General assistant Heidi Hausman uses a power drill to determine thedepth of the sea ice during training Oct. 25. The sea ice extends fartherthan usual this year.

October 31, 2004

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

Photo by Emily Stone / The Antarctic Sun

By Kristan HutchisonSun staff

Exceptionally extensive seaice has become the norm the pastfew years, and this year bringsmore of the same.

The sea is frozen all the wayto the Drygalski Ice Tongue,about 240km from McMurdoStation. From there, the ice edgecurves southeast toward Franklinand Beaufort Islands, where apile-up of icebergs blocks themovement of ice, wind andwater.

“I’m not the ice god, but basedon the last four years of lookingat those things, we are worried,”said Coast Guard spokespersonLCDR. April Brown.

The National Ice Center, thefederal entity responsible formonitoring sea ice in the path ofU.S. ships, predicts there stillwill be between 180km and220km of ice when the breakerarrives in late December to cut achannel for the fuel tanker andresupply vessel. The ice could

cause a later-than-normal chan-nel opening and the fuel tankerand resupply vessels probablywill require an icebreaker escortuntil about Jan. 20.

Back in what now seems likethe good old days, winter stormsused to blow out the sea ice, leav-ing open water in front ofMcMurdo Station until July. Newsea ice would form until mid-October, but by the time thebreakers arrived in Decemberthere would be an average of25km to 30km to cut through.

McMurdo Sound hasn’t com-pletely broken out since 1998 andit has become almost normal forthe channel to open late, saidBrown. The sea ice already wasconsidered excessive the pastthree years, when it ranged from90km to 110km in October.

“That had us petrified, andnow we’ve got it out 100 miles,”said Al Sutherland, ocean pro-jects manager for the

Far from the edge

See Ice on page 9

Understanding howthe past was preserved

page 7

I N S I D E

I’m supposed to tell everybody they’re the mostgood-looking, rugged menon the continent, but I can’tdo it with a straight face.

Q U O T E Q U O T E O F T H EO F T H E W E E KW E E K

- Woman returning from a field camp

New grants for recent grads

page 11

By Brien BarnettSun staff

The notorious wavesof the Drake Passagemay serve as a model tohelp researchers learnmore about how the air and ocean interactand could give clues to climate change.

Professor Steven Emerson, of theUniversity of Washington’s School ofOceanography, targeted the Drake Passagebecause it’s where the Southern Ocean isforced between Antarctica and SouthAmerica and sometimes turns into a churn-ing froth. To Emerson it seems the perfectspot to test the waters for a new measure-ment of how much carbon dioxide oceans

absorb. Carbon diox-ide is a key componentof the atmosphere andalso a player in climatechange.

To get the data,however, Emerson needs samples fromsome pretty wild waters.

“There’s one place people go, come hellor high water, and that’s across the DrakePassage,” Emerson said.

The transit by ship from Punta Arenas,Chile, to Palmer Station, Antarctica, is nopiece of cake. Veterans of the trip across theDrake Passage like to tell stories about their

See Carbon on page 10

Scientists try to catch a wave “There’s one place people go,come hell or high water, and

that’s across the Drake Passage.”— Steve Emerson

www.polar.org/antsun

McMurdo blocked by 240 km of sea ice

2 • The Antarctic Sun October 31, 2004

matt davidson

RPSC Ice employees ’04McMurdo: 661 / South Pole: 165Palmer: 28 / Ships: 23

Contract employees (excluding ships):Men: 525 (65%) / Women: 277 (35%)Youngest: 19 / Oldest: 70 / Avg. age: 37White: 745Hispanic: 24Asian or Pacific Islander: 8Black: 5American Indian: 5Other/not indicated: 15

Top 11 home states*:Colorado: 147Washington: 79Alaska: 72California 49Minnesota: 36Montana: 35*There is at least one person from every state.

Other places people call home:New Zealand: 2 / Canada: 2Puerto Rico: 2 / Australia: 1

Source: RPSC Human Resources

Cold, hard facts

Ross Island Chronicles By Chico

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

mary 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,

Mark Williams, Wendy Kober, AmandaBarnett, Rebecca Hollobon

Publisher: Valerie Carroll, Communications manager, RPSC

Contributions are welcome.Contact the Sun at AntSun@usap.gov. InMcMurdo, visit our office in Building 155or dial 2407.

Web address: www.polar.org/antsun

The scientists are back. They wantus all together so they can make anannouncement.

Welcome to the newsummer season.

This year we’d like to do areality show with a communitychallenge each week to captureviewers.

At the end ofeach show,one of yougets votedoff to beeaten by akiller whale.

Will we be covered by workman’s comp?

Only during working hours.Idaho: 35Wyoming: 28Oregon: 26Florida: 16Utah: 16

October 31, 2004 The Antarctic Sun • 3

a-one-n-two-nSAMBA to add Palmer to network

By Brien BarnettSun staff

Palmer Station and Patriot Hills havedrawn the latest dance cards to join othersouthern hemisphere sites studying themagnetosphere. This region of space pro-tects the Earth’s atmosphere from harshsolar winds and buffets storms that causedisruptions to communications and powergrids.

Researcher Eftyhia Zesta of theUniversity of California at Los Angelesruns the South American Meridional B-field Array (SAMBA). Funded by theNational Science Foundation’sGeosciences Directorate, SAMBA is anetwork of about 10 magnetometer sta-tions stretching from the equator in Chileto other remote stations in the AntarcticPeninsula, including Bernardo O’Higginsand Vernadsky. Zesta expects to extendSAMBA’s array to Patriot Hills, a blue-icerunway midway between the northernpeninsula and the South Pole, and in Aprilto Palmer Station.

