Iceberg Invasion!

In another episode of Palmer Station: Never A Dull Moment, we have attack of the iceberg!

Yesterday afternoon, this thing was so far away I could barely see it. By "night" it was already headed into station, pushed along by strong winds creating surges. The 3 pictures here show it's progression within the span of one hour this morning. It's creeping up alarmingly upon us in hopes we won't notice! *initiate Jaws music....*

Normally they say about 75-90% of the total mass of an iceberg is below the water. If that is the case, this guy has a lot of mass below water, but it still moving through relatively shallow water in front of our station. Maybe it's base is wide rather than deep? Who knows, but it's probably going to get stuck in our harbor and then we will have a vigilant companion to our station, drawing playful penguins and keen photographers alike.

Palmer Station, never a dull moment

So everytime I turn around or go to bed and then wake up, something is different about this place. For example, woke up one morning, and an elephant seal had flopped it's way onto station. Not only did it not flinch when the divers drove by with their gear or blink an eye when the Skytrak drove by about 5 feet from it, but it slept in the same spot for almost TWO DAYS. Yes, that's right. The Unflinching Seal. It also releases gases and smells very bad. In the day and a half it lay there I think it might have rolled over once to get more comfy. Then it promptly picked itself up and flopped away.

Let the fun begin!

Finally, we've reached Palmer Station! The last couple of days we have been through countless orientations (kitchen, station life, lab waste, radiation training, boating I, boating II, etc). We've also been setting up the lab and getting all our experiments planned for a long first day of sampling (today).

It's nice to start the science though! All the work I do and samples I collect are for my thesis work at the University of Delaware, so it's good to begin the work. I've included a random mishmash of photos below from the last few days. We had a run-in with a seal while boating and the glaciers are looking lovely. Also lots of cold (32-35 F) days with snow falling as icy rain or fat flakes.

Declining sea ice in the West Antarctic Peninsula

Adelie penguins depend on sea ice for their breeding grounds. Their numbers are now declining due to warming of the West Antarctic Peninsula and receding sea ice.

http://e360.yale.edu/feature/the_warming_of_antarctica_a_citadel_of_ice_begins_to_melt/2342/

Departing Soon!

Quick update:

- I am Physically Qualified for Antarctica (blood tests, physical, dental, etc)

- We have our dogs tags for our luggage (see picture)

- I got my plane ticket!

- All our science gear has already arrived in Punta Arenas, Chile.

We will be on our way at the end of December. I will post as many updates as I can while I am down there so keep following this blog and share with your friends :)

King crabs in Palmer Deep, Antarctica

Dr. Craig Smith, a scientist I met during my May 2011 trip to Palmer, talks about the movement of crabs to Palmer, Antarctica. Warmer waters have carried the crabs to habitats normally too cold for them. The polar ecosystem is changing very quickly and soon species from warmer climates may be commonplace...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14803840

Next date for Palmer

We have our new date set for Palmer Station! We leave December 30 2011, tentatively.

I already got my dental exam done, next the medical and blood tests need to be done- once per year or 6 months for most things. Fun, fun.