26 October 2002

Stacy's turn to write

Another long day - everyone is working so hard and so long, and being remarkably cheerful about it. Four of us dove at Cinder Cones all day, working on the fence we have put up to keep the large scavenging invertebrates - seastars, nemerteans, and sea urchins - out of one experimental plot.

Some of the common scavengers are the seastars and nemertean worms shown here. Photo by Norbert Wu (www.norbertwu.com).

An amphipod sits between platelets of ice.

It was a great deal of fiddling with little zip ties in our bulky gloves, and hammering in stakes with sledge hammers where every time the hammer hits down, you fly off the bottom. Andrew, Aaron, Kathy and I made a lot of progress, and worked out how we will deploy our treatments once we get the site set up. I think we can finish the fence tomorrow. During our safety stops, Kathy and I went off and explored a bit in the shallows. Above 20 feet, the bottom has anchor ice forming on anything that projects up above the bottom.

The platelets of ice keep growing bigger and bigger until they become buoyant enough to rise off the seafloor, carrying whatever they were attached to - a rock, a bit of algae, or a hapless seastar. When you look at the underside of the ice, you see these things stuck there. There are also many amphipods scurrying around upside down among the ice crystals. The underside of the ice is an ecosystem that mirrors the seafloor below it.

A diver does not fit between ice platelets.

Much of the original equipment and even some supplies from the expeditions in the early 1900's remain in the 3 historic huts near McMurdo Station.

Dan and John spent the day with the drill rig, drilling more dive holes at Cape Evans and at Turtle Rock, and installing our second hut at Turtle Rock. Donal Manahan, another scientist here, has a hut at Cape Evans that he will let us use. I am looking forward to diving at these different sites. Cape Evans has a historic hut that was used by Robert Falcon Scott in his attempts to reach the South Pole, and I hope we will have a chance to visit it.

In the evening, we started mixing the various treatments for the experiment we will place on the seafloor. We will be comparing the effects of organic enrichment and burial, both mimics of the sewage outfall, but on a much smaller scale. Our organic enrichment has the correct Carbon:Nitrogen ratio, but is made up of wheat flour, kidney beans, and frozen peas and carrots. Dan did the calculations for the correct amounts to mix, Aaron was blender master, mixing the "goo," and both ran the cement mixer that we use for combining the sediment with the organic goo.

Aaron at the blender controls

Dan n Aaron pic: Dan and Aaron manning the cement mixer

Andrew was occupied with creating handles to help us remove the plastic lids from our experimental arrays underwater, a challenge with our bulky dry gloves, and setting up some fencing to finish up tomorrow. I loaded the mixtures into the treatment jars, and Andrew helped keep me organized in packing them into buckets to take to the seafloor.

Andrew rolling up fencing.

Tubs waiting to go to the seafloor.

It is a lot of planning and organization, but it is much easier to do it in the lab where it is relatively dry and warm, than underwater where it is dark and cold, and we are clumsy and have limited time. I can't count the number of times while diving that I have wanted to hold something in my teeth because both my hands were full, but couldn't because the regulator is already there. And breathing is more important!

It's nearly midnight and the sun is still shining brightly, and the ice is an incredible mix of rosy gold and blue shadows. Looking out the window of our lab is always an amazing sight, as the sun moves around the sky and lights the landscape differently but never sets. I feel very lucky to be here, and to be able to share some of the experience with you!