Date: Sun, 21 Jan 2001 17:13:32 -0300 To: lterpalpi@icess.ucsb.edu, Fraser Bill From: "Ross, Robin" Subject: 01JAN LTER suggestion for last 1.5 d Cc: rossro@lmg.polar.org, iresonki@lmg.polar.org, Carrillo Christopher , kozlowwe@lmg.polar.org, Menzies Dave , Chapman Erik Greetings, We just left the penguin lavage team off at Avian Island, and are steaming to 200.-020 to do a full station. The choice of a landing site took a bit longer than anticipated, but the weather is decent though overcast so we can run off and do a station while they work. The stations have been going fast and furious - but so far there is still humor in the air - with wacky hair day and various bad rumors going around about the crossing ceremony! Due to the efficiency of the Hawaii team (yay!) we were able to turn the sediment traps around much faster than I had expected, and with the weather on our side early in the cruise we made up some time. As a result we were able to maintain the 20 km spacing on the mid- to inner shelf of the 500.* and 300.* lines (from 120 on in). Took a bit of juggling, but the FTLs were behind it (especially those who were at LDEO last September trying to do the OI/PC/EOF analysis!), so we gave it a go. We have completed work on the 600, 500, 400 and 300 lines, and stations 200.120 to 200.040, with everything done but nets on 200.020 and 200.000. The last days of the cruise are upon us, as we hope to dock at Palmer ~ 1000 26 Jan, with the LMG leaving Palmer 0800 27 Jan. We have a very fast turnaround there, and it is partly possible because we are leaving the BP-028 van on the pier for Robin, Stephanie and Jordan to finish packing. The 016 rad van will also be on the pier. Below I have included some detail of what we hope to accomplish over the next 4.5 days, and ask for any comments for on what we are planning for the day plus in the Palmer Basin area. The FTLs met this am, and we have discussed the general plan, but wanted to make sure that you all are aware of what is happening. Jan 22 Tomorrow (Monday) we call at Rothera, bring about 8 folks out with us, with 12 staying on shore. From Andy Clarke today: "We have a marine team of 7, plus a few other (very) interested parties who would like to see the CTD and other marine work in action. A CTD section south from Ryder Bay would be ideal. Our usual measurements are CTD, Fluorometer & PAR (all to 180m, weekly or sometimes more frequently). In addition we take samples for DOC&N, POC&N, oxygen isotopes, pigments by HPLC, viruses, bacteria and microbial abundance and taxonomy at two-week intervals (all samples preserved for analysis in UK), and macronutrients are analysed here on base monthly. We currently have two CTD/Fluorometer/PAR units here (one incoming and one about to return to UK). So we would be interested in one shallow cast (180m maximum) with your instrument with our two lashed on to it as we have done in the past. This is a really useful cross-validation for us. We have just done a comparison of CTD temperatures with digital reversing thermometer temperatures and the cross-calibration is spot-on. We are also building a fluorometer calibration using extracted chlorophyll taken on the same day. This is quite noisy, but we only have a partial data set organized so far." Our plan is for ~ 3 ctd/prr stations on a line from Ryder Bay south, sticking to the channels more or less. We (field team leaders) met this am, and we will try to replicate their sampling as much as possible, and Chris even suggested cross-calibrating by exchanging some samples. Jan 23 200.140, 200.160, 200.180 and 200.200: we will not have time to go the bottom on all three casts, and per Doug's instructions will look for where the temperature and salinity stop changing before we finish the cast. The current choice for the to the bottom cast is 200.160, although if we postponed that cast to 200.200 the light will be better for the three outer stations. *******Doug - any preference??? Jan 24 - transit to Palmer Basin Packing can start...and the crossing ceremony will take place. King Neptune is sending around messages, and growling about those who crossed without permission. Jan 25 We had hoped that the satellite transmitters would be on the Adelies by now and that we would have information about where the penguins are foraging to help us make a decision about whether to picket lines or the foraging grid. Unfortunately, Bill has run into a couple of glitches (one bureaucracy, one weather) so that data will not be available. We spoke on the radio yesterday evening, and did some ranking of priorities. Wendy had also requested that we not do B and E just prior to docking as that makes taking the 24 h experiments down difficult. Based on an arrival in the area of 0600 to 0800 on 25 January: 1) 3.7 k picket line with bird observations, acoustics, alongtrack chl and nuts 2) 10 k picket line with same 3) stations B and E - these may come in between the two picket lines depending on arrival times in the area so that we are done with the stations by ~ 1400 4) foraging grid with bird observations (as long as there is enough light), acoustics, surface chl and nuts, and xctds in all the places where we would normally do ctd casts plus some and xbts to fill in where we normally do xbts. This usually takes us 12 h or so without the ctds. The idea here is that the priority for the joint Adelie and acoustic observations is for the picket lines, but that we have the time to do some of the foraging grid in the light as well. We will continue the foraging grid through the night, and end with a ctd cast at 600.040 as the anchor point. IF we see krill on the acoustics trace we will come back and do a net tow to see what size and sex of krill are around. One possible variation on the high density foraging grid might be to do the 10 k by 20 k grid on a 5 km resolution going from E to offshore, and then return on a 5 k resolution to fill in the lines we skipped the first time. That way we are more likely to cover the entire area with light for the bird observations, but retain the 2.5 k resolution for the acoustics and along track. Comments? Ciao, Robin