Dispatches from Ice

Summer is officially underway each year when the Palmer LTER marine scientists head out to Palmer Station. Each year in the Austral summer (Jan-Feb) Palmer LTER has a 38 day oceanographic cruise to observe ecological conditions along the west Antarctic Peninsula. The focus of operations is the LTER sampling grid, a 700 x 200 km region extending from Palmer Station on Anvers Island in the north to Charcot Island in the south, and from the nearshore zone to the open sea beyond the continental shelf. Sea bird ecologist, physical oceanographers, chemists, and biologists, journalists, technicians, educators and students all get the ultimate opportunity to delve into the field and test hypothesis to some of the most complex ecological issues facing the marine environment of the western Antarctic Peninsula. This spectacular ecosystem is documented each year through a set of diverse blogs some launched from the station and others directly from the ship. Investigate for yourself and learn about one of the most phenomenal places on Earth!

2012-2013 Palmer LTER Field Season

Field of View: Tracking Change from a Unique Perspective
Palmer LTER Outreach correspondent and Palmer LTER’s Teacher at Sea Jo Blasi captures what it’s like to live and work at sea for the first time! She will be writing and posting as she learns about the changes along the Western Antarctic Peninsula from, “A Unique Perspective”.

New England Aquarium Global Explorers Blog
Palmer LTER selects Jo Blasi from the New England Aquarium as the first Teacher at Sea for the 2012-2013 Palmer LTER field season. She is currently the senior educator for visitors at the Aquarium in Boston, Massachusetts and will be corresponding through the Aquarium’s Global Explorers blog. Stay tuned for a LIVE webinar via the Aquarium to visit Palmer station and experience the Antarctic like never before!

Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMC) Zooplankton on the Rocks
Graduate student Miram Gleiber is interested in zooplankton ecology and biogeochemical cycling. Her research focuses on examining copepod community structure along the Western Antarctic Peninsula, as well as the importance of copepods in carbon cycling. She is also interested in vertical flux and the role of zooplankton fecal pellets in flux. Follow her experiences ...

Antarctic Quest
Rutgers University Film Bureau is partnering with the Rutgers Institute for Marine and Coast Sciences to create a multi-tiered documentary film project featuring the transformative science of the National Science Foundation’s Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Project at Palmer in the West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP).

Nicolesea, Girl Meets Ocean
Nicole, a graduate student from Rutgers University is living and working at Palmer station this season contributing to the Palmer Station time series, collecting data twice a week from two location within three mile radius of the station using a variety of instruments and sampling gear.

Archived Blogs

January 2011 Field Season

"Out 2 See: Sights, Sounds & Science", with Field correspondent Ken Legg
Blog | Affiliated Blogs

January 2010 Polar Cruise Blog

Palmer LTER Education and Outreach coordinator Beth Simmons is spending her Christmas and New Years participating in this years Antarctic summer field research. A part of the zooplankton research team, she is recording changes in plankton biomass and abundance along the Western Antarctic peninsula. The experience goes LIVE as she connects with Rancho Bernardo High school in San Diego, California from Palmer station sharing with students at her former classroom a birds eye view of the station and the surrounding Antarctic environment.
Blog | Announcement

December 2009 Science Journalism

In December 2009, three Polar Science fellows from MBL's Logan Science Journalism Program are spending 16 days at the Palmer research station on the Western Antarctic peninsula, studying ecosystem function and the effects of climate change. During their hands-on research training, the fellows will focus on the role of nutrients from penguin colonies (particularly nitrogen from waste products) in stimulating growth of phytoplankton in near-shore areas; and the rates of soil build-up in areas where glaciers have receded.
Blog

January 2009 Field

The January 2009 Palmer LTER cruise is currently being documented through a blog where pictures, charts, videos and descriptions are being posted each day documenting the research and much more happening on the cruise.
Blog

January 2008 Cruise

For the 08 Palmer LTER cruise, Picture of the day was used. Each day an image along with a description of cruise activities, put together by a group of researchers aboard the ship was sent out to subscribers.
Picture of the Day