pictures on picasa

I finally posted pictures on picasa. I also posted some pictures that other people took, so I'm in a bunch of these.

weird things around McMurdo

There are lots of weird signs and vehicles around McMurdo... here are some...

more pictures

We've been exchanging pictures... here's the biomechanics group picture that Jim took when we went to Cape Evans. From left to right, Jim, Dennis, Idan, Warren, Mark, Annaliese, and me.











This is at Cape Evans at the bottom of the hill we were sliding down. From left to right, Mark, Annaliese, me, and Warren. I think this picture was taken right after Mark got to the bottom.











Here's me looking windblown. Have I mentioned that it's very windy here?














Here's a picture I took around midnight the other night of the fata morgana. It's a mirage caused by abrupt changes in temperature. Here the maximum sunlight occurs around 4pm, so midnight is I guess sort of like sunset in that there's often really nice light in the sky even though the sun doesn't actually go down. We have noticed that the sun is much lower in the sky now than it was when we arrived but I think it'll be up for a couple more months still.

course blog

I wrote the entry for the course blog for yesterday...
http://summerinantarctica.usc.edu/2010/01/burrowing_worms.html

Connor asked me to write a blog entry reflecting on the course and I sat down to write and ended up writing much more than I had planned. I sent her a draft and had her cut it down to what she wanted, but here's the full version in case anyone is interested:

Looking back over the past month, and I guess since I first started thinking about applying for this course, I’m struck by how my perspective on my research has expanded on both spatial and biological scales. My interest in polar research was pretty much instigated by the opportunity to come to Antarctica. Perhaps you could say I had a destination-based research interest more than a question-based research interest. Being a determined young scientist, I delved into the literature on polar biology, trying to figure out if I could possibly convince myself that there was some justifiable reason for me to participate in the course and more importantly write a convincing application.

Let me back up. I’m an oceanographer/ecologist and I’m interested in how animals like worms and clams that live in muddy and sandy sediments interact with their environment and how physical processes affect individual organisms as well as community structure (who can live in different environments?) and ecological processes (what are they doing there?). To put it simply, I study how worms burrow in mud. Marine worms have similar functions to the earthworms in your garden: they mix the sediment, making it less compact and bringing oxygen down, which is important for the bacteria and smaller organisms in the community. There are also a lot of them – 70% of the earth’s surface is covered by marine sediments, and there are tens of thousands of worms in a square meter of sediment. Most worms eat mud and their activities affect nutrient cycling, the fate of pollutants, and burial of organic carbon (removal from the global carbon cycle). I know there are worms in Antarctica, but are the worms in Antarctica different than the worms I can collect on the coast of California, and are these differences important enough for me to fly around the world to study them?

So everyone knows that the water in Antarctica is cold, but what you may not know is that there are a lot of other properties of water that depend on temperature that are also important to organisms living here. Oxygen saturation depends on temperature, and cold water holds much more oxygen than warm water. Viscosity of cold water is higher too. (Viscosity is the resistance of a fluid to being sheared, which happens anytime part of a fluid is moved more than another part, like if you mix or pour something or if a worm pumps water through its burrow. Honey has high viscosity so is hard to pour.) The combination of high oxygen and high viscosity has some interesting implications for fish physiology. One problem with high viscosity is that it’s hard to pump blood through the circulatory system. Some fish reduce the viscosity of their blood by reducing the hemoglobin concentration (think of this as fewer big chunks that need to be carried along by the fluid, which makes it easier to flow) or even completely eliminating hemoglobin, which works for them because there’s so much oxygen in the cold water and their metabolism is pretty slow so they need less oxygen. Oxygen is a pretty big concern for anything that lives in the mud because there’s only oxygen in the top few mm of mud. This is because the oxygen comes from the overlying water and is rapidly consumed by bacteria and animals living in the mud. Lots of animals deal with this problem by pumping water down into tubes and burrows. Down here, where the water is -1.86C, there’s more oxygen in the water, but because the water is more viscous, it’s harder for worms to irrigate their burrows to get to the oxygen. On top of that, diffusion (which is important in transporting oxygen over small distances) is much slower in cold water. Based on what I know about the environment, I would hypothesize that worms that have external gills that they can stick up into the water would do better than those that pump water down into the mud, although maybe there’s enough extra oxygen that it doesn’t matter. For worms that do irrigate burrows, pumping water through a tube with a large diameter is much easier than through a narrow tube, so one solution to the viscosity problem might be to just build bigger tubes or stay closer to the surface so you don’t have to pump water as far. And of course, as we’ve learned over the past month, temperature affects metabolism pretty dramatically. I’m really interested in how much worms are moving and feeding and how these processes affect the sediment around them. How much thermal compensation do they exhibit and how does that affect their activity levels?

