December 26, 2004 Ice at risk - The Antarctic Sun · sent a pool of ancient marine water. “It’s...

Jill Mikucki takes samples of water flowing from Blood Falls, the red-coloredwaterfall that comes out of the Taylor Glacier behind her. She studies microbesin the iron-rich water.

December 26, 2004Published during the austral summer at McMurdo Station, Antarctica, for the United States Antarctic Program

www.polar.org/antsun

Algae produces seasmell and clouds

Page 7

“The only thing holding up thisissue is the quote of the week.”

Pop quiz — Testyour knowledge

Page 3

Quote of the Week

- Antarctic Sun editor

Photo courtesy of Jill Mikucki / Special to The Antarctic Sun

INSIDE

By Kristan HutchisonSun staff

A cloud-shrouded and hard-to-reach piece ofAntarctica may be in danger of slipping into the sea.

Satellite images from the past decade show two ofthe glaciers draining the West Antarctic Ice Sheethave been rapidly melting, thinning and retreating.This is changing the delicate balance that keeps the3km-thick ice sheet stable.

“The dynamics of the ice sheet are changing. Thatis very significant,” said David Morse, a glaciologistfrom the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics.He is part of a team of 15 American and Britishresearchers trying to do an airborne geophysical sur-vey of the Amundsen Sea Embayment, WestAntarctica, or AGASEA.

Two of the fastest-flowing glaciers in Antarctica,the Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers, flow into theAmundsen Sea. They comprise the third of threemajor drainages for the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, and

Ice at risk

The bleeding glacierBy Kristan HutchisonSun staff

In some places, blood-red watergushing from white glacier icewould become a religious shrine, orat least a tourist destination.

In the McMurdo Dry Valleys, itbecame the site of intense scientificinvestigation. The explanation forthe red waterfall involves a hiddenremnant of an ancient sea harboringan isolated community of microbesdeep under the Taylor Glacier.

The Taylor Glacier flows into theTaylor Valley in the TransantarcticMountains, carrying ice from theAntarctic Plateau. It’s a 30m-tallwall of sparkling ice, with deep blue

fissures. When the sun hits it at theright angle on a windless day, clearwater melts down in rivulets, gather-ing in streams at its sides.

But Blood Falls oozes, trickles orcascades down the front of the glac-ier on its own schedule, spreading arusty red across Lake Bonney’sfrozen surface the way blood from afresh cut seeps through a bandage.

“People have been really fasci-nated by it since they first discov-ered it,” said Kathy Welch, aresearch scientist from the ByrdPolar Research Center. “It’s such aunique feature. People want to

See Blood Falls on page 4

See AGASEA on page 9

By Brien BarnettSun staff

It’s long after midnight, but the bright mid-summersun streams through the windows of the dining hall atthe elevated South Pole Station as dining attendantCatherine Graciano wipes down the counters next tothe beverages.

She’s singing along with songs she’s heard before,but doesn’t know well. It’s ‘80s night on the iPod andthe night-shift kitchen crew is hard at work.

Graciano wanted to work in Antarctica, but her sis-ter was getting married and she knew she couldn’tskip the ceremony. She turned down an offer to workin McMurdo’s kitchen so she could attend the wed-

Late night dining

See Midrats on page 11

Scientists survey West Antarcticglaciers that may be sliding away

2 • The Antarctic Sun December 26, 2004

Matt Davidson

B-15 icebergOriginal size (in 2000): 10,850 sq km

Largest piece remaining: B-15A, 3,000 sqkm (the one at the top of McMurdo Sound)Amount of fresh water in original berg:More than 1,000 trillion gallonsApproximate value of the fresh water in theoriginal B-15 iceberg: $320 billionHow deep if spread across all of world’sagricultural land: 10cmHow old is the ice: hundreds of yearsThickness below water: 400 metersHeight above water: 30 metersLife expectancy: unknown, but will bemeasured in yearsHow often do 100-mile bergs calve: aboutevery 10 to 15 yearsHow long will it take to replace this muchice at the edge of Antarctica’s Ross IceShelf: 20 to 40 yearsIs it the biggest berg ever? Not sure, sincesatellite tracking only began in 1976.Source: Doug MacAyeal; AMRC,http://amrc.ssec.wisc.edu/icebergfaq.html#A1

Cold, hard facts

Ross Island Chronicles By Chico

I hope Santa got mypresents right this year.

Hey! What is this?This isn’t apredatordrone!

“This is anattitudemask tohelpchangeyours.MerryChristmas.- Santa”

ATTITUDE?!WHATATTITUDE?!I don’t have anattitude! I getalong with everyone.And if anyonedisagrees with mewe can settle itright now!

Someone is going to get theirkneecaps broken for thisslander on my character.

It’s actually quite comfortable. Itmight do wonders for your image.

The Antarctic Sun is funded by the NationalScience Foundation as part of the United StatesAntarctic Program (OPP-000373). Its primary

audience is U.S. AntarcticProgram participants, their fami-lies, and their friends. NSFreviews and approves materialbefore publication, but opinions

and conclusions expressed in The Sun are notnecessarily those of the Foundation.

Use: Reproduction and distribution areencouraged with acknowledgment ofsource and author.

Senior Editor: Kristan HutchisonEditors: Brien Barnett, Emily StoneCopy Editors: Karl Horeis, Hunter Slaton,

Wendy Kober, Amanda Barnett, KatieTogneri

Publisher: Valerie Carroll,Communications manager, RPSC

Contributions are welcome. Contact TheSun at [email protected]. In McMurdo,visit our office in Building 155 or dial 2407.

Web address: www.polar.org/antsun

Read what thecard says.

