork in Antarctica aboard the Laurence M. Gould). Today I woke up as we sampled one of our offshore stations (offshore from the continental shelf, in the deeper waters of the slope). Then we steamed about five hours toward the…
Read MoreThe ”other” grind
January 20 2019 (Note: this is #19 in a series of posts describing my NSF-sponsored fieldwork in Antarctica aboard the Laurence M. Gould). Three days ago I posted about the “grind” of processing samples day after day. Today we moved back into the ice, and experiences the “grinding” of the ship as it moved through the sea…
Read MoreRothera
January 19 2019 (Note: this is #18 in a series of posts describing my NSF-sponsored fieldwork in Antarctica aboard the Laurence M. Gould). Today we had the opportunity to visit Rothera Research Station, the largest British Antarctic facility. The visit is a tradition on the Palmer LTER cruise that provides an opportunity for the British and…
Read MoreLike two ships passing in the…nearly perpetual polar day
January 18 2019 (Note: this is #17 in a series of posts describing my NSF-sponsored fieldwork in Antarctica aboard the Laurence M. Gould). Today we met up with the other US Antarctic icebreaker, the Nathaniel B. Palmer (“NBP”), visible off in the foggy distance. The scientists on board have been working to characterize aspects of…
Read MoreThe grind
January 17 2019 (Note: this is #16 in a series of posts describing my NSF-sponsored fieldwork in Antarctica aboard the Laurence M. Gould). Can you see the little copepod near my fingertips on the spoon? That’s Calanus propinquus. I guess I shouldn’t play favorites with my “subjects,” but, between us, It’s kind of my favorite. If…
Read MoreCreatures from the deep
January 16 2019 (Note: this is #15 in a series of posts describing my NSF-sponsored fieldwork in Antarctica aboard the Laurence M. Gould). Yesterday was relatively uneventful for me. We had some technical difficulties, so there wasn’t much sampling and sorting going on. Instead, I had time for my shipboard “hobbies”: tending to my experiment,…
Read MoreJackpot!
January 14, 2019 (Note: this is #14 in a series of posts describing my NSF-sponsored fieldwork in Antarctica aboard the Laurence M. Gould). Today’s “featured image” isn’t particularly related to this post, but I thought everyone might like to see a seal 🙂 Are you on twitter?? (I’m not…maybe a goal for 2020). If you are,…
Read MoreYou’re camping WHERE?
Today we approached Avian Island where our birders planned to set up a field camp and spend the next five days surveying the resident penguin population. I think most of the other scientists on board are envious of this remarkable opportunity. When I was describing it to my mother over email, she thought it sounded like a…
Read MoreThe “Aquarium Room”
January 11 2019 (Note: this is #12 in a series of posts describing my NSF-sponsored fieldwork in Antarctica aboard the Laurence M. Gould) I’ve been conducting experiments in which I incubate copepods under different food conditions. I’m hoping to use these experiments to get insight into how fast copepods respond to a lack of food. I…
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