The project uses sensitive devicescalled magnetometers, which detect elec-tric currents flowing above in the ionos-phere and sense fluctuations in these cur-rents. Scientists then use the data to learnmore about the Earth’s magnetosphere,which envelops the planet, and shields theplanet from the solar wind. The goal is tohave magnetometers placed where electriccurrents running through the magnetos-phere connect to the planet’s ionospherealong geomagnetic field lines.

The Earth’s magnetic field is similar toa bar magnet placed on a sheet of paper.When iron filings are placed next to themagnet, the filings align to the current andform a pattern of wide arching curves radi-ating from north to south on each side. Ifthe filings were not present, but there wasa device at the point at which each of thosecurves reconnected to the magnet, thenone could detect any changes that werehappening far away from the magnet.That’s how the magnetometers help thescientists.

But to work well, many magnetometershave to be placed in generally a straightline north to south. It’s at these stationswhere the magnetometer will read realvariations in the ionospheric currents. Themore magnetometers spread along a linearound the Earth, the more informationresearchers will obtain.

Chains similar to SAMBA also arelocated in North America and parts of

Central America. Likewise, there arechains in countries on the other side of theworld, including Russia, Japan andAustralia.

While the Earth spins within it, themagnetosphere remains generally in place.With a network of magnetometers on bothsides of the planet, approximately 180degrees from each other, scientists canmonitor changes more easily.

“The more latitude you cover the morerange you can cover inside the magnetos-phere,” Zesta said.

While projects such as SAMBA try tounderstand the magnetosphere, other

researchers learn more about the Sun andsolar wind.

The collected data also are useful tothose who help keep communications andpower systems on Earth operating duringturbulent space weather.

SAMBA has been in existence for threeyears and data are still being compiled.The first papers are expected sometime inDecember or early 2005.

NSF-funded research in this story: EftyhiaZesta, University of California Los Angeles,http://samba.atmos.ucla.edu (temporarilyoffline, will be restored soon)

Inset: NASAAbove and left: Courtesy Eftyhia Zesta, SAMBA

Above: The SAMBA network stretchesfrom northern Chile to Antarctica.Additional magnetometer sites includestations at South Pole and polar plateauobservation stations.

Inset: The Earth’s magnetosphere (not toscale) as affected by solar wind.

At left: Eftyhia Zesta watches as a hole isdrilled at Chile’s Bernardo O’HigginsStation during the installation of a mag-netometer there.

PALMER STATION

PATRIOTHILLS

SOUTH POLE

WhyIam drawn to big places, to cold places. North. South. If I

cannot go, I read. The reading gets me there, or closeenough. And what I find is that most writers share a sharp

awareness that they can get only so close to the truth. Whenfaced with light on snow or ice, with air so thin breathing isvelvet, with cold so insistent everything cracks, many writerslay down their pens. Words fail.

I am drawn to editing books about big places, cold places. North. South. My job then, is to help writers findthose words.

In the summer of 1995 I traveled through Alaska lookingfor writers. I had a contract to assemble an anthology onAlaska. The task was loosely defined, but I wanted a bookthat showed the “real” Alaska — no Denali, no Iditarod, noclichés. The images of big mountains, fish and men are exhilarating and have their own truth, but I wanted to know the intimate details of what it meant to live in a big place: what did itfeel like getting up togo to work when it isdark and negative 40degrees?

Finding writers islike finding mush-rooms in the woods:they hide easily, andoften the pretty onesare poisonous. I tackedmy call for submis-sions to every bulletinboard I could find, combed bookstores for their Alaskan writ-ers and told everyone I met what I was doing. Shameless, Igrabbed every opportunity. Once, while washing my hands ina bathroom in Denali, I explained my project to an olderwoman standing next to me. This woman had been living atWonder Lake for the summer, and I thought of her as theQueen of Denali.

As we left the restroom she said, “Don’t make a sham ofAlaska, Susan.”

People are protective of their places, I know, but her wordsstartled me. I was there in that bathroom with her preciselybecause I did not want to make a sham of Alaska. I wanted toget it as right as possible; I wanted to see as much of this placeas I could so I could help writers get it right as well.

Editors sit behind cluttered desks, handmaidens to thismysterious, unnatural process called writing. Or so the

image goes. For a long time, this was me — I spent the eight-ies in New York book publishing, but a desk (and all thosebusiness lunches) was simply too constraining. When I leftpublishing and began editing book anthologies, I saw that mybest collections emerged when I knew my subject well. Thebest editor knows the subject her writers are writing about.The best editor has been there.

No one really knows what an editor does, except the writerwho understands he or she needs an editor in some mysteri-ous way. They ask, “Does a scene work or not?” and, “Is moredescription needed?”

To edit well, I enter into the life of the writer for the spaceof time that I am reading, asking for more details, addingcommas or suggesting another verb. This exchange, foundedon a trust through words, contains an unusual intimacy.

When I returned from Alaska to my home in New Yorkstate I waited for manuscripts to arrive. And they did. “Saw

your call for submissions in the laun-dromat in downtown Tal-keetna,” one contributor wrote. Andslowly I pulled out those essays thatrang true — a tale of raising a child inthe bush, the dilemma of crossing apicket line to teach in Fairbanks, thestory of fishing with a long-estrangedfather. Some writers had publishedbefore; others stumbled into thisworld because they had a story to tell.The personal essays I chose for mybook, “Alaska Passages,” each

offered a piece of the story of Alaska, and together they cre-ated a portrait I never could have imagined. What emergedwas infinitely more interesting and more complicated thanwhat I had hoped for. When the book was complete, I realizedthat in the editing I had become a part of something bigger,this Alaska-in-words.

