NSF PR 01-30 - April 17, 2001
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Peter West
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NSF Ships to Probe Biological Enigmas of the Frozen
Southern Ocean
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A team of seal researchers works in 40-knot
winds by the light of the research vessel
Laurence M. Gould.
Photo credit: Steve Trumble/NSF
U.S. Antarctic Program vessel Laurence
M. Gould
U.S. Antarctic Program vessel Nathaniel
B. Palmer
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Trillions of small, shrimp-like animals called krill
form the base of a food chain that supports untold
numbers of penguins, seals and whales in the biologically
productive waters off Antarctica. But how Antarctic
krill survive the long, cold, pitch-dark austral winter
and what role algae that thrive on ice play in their
survival are among many mysteries of life in the Southern
Ocean.
In late April, two icebreaking research ships operated
by the National Science Foundation (NSF) will sail
from Chile for the Antarctic Peninsula as part of
precedent-setting international oceanographic survey
to try to answer those and many other questions, including
how larger predators like seals and whales survive
the severe polar winter.
"What happens in the winter determines how productive
the ecosystem is," said Eileen Hofmann of Old Dominion
University in Norfolk, Va., one of several U.S. researchers
who will take part in the international Southern Ocean
Global Ecosystems Dynamics (SO GLOBEC) survey. "How
well the krill do during the winter sets their spawning
capacity for the summer."
The science teams will sail aboard the U.S. Antarctic
Program vessels Laurence M. Gould and Nathaniel
B. Palmer as part of a multinational effort that
also will include research cruises by vessels from
Germany, the United Kingdom, and Korea. SO GLOBEC
is part of the wider U.S. GLOBEC program which studies
how climate changes affect marine life.
Although conducting shipboard science in the austral
winter is not unprecedented, the scale and technological
sophistication of the SO GLOBEC cruise, as well as
the cooperative aspects of the undertaking, make the
venture unique, according to researchers. Hofmann
noted, for example, that SO GLOBEC will for the first
time include observers from the International Whaling
Commission (IWC).
The Palmer and the Gould will work in
company to obtain a depth and breadth of data that
neither ship working singly could. The Palmer
will carry out a geographically widespread survey
of the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula centered
on Marguerite Bay and thought to be one of the region's
most important krill wintering sites. The Gould
will simultaneously conduct detailed examinations
of the water-column on the continental shelf and in
the bay from a series of fixed locations.
"The Palmer will map the distribution of krill,
phytoplankton, seabirds, mammals, whales and seals,"
explained Peter Wiebe, of the Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution in Woods Hole, Mass. "The Gould
will investigate biological processes associated with
these plants and animals." The ships are expected
to return in June.
SO GLOBEC researchers have tagged penguins and seals
so that they can be tracked by satellite, allowing
scientist to refine their search areas.
The harsh conditions of the Southern Ocean at this
time of year will test to the maximum the technological
advantages the scientists enjoy, Wiebe noted. "Just
the reality of learning how to carry out research
aboard these vessels in ice-covered waters is going
to be a tremendous challenge," he said.
Wiebe said that new technologies to be deployed on
the cruise are expected to return a wealth of data
previously unattainable. Although high-frequency acoustics
is a standard tool to map the distribution of krill,
no other existing system has the capability of the
Bio-Optical Multi-frequency Acoustical and Physical
Environmental Recorder (BIOMAPER-II), a device that
the SO GLOBEC researchers will employ. The fiber-optic-based
technology will allow the researchers to map the ocean
to a depth of 500 meters (1642 feet). "We can actually
see simultaneously up and down," Wiebe said. "This
capability is going to give a far deeper reach into
the water column. We going to be able see and actually
quantitatively assess the abundance of krill at substantial
depths."
See also:
Periodic reports on
the progress of the survey from the NSF research
vessel Nathaniel B. Palmer, by Aparna Sreenivasan,
a student in the science communication program at
the University of California at Santa Cruz and a member
of the National Science Foundation's Southern Ocean
Global Ecosystems Dynamics (SO GLOBEC) research cruise
to Antarctic Peninsula.
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