4. Why is the Antarctic circumpolar current so important? a. At 21,000 kilometers, it is the world's largest current. b. It is the only current that touches the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans.c. It plays a crucial role in the formation of cold, dense, nutrient-rich bottom water.d. All of the above

3. B-15, the iceberg that calved into the Ross Sea in 2000, was the largest iceberg ever measured. How big was it? a. Roughly the size of Manhattan, which is 60 square kilometersb. Roughly the size of Long Island, which is 3,566 square kilometersc. Roughly the size of Jamaica, which is 11,000 square kilometersd. Roughly the size of Sicily, which is 25,708 square kilometers

December 26, 2004 The Antarctic Sun • 3

1.What is not a type of quark: up, down, top, bottom, silly, strange, charmed?

2. Match the word with its definition: Baryon elementary particle with zero charge and spin, very small mass and weak interactions with matterNeutrino elementary particle similar to an electron but with a mass that is 207 times greater Muon a heavy subatomic particle made up of three quarks

By Emily Stone, Sun staff

Did you know that humans and dinosaursdid not live at the same time, or that an elec-tron is smaller than an atom? If so, congratu-lations. You can join the roughly 45 percentof other Americans who knew these scientificfacts, according to studies conducted by JonMiller, a professor at Northwestern University.

Miller is part of an ongoing effort to meas-ure the public's level of "science literacy."Just under 20 percent of Americans are sci-entifically literate, according to his research.He defines a scientifically literate person assomeone who can read and understand the

New York Times’ Tuesday science section,which is the equivalent of a college freshmanlevel of understanding. This would give a per-son the knowledge needed to participate inpublic policy debates about science.

Here's a highly unscientific test of yourAntarctic science literacy. It has not been cali-brated to New York Times’ standards, but it'sthe kind of information you'd learn if youwent to the weekly science lectures, faithfullyread your Antarctic Sun, and maybe eventalked to a beaker or two in the dining hall.

10. Why don't polar bears eat penguins? a. Penguins are too fast for polar bears to catch.b. Penguins taste bad.c. Polar bears can't digest feathers.d. They live at opposite ends of the Earth.

5. How much would the world's sea level rise if the entire West Antarctic Ice Sheet melted?

6. True or False: There are more meteorites in Antarctica than anywhere else on Earth.

7. More than 98 percent of Antarctica is covered in ice. This hasn'talways been the case. How many years ago do some scientists believe the current glaciers started covering the continent?

8. How long, in minutes, was the longest recorded dive by an emperor penguin?

9. What percent of their body mass do female seals lose during the first 30 days after giving birth to a pup?

Page designed by Matt DavidsonCheck your answers on page 10

understand the chemistry and the physicsbehind it.”

Seeking the sourceWhen geologist Griffith Taylor saw the

glacier’s front in 1911, he wrote that“bright alga lent an unusual touch ofcolour.” The red waterfall became knownas Blood Falls. Researchers began study-ing it in the 1960s, when University ofWisconsin scientist Robert Black deter-mined that the red came not from algae,but from iron.

The McMurdo Dry Valleys Long-TermEcological Research (LTER) group hasnow analyzed more than 10 years of sam-ples from the falls. That analysis suggeststhat the reddish salts in the water weredeposits formed at the site of an ancientlake bed when the ocean receded from thevalley 3 to 5 million years ago. When theTaylor Glacier advanced over the top ofthe lake, the seawater was trappedbeneath.

Blood Falls water still smells a lot likeseawater. Broken down into its chemicalparts, it looks a lot like seawater too.

“The sodium, magnesium and potassi-um concentrations aren’t exactly the same(as seawater), but the ratios are the same,so we use that to indicate that the originalsource of that water was probably seawa-ter,” Welch said.

Other evidence also indicates thatsomething unusual is buried beneathTaylor Glacier. Though the Taylor andother glaciers in the Dry Valleys are allpolar, dry land glaciers, the Taylorbehaves more like a marine-based glacier,indicating it may have some kind of saltywater at its base. Radar surveys of theglacier in the 1970s found an anomalyunderneath the glacier, which could repre-sent a pool of ancient marine water.

“It’s very hard to get a smoking gun,especially when you’re trying to look backmillions of years in the past, but you canget multiple lines of evidence that say hey,it’s worth considering,” said Jill Mikucki,a graduate student working with microbi-ologist John Priscu at Montana StateUniversity. “Here we have physical, geo-chemical, possible paleohistory andmicrobial evidence that it might be possi-bly an ancient marine ecosystem.”

If it is, then Blood Falls is like a tap intothe oceans of the past. And that past couldstill be alive.

The red color of the water is a reducedform of iron, probably coming from rocksweathering beneath the glacier, Welchsaid. The iron-rich water turns red when itmixes with the oxygen in the air. Thereduced iron is a form that some microbescan use instead of oxygen, which was

what struck Mikucki’s when she saw aphoto of Blood Falls in a glaciology class.

“The first thought that went through myhead was what microbes are there, becausehere was a large source of free energy,”Mikucki said. “You think pagan worshipceremony. I’m sure Kathy thinks, ‘Ooo,chlorides and ions.’ I think microbialfood.”

When she joined the LTER project in2001, Mikucki set out to “put a name onthese bugs.”

She cloned the microbes and looked atpieces of their genetic code, called riboso-mal DNA. Ribosomes are involved in pro-tein construction. Because the building ofproteins is so vital to life, the DNA thatcodes for ribosomes is highly conservedand thought to be unique to individualspecies. They represent core traits thatdon’t go through as many changes as othergenes do.

“It’s like an I.D. tag,” Mikucki said,“like a dog tag for microbes.”

After several years of research,Mikucki found the microbes living in thefalls are similar in type to microbes foundin other extreme cold environments withthe same food sources, including organ-isms from arctic and antarctic environ-ments, marine organisms, deep subsurfaceorganisms, sulfate reducing organisms,and organisms from environments lackingoxygen.

“We find an entourage of organisms

that make sense at least hypothetically tothe environment that they’re in,” Mikuckisaid.

Without drilling through 30m or moreof ice, she can only sample the water thatruns out of the falls, not whatever pocketof water is below the glacier. Based on themicrobes she has found in the falls,Mikucki suspects there is an active com-munity under the ice.

