But what about the science?

After reading my first few posts from Antarctica, you may be wondering where the science fits in with all this training and getting ready.  But finally, after all of our trainings, our field season has really started: we’ve been out to the Dry Valleys and we’ve begun processing samples in the lab.  Since our focus has turned toward our scientific goals, I thought this would be a good time to give an overview of the science being done in our group (affectionately known as B-507, the Wormherders, or the Dry Valleys LTER Soils Team).

The McMurdo Dry Valleys Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) project is within the LTER network, an umbrella that includes many other projects in widely varying ecosystems (Toolik Lake in Northern Alaska, where I spent a season as an undergraduate, is the location of another LTER). Long-term data sets are often hard to come by in the field of ecology, so the LTERs (many of which have been running for decades) provide valuable information about basic properties of ecosystems and how they change over time, especially in response to recent global warming.

The Dry Valleys LTER, which joined the network in 1993, provides a unique perspective on ecosystem dynamics because of its unusual characteristics as the coldest and driest LTER site.  The McMurdo Dry Valleys make up the largest area of ice-free land on the continent of Antarctica; instead of being buried by miles of glacier ice, the Dry Valleys are full of steep rock slopes, barren glacial till, perennially frozen lakes, and ephemeral streams.

The Dry Valleys are aptly named: so little precipitation falls here that snow does not build up to form glaciers.

At first look, the Dry Valleys seem like the last place in the world to study ecology: life here doesn’t exactly stand out.  On closer inspection, however, there are algae mats lining many streams, mosses growing nearby, and nematodes, rotifers, and tardigrades thriving in the soils.

Moss growing near a stream. This is pretty much as green as it gets in the Dry Valleys!

The relative simplicity of the species interactions, combined with the harsh conditions and sensitivity to change make the Dry Valleys an incredibly important area to study.  While much of the ice-covered Antarctic continent responds slowly to climate change, the Dry Valleys’ streams, lakes, and soils can respond rapidly.

Camp F6 with Lake Fryxell in the background. Lake levels have been rising rapidly over the past few years, forcing many camp buildings to be moved higher up.

Just like the LTER network is an umbrella, the Dry Valleys LTER itself is an umbrella, including teams focused on the streams, lakes, soils, and glaciers of the Dry Valley systems.  As the Soils Team, we are interested in how the physical characteristics of the soil – such as the nutrient content and moisture level – impact the diversity and productivity of the soil communities.  Part of our team (including me) measures those physical characteristics, while the other members describe the biological community (by identifying and counting the nematodes, rotifers, and tardigrades in each soil sample).

In addition to describing the communities that naturally exist in the Dry Valleys, the Soils Team is also involved in a number of long-term experiments.  These experiments work by altering some physical condition of the soils and watching how the biology responds.  One experiment, for instance, looks at how soil moisture and soil temperature interact to influence the soil biota.  Some plots receive additional water, other plots have warming chambers, while a third set of plots receive both the water and warming treatments.  In another experiment, phosphorus, nitrogen, and carbon are added to the soils.  And in a new experiment the team hopes to get running next year, additional subsurface water flow is introduced through trenches dug at the top of a slope.

Soil Team members make sure that the warming chambers are secure.

Although we focus on the soils, it is impossible to be out in the Dry Valleys without considering interactions among the various components of this system.  The amount of moisture available to the system, for instance, is directly linked to snowfall and glacial melt.

Ephemeral streams link glaciers to lakes throughout the valleys.

The nutrient content of the soils is related to the rock types found within the glacial till.

Rocks from Mt. Erebus (on Ross Island) may be responsible for supplying phosphorus to the Lake Fryxell basin.

This last interaction is something that I hope to investigate in greater depth – check back soon for more details!

City Life

Today we are stuck in McMurdo due to bad weather.  Snow is swirling and we can’t see much of anything out our lab window.  Helicopters are on the ground, unable to take us out to the Dry Valleys.

Helicopters aren’t getting off the ground any time soon.