These are all big questions that I didn’t expect to answer on this trip, but I have definitely learned a lot about the challenges of conducting research in Antarctica, have gotten some new ideas, and met a lot of outstanding scientists with whom I hope to collaborate in the future. I was pretty excited to see some really big parchment tube worms – the worms are highly adapted to pump water through their tubes with modified flap-like segments. These worms are much bigger (and have bigger tubes!) than the parchment tube worms I’ve seen at home and their tubes are on top of the sediment. I also saw a big (about 4 inches long) worm crawling on the surface that’s closely related to a burrowing worm I’ve seen in Maine, but is much bigger (lots of invertebrates in Antarctica exhibit gigantism) and has these weird modified spines. It’s fun to see animals that are closely related but look really different because those differences indicate adaptations to different environments.

One of the groups studied phytoplankton communities and did some physical oceanographic measurements and their data showed that the area around McMurdo is really productive and has high nutrients, and while we have been here, there has been a huge bloom of one species of phytoplankton. Worms mostly eat detritus that comes from sinking phytoplankton and they regenerate nutrients that fuel more phytoplankton growth. Antarctica’s worm community has lots of food, lots of oxygen (if they can get it), but really cold temperatures so (theoretically) low metabolic rates. So how do carbon and nutrient turnover rates compare to those in temperate areas? Does it matter that most of the food comes from one species of phytoplankton? Dennis pointed out that some mud we had in the lab had a faint ammonia smell – what does that mean in terms of nitrogen cycling in mud?

I haven’t thought very much about processes occurring at smaller scales than whole animals, but most of the biologists in the course study small things like unicellular bacteria and phytoplankton, as well as enzymes, proteins, and DNA. Johanne and Wes did research on how thermal stress causes oxidative damage in fish and clams. The worms I study in California live in the intertidal and experience huge temperature fluctuations - compare a low tide in the middle of a hot summer day to normal water temperatures in the low 50’s (about 11-12C) – and experience huge fluctuations in oxygen in their tissues. I hadn’t even thought about how the combination of these stresses might affect their DNA and protein structure.

In addition to generating future research questions, I’ve really enjoyed learning about the history of Antarctic exploration and the important role of science in driving exploration. We’ve also learned a lot about the effects of climate change in Antarctica, which is both interesting and scary. And, of course, I’ve definitely had the fun and adventure I had hoped to experience – I rode helicopters and snowmobiles, skied 13 miles across the Ross Ice Shelf, saw glaciers and giant pycnogonids and isopods (oh yeah, and some penguins and seals), and made some great new friends.

another trip to Pegasus

Today I got to sleep in (!!!!!!!!) and then went out to Pegasus again. Deneb, the prof for the phytoplankton group, wanted to collect one more plankton sample and invited anyone who wanted to come along. So we ended up with 11 of us and loaded onto the snowmobiles.







We had another great view of Erebus on the way out. The weather here is so weird, half the time Erebus is clear and half the time you would never know it was there. On the way out there were really cool clouds forming a layer around the mountain and on the way back we couldn't see it at all.







We have to bring survival bags everywhere we go, so on the snowmobiles we have big sleds to tow them and any other gear we have. On the way out, Dennis rode on top of the sled, and then I rode on it on the way back, at least until it hit a rut and flipped. Unfortunately no one got a picture, but I heard it was a spectacular wipe-out. Don't worry, Mom, I'm fine.




There were seals coming up to breathe at both holes pretty regularly. In fact, we didn't have to shovel the ice off the holes when we got there because the seals kept them open. Apparently they bite at the edges of the ice to keep the hole open. I know that they're charismatic megafauna and not nearly as cool as invertebrates, but they do kind of remind me of my dog, which is somewhat endearing.




Nishad, who is from Sri Lanka, brought a cricket bat and ball out with us and we all played cricket while Deneb collected her sample. They set up a wicket with ice axes and a big stick. Apparently in real cricket, the ball is supposed to bounce, which is somewhat challenging in cricket-on-the-ice, as footprints make the ball stop or bounce in random directions. Nishad was complaining about the pitch, but I think it made the game more entertaining.