I edit because not only do I get to enter into the lives of oth-ers, I get to enter into a place.

I am traveling to Antarctica this austral summer to searchfor writers, to see the place that these writers will write about,to get it right. I’ll seek out stories of daily life in this big place— mishaps and glory, struggle and success. When I return, I’llwait for essays to arrive from plumbers and cooks, fromdivers and penguin people and from those engaged in scienceI only approximately understand. I’m eager to see what por-trait of Antarctica emerges.

4 • The Antarctic Sun October 31, 2004

Perspectives Perspectives

Writers Wanted

Editor Susan Fox Rogers isseeking Antarcticans from allwalks of polar life to tell theirstories of their time on the Icefor a new book anthology. Formore information, e-mail:SusanFoxRogers@aol.com

The author is coming to McMurdo Station this season, mid-December through mid-January, on an Antarctic

Artists and Writers grant to create an anthology of Antarctic writing. She is a professor at Bard College

in upstate New York and editor of many books, including “Alaska Passages: 20 Voices from Above the 54th Parallel” and “Another Wilderness: Notes from the New Outdoorswoman.”Iedit

by Susan Rogersg

the week in weather

20 LC-130 flights a recordBy Peter RejcekPole correspondent

South Pole station is open for business.A record 20 LC-130 flights have made

it to the South Pole already this season, themost ever before Nov. 1, according to U.S.Antarctic Program Transportation PlannerRay Gabriel. Nine flights made it by thistime last season and 10 by Nov. 1, 2001.

Despite temperatures nearing -57C, theNew York Air National Guard landed twoLC-130s with passengers on Oct. 22, oneof the earliest summer arrivals ever atPole. Normally, the Guard flies only whenthe ambient temperature is above -51C.

With a third plane arriving the follow-ing day, the station population quickly bal-looned from 75 to 176 in just 48 hours.While some of the winter crew expressedtrepidation at the mass influx of newfaces, most welcomed the new arrivals.And, just as welcome, were the boxes offresh bananas, apples and oranges thatcame on those first flights.

“The synergy is there this year,” saidJoni English, supervisor of fixed wingoperations in McMurdo. “Everyone’s per-formance has been exceptional. Skiermaintenance has kept the planes flying inadverse conditions. The 109th aircrewsare committed to opening the Pole and

love to fly. This achieve-ment is shared by allATO Personnel, Fuels,Fleet Ops, The DiningStaff, the South Pole andall other agencies.”

While the Guardarrived early and often,three Twin Otter planesand their crews trumpedthem by a day when theybuzzed in on the after-noon of Oct. 21.Originating in Alberta,Canada, the three planesand their nine crewmentook about a week tomake it to Pole, flyingthrough such points asHouston and Cancun ontheir way down to SouthAmerica and the jump-ing-off point to Antarctica, Punta Arenas,Chile.

There’s definitely new energy in the airwith more than 100 new people. The win-ter crew is looking forward to making thetransition from the Ice to points bothknown and unknown. After gorging onfruit all morning last Sunday, scientistJustus Brevik said, “My banana craving issated; now it’s time to see some mountainsand squirrels.”

But before leaving, the U.S. govern-ment had a few parting gifts, including thecoveted Antarctica Service Medal, one ofthe few congressionally authorized medalsmeted out to civilians. The medals werehanded out Saturday night before a finalperformance by the South Pole winterband.

The ribbon on the medal is symbolic.The outer bands of black and dark bluecomprise five-twelfths of the ribbon’swidth, representing the five months ofAntarctic darkness. The center portion —grading from medium blue through lightblue and pale blue to white — symbolizesseven months of solar illumination, andalso the aurora australis.

In addition, a “Wintered Over” clasp isawarded to those who have spent the win-ter months on the continent. A bronze

clasp signifies one winter, gold two andsilver three or more winters. Of the 75peopled who wintered, the largest groupever, only three had more than three win-ters under their parkas, though not neces-sarily at South Pole. Jake Speed had themost winters at Pole with five consecutiveseasons. Unofficially, about 1,060 peoplehave wintered at the Pole from 1957 to2004.

On being part of such a history, outgo-ing winter station manager Pete Kosonremarked that “a South Pole winterincludes both sacrifice and privilege.Speaking only for myself, I can say thatwhile the sacrifice has been small, theprivilege has been great.”

Hands-on scienceBy Kerry KellsPalmer correspondent

The majority of this past week wasspent preparing for the ship’s arrival onSaturday and for activities during the portcall.

October 31, 2004 The Antarctic Sun • 5

around the continentSOUTH POLE

McMurdo StationHigh: 14F / -10C Low: -8F / -22CMax sustained wind: 29 mph / 46 kphWindchill: -31F / -35C

Palmer StationHigh: 37F / 3C Low: 12F / -1CMax. sustained wind: 41 mph / 67 kphWindchill: 3F / -16C

South Pole StationHigh: -45F / -43C Low: -68F / -55CPeak wind: 18 mph / 29 kphHighest physio altitude: 3,342m

See Continent on page 6

Photo by Peter Rejcek / Special to The Antarctic SunSouth Pole winter station manager Pete Koson speaks with amember of the first Twin Otter crew to arrive at South Pole forthe 2004-2005 season on Oct. 21.

Photo by Peter Rejcek / Special to The Antarctic SunBeth Watson awards Jake Speed a pin inrecognition of his fifth consecutive winter atSouth Pole Station.

