02Jan LMG02-01 Annual Cruise 07 jan 02 - 27 jan 02 Annual sampling for the tenth Palmer Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) January cruise was completed. The LTER stations were held on the the Western Antarctic Peninsula LTER meoscale grid. Sampling was also conducted within the foraging area of Adelie penguins whose reproductive success and foraging ecology was being studied simultaneously by investigators at Palmer Station. During the 2002 cruise aboard the Research Vessel L.M.Gould (LMG02-01), sampling occurred between 10 January and 24 January with full crew, 6 Antarctic Support Associates, and 22 LTER participants. The 12th Hugo Island sediment trap retrieval and redeployment occurred. Cooperative studies with scientists at Rothera Station continued, with British Antarctic Survey scientists joining the LM Gould on January 19. The cruise was followed by the 2002 Southern Ocean GLOBEC mooring cruise (LMG02-1A). Sampling was done aboard the Laurence M. Gould (LMG02-01). Robin M. Ross, Chief Scientist Each austral summer since 1993, the Palmer Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program has surveyed the continental shelf and slope west of the Antarctic Peninsula and between Anvers and Adelaide Islands. Standard measurements at stations 20 kilometers apart with CTD on cardinal transect lines (600 through 200) with XBT between stations (10 km grid). The relative distributions of the predator (Adelie penguins) and prey (Antarctic krill) were observed on a high density grid at 2.5 km spacing and well as a new miniGrid. Sampling West Coast Antarctic Peninsula including near Palmer and LTER grid. Grid lines 600, 500, 400, 300, 200 Palmer Stations B and E High Density Grid Mini Grid Sediment Trap French Passage ice sampling Faure Island bird diet samples Jenny Island bird diet samples Rothera Station Preliminary analysis of selected samples from the 600.*, 500.* and 400.* transect lines has been completed. There appears to be deeper, saltier surface water from noth to south. Initial analysis of the 600, 500 and 400 LTER grid lines show oxygen concentrations at the oxygen minimum depth range from 171 to 201 umoles/liter. Enzyme activity is higher when compared to measuremnts made three months ago. Activities range from 3.00 to 30.73 nM/h. Visual inspection of sediment trap samples suggest a low particulate matter flux with no indications of any major flux events throughout the year. Heavy phytoplankton standing stocks appeared throughout the grid. Chlorophyll and production analyses show the typical offshore gradient. Average production on the 400-600 lines range between 0.68 gC/m2/d to 0.53gC/m2/d. Some 5 of the 30 krill catches contained many krill that had been feeding well. Salps were found at most stations but were only abundant at two deep stations off the shelf. In contrast to past cruises, ice krill occurred in high abundance within 60 km of the continent. Penguins were not abundant during observations compaed with last year, especially Chinstrap sightings. Ice sampling prevented the usual Avian and Ginger Island sampling so bird diet sampling was carried out at Faure Islands. A wind event occurred on 21 January. A central tenet of the PAL is that the annual advance & retreat of sea ice is a major physical determinant of spatial & temporal changes in the structure & function of the Antarctic marine ecosystem, from total annual primary production to breeding success in seabirds. Evaluation is ongoing of a number of testable hypotheses linking sea ice to 1)the timing & magnitude of seasonal primary production, 2)the dynamics of the microbial loop & particle sedimentation, 3)krill abundance, distribution, & recruitment, and 4)the breeding success & survival of apex predators. The PAL program includes spatial sampling during annual and seasonal cruises in portions of our regional grid in th Western Antarctic Peninsula region & temporal sampling from spring through fall (October through March) in the area adjacent to Palmer Station. The program is designed to sample at multiple spatial scales within one regional scale grid, permitting repeated sampling on both seasonal and annual time scales, thus addressing both short & longterm ecololgical phenomena, as well as provding a basis for specific mechanistic studies. Sampling is designed to (1) document spatial and interannual variation in core physical and biological variables along and offshore; (2) to investigate the linkage between marine resources and Adelie penguins during a time of peak food requirements for the chicks; and (3) to maintain seasonal sampling on the Palmer nearshore stations. The cruise specifically continued: 1) cardinal grid line sampling 2) high density grid sampling 3) repeated inshore Palmer grid station sampling 4) sediment traps turn-around the new sampling items included: *) Faure and Jenny Island diet samples (Avian Island inaccessible) *) BAS comparison sampling *) French Passage ice sampling *) miniGrid sampling in Palmer Basin guided by penguin PPT tags Standard station measurements included: casts of the PRR (Profiling Reflectance Radiometer), a hand-towed shallow net tow for phytoplankton, a CTD cast with 22 bottles and a FRRF (Fast Repition Rate Fluorometer), and simultaneous acoustic transects and net tows for zooplankton and micronekton with a 1-M and 2-M Metro net. Two deep CTD casts to the bottom were conducted without the FRRF at slope and off-shelf stations. Two deep CTD casts to the botoom were conducted without the FRRF at slope and off-shelf stations. The sediment trap was successfully retrieved and redeployed the same day. The PRR failed on the last cardinal line so the CTD Photosynethetically Available Radiation (PAR) sensor was used to determine light depths. GUV and QSR daily surface PAR data was collected throughout the cruise. Satellite tags (PTTs) were placed on Adelie penguins nesting near Palmer Station. Core measurements available two years after the cruise. Citation acknowledgement: "Data from the Palmer LTER data archive were supported by Office of Polar Programs, NSF (OPP-9011927)." antarctic, southern ocean, bio-optics, phytoplankton, krill, marginal ice zone ~lter/data/02jan/* National Science Foundation, Division of Polar Programs 24Jan04 Karen S. Baker Robin Ross

Study Form V1.3 for describing a collection of datafiles.