I think in general, cricket is not intended to be a full-contact sport, but trying to run in heavy bunny boots adds an extra element of challenge. We also learned that rubber balls in cold weather is not a good combination. The ball split, but at least it didn't end up in the seal hole.

Tomorrow I have to pack and clean. We have room inspections at 4 tomorrow... they don't let you on the plane if your room isn't clean.

hike to Castle Rock

Yesterday we finished cleaning early and part of the biomechanics group hiked up to Castle Rock. It was a really nice hike across a snowy plateau that felt very Antarctica-ish. In this picture you can see Castle Rock off in the distance (between Warren who's wearing black and the flag).







They have two warming huts along the way that you can stop and have a snack that also have emergency supplies. They have sleeping bags with instructions that you get in the sleeping bag and try not to sweat in it. There's also a stove and emergency food and a wilderness first aid book. It was a nice stop to stop for a rest on a nice day but definitely reminds you that weather can change quickly around here. Here's Mark coming out of the hut after our break.


We hiked to the base of the rock and then there's a trail with ropes going up to the top of the rock. Here's Warren getting to the top of the steep part.












Photography in Antarctica is pretty tricky... how do you capture flat white for miles and miles with white clouds above? Here we could see some weather coming in and got a few snow flurries. Basically it drops down to the sea ice and is flat for miles, then there are huge cliffs.

worm pictures

Yesterday I put some assorted inverts in the freezer to see which ones had ice form on them. The coolest one was this flabelligerid polychaete, which got ice crystals forming on the setae (long hairs) and after awhile lifted off the bottom and was swimming/flailing in the water. In this picture, it's moving above an urchin, which is slightly out of focus below it. These are pretty cool worms in general... they're epibenthic, which means they live on top of ("epi") the bottom ("benthic") and have these really long setae. I've seen flabelligerids in Maine and they live in mud and are sort of brown and not particularly attractive, as well as (of course) much smaller than the ones here. I'm not sure what they use the hairs for - deter predators, increase friction while crawling on rocks, etc., but they seem to work pretty well to increase drag and keep the worm suspended in the water. Probably what happens in the real world is the worm lifts off the bottom and gets carried somewhere in the current, hopefully to a better spot without ice. I also noticed that they have bubbles on them and am not sure where the bubbles came from. It sort of squirmed around and did this kind of rough corkscrew-like movement.



Here's the flabelligerid and a pycnogonid (sea spider), which seemed totally unaffected by ice formation. (The light is my headlamp that I was using to try to get the setae and ice to show up better.)

Today we give our final presentations...

Cape Evans cont.

I got interrupted last night by a group going out to celebrate Mario's last night. He has to get back to Italy to compete for a promotion to associate professor. Apparently all of the assistant professors there compete for a certain number of promotions, regardless of the university, which is different from our system.

Anyway, so while we were helping the divers out of the water after their first dive, this Adelie walked right past me up onto the ice and hung out with us.


The divers did another dive, and meanwhile the ice had blown offshore so we watched little pieces of ice float by.










Shawn found a huge dead octopus on the second dive that he brought up. We brought it back to the lab to show people (who doesn't want to see a huge dead octopus?!?!).

We put the octopus in one of the tanks so people could come by and look at it. One of the nemerteans started eating the arm of the octopus, which was really cool. Here's Dennis, looking delighted while putting more nemerteans and seastars on top of the octopus. Nemerteans are predators/scavengers and here, as for many other invertebrates, the nemerteans are huge. We've put them (smaller ones) in jell-o in Friday Harbor and they can change their body shape a lot and make pretty dramatic peristaltic movements. Apparently this comes in handy if you want to ingest an octopus arm that is several times your diameter. Dennis is pointing at the nemertean that's trying to ingest the octopus arm and there's another (darker colored) nemertean in the lower left of that picture.

another trip to Cape Evans

Today I went to Cape Evans to help Jim and Shawn dive for algae. I was kind of jealous watching the divers go through the hole off of McMurdo and dive under the ice, but today I was glad to be a spectator/tender rather than a diver. Here's Shawn walking out to push chunks of ice out of the way so they could get in the water. We helped them haul their tanks and weights (over 40 lbs!) over to the shore and get geared up (it's hard to get gloves on, at least the 2nd one) and even harder to get them off with numb fingers.
We watched the divers go out and hung out on the shore watching penguins. Connor was going to go diving but decided to skip out when she saw all the ice... probably a smart decision. More soon...

