Southern Ties (or Antarctica I&II)

In April and June, I was given the chance to participate in two cruises to the straits of peninsular Antarctica. We called our group SEASONS, though the acronym escapes me. At each of out 8 sampling sites (established on the first cruise, relocated on the second) we dropped a 12-core megacorer three times.

The UF part of the group processed two cores at each of the sampling sites. We were looking at the pore water chemistry. All our initial processing had to be done in an anoxic environment -- so we extruded the core by centimeters into centrifuge tubes all within a nitrogen glovebag. This process is one of the more excruciating things I have ever done. Luckily, my night shift partner preferred extruding to pipette work, so it worked out for both of us.

All the pore waters released from the sediments during centrifugation were processed, preserved, and bottled in different fashions for various analyses including DIC, δ¹³C, δ¹⁸O, silica, ammonia, phosphate, and major anions/cations. All this took place 24 hours/day for five days straight. Each of our shifts were twelve hours long! But we, of course, made the best of it.


(Above left) Just past the Argentine coastline as we entered the Drake Passage. One of the last moments of real calm until we got to Palmer.
(Above right) Nacreous clouds during the first shift change on the second cruise. They're eerie.



(Above left) The night crew found the ice cream stashes and thought it would be a good idea to eat it on deck so it wouldn't melt! This is brilliant, I swear. Note the full mustang gear.
(Above right) Palmer Station ahoy!... I don't think I've ever been so excited to see land. Palmer is completely dwarfed by it's backyard glacier.


(Above left) The UF crew sans one. Floridians on a glacier can only be dangerous.
(Above right) My polar plunge. Whoever said jumping into the Southern Ocean in the middle of the night when there's ice slapping the shore... well, he's just crazy.



And a new form of multimedia! Many of you know I had a fairly bad bout of seasickness, so I thought I'd give you a taste of the calm days. The daytime one was somewhere mid-Drake. The night one is an icefield were were in. The snow actually fills in the gaps between the ice, but there are still swells. It's neat!