I figured this would be a good time to explain a bit about life in McMurdo, the big city.  McMurdo is the main station for the United States Antarctic Program (USAP), so many people and lots of cargo end up here, either to stay for the season or to continue on to a deep field camp.  Although it may seem that McMurdo is a remote outpost at the end of the Earth, it really is like any other town in many respects, with its own water treatment center, hospital, fire station, residential neighborhoods, chapel, roads, gyms, bars, and a diverse population (which currently numbers 850).

McMurdo General Hospital

Dorm 203C (Home Sweet Home)

The Coffee House

Of course, there are a few ways – both mundane and significant – in which McMurdo differs from your typical town.  Waste disposal, for instance, is much more complicated, since all waste must be packaged up and shipped off the island.

Numerous options for waste disposal in McMurdo

Since the community lives in such tight quarters, hand washing is very important.  In order to encourage residents to wash hands as much as possible, there’s even a public washing station outside the Galley (the dining hall).

Hand washing station outside of the Galley

But perhaps the most significant aspect of McMurdo that sets it apart from other towns (other than the location) is the fact that it exists solely for the purpose of science.  Everyone here is either a scientist or works in some way to support scientific research.  Crary Lab, one of the biggest buildings in town, houses astronomers, biologists, geologists, physicists, and glaciologists all investigating some aspect of this continent.  When in town, we spend the majority of our time in the lab.  So far, since we don’t have any samples to process, we have been cleaning and setting things up.

Setting up the lab means washing a lot of dishes!

Another significant aspect of McMurdo is the historical context of the area, which Ali explained so well in her earlier post.  Although McMurdo Station was established in 1955 in preparation for the International Geophysical Year in 1957, McMurdo Sound was named more than a hundred years earlier by the English explorer James Clark Ross.  Other explorers, including Robert F. Scott and Ernest Shackleton, used the area as a staging ground for their famous expeditions.  As we walk around town, we are constantly reminded of the legacy of Antarctic exploration around McMurdo.  It’s a legacy that makes living here even more awe-inspiring.

One Happy Camper!

Now that we’re here in McMurdo (yes! we made it!), our thoughts are focused on getting out into the field so we can start collecting and processing soil samples.  But getting out into the field isn’t simple.  First, every member of our team needs to have all the appropriate safety training.  For us newbies on the team, this meant Snow School (also known as Happy Camper).

One of our first views of the continent!

For the past two days, our group of 10 Happy Campers discussed risk assessment and cold injuries, practiced setting up tents and building snow walls, and learned how to communicate on the continent’s radio system.  We headed out to our camping site and set to work creating our cozy home — complete with kitchen table and private sleeping areas.  Since I wanted a new winter sleeping experience, I decided to dig my own snow trench (it is exactly what it sounds like).  After many hours of grueling shoveling, I had a hole in snow big enough to sit up in (without hitting my head on the roof) and long enough to fit my sleeping bag.  What a warm and cozy night it was!

Digging my snow trench was exhausting work, but ultimately worth the effort!

During our two days out, we were blessed with clear skies and beautiful views of Mt. Erebus, Mt. Discovery, and the Royal Society Range.

Our campsite with beautiful mountains in the distance.

Looking out toward the mountains made me even more excited to head out to the Dry Valleys and see more of this continent!  Our first day of field work will hopefully be on Tuesday, but we still have a lot of work to do before heading out.  Setting up the lab, organizing our food and gear, a few more training videos….

Off to Antarctica! (hopefully)

Just a quick note to say that Ross and I have made it to Christchurch, New Zealand and are currently waiting for our safety brief before we board the plane to McMurdo!  We’re hoping that we’ll make it today – the runway at McMurdo is quite slushy due to warm weather, so planes have been delayed…

Our past few days in Christchurch have been busy.  We’ve picked up our Extreme Weather Clothing, toured Christchurch and seen the earthquake damage, wandered through the beautiful Botanical Gardens, and gotten to know the other members of our Dry Valleys Soils Team.  We’re excited for our upcoming month on the Ice!

Check back soon for more…now I’m off to the safety briefing…

My Big Red fits perfectly!

Antarctica: A Human Dimension?