[Random sidenote: Warren just told Dennis, "you've got the best microfluidics expert in the world in San Francisco - Steven Quake" and I said, "That's my best friend's cousin!"]

more anchor ice

I've been putting animals in big tanks and putting them in the -20 cold room and seeing where the ice forms on them. We're interested in whether ice nucleates off the tissue, just gets stuck to the organism, and whether it falls off. It doesn't seem to nucleate off the seastars very quickly but if I leave them in the tank for awhile, they get ice crystals all over the tips of their arms and a few that come up off their backs. Dennis wrote a great blog entry for the course on our project.

I've been making ice in still water and in mixed water, and when you mix the water, little ice crystals called frazil ice form in the water and then get stuck on animals, lots of sponges, quite a bit on urchins, but very little on seastars. It seems to fall off the urchins pretty easily though, and they move their spines around to knock it off, which is pretty cool to watch.

I get to go back to Cape Evans tomorrow (weather permitting) to be a dive tender for Jim and Connor who are going to collect some algae.

more Cape Evans pics

The hut from up on the hill.















Dennis and the emperor penguin.
















Adelies hanging out near the sea ice edge.

"sledding" at Cape Evans

More pictures from Cape Evans... can you tell I don't have much time to blog? This is on the side of this glacier that Annaliese and I spent about an hour rolling/sliding down. We didn't have sleds but our jackets worked pretty well. We got Warren and Mark to join in too. We discussed the difference between static and kinetic friction. If you sit down, you don't slide at all, but if you start rolling down the hill, you build up enough speed that you can then roll onto your back and slide down the hill. Annaliese is demonstrating perfect technique here.

Last night we had a class party and we showed the awesome movie that Dennis took of Mark.

Inside Scott's hut at Cape Evans

One of the coolest parts of our trip to Cape Evans was going inside the hut built by the 1910 Scott expedition. This is the bed where Scott slept and the only one with a mattress - the rest of the men slept on boards. They had reindeer skin sleeping bags that they used in the field although in the hut they used blankets.






Here's the table looking toward the door and the kitchen and area where the men (not officers) slept. It's all dirty inside because Shackleton's Ross Sea party stayed there in 1913 and their boat, the Aurora, was anchored to the land near the hut. The line broke and the boat floated away and they lost all of their provisions including their coal. So they managed to not only survive on seals and penguins and what the Scott party left behind but they also placed caches of food for Shackleton's party, which unfortunately never made it because their ship got caught in ice. Back to the dirtiness... the Ross Sea party burned seal blubber instead of coal, which is why everything is sort of black-ish inside the hut. They also cobbled together clothes out of whatever they could find, like these pants hanging from the bunk in this picture. Meanwhile the guys who were on the boat couldn't get back to Cape Evans and got stuck in the ice for the winter.

penguin

hopefully this video will work...

trip to cape evans

Yesterday we rode in a helicopter out to Cape Evans. Here's Dennis in the helicopter, or "helo" as they call them here. We wore these white helmets that had speakers and microphones so we could communicate with the pilot.








Here's the helicopter on the ground at Cape Evans. You can see the pile of survival bags (which contain tents, stoves, dehydrated food, sleeping bags, and romance novels) in case the weather got bad and the helicopter couldn't get back. Off to the left is the Barne Glacier.








The scenery was pretty spectacular. The sea ice had just gone out in the past week or so, so we saw some open water and lots of penguins. These are islands off the coast, the one on the right is Inaccessible Island.










Here's Warren enjoying the view...















... while Dennis made a snowman.

More soon...

Sir David Attenbourough

The talk was awesome... it was on birds of paradise and he talked a lot about Wallace and the history behind the origin of species. Dennis summed it up pretty well.

I wish he had had more time for questions at the end... his talk was really good but the question part was amazing. He seemed to really get into story-telling mode and I'm sure he could have told amazing stories all night. One that was cool was he was out in the field watching gorillas and was about to film a segment about the thumb and forefinger and all of a sudden he felt a huge hand on top of his head and this gorilla was standing behind him and two baby gorillas climbed on his feet and meanwhile the camera guy was almost out of film and only got a few seconds of the whole thing on tape. The galley was completely packed for the talk... people in the middle of the room couldn't get out and we moved tables around to fit everyone.