Project Title

Palmer, Antarctica Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER): land-shelf-ocean connectivity, and ecosystem resilience, and transformation in a sea-ice influenced pelagic ecosystem

Summary

Event Number:
C-024-L/P

Program Manager:
Dr. Francisco (Paco) Moore

ASC POC/Implementer:
Samina Ouda / Jamee Johnson / Bruce Felix

Principal Investigator(s)

Dr. Ari Seth Friedlaender
ari.friedlaender@ucsc.edu
University of California Santa Cruz
Institute of Marine Sciences
Santa Cruz, California

Location

Supporting Stations: ARSV Laurence M. Gould, Palmer Station
Research Locations: Palmer Station

Description

Seasonal sea ice-influenced marine ecosystems at both poles are regions of high productivity concentrated in space and time by local, regional, and remote physical forcing. These polar ecosystems are among the most rapidly changing on Earth. The Palmer Long Term Ecological Research (PAL-LTER) project seeks to build on three decades of long-term research along the West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) to gain new mechanistic and predictive understanding of ecosystem changes in response to disturbances spanning long-term, decadal, and higher-frequency “pulse” changes driven by a range of processes, including natural climate variability, long-term climate warming, resiliency/recovery in the face of press versus pulse forcing, transformed spatial landscapes, and food-web alterations. We will contribute to fundamental understanding of population and biogeochemical responses for a marine ecosystem experiencing profound change.

Field Season Overview

Due to the cancellation of the annual LTER cruise this season, there will be no deployments for this project. Instead, two deploying personnel from C-013-L/P will conduct visual surveys for whales and collect biopsy samples throughout the season.