A few of the microbes may turn out tobe new species or genus, with potentiallyuseful traits, Mikucki said. The DryValleys are also similar in temperature,climate and moisture to Mars, and a BloodFalls-like environment might exist underthe Martian ice caps. So the falls providescientists a place to develop theories andtechniques they will someday apply toexploring other planets.

The glacier hides other mysteries aswell. Researchers still aren’t sure whatdynamics cause the falls to start or stopflowing, how heavy the flow is, or howlarge any remnant sea below the glaciermight be, Mikucki said.

Water from the falls eventually seepsinto Lake Bonney and settles to the bot-tom, so it is also possible that the ecosys-tem in the bottom of the lake is similar towhatever is below the Taylor Glacier.

NSF-funded research in this story: John Priscu, Montana State University,www.homepage.montana.edu/~lkbonney/


Blood Falls From page 1

Iron-rich water spills out of the Taylor Glacier and stains the surface of Lake Bonney. Thewater is thought to come from the remnant of an ancient sea trapped below the glacier.

Photo by Kristan Hutchison / The Antarctic Sun

“It’s very hard to get a smoking gun, especially whenyou’re trying to look back millions of years in the past.”

— Jill Mikucki, graduate student

the week in weather

Bang! It’s ChristmasBy Brenda EverittSouth Pole correspondent

South Pole residents have had theirminds on everything from bingo to the BigBang.

James Brown, a sous chef at the Pole,hosted “Christmas bingo” Dec. 18 in thedining hall. It was well attended. For thegrand finale, James revealed a bingo cardpainted on his chest that matched the win-ning card in the audience. The lucky winnerreceived a gift certificate to the Tramwayrestaurant in Christchurch, New Zealand,worth $80. Other prizes included gift cer-tificates to various establishments inChristchurch, as well as merchandise fromPole Mart (the station store) and the finalprize of the evening, which is always thecash received from the bingo cards thatnight.

Large blocks of snow were quarried andleft near the ceremonial south pole duringthe past week. On Sunday, sculptors triedtheir hand at various designs ranging fromcars to heads to geometrical shapes. Thesnow sculpture contest continues through-out the week, and will be judged onChristmas Day during the annual RaceAround the World.

The ceremonial pole was noticeablyabsent for several days while being repaint-ed. The brightly colored pole was returnedon Sunday morning, complete withChristmas decorations.

A Russian expedition will be arrivingduring the coming week to repair theAntonov-3 airplane that has been stored atthe South Pole Station since 2002 after itbroke down. A team of eight Russians willbe working on the airplane. Additional spe-cialists will be at McMurdo, ready for day-trips to the South Pole as their expertise isneeded.

Prof. Bill Holzapfel, of the University ofCalifornia at Berkeley, gave a rousing lec-ture Dec. 19, arguing that the Big Bang isthe best theory to describe the beginning ofthe universe given the scientific evidence.He also outlined opposing theories.

While blatantly selling Polies on the BigBang theory with data from the South Poleand other cutting-edge research, Holzapfelleft his audience with room for suspensefulquestions about what the missing pieces ofthe puzzle could mean. Clues to the miss-ing pieces—such as what are dark matterand dark energy— could drastically simpli-fy or merely convolute the accepted view ofthe beginning of the universe.

Holzapfel pointed out that attempts toanswer big questions by disproving otherideas and theories often leads to a betterunderstanding of the Big Bang. He encour-aged his audience to seek the truth throughexperimentation, as that is what drives theexciting projects at the South Pole and oth-ers worldwide.— Katie Hess contributed to this report.

Hanukkah and shipsBy Kerry KellsPalmer correspondent

The holiday season at Palmer Station hasbegun. After Thanksgiving, several commu-nity members helped prepare a Hanukkahmeal of brisket, matzah ball soup, kugel,potato latkes and chopped liver followed bymandelbrot and rugelach cookies. They alsoplayed with a dreidel, the traditional four-sided top, and had a menorah, an eight-branched candelabra. The meal and celebra-

tion were a success. In preparation for Christmas, community

members hung stockings, or creative varia-tions on stocking, in the dining room. A krillnet, bird weighing bag, radio belt and largeplastic graduated cylinder became stock-ings. On Sunday, residents decorated cook-ies and constructed gingerbread houses.

The cruise ship Polar Star arrived, not tobe confused with the Coast Guard icebreak-er preparing to cut a channel to McMurdoStation. Station residents greeted 99 visitorsfrom the cruise ship at 8 a.m. Tour guidesled groups around Palmer Station, to thestore and to the informal reception, called“meet and greet” in the dining room. ThePolar Star was the first cruise ship of theseason. We expect many more in January.

On Tuesday, Tim Kramer presented aslide show of his travels in Papua NewGuinea for our science lecture. Kramer, aformer waste technician from McMurdo, isthe waste specialist at Palmer. He traveledin Papua New Guinea in the spring of 2003.

Then on Wednesday, the Laurence M.Gould arrived at Palmer Station after a fewweeks sampling for benthic marine inverte-brates across the Drake Passage, south ofTierra del Fuego and along the AntarcticPeninsula. The Gould also supported sci-ence research sampling for salps, a macro-zooplankton, at the northern edge of thepeninsula. This port call was a fast,overnight turnover and left station with fivePalmer members including our station man-ager, Joe Pettit. On the return to PuntaArenas, the Gould made an operational stopat Cape Shirreff. The next arrival of theGould will see the beginning of the LongTerm Ecological Research cruise and thearrival of the Palmer Area Director, BobFarrell.

Nathaniel B. PalmerCompiled from reports by Alice Doyle

The research vessel Nathaniel B. Palmerdeparted Lyttelton, New Zealand, on Dec.18 and encountered bad weather right offthe pier. The storm sent many passengers to


around the continentSOUTH POLE

See Continent on page 6

PALMER

Photo courtesy of Scot Jackson / Special to The Antarctic SunA South Pole resident carves a sculpture.