PALMER

Before the ship’s arrival we had aScience Open House with several still andactive displays, hands-on science experi-ments and real-time data presented by thescience support team and grantees. RyanSaid from Stanford University set up a dis-play showing real-time lightning strikesfrom around the world. The Iron FilingMagnetic Field Visualizer allowed cre-ative maneuvering of iron filings by mag-nets. “Outrageous Ooze” was anotherhands-on display, allowing people tomanipulate a green slimy substance thatwas neither solid nor liquid.

The Palmer Station Microzoo wasavailable to view in two microscopes setup by Brett Pickering. IndigenousAntarctic insects, such as the springtail,the mite and belgica antarctica, were ondisplay. Belgica antarctica, a wingless fly,is the largest land animal in Antarctica.Even a nematode, a white, long worm withclear skin, and a tardigrade, a distant rela-tive to the insect, had been pulled from thefreezer and thawed out for display. After awinter at –70C, they were both still alive.

The research vessel Laurence M. Gouldarrived on Saturday morning with cargo andseveral more researchers. During the portcall, we completed our procedure documen-tation audit and are proud to be the first sta-tion in Antarctica to be ISO (InternationalOrganization for Standardization) certified.

The ship brought researchers HughDucklow and Langdon Quetin, along withmembers of Maria Vernet’s group and TadDay’s group.

Sunday night, John Evans gave a pre-sentation about his first ascent of VinsonMassif, the highest peak in Antarctica, inDecember of 1966. Evans, who is nowcoordinator of special science projects, isa living legend in the Antarctic program.

Evans was one of four in the first ascentof Vinson Massif. He read from the June1967 National Geographic story of theclimb, written by Nick Clinch. Evansshowed a series of stunning photographstaken during the ascent of Vinson Massifand three other first ascents of Antarctica’shighest peaks: Mount Tyree, Mount Shinnand Mount Gardner, the second, third andfourth highest, respectively. All climbswere accomplished within the month andhalf that he and nine others were droppedoff in Antarctica between December 1966and January 1967. The slides showedpyramid-like peaks, jagged cliffs of rockand snow, base camp, camps along theroutes and summit photos where theyplanted the twelve flags of the countriesthat had signed the Antarctic Treaty at thattime. The three climbers with Evans tosummit Mount Vinson were Bill Long,Pete Schoening and Barry Corbet.

On Monday we said goodbye to the lastof the winter crew as the ship departed.

Nathaniel B. Palmer

Compiled from reports by Karl Newyear

The research vessel Nathaniel B.Palmer endured stormy weather as itapproached the ice edge on the Ross SeaOct. 18. Winds reached up to 33 knots andthe swells were higher than 3.5m.

In the late afternoon, an iceberg wassighted and after dinner the ship passedthrough its first band of sea ice. The icewas primarily brash, irregular and jumbledold floes. However, a significant swell wasstill running and the ship slowed. The iceedge marked the end of the ship’s firstwater sampling segment and raised hopesfor whale sightings and new bird species.

Three days later, Captain Robert Verret

sighted the first two minke whales of thecruise.

On Oct. 25 the crew began final riggingand staging for the launch of the verticalmicrostructure profiler, an instrument thatfree-falls through the water column toabout 600m depth while sending its dataup a jacketed cable to a computer. Theintent is to complete one cast per hour forabout 24 hours to cover an entire tidalcycle. The ship had to reposition twice inthe first 16 hours that the profiler was inthe water, so there were short breaks in theroutine. But the profiler is collecting gooddata and results are promising. The weath-er has been mostly clear with low winds.Several emperor penguins came onto theice near the bow for a good photo op andthey’re occasionally sighted swimmingnear the cable.

Laurence M. GouldCompiled from reports by Dave Morehouse

The research vessel Laurence M. Gouldarrived at King George Island to set upCopacabana Field station for penguinresearchers Susan and Wayne Trivelpieceon Oct. 21.

The Trivelpieces have been studyingAdelie, gentoo and chinstrap penguins onKing George Island for 25 years. Theykeep track of the number of penguins andchicks, what they are eating and how wellthey are surviving. In recent years they’vebeen monitoring how changes in the seaice and the abundance of krill may changethe penguins’ diet and breeding.

After continuing on to deliver suppliesto Palmer Station, the Gould stopped againat Copa to deliver new supplies and trou-bleshoot some issues with the camp’s high-frequency radio and propane connectionsbefore returning north to Punta Arenas.

Continent6 • The Antarctic Sun October 31, 2004

From page 5

What’s the most important thing you brought with you to Antarctica?

Gary Jirschle, Palmer maintenance

specialist, Portland, Ore.,

11 seasons

Kim Miller, South Pole

cargo handler,Morrison, Colo.,

first season

“Pictures of myniece.”

Ann May, McMurdo

cargo handler, Long Prairie, Minn.

three seasons

“My CDs, formusic.”

“Windstopperhat, prescrip-

tion sunglasses,my husband.”

SHIPS

October 31, 2004 The Antarctic Sun • 7

Decay turns to decadesAncient bacteria trying to decompose crus-

taceans, instead preserved them for 180 millionyears.

Paleontologist Loren Babcock discoveredthe link between bacteria and Antarctica’sremarkably preserved fossils using an electronmicroscope on samples he’d brought back fromCarapace Nunatak. Little round cells coveredthe once-soft body of a conchostracan, or“clam shrimp,” as though it had been caughtunder a shower of hail.

“It doesn’t look like much, but scientificallyit’s really important,” Babcock said from OhioState University.

He recognized the cells as bacteria, con-firming something he’d begun to suspect. Thefossilization of spiders, crustaceans, insectsand other arthropods was triggered by the verybacteria that decay them.

The bacteria had coated the clam shrimp todecompose it, but in the process they set off achemical reaction in the water around them.The bacteria created the right conditions forcalcium phosphate or silica to coat both thebacteria and their meal, turning it all to stone.

