Return-Path: palmer@atsvax.rsmas.miami.edu Return-Path: Received: from atsvax.rsmas.miami.edu (atsnrm.rsmas.miami.edu) by icess.ucsb.edu (4.1/SMI-4.4-Crseo Special) id AA22536; Wed, 1 Feb 95 05:42:55 PST Date: Wed, 1 Feb 95 13:33:56 GMT From: palmer@atsvax.rsmas.miami.edu Message-Id: <950201133356.22006bb7@atsvax.rsmas.miami.edu> Subject: SCIENCE SITREP - January 95 To: palmer_science@atsvax.rsmas.miami.edu, kiyotaki.asa@asa.org, smithgl.asa@asa.org X-St-Vmsmail-To: MSG%"PALMER_SCIENCE",MSG%"kiyotaki.asa@asa.org",MSG%"smithgl.asa@asa.org" SEND PLM018.FEB MSG%"PALMER_SCIENCE",msg%"kiyotaki.asa@asa.org",msg%"smithgl.asa@asa.org" SCIENCE SITREP - January 95 R 011251Z FEB 95 FROM: Kevin Bliss Responding: Please insert in message, all CAPS, with the ! in column 1: !TO PAL SCIENCE, MANAGER, LABMANAGER, ADMIN, SCITECH P A L M E R S T A T I O N A N T A R C T I C A TELEMAIL::PALMER.STA PHONE/FAX: 011-874-150-3157 SPAN::PALMER@ATSVAX.SPAN TELEX: 5841503157 PNHG INTERNET::PALMER@ATSVAX.RSMAS.MIAMI.EDU CC LIST: SPOLE, DUKE, PPENHALE@NSF.GOV, HAYESMI.ASA@ASA.ORG, VLF@STAR.STANFORD.EDU, KARENTZD@ALM.ADMIN.USFCA.EDU, CHAPPELL@UCRVMS.SPAN, DPP-MESSAGES@NSF.GOV, NATPALMER, DALLUGE@ATMOS.OGI.EDU, NSFCHCH@ASA.IAC.ORG.NZ, GRESS@ASA.ORG, NSFMCM.MCMURDO@MCMURDO.GOV, EVANSJO.ASA@ASA.ORG, KAREN@CRSEO.UCSB.EDU, BROWNKA.ASA@ASA.ORG, ICEMAN@NEU.EDU, ASACHCH@ASA.IAC.ORG.NZ, WWWEATHERS@UCDAVIS.EDU, ROBIN@CRSEO.UCSB.EDU, LANGDON@CRSEO.UCSB.EDU, MCK2@GERGA.TAMU.EDU, RAY@CRSEO.UCSB.EDU, DUNTON@UTMSI.ZO.UTEXAS.EDU, WOODBA.ASA@ASA.ORG, FNTED@AURORA.ALASKA.EDU, CSULLIVA@NSF.GOV, GAUTIER@ESRG.UCSB.EDU, OHOLMHANSEN@UCSD.EDU, DAN@FIZBIN.UCSD.EDU, 71552.1334@COMPUSERVE.COM, HOFMANN@KUROSHIO.CCPO.ODU.EDU, WEILER@WHITMAN.EDU, RBHANSON@NSF.GOV, ROCKY@BIOSPHERICAL.COM, JCALLAHA@NSF.GOV, DPEACOCK@NSF.GOV, SUPPORT@CALIFIA.SEASPACE.COM, BSIDELL@MAINE.MAINE.EDU, PROSPERO@RCF.RSMAS.MIAMI.EDU, SAVOIE@RCF.RSMAS.MIAMI.EDU, FRAZER@LIFESCI.UCSB.EDU, WHBOB@ARCANE.UCSD.EDU, SHEPHEDO.ASA@ASA.ORG, NOLLMA.ASA@ASA.ORG, CHAMBEJA.ASA@ASA.ORG, WOODKE.ASA@ASA.ORG, OWENSK.ASA@ASA.ORG, ASAMCM.MCMURDO@MCMURDO.GOV MVERNET@UCSD.EDU PALMER STATION SCIENCE SITREP January 1995 S-013 LONG-TERM ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH (LTER) ON THE ANTARCTIC MARINE ECOSYSTEM: AN ICE-DOMINATED ENVIRONMENT (SEABIRD COMPONENT). William R. Fraser and Wayne Z. Trivelpiece, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT. SEABIRD INVESTIGATIONS AT PALMER STATION AS PART OF THE NMFS/AMLR ECOSYSTEM MONITORING PROGRAM. William R. Fraser, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT. THE IMPACTS OF TOURISM ON ADELIE PENGUIN POPULATIONS AT PALMER STATION. William R. Fraser, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT. PERSONNEL ON STATION: Eric Holm, Karen Carney, Bill Fraser and Donna Patterson. Access to nearby islands continued to be good during January, allowing us to initiate diet and telemetry (foraging trip duration) studies on Adelie Penguins, and complete our work on the species' reproductive success, which included censuses at the 50 colonies monitored for interannual variability in chick production as part of the AMLR and LTER programs. Preliminary results of our diet work suggest that the availability of Euphausia superba is low relative to past seasons. Three lines of evidence support this conclusion. First, another euphausiid, Thysanoesa macrura, has been found in 60% of the 20 diet samples collected to date, in all cases representing 40% or more of the stomach contents by weight. Second, foraging trip durations are among the longest ever recorded for the area, averaging 30 hours each. Third, with the exception of T. macrura, stomach contents (i.e. E. superba) have in general been highly digested, suggesting this species is being taken at considerable distances from the rookeries. The fact that T. macrura is fresh indicates this resource is relatively close, and being taken as penguins return to the colonies after foraging for E. superba. A point of interest is that a similar krill "shortage" is being reported from other locations in Antarctica. On the Australian side, massive starvation of Adelie chicks has been observed this season. Despite low krill availability, the reproductive success of Adelie Penguins in the Palmer area was relatively high (1.30- 1.54 chicks creched per pair) among the 200 breeding pairs included at various sampling sites. Similarly, per-colony chick production exhibited a decrease of only 12% relative to last season. At this writing, only 200 tourists have visited the penguin colonies on Torgersen Island open to tourism. Weather-related factors have either kept ships out of the area completely or prevented safe landings on the island. The reproductive success of Adelie Penguins located in areas on