McMurdo StationHigh: 39F / 4C Low: 19F / -7CMax. sustained wind: 30mph / 48kphWindchill: -11F / -24C

South Pole Station (Dec. 17-24)High: -6F / -21C Low: -18F / -28CPeak wind: 21mph / 34kphMax. Physio-altitude: 3,098m

Palmer Station High: 44F / 7CLow: 22F / -5CMax. sustained wind: 28mph / 45kphPrecipitation: 3mm

SHIPS

their beds, while the crew was busy finish-ing smaller projects left from the portcall.When the winds and seas calmed the nextday, faces last seen as they departed thedock in Lyttelton began to reappear.

“We are hoping for the calm seas to con-tinue, but realize another low is on its waytowards us as we continue south,” wrotemarine projects coordinator Alice Doyle.

Laurence M. GouldCompiled from reports by Skip Owen

The Laurence M. Gould finished up thesouthernmost sampling stations and beganits transit back to the Gerlache Straits whereit spent another day on science. Then theship had to transit through the pack ice inthe Bismarck Channel. The scientists con-ducted the last few benthic stations and anovernight dive.

After a relatively busy call at PalmerStation Dec. 16 and 17, the Gould crossed toCroker Passage and took more samples.Then the ship went to the Cape Shirreff fieldcamp on Livingston Island to pick up oneperson for the trip north. Weather wasgreat as the ship started across the DrakePassage, with calm seas and little wind. TheGould arrived in Punta Arenas Dec. 22.

Polar StarBy Wendy Hart

Helicopter Aviation Detachment 161 willbe flying from the U.S. Coast Guard ice-breaker Polar Star to McMurdo on Dec. 27to begin support for local scientists and ice-breaker operations for the next six weeks.

Three air crewmembers are returning toMcMurdo this year and the remaining onesare looking forward to experiencingAntarctica for the first time.

The crewmembers, stationed at Mobile,Ala., have been onboard the Star since theship’s departure from Seattle, Wash., onNov. 4. Four pilots and 10 flight mechanicsmake up the detachment that will conduct avariety of missions with their two HH-65Dolphin helicopters.

The first area missions were completedDec. 20 when one helicopter positioned fueldrums at a cache on Franklin Island forupcoming science operations. The secondconducted a medical evacuation of one of

the ship’sc r e w m e m -bers to theM c M u r d omedical cen-ter.

Once thehel icoptersbegin con-ducting oper-

ations from McMurdo Station, they will goto points in the Dry Valleys and nearFranklin Island. In addition, the aircrewswill continue to support the Star by flyingmail, parts and arriving crewmembers to theship while the icebreaker cuts a channel forresupply vessels to reach McMurdo.

KrasinAt last report, the Russian icebreaker

Krasin was headed south from Vladivostok,Russia. The icebreaker is expected to arriveat McMurdo Sound around Jan. 15 and willserve as a backup to the Polar Star under a100-day contract.

Long duration balloonsCompiled by Brien BarnettSun staff

One long duration balloon experimenthas been cut loose and parachuted back tothe ice below for recovery while anothercontinues to circle the continent.

The BESS (Balloon-borne Experimentwith a Superconducting Spectrometer)was the first balloon launched this season.It ended its mission Wednesday near SipleDome. Recovery teams have been sent tothe area to collect the data and instrument.

Meanwhile, the Cosmic Ray Energeticsand Mass (CREAM) instrument had justpassed 90 degrees west longitude onThursday. The balloon carrying it is on anelliptical path above the continent, stretch-ing from McMurdoStation aroundSouth Pole andback toward theRoss Ice Shelf,where the missionwill be terminated.

Both teamsreport a successfulflight and believethey have recordedvaluable data. Eun-Suk Seo, the principal investigator forCREAM, based at the University ofMaryland, said some sample data plots areavailable online. Once CREAM waslaunched, members of the team returnedwithin the next few days to Maryland tofollow the balloon’s progress and monitordata flow. There was a little drama whenthe science flight computer stopped com-municating briefly and some data werelost. The computer was rebooted.

Both balloons were tracking incomingcosmic ray particles to learn more aboutthe physical universe and its origins.BESS also was seeking rare antimatterparticles.

Learn more about CREAM and BESS online athttp://tower.nsbf.nasa.gov/ice0405.htm

South Pole TraverseCompiled from reports by John Wright

The South Pole traverse is now at thebase of the Leverett Glacier.

The traverse started out Nov. 13, makingmuch better time than last year. Better con-ditions and the packed trail left from lastyear allowed the vehicles to pull their sledloads smoothly for the first few weeks with-out having to shuttle. Modifications made tothe sleds this year proved successful earlyon, allowing the sleds to glide with lessresistance and no need to stop for repairs. Afifth tractor also helped share the load withthe four from last year.

The team set a routine of rising and eat-ing breakfast before 7 a.m., when they startwarming the engines. A morning meetingand last-minute chores are completed by7:30 a.m. when the tractors and loads headsouth. The lunch and refueling stop is calledat 12:30, and after the hour break they con-tinue the journey.

The vehicles finally stop for the daybetween 5:30 and 6:30 p.m., depending onthe day’s needs. At that point the crew set upcamp, clean the vehicle tracks and refuel allthe tractors before eating dinner between6:30 and 7:30 p.m.

They arrived at last season’s farthestsouth point on Nov. 26, more than a monthearlier than last year, with about 18,000 gal-lons of fuel.

“What a difference our trail constructionwork last year made for us this year!” John

Wright wrote in one of hisreports to McMurdo. “You willhave done the math from ourdaily reports and figured that wehave turned in a 50-mile day, andwe followed that one by a 50 ½ -mile day just to show the firstone was not a fluke.”

The traverse team stopped fortwo days of maintenance on thevehicles while waiting for aTwin Otter that swapped two

members of the crew. When the team start-ed again, they were breaking trail throughvirgin snow and watching for crevasses asthey crossed areas where glaciers pushedinto the Ross Ice Shelf.