The so-called “Human Dimension of Climate Change” is a central focus of the IGERT curriculum at Dartmouth. In the spring course and summer field seminar in Greenland, IGERT fellows learn about the difficulties and advantages associated with incorporating traditional ecological knowledge into our science. We receive an introduction to the Greenlandic language, Kalaallisut, and discuss the responsibilities associated with working in and around Indigenous communities. And we hear, first hand, the experiences and perspectives of Arctic government and NGO leaders who are facing rapid environmental change on a national scale.

The Arctic is, perhaps, a case study in several areas: from US foreign policy to the implications of rapid business development, indigenous traditions to language preservation, and colonial tensions to national identity. But what about the Antarctic? No humans are native to the continent, and it was set aside for “peaceful purposes” and “contributions to scientific knowledge” in the Antarctic Treaty of 1959. The first sighting of the continent occurred in 1820. The date when the first person set foot on the continent is a matter of debate but may have been the following year or decades later. And a woman didn’t make it down to the bottom of the world until 1935. Yet, I would argue, this place is rich with history. It’s a history that’s brief but speaks powerfully of humans’ ability to survive in the harshest of conditions, commitment to maintaining camaraderie, and desire to explore the unknown.

While delayed by weather for 6 days (and counting), I’ve had the rare opportunity to explore the interior of all three of the huts erected on Ross Island. Discovery Hut, mentioned in my previous post, is just walking distance from McMurdo and Scott. It was built for Robert Scott’s Discovery Mission of 1901-1904. It’s not particularly well insulated, and during that first expedition was used for storage while the men lived on their nearby ship. Shackleton later used the hut for storage and accommodations during the British Antarctic Expedition of 1907-1909, when he made an attempt at the pole but famously turned back within 100 miles of the pole after realizing that his men would not survive the return journey with the food they had. The support party for the British Expedition of 1910-1913 (Scott’s pole expedition) used the hut, as well, but the expedition was primarily based out of Scott’s Hut 20 km north at Cape Evans. The final party to use the hut during the Heroic Age was the Ross Sea party, the support team for Shackleton’s Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1914-1917). This team laid depots almost all the way to the pole, while Shackleton approached the continent from the opposite side, with the intention of being the first to cross Antarctica. Shackleton never reached his starting point in the Weddell Sea when the Endurance became trapped in the ice; he is best known for saving his men by making an open boat journey to Elephant Island. The men in the Ross Sea party, however, did not all survive. The ones who laid the last depot nearly perished on their return to Discovery Hut. The rest of their party was at Cape Evans in a warm and relatively well-stocked hut (surviving off of what Scott left behind), but the sea ice made the short passage impossible. The men were stranded at Discovery Hut for 3 months with frostbite, eking out an existence on seal meat. The following fall, six men were trapped again; 3 perished trying to reach Scott’s Hut, and three survived until the sea ice came in and they could make safe passage.

Me in Discovery Hut.

Food boxes in Discovery Hut (chocolate and oatmeal…some things haven’t changed).

Actual biscuits left by one of the expeditions.

The men in the British Antarctic Expedition (AKA Terra Nova Expedition) of 1910-1913 built Scott’s Hut on Cape Evans as a base for their expedition to the South Pole. Scott reached the South Pole only to find that Norwegian Roald Amundsen had beat him there and then perished on his return. The Ross Sea party was the latest to use the hut, although the Antarctic Heritage Trust has restored it to its appearance during the original expedition.

A bunk in Scott’s Hut.

Supplies in Scott’s Hut. Everything in the huts is original; the Antarctic Heritage Trust hasn’t added anything.

A bench for science in Scott’s Hut.

Finally, we visited Shackleton’s Hut at Cape Royds, from which Shackleton staged his expedition of 1907-1909, when he nearly reached the pole but turned back to avoid certain death from starvation.

Shackleton’s Hut, less partitioned than Scott’s hut with much better light.

Inside Shackleton’s Hut: note the bed, the socks, and the picture of (I presume) the King and Queen.

Perhaps because the explorers were westerners and perhaps because I share their desire to explore, experience, and learn about this continent, I find myself able to identify with them more easily than with Arctic peoples. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t actually think I could have survived more than a day in the conditions they had to endure; after all, I go through hand warmers at an embarrassing rate, sleep with down booties, and need hot drinks at regular intervals to stay warm. But I like to think there’s something about their fascination with and commitment to this bizarre, cold, and remote place that I, too, can share and be a part of.