Torgersen Island open to tourism and in control sites without tourist access show little difference relative to each other (1.35 and 1.44 chicks creched per pair, respectively), or to the Palmer area as a whole (1.4 chicks creched per pair). Tourism at Palmer Station is expected to continue through late February. Preliminary results of a new, experimental marking system being tested as a substitute for flipper bands on Adelie Penguins have been positive. The system, used primarily by fisheries biologists, involves thin plastic tags that are anchored subcutaneously. Results to date suggest the tags are more visible than conventional bands, cause no tissue damage, inflammation or infection, and exhibit within- season retention rates comparable to bands if placed dorsally above the shoulders at the base of the neck. This evaluation is the first step in a four-part procedure that will involve two seasons of experiments. Study sites to examine Brown and South Polar skua diets and reproductive success continue to be monitored on Shortcut, Humble, Christine, Litchfield and Dream islands and on Biscoe Point. At this writing, all Brown Skua pairs have at least one chick, whereas South Polar Skuas are exhibiting a complete reproductive failure. Our work has still not progressed enough to determine possible causal factors. Basic information on the breeding biology and population status of other species is being obtained as weather and time permits as part of studies incidental to the LTER, AMLR and Tourist programs. More pertinent data related to work with these species is expected to be available by late February. Results of activities related to our seabird research as part of the LTER cruise now in progress have been reported by Dr. Raymond Smith, Chief Scientist aboard the Polar Duke. S-016 LONG-TERM ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH ON THE ANTARCTIC MARINE ECOSYSTEM: AN ICE-DOMINATED ENVIRONMENT (PHYTOPLANKTON COMPONENT). Maria Vernet, Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Personnel on Station: Karen Patterson, Wendy Kozlowski 1995 started out well with a full day of B to E sampling on the second of January. Thanks again to Bruno R. for his cranking arm! Processing of these samples, as well as preparations for the Jan LTER cruise filled the next three days. The Duke arrived on the fifth bringing three new S-016 recruits: John Harrison, Stewart Lamerdin, and Ted Ruel. The full contingent helped pack up lab three, including the HPLC and the necessary parts of the nutrient Auto- Analyzer, lab four and the filtration equipment in the aquarium for transport to the Duke. All equipment was set up there during the next day and a half and we were ready to begin sampling when the Duke left the dock noontime on the seventh. S-028 LONG-TERM ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH ON THE ANTARCTIC MARINE ECOSYSTEM: AN ICE-DOMINATED SYSTEM. Robin M. Ross and Langdon B. Quetin, University of California, Marine Science Institute, Santa Barbara, California 93106. Personnel on station: Langdon B. Quetin, Karen Haberman, Janice Jones (spit position with S-032), Bruno Rowell, Christie Campbell Sampling via zodiacs for krill and zooplankton in the Palmer vicinity continued through the first week of January. Krill were collected and frozen for later chemical analysis, and an adult instantaneous growth rate experiment was conducted. Krill were also sampled acoustically along the standard Palmer area transects. Cruise preparation took place during the first week of January. On January 7, all personnel except Karen Haberman departed Palmer on the Research Vessel Polar Duke, for the annual Long-Term Ecological Research cruise (Chief Scientist, Raymond Smith). For the remainder of the month, Karen has continued to maintain and monitor several phytoplankton cultures, as well as stocks of krill. She began conducting experiments using this phytoplankton and krill to measure grazing rates by krill on different phytoplankton types. This work was the subject of her station science lecture, delivered on January 11. S-032 LONG-TERM ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH (LTER) ON THE ANTARCTIC MARINE ECOSYSTEM: AN ICE DOMINATED ENVIRONMENT. Ray Smith, University of California at Santa Barbara. Personnel on Station: Janice Jones (split position with S-028), Heidi Dierssen Full sampling runs at stations B-E (Monday, Jan. 2) and F-J (Tuesday, Jan. 3) were completed. Water collected by S016 was processed for chlorophyll concentration. Wednesday through Friday were occupied with cruise preparations. ROZE was stripped down and the blue boxes were installed in the upper aft lab of the Polar Duke. The computer network from Lab 2 was completely dismantled and also installed in the