By Dec. 4 the traverse team found whatthey were expecting — deep crevasses well-bridged with surface snow that showed upon the ground-penetrating radar sent aheadof the heavily loaded vehicles.

The traverse progress slowed while theyuse the ground-penetrating radar to searchfor a safe route around the crevasses, whichthey found this week.

“Putting those crevasses behind us, wemade 45 miles today, crossed the 85S paral-lel...and are right now looking down thegunbarrel of the Leverett!” Wright wrote.

Continent6 • The Antarctic Sun December 26, 2004

From page 5

ALSO ON THE ICE

Brien Barnett / The Antarctic SunCREAM before launch.

Courtesty of Wendy Hart / Special to The Antarctic Sun

A Coast Guard helicopterpicks a sling load off the deck.


By Kristan HutchisonSun staff

Brown clouds of algae bobbing in theRoss Sea are partly responsible for creat-ing the white clouds floating above.

The algae, called phaeocystis, producehigh levels of a compound that degrades inseawater into a particular sulfur gas. Thatgas moves into the atmosphere, where it islargely oxidized into sulfuric acid, whichforms particles that scatter sunlight andhelp create clouds.

Aboard the Nathaniel B. Palmer, DaveKieber and Ron Kiene are studying theprocesses that control the cycling of sulfurin the ocean, which ultimately determineshow much sulfur gas is released into theAntarctic atmosphere.

The compound they are interested inhas an eleven-syllable name that’s rarelyused, dimethylsulfoniopropionate.

Instead, it’s called DMSP and thevolatile sulfur gas it produces is DMS,dimethylsulfide.

“That’s a big word, but it’s actually nota really big compound,” said Kiene, whois also chief scientist for the cruise.

Many kinds of algae produce DMSP,but phaeocystis produce it in concentra-tions 10 to 20 times those found in otheralgae, such as diatoms. The high levels ofDMSP produced by phaeocystis lead toequally high levels of DMS in theSouthern Ocean, up to 100 nanomoles perliter (0.0000001 mole/L) compared to theaverage in other oceans of 2.5 nanomolesper liter.

“That’s a lot. You may be able to smellthat as an odor,” Kiene said. “If you wantto know what DMS smells like, open up acan of corn right off the grocery shelf andthen just take a whiff of that. You will geta big blast of DMS coming out there.”

Corn has a chemical, similar to DMSP,that becomes DMS when it goes throughthe heat of canning. In fact, DMS is natu-rally present in a number of commonfoods, including beer, butter and milk. ButDMS is most common in the ocean, whichis second only to the human use of fossilfuels as a source of sulfur in the atmos-phere.

“It’s familiar. When you smell it, you’llknow it,” Kiene said. “It’s part of the smellof the sea.”

One of the questions Kieber and Kienewant to answer during their 38-day cruiseis why the levels of DMS become so highin the Southern Ocean. Is it because DMSis being produced at a fast rate or becauseit is being used up very slowly, or a com-bination of the two?

DMS is removed from the seawater inthree ways. It can simply degrade in thesunlight; bacteria and microbes can eat it;or it’s drawn as a gas into the atmosphere.

“This exchange with the atmosphere iswhat a lot of people are interested in,because that affects the atmosphericchemistry and potentially the climate,”Kiene said. “The concentration of thatDMS in the seawater is controlling howmuch DMS gets out in the atmosphere.”

In the atmosphere, the DMS becomes asulfate aerosol compound rising severalkilometers. There, it joins other aerosolparticles scattering and reflecting sunlight.

Some of the sulfate particles becomethe core of larger particles as other tinyparticles attach to them, until they arelarge enough for water to condense on,forming clouds. A great portion of theacidity of rain in remote areas is the resultof DMS emissions.

In November 2003, Kiene and Kieberwere on an abbreviated cruise that got asfar as the ice edge. They were able to stopin only one spot to sample the phaeocystisand run their tests. The result was a paperby Kieber and his postdoctoral assistant,D. Toole, in the June 2004 issue ofGeophysical Research Letters. They foundthe chemical transformation of DMSP toDMS was occurring at a much higher ratethan other places they’ve studied it,including the equatorial Pacific Ocean, the

Sargasso Sea and the coastal waters of theNorth Atlantic. The Ross Sea waters alsowere very rich in nitrate, one of the fewinorganic chemicals in seawater that issensitive to light. The nitrate may be play-ing a part, possibly forming radicals thatinteract with DMSP to prompt the rapiddegradation of DMS.

“It made quite an interesting story,overall,” Kiene said. “We’re anxious thisyear to go back to see if we can repeatthose results, but also to see how thatbehavior changes after the bloom of phy-toplankton has already taken place andremoved some of the nitrate and modifiedthe water characteristics.”

This year, the cruise is taking placealmost two months later, reaching theRoss Sea when the phaeocystis bloom iswell underway. Besides studying the cyclethat brings DMS into and out of the sea-water, the researchers will try to establishthe role of DMS as a source of food formicrobes and other animals.

“It should be a pretty significant part ofthe food web,” Kiene said.

Other researchers on board will bestudying other aspects of the phaeocystis.Most were also on the cruise last year andwill be collecting the same kinds of sam-ples and data, in order to compare thetimes of year. (For more on last year’s

Sulfurous algae clouds the sky

Photo courtesy Ron Kiene / Special to The Antarctic SunRon Kiene processes samples in the lab on the Nathaniel B. Palmer. He is currently on theNBP in the Ross Sea, continuing his study of the role an algae called phaeocystis plays inthe production of an important sulfur gas.

See Algae on page 8


How should the next International Polar Year (2006-07) be celebrated?

“We should alltake the Polar

plunge!”

Tim Kramer, Palmer Station,

Waste Specialist fromDubuque, Iowa,

third season

“Taking hero shotsat the South Pole.”

