Project Title

PAL-LTER: Ecological Response to "Press Pulse" Disturbances Along a Rapidly Changing West Antarctic Peninsula

Summary

Event Number:
C-013-N/P
NSF / OPP Award 2224611

Program Director:
Dr. William Ambrose

ASC POC/Implementer:
Ryan Steiner / Jamee Johnson

Principal Investigator(s)

Dr. Megan A Cimino
megan.cimino@noaa.gov
University of California Santa Cruz
Monterey, California

Location

Supporting Stations: Research Vessel, Palmer Station
Research Locations: Palmer Station

Description

Seasonal sea ice-influenced marine ecosystems at both poles are characterized by 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) seeks to build on three decades of research along the West Antarctic Peninsula to gain new mechanistic and predictive understanding of ecosystem changes in response to disturbances spanning long-term, subdecadal, and higher frequency “pulses” driven by a range of processes, including long-term climate warming, natural climate variability, and storms. These disturbances alter food web composition and ecological interactions across temporal and spatial scales that are not well understood. Researchers will contribute fundamental understanding of how population dynamics and biogeochemical processes are responding within a polar marine ecosystem undergoing profound change.

Field Season Overview

The Palmer Station component of the project will deploy from roughly late October until mid-April. Three to four team members will live at Palmer Station while conducting field research. The team will use small boats to access local islands in the Palmer vicinity. They will conduct population censuses and sampling from local seabird colonies and collaborate with other Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) groups on twice per week acoustic surveys in the area.

Deploying Team Members