“Now we understand how they get pre-served,” Babcock said. “They get preserved bythe bacteria that are responsible for their decay,so that dramatically changes our understandingof the fossilization process.”

Bacteria had been associated with fossilsbefore. In fact, while at McMurdo Station lastseason Babcock was editing a paper for one ofhis graduate students about the possible role ofbacteria in fossilization. Then he went into thefield with Alycia Rode, a postdoctoralresearcher, and Steve Leslie, a professor at theuniversity of Arkansas-Little Rock. Togetherthey collected the fossils that would confirmthe role of bacteria in fossilization, only he did-n’t know it until he and his research teamlooked at the fossils under the scanning elec-tron microscope.

The images changed how Babcock looks atthe rest of his fossils.

“Except for bones, teeth and shells, whichare basically already mineralized, it’s the otherthings, skin and internal muscle and stuff likethat, that we never really understood how theygot preserved,” he said.

He pulled other fossils from around theworld out of his collection and took closerlooks at them.

“Not just from Antarctica, but from all overthe world and all different ages. It looks likethe same situation turns up everywhere,”Babcock said. “Wherever we’ve got goodspecimens we see bacteria and sometimesfungi.”

The only problem encountered looking for

See Fossils on page 8

Fossils take timeBy Kristan Hutchison

Sun staff

Photo by Loren Babcock / Special to The Antarctic Sun

A few fossils were identifiablein the field, like the dinosaursfound on Mount Kirkpatrick, butmost discoveries required furtherstudy in the lab. The heavyboxes arrived at their destinationsin April and since then, theresearchers have been cataloguingand scrutinizing the contents.Some researchers found treasures hidden in the boxes ofrock and some are still lookingfor answers.

In geologic time, the yearsince researchers collectedfossils from Antarctica lastseason was nothing.

Paleontologist Loren Babcockfound well-preserved fossils andremnants of ancient hydrothermalvents around Carapace Nunatak,on the northwest edge of the DryValleys near McMurdo Station.

Highly magnified archaebacteriashow up as a network of blacklines on this scanning electronmicroscope image of limestonefrom Carapace Nunatak.

Courtesy of Loren Babcock/Special to The Antarctic Sun

bacteria was that where he’d diligently prepared a fossil byscraping, cleaning and polishing it, the bacteria were knocked offin the process. From now on, Babcock said he’ll keep his fossils justas he finds them in the field.

Realizing that each fossil was composed of multitudes of bacte-ria changes Babcock's understanding of the fossil record as well.

“Now, instead of regarding bacteria and fungi as the rarest of allfossils, it’s beginning to look like they are the most common,”Babcock said. “If they are responsible for preserving these non-min-eralizing creatures, then they have to be actually incredibly com-mon, because it takes quite a few of them to preserve just one bodyof something else.”Hot springs

The bacteria-coated fossils came from another of Babcock’sfinds — the first hydrothermal vent identified from JurassicAntarctica. Rounded mounds of ancient lava, called pillow basalts,were the tell-tale sign that a volcano had been venting underwaterin the area near Carapace Nunatak. Small organisms lived in someof the warm pools.

Babcock suspects many similar hydrothermal vents existedthroughout the Transantarctic Mountains.

“I’ll bet there are more there. It makes sense,” he said. “I don’tthink they’ve been interpreted quite that way before, but thinkingabout it, it’s obvious some of these things must be.”

Another type of microorganism, called archaebacteria, may beresponsible for another strange phenomenon within the thermallyheated pools. Archaebacteria represent a bacterial group thatemerged 3.5 billion years ago and live in environments such ashydrothermal vents, bogs and salt lakes. Babcock found limestonedeposits laid down in the most unusual way he’d ever seen. Thelimestone coated the surfaces of the basalt pillows, rimming them.

“They’re not being deposited horizontally like they normally arein the Bahamas and places like that,” Babcock said. “They’reinstead forming around volcanic rock in the weirdest situation I’veever seen for a limestone.”

When he looked at samples, Babcock and his team again foundarchaebacteria, which apparently had caused the deposits. The lime-stone was shot through with tiny, black squiggly lines that lookedlike Silly String. The lines closely resembled archaebacteria frommodern hydrothermal vents.

“This is the first time we’ve ever seen this anywhere, let aloneAntarctica,” said Babcock, who will present his findings at theGeological Society of America’s annual meeting in Denver on Nov.10. “It’s really cool. We figured out two really important processes.”

On trackOn her last day in the

field, Molly Miller spottedthe tracks of an animal pre-served in stone near theBeardmore Glacier.

A dozen 2-cm-wideprints scurried anonymous-ly along for almost a meter.Miller has sent molds of theprints to experts worldwide,hoping to identify what sortof animal it was. The printswere left about 250 millionyears ago, so if they wereleft by a reptile or amphib-ian, it will be the earliestrecord of a vertebrate fromAntarctica.

“It was a small little bug-ger,” Miller said, from theDepartment of Earth andEnvironmental Sciences atVanderbilt University.

The area where Miller found the tracks would have been ahuge lake when the prints were made along its shoreline. She andUniversity of Wisconsin sedimentologist John Isbell use tracks,burrows and other clues left in the hardened sediment to under-stand what animals were doing 250 million years ago.

“It’s a very lively process and it’s very exciting because you’renot just finding a dead bone or a dead shell; you’re actually find-ing the activity of an animal,” Miller said. “You can tell what itwas doing hundreds of millions of years ago.”

They also found a half-dozen trackways along the shorelinesof prehistoric lakes and rivers. These tracks may have been madeby small reptiles or perhaps by arthropods.