Scott Base, Antarctica

Greetings from Ross Island, Antarctica! I, Ali Giese, am currently waiting for a good weather window to fly out to my research field site 800 km away. At Roosevelt Island on the eastern side of the Ross Ice Shelf, I am involved in an 8-nation project to reconstruct the climatic and glaciological history of the Ross Sea region since the last ice age. The eastern side of the embayment is the missing link in understanding how this critical region has responded to climate changes in the past, and a more detailed understanding of the climate changes and associated ice behavior will enhance our ability to inform projections of sea level rise into the coming centuries. Under the advising of Bob Hawley in Earth Sciences, I am officially involved in investigating the temperature of the ice as well as the structure and spacing of the ice layers. I am down at the bottom of the world before Bob, however, because I wanted to be involved in the ice core drilling process. Our New Zealand collaborators are drilling an ice core to bedrock (750 meters; roughly 30,000 year old ice), and the measurements I’ll be assisting Bob with will involve lowering instruments into the hole once the ice is removed.

Compared to Greenland, which is a 3 hour drive and 5 hour flight from Hanover, Antarctica is considerably more logistically complicated. The US Antarctic Program (USAP) is staged out of Christchurch, NZ, where scientists typically spend the two nights before their ice flight. I left New England on Thursday Nov. 24, went over the Int’l Date Line and never (or only briefly) lived on the 25th, and arrived early evening on the 26th after 3 layovers. (During one of these layovers I met up with fellow IGERT student Becca Williams, who will be on the volcano Mt. Erebus with Yeti, the autonomous crevasse-detecting robot).

Becca and I picking up our ECW (extreme cold weather gear).

Allocating a long layover in Christchurch is required for gear outfitting at the Clothing Distribution Center; we load up with everything from huge coats (affectionately and widely known as “big red”) to rubber, air insulated “bunny boots,” hats, insulated pants, long underwear, and everything else you can imagine.

The warehouse at the Clothing Distribution Center at the International Antarctic Centre.

Fortunately, trying on gear and watching orientation videos doesn’t take more than a few hours, and we had almost a full day to enjoy summer in Christchurch. I took the opportunity to visit the botanic gardens and to check out the rebuilding of the city. Because Christchurch was not thought to be in an earthquake zone, none or few of the buildings were built to withstand the magnitude 6.3 earthquake which originated from a very deep fault and shook the city in February 2011. Much of the city center is still in ruins and covered in scaffolding, but many of the businesses have relocated into a vibrant downtown area constructed from shipping containers. There are still tremors, and the residents are cautiously rebuilding with fierce commitment and palpable dedication to their city.

Container city.

On Monday, we reported to the Christchurch airport at 4:30 am for our C-17 flight to McMurdo. The flight itself, other than being delayed, was uneventful and surprisingly cushy! We were provided with lunch and a plethora of snacks, and we even had seats that folded down from the sides of the plane, a vast improvement over the cargo nets of the C-130s. Because the windows are few and small, I didn’t take in my first few of the frozen continent until we landed. I would not be exaggerating in stating that travel to Antarctica has been a life-long dream, but full realization of my location didn’t register until I was out on the ice shelf camping the following night. I really couldn’t believe where I was as I walked over the flat white expanse and was ushered into Ivan the TerraBus, which shuttles newcomers the one hour from Pegasus runway to base.

Ivan.

I am in a unique and, in my view, extremely fortunate position since I am working with Kiwis, and my arrival in Antarctica far precedes that of the other Americans on the project. As a result, I was assigned to stay at Scott Base, the New Zealand base, rather than at McMurdo Station. McMurdo is a city by Antarctic standards, by far the biggest base on the continent, and a large industrial operation. The Kiwis tell me there are 1200 people there right now, and McMurdo has a pier for ships, countless dorms for scientists, a taxi service, a hospital, a church, yoga classes, etc. Scott Base, in contrast, has fewer than 60 residents at present. The base is a number of connected buildings with a community so small that I knew most of the base staff within my first two days (admittedly, the fact that they know me probably has something to do with my distinguishing accent and US-issued red clothes). The Kiwis have been extraordinarily welcoming, right from the moment I was wandering around confused after the US bus dropped me off on its way to McMurdo, a few miles down the road.