David Bates, South Pole

Comms Tech. fromOmaha, Neb., first season

cruise, see Sun story Dec. 7, 2003) Lastyear the cruise went at a time of yearwhen the water was well mixed, but thistime of year the water will develop intolayers, sun-warmed on top and colderwaters below.

“This will give us a set of contrastingpictures between a well mixed water col-umn and a stratified water column,” saidJoaquim Goes, a biological oceanograph-er from Bigelow Laboratory for OceanSciences in Maine. Goes and Pat Nealefrom the Smithsonian EnvironmentalResearch Center are trying to understandthe effects of the sun’s radiation onmarine life. Phaeocystis is able to with-stand a particularly high amount of ultra-violet light, because it contains a class ofcompounds which strongly absorb UVlight and hence shield the cells from UVdamage.

“It is a natural sunscreen,” Goes said.At the same time, Wade Jeffrey’s

group from the University of SouthFlorida will be studying how UV lightdamages DNA in bacteria.

“Because this work is labor intensiveand all these processes are interconnected,it’s good to have a big group,” Goes said.

NSF-funded research in this story:David J. Kieber, State University of New YorkSyracuse, http://www.esf.edu/chemistry/kieber/kieber.htm Ronald P. Kiene, University of South,Alabama, http://www.southalabama.edu/marinesciences/fac_kiene.html Patrick J. Neale, Smithsonian Institution,http://www.serc.si.edu/uvb/Ross_Sea_index.htm Joaquim I. Goes, Bigelow Marine Laboratory, http://www.bigelow.org/arctic/goes/index.html Wade H. Jeffrey, University of West Florida,http://www.serc.si.edu/uvb/Ross_Sea_index.htm

Algae From page 7

“All the DAs from all the

stations from allthe countries

should get together for a

barbecue.”

Karl Horeis,McMurdo Station

Dining Attendant fromPortland, Ore.,

first season

Photo courtesy Ron Kiene / Special to The Antarctic SunDave Kieber, left, and Ron Kiene on the deck of the Nathaniel B. Palmer a year ago duringtheir first cruise to study the role of algae in the Ross Sea in producing sulfur gases. Theresearchers are currently on the NBP again continuing their study.

Photo by Brenda Everitt / Special to The Antarctic SunSome elves got to the ceremonial marker atthe South Pole a bit early and decorated itfor the holidays.


the only one that hasn’t been studiedextensively. The Ross Ice Shelf drains intothe Ross Sea and the Ronne Ice Shelf intothe Weddell Sea. But Pine Island andThwaites glaciers are far from establishedresearch stations and difficult to reach.Bad weather delayed the construction oftwo camps for the researchers for threeweeks.

Glaciers and ice streams do for icesheets what rivers do for lakes, providingdrainage of excess water as more precipi-tates down. Ice sheets exist in an equilibri-um between the accumulation of snowhigh up on their plateau, and the slow out-ward flow of ice to the edge of the conti-nent.

“It’s one of the biggest self-regulatingmachines in the world,” said DavidVaughan, a glaciologist from the BritishAntarctic Survey. “The amount of snow inthe ice sheet itself is close to constant.That means there is no big contribution tosea level rise.”

But if the dynamics change and moreice slips into the sea than is accumulatingon the plateau, the sea level could gradual-ly rise. The Pine Island and Thwaites glac-iers alone could raise global sea level byhalf a meter. The West Antarctic Ice Sheetcontains enough water to raise the sealevel around the globe by 6m.

Contrary to Hollywood’s depiction, thechange would be a slow rise in tides andincrease of floods, so gradual it would behard to notice, Vaughan said.

“It’s always going to be very hard tosay that particular events are a result ofchanges in the Antarctic,” Vaughan said.“It’s all part of an Earth system and evenvery subtle changes have an impact.”

One scenario does have a Hollywoodring to it — the disintegration of the WestAntarctic Ice Sheet. Unlike the EastAntarctic Ice Sheet, which is grounded onbedrock above sea level, the WestAntarctic Ice Sheet sits over a deep troughthat extends several kilometers below sealevel, making it the only marine-based icesheet on the planet. Glaciologists hypothe-size that if seawater infiltrated that weakunderbelly, it could warm the ice sheetfrom below, causing it to disintegratequickly.

“It seems so plausible we get hot underthe collar thinking about it,” Vaughan said.

The satellite photos show warningsigns. Pine Island Glacier has sped up andis thinning at a rate of up to 6m per year.Thwaites Glacier has spread out andthinned 25m between 1991 and 2001.

“On a 1,500m-thick ice stream, thatmight not seem all that big, but over a cen-tury that can be huge,” Vaughan said.

This could indicate that the groundingline, where the glaciers make final contactwith the ground, has retreated. A change ofa few meters could be enough to let the seapour in. Glaciologists don’t know for sure,because the only maps of the ice thicknessand bedrock in that area come from tra-verses nearly 50 years ago and a few

flights over by long-range aircraft in the1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s.

“It’s a plausible estimate of ice thick-ness, but it isn’t really truth,” Vaughansaid.

To get the truth, the researchers plan tofly two Twin Otters laden with 900kg ofinstruments in a grid pattern over an areaof 290,000sqkm, roughly the size of NewMexico. If they have no weather prob-lems, by the time they’re done, the planeswould have flown 113,000km, or theequivalent of circling the world 2.8 times.

The airborne systems are among themost advanced in the world. The instru-ments include ice-penetrating radar, gravi-ty meter and magnetometer. TheUniversity of Texas aircraft also carries alaser altimeter and camera. The systemwas set up in Crary Lab and then installedat the McMurdo sea ice runway, requiringfour weeks, a dozen people and severaltest flights to thoroughly evaluate all ofthe instruments. The British AntarcticSurvey aircraft was configured at Rothera,a British station on the AntarcticPeninsula.