“We now know what to look for and we think it’s very inter-esting that we have found these things in some places and not inothers,” said Miller.

Snail’s paceWorking through the 60 crates of samples from Antarctica will

take well into the spring, said paleontologist Allan Ashworth. InJuly he published a paper based on fossils he’d collected from thesame general area in 1995-96.

“It takes a long time to go through that material, pick it out andthen to actually find people who can work on it,” Ashworth saidfrom North Dakota State University.

So far he’s found several freshwater snails among the newsamples. The snails are interesting because of the puzzle theypose about how they got to the isolated lakebeds where they werefound. Ashworth believes birds might have carried them, perhapsducks or geese that could have migrated to the Antarctic in itswarmer days.

While most of the fossil-work will take longer, Ashworth willpresent papers at the Geological Society of America providing ananalysis of the long, complex history of glaciation around OliverBluffs where he was working.

NSF-funded research featured in this story:Loren Babcock, Ohio State University, http://www.geology.ohio-state.edu/~lbabcock/Molly Miller, Vanderbilt University, http://exploration.vanderbilt.edu/news/features/miller/news_miller.htmAllan Ashworth, North Dakota State University,http://www.ndsu.nodak.edu/instruct/ashworth/

8 • The Antarctic Sun October 31, 2004

Fossils From page 7

Molly Miller is trying to determinewhat animal made these tracks,found fossilized in rock nearBeardmore Glacier.

Postdoctoral researcher Alycia Rode stands beside unusual patternsof limestone near Carapace Nunatak in 2003. The limestone pat-terns are evidence of hydrothermal vents.

Photo by Loren Babcock/Special to The Antarctic Sun

Photo courtesy of Molly Miller/ Special to The Antarctic Sun

October 31, 2004 The Antarctic Sun • 9

U.S. Antarctic program.More optimistically, for the first time in

three years the ice in the channel is only ayear old. Last year the combination of awide channel and a well-timed windstormblew it clear, Sutherland said.

“If you have first-year ice it’s going tobe thinner. If you have older ice that hasbeen broken up but remained in the chan-nel as rubble, it reforms like concrete,”Sutherland said. “So it’s great that every-thing blew out last year.”

The channel shows up clearly as first-year ice on satellite images. Until July,prospects were looking good for an easyentry this season. Then the open pack iceswiftly froze to the Drygalski Ice Tongue.The ice continued to thicken throughOctober, with internal temperatures aver-aging –16C and colder, according to thesea ice report by field safety instructorBrian Johnson. In the channel, the iceaverages 2.5 m. The ice thins to about1.5m near Cape Royds and Cape Bird,where the ice is newer.

What’s bad for the boats is good for theplanes. At the ice runway, the multi-yearice is about 5.4m thick.

“If a significant portion of that 100-mile, first-year ice does not blow out, thenwe will have this extremely long channeland it won’t blow clear this year,”Sutherland said. “We’ve never really hadanything like that set-up before, so we justdon’t know what’s going to happen.”

The last four years the Coast Guardsent two icebreakers down to handle theextensive ice. This year, only one is avail-able.

Two of the Polar Sea’s three mainmotors are condemned, and the ship is

being fixed in Todd Shipyard in Seattle,Brown said. The Healy, which came downin January 2003 to assist the Polar Sea, isbusy on an arctic mission and won’t beback in time to make the needed prepara-tions. That leaves the Polar Star as thelone icebreaker, unless reinforcements canbe found elsewhere.

Nature may still help out too. Johnsonspotted a few cracks across the sea icewhere it could begin to break apart. Warmweather and windstorms could also speedthe ice to melt, break and blow away. TheNational Oceanic and AtmosphericAdministration Climate Prediction Center,as well as several climate models, forecast

warmer than normal conditions along theice edge and over the Ross Sea, whichwould help thin the ice.

“On the other hand, the bottleneckcaused by the Drygalski Ice Tongue andthe multiple B15 bergs looks like it is onlyhelping to hold things together,” Johnsonsaid.

The collection of four icebergs piled upnear Franklin and Beaufort islands hascreated an artificial breakwall, said DougMacAyeal, who has been studying thebergs for four years. The placement of thebergs diverts currents that normally flushsea ice out of McMurdo Sound to the nar-row gap between B15K and B15A, whichdoesn’t help the icebreakers.

Until the bergs move away, the sea iceis likely to remain a problem. IcebergsC16 and B15K are grounded, while B15Acontinues to move with the tides. Duringthe large May 15 storm, B15A nosed itsway to the other side of Franklin Island,opening up the possibility of it swingingaround and battering B15K.

“B15K is very vulnerable, because it’sa sliver,” MacAyeal said. “It’s very longand narrow.”

The Polar Star is scheduled to leaveSeattle Nov. 1 and arrive at the ice edgeDec. 30. A fuel tanker is expected at theice edge Jan. 16, to serve as a floating gasstation for the breakers until the channel iscompleted. The resupply ship, AmericanTern, is still scheduled to arrive inMcMurdo Feb. 1, Brown said.

This was Brown’s final week with theCoast Guard. LCDR. Don Peltonen willreplace her this season, overseeing shipoperations at McMurdo Station.

Ice From page 1

A Hagglund vehicle sitson McMurdo Sound seaice in front of the BarneGlacier during training

Oct. 25. The cracked areaon the right marks the

transition from multi-yearsea ice on the right to

first-year sea ice on theleft.

Photo by Emily Stone / The Antarctic Sun

A recent satellite image shows how the seaice has filled in all the way to theDrygalski Ice Tongue.

10 • The Antarctic Sun October 31, 2004

Carbon From page 1

fellow passengers getting jostled andsick. Eating something other than crack-ers during the five-day trip can be anaccomplishment.

