Date: Wed, 7 Jul 1999 05:10:48 +0100
Subject: More about science and the LTER grid
Pictures: Map, LTER Network Map LTER Palmer Grid Map

As we continue our route north, we have lost sight of any ice, and find our selves in open water. It looks strange to go up to the bridge at night, and look out into the black hole of the ocean, where a couple of days ago we had only miles of white in front of us. I must say I miss it already!

I thought I would explain a bit how our route is designed: we have been moving along a pre-established grid, along which the different ice or water stations are set. It is important to have these fixed stations, which can be e repeatedly over the years, to develop long-term data of the area.

If you looked at the chart table, you would see long pencil lines drawn over each map: Imagine a line which basically follows the west cost of the Antarctic peninsula: this is the "zero" line. Perpendicular to it are ten lines which extend into the ocean, separated from each other by a distance of 100 kms: they are labelled "000" to "900". On each of them, starting from zero, are points every 20 kms, positive if going away from the coast, negative if, in a bay for example, one can go to the east of the "zero" line. Does that sound impossible to understand? It did to me at first, but now, like everyone else, I ask when we are supposed to be at "200.060" or whether we'll do a CTD at "300.-020"...Local language, that's all!

Right now, we are on our way to "400.060", and if you look at a map, that station is located about 40 kms to the north-west of Serrano Island. Of course, you could also find us if I tell you that our latitude is -066.11.101, and our longitude -067.47.298... Add to that the fact that our speed is 9.9 knots, and that we'll be there in about a half hour, and we can rendez-vous! However, what's tricky is the matter of time: my watch says it's 11:30pm, though the clock on the wall reads 03:30, which immediately makes me a lot more tired: but that's only because it gives us Greenwich time, by which all official events are recorded on the ship. And finally, the date, which is July 7th (Greenwich) or 6th (me), is indicated on the clock as "day 188", because we use the Julian calendar... Are you still with me? There will be a quiz tomorrow...

Despite all these strange ways of naming places and counting time, weather remains something quite real, which we watch and "predict" thanks to satellite images which we receive daily. And unfortunately, today's image is not very encouraging: there is an ugly low pressure area threatening to catch up with us, which might mean...time to put on patches again! And we thought Neptune had been satisfied by our cleansing ceremony! We'll see tomorrow what happens: if it gets too rough, we will not get out into the open sea (most of the experiments which involve lowering instruments into the water become impossible) but we will instead head toward the coast and see thek shelter of an island.

I mentioned in my previous web page that we were an LTER site, which stands for "long term ecological research". LTER sites were established in 1981 by the National Science Foundation, and currently there are more than twenty of them with diverse ecosystems, including Arctic tundra, hardwood forests, lakes, streams, prairie grasslands, high deserts, tropical greenforests, as well as Antarctic coastal and terrestrial desert regions. The Palmer LTER program (us) established in 1990, was the first site in the southern hemisphere, and the only marine oceanographic site.

These LTER sites were created to allow the study of natural processes over periods of months to decades to centuries, so as to recognize long term meaningful patterns, and detect in them important cause and effect phenomena. This is important especially with the recognition of man-caused changes, such as ozone depletion, global warming, deforestation and greenhouse effect, which all have potentially significant ecological impact. The polar regions, better than more tempeDear Karen: rate climates, reflect these changes and trends, and their study can therefore give important information and provide an understanding of the impacts of humankind on the world.

Tomorrow I will continue interviews with PI's, for which there was no time today.

PS: Information for this web page was in part provided by an article, "The Palmer LTER: A Long-Term Ecological Research Program At Palmer Station, Antarctica", published in the journal "Oceanography" (vol. 8, No. 3)