picture from A&K site.
At 10:30 we had the briefing from the Palmer Station staff. First a bit about the history of Palmer Station, which has been involved in research since 1965, so they have been situated to see and record and report the increasingly rapid changes in the Peninsula area. Then they moved on to the different types of science and research that is supported by the station which only has 40 or so people in the summer and 14 in the winter. The area's of interest is broad and encompasses the range of life particular to this area of the Antrarctic, from the strange physiology of Antarctic fish -- which we were told de-evolved (isn't evolution a ongoing trip even if you loss something) to the toxic chemicals that sponges use to defend themselves, to of course the behavior and life-cycle of the penguins as well as being a support station for a range of atmospheric studies.They somehow are one of a chain of stations that work together to track lightning strikes around the world, so if there is a strike in Brooklyn they would know it. Wacky!
Also at Palmer is the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) which is focused on monitoring changes in the environment as seen in this very fragile ecosystem. Dr. Alex Kahl, a Research Biologist with LTER was very pleased and slightly overwhelmed I think, to receive the Hyperspectral Radiometer from a fellow NSF grant scientist who is also a member of the A&K expedition staff Dr. Jim McClintock (who is studying the use of the toxins the sponges make as a cancer drug to very hopeful results) and a passenger representing each of the nations traveling on the Minerva giving A&K's philanthropic gift a truly global sense.
So what does a Hyperspectral Radiometer do and why do they need one? This radiometer is going to fill in the gaps produced by the much less sensitive measuring devices that they have to read the amounts of energy that phytoplankton is getting from sunlight. Even with the cruder instruments they are seeing marked changes, this will let them be able to see clearly exactly which phytoplankton react to which or how much light. And why should we care? Well phytoplankton use the energy to remove CO2 from the air, and then it get's sequestered in the seabed so locked away and out of the cycle of atmospeheric CO2, and also a particular type needs dense sea-ice to flurish, which we all know is going away especially this far north but a particular type of krill likes it, and a particular type of penguin likes that type of krill and that penguin doesn't like to be farther south, so their numbers are falling off sharply.
So if we can't figure this out for ourselves we should for the Adelie penguin!
Then Dr. Kahl and a few of the other Palmer folk stuck around to talk more and answer questions. Of course the guy I ended up talking to was the computer guy. Very complicated systems down here, to deal with the satellites and getting all the results from all the teams and their variety of instruments backed up and uploaded to their various universities. But he still goes out and helps on the mobile science labs they have on their Zodiacs and whatever other odd jobs need to be done, it's why he is down here instead of at some desk-job in the states.
And all this while Copenhagen is going on. Maybe the next summit on Climate Change should be down here, and they all need to stay on a slumping glaciers until they get some real decisions made.
All in all a very, very cool morning and we still have the visit coming up!
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