Message-ID: <00a001c19af1$86f73bb0$d4d791cc@DJYZJV01> From: "Susan Cowles" To: "Teaching Polar Science" Subject: Week One at Palmer Station, Antarctica Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2002 14:44:28 -0800 Greetings! It is hard to believe that we left Punta Arenas only nine days ago, and that we have been here on station only for five days. We have been working hard and learning a lot. I thought I'd write with a little background about what we've been doing. I don't plan to write this much in the journals, but I will talk about some of these topics. Most of the science here at Palmer involves the use of Zodiac boats, the inflatable "rubber" craft that can really zoom around. People use the Zodiacs to collect water samples, travel to islands to observe birds and plants, and to collect sediment samples. The Zodiacs each have a 55 horsepower engine with an auxiliary engine as well. There are two sizes: one holds up to ten people, and the other holds six. A minimum boating party is made up of two trained operators. To be trained, a person needs to take Boating I and Boating II. If you are just going to go out as a passenger, you only take Boating I, which includes Island Survival Training. Normal boating operations cease during sustained winds about 20 kts, because even with a heavy load, the Zodiac could be flipped in a high wind. The POPs team took Boating I the day after we arrived here at the station. This mainly was a course to demonstrate the zipped float coats and other attire we need to wear when out in the boat. We also learned about the contents of the safety caches on various islands. We set up a tent, saw how the emergency stove works, and talked about first aid for hypothermia. Because the weather changes so quickly, people sometimes have to stay on an outer island rather than return to Palmer. By outer I mean within the 2 mile-radius boating limit from Palmer! Each cache is made up of 3 barrels of supplies. I'll do a lesson about that sometime. Then, the next day we had Boating II. This is the course that allows us to be operators. Our entire team took the course, as well as a scientist from Germany. We each had to take a turn starting the engine, driving the boat, landing on a rocky island, departing from the island, stopping the engine, tipping the engine up, tipping it back in place, and changing the fuel tanks. Finally, we practiced the "person overboard maneuvers". Our instructor (who was wearing a super-duper wetsuit) fell into the water several times and pairs of us had to get him into the boat. He went in about three times! The boating safety measures here are quite impressive. Each team of boaters takes 2 radios and then we radio in to the station when we leave one place for another, and again once we arrive at that destination! Amy (a POPs team member from Virginia) and I have gone out to collect phytoplankton in a net. We had the boating instructor with us, because it really takes 3 people to do this job. Amy and I took turns operating the winch to raise and lower the net, while the other one drove the boat. The phytoplankton turned out to consist mainly by diatoms, which are the favorite food of krill. Amy, Michele (another POPs team member) and I went back out in a Zodiac to collect some snow. We took two containers with a capacity of 60 liters (each one) We landed on a rocky shore which had a deep layer of snow on a rocky shelf above us. We shoveled snow into the two containers and then brought them back to the lab. We melted the snow so that it could then be filtered through columns. We are looking for POPs in the air, in the melted snow, and in the water. Two nights ago I gave the weekly "science lecture". I had made a (my first) Powerpoint presentation on adult education/literacy/numeracy. I asked the Palmer Station group (about 35 of us, I think) to come up with some math problems that relate to their life and work. Not only are there scientists here, there are electricians, carpenters, logistics personnel, a doctor, a cook, heavy equipment operators, waste treatment specialists, and many others. Everyone is thinking about math problems, and I have received some good ones already. So, I'll be incorporating some of them into journals. If the problems are too complicated to send in a simple journal, I will send them to you in this weekly letter. (And if you do not want to be on the list to get this message, please let me know! Cheers, Susan Cowles **************************************************************************** *********** To learn more about the POPs team in Antarctica, visit these webpages: Polar Science Station: http://literacynet.org/polar Journals/Images: http://tea.rice.edu/tea_cowlesfrontpage.html#calendar