New Zealand’s Scott Base.

An orientation and tour took up the remainder of Monday, and Tuesday I began a 2-day field training, the highlight of which was camping on the ice Tuesday night. We learned how to assemble tents designed after British explorer Robert Scott’s, we practiced using Primus stoves, and we built survival snow shelters with shovels and saws (the latter for cutting blocks and building walls).

Richie, our field trainer, reviewing the kitchen box and food waste protocol.

Our anomalously warm (-7C) and barely breezy weather prompted our guide to suggest a trip up towards Mt. Erebus, the volcano, to a location known as “room with a view.” We drove up there in a hagglund, a military vehicle from Desert Storm, I am told, which would have taken an hour had it not been for the multiple photo stops. From there, we saw many of the islands in the ice shelf, took in a breathtaking view of the Transantarctic mountain range, and could almost make out the early explorers’ huts.

The view from our evening excursion destination.

Luke, another Roosevelt Island student, and I with the Mt.Erebus volcano in the background.

On Wednesday night, Luke, the other student joining the Roosevelt team at this time, and I were informed that a Basler plane had become available and that we would try to fly out to our field site the next morning! This was a bit of a surprise since we weren’t originally scheduled until Monday, but we quickly packed and weighed our bags and spent the evening preparing for being in the field. Neither Thursday nor Friday had favorable weather conditions at Roosevelt Island, and after two early mornings waiting for weather reports, we’re still here and will try for a flight again on Monday. While I am anxious to get out to the field and start working, it’s hard to complain about having extra time in a warm base with fantastic people. I’ve had the opportunity to catch up with friends staying both here and at McMurdo (quite ironic and fun to meet up with friends I haven’t seen for years at the bottom of the world), and I’ve been able to see some of the local sites, including the pressure ridges that form where the sea ice meets the shoreline right below Scott Base, Observation Hill where Scott’s men waited and waited for their companions who perished on their return from the pole, and Discovery Hut built for Scott’s first expedition and used for accommodations on subsequent ones.

Pressure ridges adjacent to Scott Base, which is actually beachfront property! (And a seal.)

The view from the top of Observation Hill and the cross which commemorates Scott at its summit.

Inside Scott’s Discovery Hut.

My perception of Antarctica so far is that of a land of contrasts: social and isolating; breathtaking and dangerous; peaceful and windy; overwhelming and thought-provoking, all at the same time. The oil containers look out of place against the backdrop of an undisturbed white wilderness, and the distinction between the perfectly flat ice and the neighboring mountains appears somewhat unreal. The seal blubber frozen by the door in the Discovery Hut, as well as the uneaten biscuits and pants hanging to dry, serve as reminders of the hostility of the environment and the great sacrifices made to explore this last frontier. Reflecting upon the feats of the early explorers and learning about the myriad scientific projects on the continent have been humbling, to say the least. I feel extremely grateful to be here and am crossing my fingers for good weather on Monday.

Happy Antarctica Day,*
- Ali

*The anniversary of the signing of the Antarctic Treaty on December 1, 1959.

Science in Greenland: It’s a Girl Thing

During the 2012 IGERT Field Seminar in Greenland, the all-female cohort 3 was introduced to this promotional video, put out by the European Commission as a part of a campaign to inspire more young women to get involved in science.

The controversial video has since been taken off the European Commission campaign website, but not before sparking some lively debate.  The discussion in Greenland amongst cohort 3 about the video and the role of women in science inspired us to make our own version of Science: It’s a girl thing!.

And so we proudly present:  Science in Greenland: It’s a Girl Thing

What do you think about the European Commission video and our take on women in science?  Despite the controversy surrounding the video, the European Commission has a really cool website for their Science: It’s a girl thing!  campaign.  Check it out: http://science-girl-thing.eu/en.