The data, about 50 gigabytes per surveyflight, will be collected on hundreds ofdigital linear tapes. Together, the datashould tell researchers how thick the ice is,what the internal layers look like and whatkind of rocks are below it. This will allowthe researchers to create a three-dimen-

AGASEAFrom page 1

Jack Holt squeezesinto the Twin Otteras 900kg of equip-ment is bolted intoplace.

See AGASEA on page 10


“It’s all partof an Earthsystem andeven verysubtlechangeshave animpact.”

—David Vaughan,glaciologist

sional picture of the geological and glacio-logical conditions controlling the icesheet.

The survey area straddles three of fourindependently moving microplates, thedeepest continental rift on the planet, andcontains several geologically young volca-noes that stand high above the ice surface,said John Holt of the University of Texas,the lead investigator for the group. Theresearchers expect to find subglacial lakes

and volcanoes, among other geologicalstructures. Any active volcanoes or geot-hermal heat would change the temperatureand speed of the ice.

“It’s almost certain that the geology ofthis region plays a role in the ice sheetbehavior,” Holt said.

The researchers originally planned tobe in the field for about nine weeks, withthe assumption that a third of the time theywouldn’t be able to fly because of bad

weather. The Amundsen Sea Embaymentis infamous for bad weather, includingwinds exceeding 300kph, snow and icefog.

The weather and distance added to thechallenge of this deep field project.Carpenters were delayed getting to thelocations to set up the two camps 2,000kmfrom McMurdo. A third camp was set upat Byrd Station to refuel the 41 LC-130flights needed to set up and supply thecamps.

“We couldn’t get to this area if itweren’t for U.S. Antarctic Program sup-port,” said Vaughan.

The British-American collaborationallows for two planes and moreresearchers to be in the field at one time,enhancing their effectiveness during thelimited windows of opportunity they willbe able to fly. When the weather’s good,the Texas team will make three flights aday, operating around the clock, and theBritish will make one. They’re aiming topublish the first results within nine monthsof returning from the field, “which isinsanely soon,” said Vaughan.

That will be just a start.Reconnaissance surveys of a similar typewere done across the continent in the1970s and spurred an entire branch ofresearch.

“Hopefully,” Morse said, “people willfind interesting things to look at in thisdata for a number of years.”

NSF-funded research in this story: Jack Holt,University of Texas, Austin,www.ig.utexas.edu/research/projects/agasea



1. Silly2. Neutrino: elementary particle with zero charge andspin, very small mass and weak interactions with matter.Muon: elementary particle similar to an electronbut with a mass that is 207 times greater.Baryon: a heavy subatomic particle made up ofthree quarks. 3. C, it was 10,850sqkm4. D5. 6 meters6. False. Meteorites fall evenly over the Earth.They’re just easier to spot on the white ice fieldsof Antarctica.7. At least 20 million years ago, though moun-tain glaciers have probably been in place forabout 40 million years.8. 22 minutes9. 50 percent, or about 227kg/500lbs. The pups, inturn, gain about eight times their birth weight dur-ing their first 30 days.10. D

0-2 correct: You just took a polar plunge. Go walkaround Crary. Check out a lecture. Ask people what

they do. Learn more about what’s going on all aroundyou.

3-5 correct: You’re on a voyage of discovery. Notbad. You’ve been paying attention. But there’s moreto learn. Start going to the Wednesday science lec-tures. Check a book out of the library.

6-8 correct: You are a polar star. Good job.You’ve got a handle on the many different typesof science being studied here. Next step: a per-fect score. Have lunch with a principle investi-gator and start reading through those journalsupstairs in Crary.

9-10 correct: Congratulations, you are a heroicAntarctic explorer! If you don’t already have anNSF grant to be here, then finish up your thesis

and apply.

AGASEA From page 9

In November, mechanics fit computer equipment into the Twin Otter for the survey flights.

The Answers to the page 3 pop quiz

Sources: Doug MacAyeal, Paul Ponganis, Robert Garrott, Webster’s New World Dictionary of Science, The Antarctic Sun archives

December 26, 2004 The Antarctic Sun •11

ding, but ended up with a contract at SouthPole Station, where the summer seasonbegins a few weeks later.

“I’m happy to be here,” Graciano saidwhile cleaning up from the night shift’slunch, or “midrats,” which was coinedfrom the U.S. Navy’s term for midnightrations. “But it feels like no human beingshould be here.”

Her co-workers in the kitchen realizethat the South Pole is pretty much whatyou make it and they like to make it good.Her co-workers include sous chef SuzSame, production cook Joe Bayley andErica Fickeisen, the station’s lead baker.

It’s no secret that night shift workers inAntarctica frequently eat the best-preparedfood on station. For one thing, fewer peo-ple work at night, which means more carecan be put into the preparation of themeals.

“I like it. Midrats is a community with-in a community,” Fickeisen said.

Night-shift meals are an importantsocial aspect for those who tend to missout on a lot of station life. Good foodmakes for happier times.

“We have some freedom just becausewe get to decide what we want to do onmore of a whim,” Fickeisen said. “But westill make sure the meal gets out.”

Same, the sous chef, is in her third sea-son at Pole and will take over as the leadchef in the winter. She said it’s importantto create good food to keep up morale in aplace where the summer still can beviciously cold.

“It’s not just the food, but maintainingcohesive relations with people who can’tgo anywhere,” Same said.

One thing the midrats crew always will

agree on is the need for good tunes. It’slate, they’re busy cleaning up from themeal, prepping for breakfast and bakingthe next day’s goodies. It would be easy toslump if not for good music.

“We let Joe pick it out,” Graciano said.“Music has a big effect on our mood.”

Station construction has changed theway the crew does its job. This is the sec-ond year of the new dining facility insidethe elevated South Pole Station. It’s clean-er, brighter, more spacious and comfort-able than the old galley under the Dome.

“It’s nice to not have your feet freeze tothe floor when you’re working,” Samesaid, remembering cold days of old.

Her first winter, Same cooked for about60 people in the winter, about the same assummer midrats this season. This comingwinter, with construction in full swing, sheexpects to feed about 100 daily. The largerkitchen is key, she said.