upper aft lab. Thanks to Kevin Bliss who accepted the task of downloading GPS data from the monitoring site currently set up on the ISTS marker behind GWR for the duration of the cruise. Thanks also to Dave Bell for attempting to FTP the numerous large GPS data files collected from this and other monitoring sites. The entire process was completed relatively painlessly in time for an early afternoon departure (1300hrs.) from Palmer Station on Saturday, Jan. 7. S-091 PALMER IRIS SEISMOLOGY. R. Butler/G. Holcomb, U.S. Geological Survey, Albuquerque, NM. No personnel were on station. The system has been operated by the station science technician. On 09 January, the failed serial adapter for the Panasonic printer was replaced, and log printouts were restored. On 16 January, the QDP card was replaced in the data acquisition (DA) computer in an attempt to isolate an intermittent problem with the DA computer. S-106 VERY LOW FREQUENCY (VLF) REMOTE SENSING OF THUNDERSTORM AND RADIATION BELT COUPLING TO THE IONOSPHERE. U. Inan, Stanford University. No personnel were on station. The system has been operated by the station science technician. On 24 January, the wooden support posts for the VLF loop antenna were set up after being blown over in a storm. All other Stanford VLF operations were normal. S-254 CHLORINE- AND BROMINE-CONTAINING TRACE GASES IN ANTARCTICA. R.A. Rasmussen, Oregon Graduate Institute for Science and Technology. There are no personnel on station. Air samples are taken on a weekly basis by the station physician. The samples are returned to the Institute for analysis of a number of trace components, especially chlorine- and bromine-containing gases. These elements have been implicated in the chemical processes that contribute to the austral-spring depletion of the ozone layer over Antarctica. This work will contribute to a better understanding of the buildup of trace constituents, particularly those of high-latitude marine origin. S-257C COLLECTION OF ATMOSPHERIC AIR FOR THE NOAA/CMDL WORLDWIDE FLASK SAMPLING NETWORK. James T. Peterson, Palmer Station, Environmental Research Laboratories, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. There are no personnel on station. Air samples are taken on a weekly basis by the station physician. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory team continue long-term measurements of trace atmospheric constituents that influence climate. The Palmer Station air samples are returned to the NOAA laboratory for analysis of trace constituents, including carbon dioxide. These measurements are part of NOAA's effort to determine and assess the long-term buildup of global pollutants in the atmosphere. These data will be used to determine how the rate of change of these parameters affects climate, particularly by including them in climate model studies. S-275 UM/DOE-EML REMOTE ATMOSPHERIC MEASUREMENTS PROGRAM. J. Prospero/T. Snowdon, University of Miami; C. Sanderson/N. Chui, EML/DOE N.Y. No personnel were on station. The system has been operated by the station science technician. One sample filter was exposed for the duration of each week, and a weekly schedule of calibration, background, and sample counts was maintained. T-312 TERASCAN SATELLITE IMAGING SYSTEM. R. Whritner, Scripps Institute of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA. Personnel on station: Burt Baker and Jim Hamlin The system has been operated by the station science technician. The TeraScan system collected, archived, and processed DMSP and NOAA telemetry, maintaining a schedule of 15 passes per day. AWS data was collected from the Bonaparte Point and Hugo Island automatic weather stations in support of the LTER project. Two DMSP visible images were produced during the month and provided to the R/V POLAR DUKE for the LTER cruise. On 05 January, the ASA Communication Field Engineer and member of T-544 (Jim Hamlin and Burt Baker) arrived at Palmer Station and began installation of the new TeraScan system. By 17 January, the new system was on-line and fully operational. Only one day of data collection was missed during the entire project. T-313 UV MONITORING EXPERIMENT. C. Booth, Biospherical Instruments, Inc. No personnel were on station The system has been operated by the science technician. Throughout the month, raw irradiance data were collected daily and transmitted to BSI. Preliminary irradiance data and inferred ozone abundances were produced in support of Science. The 0400 UT data scan was removed and HV levels were increased by 30 volts in response to decreasing sun elevations. Absolute calibrations were performed using both the site standard and seasoned lamps. The WWW bird deterrent failed and was removed from the roof of the UV addition. 01004303.138 PLM018.FEB