Emerson and oceanographer CharlesStump are hoping for large, crashingwaves, the kind that can be found onlyout in the wild open ocean. That’s wherethey suspect large amounts of carbondioxide, argon and other gasses are cap-tured by the whitecaps of waves andsuper-saturate the ocean.

Stump explained that scientists knowwhat the ratio of the gasses is in theatmosphere and in the ocean, but are notsure about the ratio where the air andocean meet.

“We will use it as a tracer of bubbleinjection,” Stump said. That tracer willthen be used in calculations for variousmodels.

Last month, Stump was aboard theresearch vessel Laurence M. Gould dur-ing its run from Punta Arenas to Palmer.During the voyage, Stump collectedwater samples from the sloshing watersaround the ship.

Stump probably was the only oneaboard to come away a bit disappointed.

“It was not rough at all. I was hopingfor more,” Stump said. “Palmer peoplewere calling it the smoothest crossing weever had.”

It wasn’t the fault of the ship, her crewor anyone on board, he said. It’s that thewaves just weren’t as crazy as he wantedthem to be. He probably will get a roughride before he’s finished. The project hasat least two more cruises to make, includ-

ing one in June, when the waves aremost certainly going to be harsher.

During the voyage, Stump drawswater from the ship’s onboard pump aswell as from sampling devices cast overthe side of the ship. The samples aretaken at relatively shallow depths of 2mdeep from the pump and 10m deep on acast.

“The reason we’re doing this isbecause these gasses are super-satured,”Emerson said.

Crews try to avoid sampling waterthat may have been disturbed by theship’s wake, as that would introduce alevel of error.

For comparison purposes, the Gould’screw also collected water from 4,000mdeep. The deep water will be comparedto the wave samples as well as waterelsewhere.

The samples, about 120 of them, willbe analyzed back in Seattle. If the teamcan determine a consistent ratio of gas inthe water from the various samples theywill use that information along with otherfactors to guess at some key Earth cycles.Along with satellite imagery, the newmethod may help researchers worldwidedetect changes in climate. From there itwill be a matter of checking on waves inother parts of the world to ensure theDrake is a good model.

NSF-funded research in this story: StevenEmerson, University of Washington Schoolof Oceanography.

Photo by Kristan Hutchison/The Antarctic Sun

Photo by Tom Lehman/Special to The Antarctic Sun

Above, the Drake Passage stirs up frothy wavesfor a crossing in September 2003. Below, afterdrawing water from the turbulent Drake Passage,Charles Stump runs tests last month in a lababoard the Laurence M. Gould. The water sam-ples will be tested for various ratios of gasses.Those ratios may help scientists quantify theamount of air that mixes with the world’s oceans.

The Antarctic Sun • 11October 31, 2004

By Emily StoneSun staff

What can fish, phytoplankton and bacteria tell us about glob-al warming and the effect of the ozone hole on Antarctic ecosys-tems?

Three science projects soon will begin studying these ques-tions thanks to new post-doctoral fellowships awarded last monthby the National Science Foundation’s Office of Polar Programs.The office awarded six fellowships — half in Antarctica and halfin the Arctic — under this program, which is the first time PolarPrograms has offered post-doctoral fellowships.

Normally the only way new scientistsget to do polar research is if establishedgrantees select them to work on a pro-ject, explained Bernard Lettau, the pro-gram officer for the fellowships.

Lettau said the NSF wanted to giverecent PhDs who are interested in polarscience a way to work in the field, some-thing that has historically been difficult.“It’s an opportunity to try things in a dif-ferent way ... other than to have oldAntarctic hands pick their successors,” he said.

Of the three researchers who were chosen this year forAntarctic fellowships, only Brad Buckley will set foot on the con-tinent. Buckley, a post-doctoral fellow at Stanford University,will come to McMurdo Station next October to study how fishreact to even a slight change in water temperature.

For the most part, Antarctic fish cannot handle warmer water,Buckley said.

“It’s lethal to these fish,” he said. “They’re really, reallywimpy. … They’ve pretty much lost the ability that other fishspecies have to withstand even moderate changes in tempera-ture.”

Buckley will fish for bernacchii, a 20- to 25-cm-long type ofrock cod that is common in the water around McMurdo. He willbring the fish to the Crary Science Lab aquarium and monitorthem during short- and long-term temperature changes of up to 6degrees Celsius. He will then dissect the fish, send frozen tissuesamples back to Stanford and study how the fish reacted biologi-cally to the temperature change.

His goal is to better predict how global warming will affect

Antarctic marine animals.Brook Nunn, a post-doctoral researcher at the University of

Washington in Seattle, will look at what mechanisms limit phy-toplankton in their ability to remove carbon dioxide from theatmosphere. She will spend six weeks on the research vessel theNathaniel B. Palmer next year doing her fieldwork.

Phytoplankton are able to draw large amounts of carbon diox-ide out of the atmosphere, Nunn said, but there appear to be lim-its on what they can achieve. She will look at whether it’s possi-ble to fertilize the ocean with iron to create a larger phytoplank-ton bloom, and thus pull more carbon dioxide from the atmos-phere. The carbon dioxide would then be degraded by bacteria,which release carbon dioxide into the depths of the ocean whereit potentially can be stored for hundreds of years.

Kenia Whitehead will conduct her research at the Institute forSystems Biology in Seattle beginning in December. She will look

at the effect of increased UV radiationon cyanobacteria in Antarctic lakes.

“Understanding if they survive andhow much (UV radiation) alters themshows how much effect the ozone holehas on this community,” Whiteheadsaid. “Is it making life harder for themoverall?”