Fickeisen, the baker, has been workingon the next day’s breads and pastries whilebuilding a birthday cake from scratch. Thecakes and pies are her favorite to make,mostly because of the immediate reactionfrom those receiving the goodies.

Creating foods from scratch at theSouth Pole has many challenges. The mostimportant is the altitude of the station,which at over 2,700m feet means mostrecipes must be altered or completelyrethought.

“Lemon meringue is impossible. I can’tget it to work to save your life,” Fickeisensaid.

As a first-year production cook, Bayleyhas been successful based on tips fromSame and Fickeisen. “Less leavener, morestarches,” he noted.

That night he was trying to bake a smalltest batch of naan, the Indian bread. Itseemed to go well, though larger batchesmay be more difficult to control. Aftersome initial frustration, Bayley said hewas settling in as a chef at the world’ssouthernmost kitchen.

“Pole makes every other station looklike summer camp,” he said while sweep-ing the floor.

Midrats From page 1

Joe Bayley checks on a ball of naan dough while talking with baker Erica Fickeisen, who isfinishing a birthday cake for a station resident.

Lead midrats chef Suz Same wipesdown a counter as she preparesingredients for another meal in theSouth Pole station kitchen.

Photo by Brien Barnett / The Antarctic Sun

Photo by Brien Barnett / The Antarctic Sun

By Brien BarnettSun staff

Few people can say they’ve spentfive seasons in Antarctica. Fewer stillare just 23 years old

Forest Banks fancied himself aphotographer before he started work-ing with the U.S. Antarctic Program at19. It was the chance to photographthe last unexplored continent thatbrought him to the Ice and a job coor-dinating South Pole cargo.

“I wanted to photograph wildlife,anything I could get my hands on thatwould be different,” Banks said whileat McMurdo Station earlier this sea-son.

Not one for college, Banks had leftthe states for New Zealand to see theworld and work on his photography.He heard about Antarctic jobs and hadapplied that first year as a janitor orgeneral assistant. Instead he wasgiven the cargo job. He credits goodluck.

“The only experience I had wasmanaging a Mailboxes Etc. store,”Banks said. “I think my resume land-ed on top.”

It was a position of responsibilityand he wanted to make the most of it.

Banks’ tenacity got him through that year, and kept himcoming back for the next several years, at McMurdo, then Pole,and back to McMurdo last season. While at Pole, Banks metand befriended scientists and other people working on scienceprojects and let them know he was interested in working withthem in the future.

He said he enjoyed working for cargo but wanted a newexperience. Then a death in his family drew him back homequickly after the season. Once family matters were settled,Banks did some traveling and then pursued another love: film-making.

Banks enrolled in a course tolearn how to direct films. It’s some-thing he’s wanted to do for a while.Two years earlier he began organiz-ing a film project about people whoput it all on the line, from family andmoney to bodies and souls, for thenext big adventure. It was still in hismind when he packed his bags forhis first trip to the East Coast andBoston to attend the New York FilmAcademy’s intensive directingcourse.

The class was taught on the campus of Harvard University.Once there, Banks wandered around the Ivy League campusamazed by the renowned institution.

“It felt more chill than I expected,” said Banks, who hasbeen sporting funky dreads in his blond hair this season. “Ifound Boston to be really cool and friendly.”

At the film school, Banks madeseveral short films and said he learneda lot. He plans to use that soon if hisplans come together early in 2005 foran adventure film set in Antarctica.

The project, which Banks said isfinalizing its funding, is tentativelycalled “Songs of Drifters,” and willfeature snowboarders, skiers and oth-ers who will make the voyage by sail-boat across the Drake Passage fromSouth America to the fjords andislands of the Antarctic Peninsula.

“They are un-sponsored, have apassion for life and adventure and forsome reason are willing to leave theirlives, work, families and pets at homewhile they play in the world’s wonder-lands,” Banks said, describing thepeople he hopes to feature in the film.

Back on the Ice, Banks had an offerto return to his cargo position. Duringthe summer, however, Banks receivedan invitation to work with a team ofhot water drillers out of Madison,Wisc. They will be working onIceCube, a planned particle detectorburied in the glacial ice at South Polethat will require dozens of 2km-deepholes to be drilled there.

He weighed whether to return to“the lifestyle at McMurdo that I’ve grown accustomed to andenjoy” or take the job at Pole. In the end, he decided that a newAntarctic experience, better pay and a return to the Pole wereworth it and decided to work with IceCube, becoming itsyoungest member.

“The day after my last class, I hopped in my Volvo and head-ed for Madison to work with IceCube,” Banks said.

“It’s quite a step up for a young man,” said Jeff Cherwinka,of Triad Project Management, who played a part in hiringBanks.

“Forest had experience on the Iceand had good positive attitude andreally wanted to be here,” Cherwinkasaid.

The goal of the IceCube drillersthis season is to get all their gearsorted, tested and working so theycan drill at least one and as many asfour test holes before the summerseason ends. It will be a rush to theend.

“I’ll learn most on the spot,”Banks said.

Two months into the job andBanks said in an e-mail that, just as he suspected, he’s beenenduring and cracking jokes about his youth. However, he saidhe loves his work and working with the crew there.

“Being a part of such an amazing project, full of wonderfulpeople and tons of learning to be had, is just what I needed thisseason,” Banks wrote. “Life’s just good. I’m enjoying it fully!”


Prof i le Ice got in Banks’ blood early

Photo by Rahman Amanullah / Special to The Antarctic SunForest Banks, who is working with a hot waterdrilling team at the South Pole, started workingin cargo at South Pole Station when he was 19.

“The only experience I hadwas managing a MailboxesEtc. store. I think myresume landed on top.”

— Forest Banks, on being offered hisfirst job in Antarctica five years ago.

December 26, 2004 Ice at risk - The Antarctic Sun · sent a pool of ancient marine water. “It’s...

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