2021-2022 USAP Field Season
Project Detail Project TitlePalmer, 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:
Program Director:
ASC POC/Implementer: Principal Investigator(s)
Dr. Oscar Schofield
Location
Supporting Stations: RV/IB Nathaniel B. Palmer DescriptionSeasonal 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 OverviewFive participants will sail on the RV/IB Nathaniel B. Palmer to the LTER research grid in the West Antarctic Peninsula region. At sea, they will use conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) casts, bio-optical profiling instruments, and autonomous gliders. They will also collect data from moored sediment traps and physical oceanographic moorings and use other profiling sensors to assess phytoplankton community structure and abundance. Underway seawater filtration, 14C radioisotope work, and on-deck incubation experiments will be undertaken to investigate the stress responses of phytoplankton throughout the Western Antarctic Peninsula. Deploying Team Members
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