The goal is to conduct this researchusing the genome of an Antarctic bacte-ria. But because that genome has not

been completed, Whitehead will look at a “close cousin” of theAntarctic cyanobacteria to understand how the research can bestbe done once the genomes of the Antarctic bacteria aresequenced. Whitehead said she doesn’t know when that will hap-pen, but her goal is to be ready when it does.

The Office of Polar Programs chose the six researchers from a22-person applicant pool, Lettau said. The $70,000-a-year fel-lowship is for two years, with the possibility of extending it anextra year. The goal is to award two more rounds of fellowshipsin the next two years.

Buckley, Nunn and Whitehead said they were thrilled at therare opportunity to do their own polar research at this point intheir careers.

“I’m glad they have these post-doctoral fellowships,”Whitehead said, “because of the opportunity it gives you scien-tifically that you might not get otherwise. I don’t have the cre-dentials, necessarily, to go into a full-blown genomics lab. I’mnot somebody they might have considered otherwise. This reallygives you the opportunity to do something different.”

Post-docs get polar projects

Antarctic Photo and Writing Contest

NSF’s Office of Polar Programs awards three fellowships for new scientists to study Antarctica

“It’s an opportunity to try thingsin a different way ... other thanto have old Antarctic hands picktheir successors.”— Bernard Lettau, program officer for

the new fellowships

Entries dueDec. 12

e-mail them to e-mail them to TheTheAntarctic SunAntarctic Sun

antsun.mcmurdoantsun.mcmurdo@mcmurdo.gov@mcmurdo.gov

PhotoPhotoCategories:Categories:

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film or digital film or digital (300 dpi or higher , please(300 dpi or higher , please ))

Writing Categories:Writing Categories:Poetry — up to 30 linesPoetry — up to 30 lines

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By Brien BarnettSun staff

Seventh-grade science teacherElizabeth Gibbs doesn’t much care for thecomic book image of mad scientists.Instead, she’s out in the field trying toshow her students back home what it’slike to do science for real.

From counting dolphins in NewZealand to helping Antarctic divingresearchers learn more about underwaterecosystems, Gibbs has had real-life sci-ence experiences she can take back to herclassroom in Newport, R.I.

Gibbs arrived in Antarctica about threeweeks ago to help study organisms livingon waste in the sound outside McMurdoStation. Stacy Kim of San Jose StateUniversity’s Moss Landing MarineLaboratories heads up the project.

“I thought it would be cool to be a partof a dive project,” Gibbs said.

She and Kim were in contact beforeGibbs arrived at McMurdo Station andany concerns that the teacher wasn’t up tothe job quickly washed away.

“She’s totally awesome and a hugebenefit to the team,” said Kim. “Some ofthis stuff is really hard work, like chip-ping ice holes, and she’s done a greatjob.”

Gibbs was sent to Antarctica as part ofthe ARMADA/Teachers ExperiencingAntarctica project, which is partiallyfunded by the National ScienceFoundation. While here, she’s been main-taining an online journal for her class-room back at Thompson Middle School.She had a chance to chat with the classfrom McMurdo and tell them what it’slike to live and work in Antarctica.

“The kids were excited and more curi-ous than normal,” said Kathryn Thyne,who is substitute teaching for Gibbs whileshe’s at McMurdo Station. “It’s openingtheir eyes to what’s out there.”

Gibbs said she’s also received positiveremarks from parents who see their kidslight up when they talk about their day.

Some of the other things she’s donehere include working with video and stillcameras, recording information about thedives, helping the divers get on their gearand even rounding up penguins for theannual penguin ranch project.

“I enjoy going to the dive site, gettingout and watching the action and seeinghow to do everything,” she said. “It’s neat

when the science samples come up.”Before Antarctica, Gibbs spent a few

weeks helping to count and monitor dol-phins in the ocean around Kaikoura, NewZealand, with the Earthwatch Institute.That experience and her time inAntarctica make her a better teacher, shesaid. Plus, seeing such a different place isrewarding.

“Antarctica is beautiful,” she said. “It’sspectacular, threatening and peaceful allat the same time.”

The goal of the program is to giveteachers real world experience. Gibbs saidthat is invaluable.

“I’m getting to see scientists in actionand how much it takes … logistics, prepa-ration, planning and worrying.”

When she gets back to her classroom,Gibbs said she immediately will presentslides and information to the school.She’ll work in the long term to developlesson plans that involve sampling watersnear the school for small organisms and topromote a deeper understanding ofAntarctica.

She encourages all teachers to takeadvantage of any such opportunities,whether on the Ice or elsewhere.

“Seek out a way to do this,” she said.“I can’t image not wanting to have theopportunity to do this. It’s important forkids to understand what science is allabout.”

NSF-funded projects in this story: TeachersExperiencing Antarctica,http://tea.rice.edu/tea_gibbsfrontpage.html,http://www.armadaproject.org/,http://tea.rice.edu/; Stacy Kim, San Jose StateUniversity-Moss Landing Marine Laboratory,http://aspire.mlml.calstate.edu/aspire04/index.htm

12 • The Antarctic Sun October 31, 2004

Prof i le Teacher dives into science

Photo by Stacy Kim / Special to The Antarctic SunElizabeth Gibbs and Mike Donnellan help diver Bob Zook suit up to dive near the CinderCones area in McMurdo Sound. Zook was diving to collect microorganisms as part of aproject to study the area’s ecosystem.

Photo by Jean Pennycook / Special to The Antarctic SunSeventh-grade teacher Elizabeth Gibbs lis-tens to one of her students ask a questionduring a 3:30 a.m. phone call to her classon Friday. The call came at the start of theschool day in Rhode Island.

R.I. woman shares experience with students