Project Title

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

Summary

Event Number:
C-024-N/P
NSF / OPP Award 2224611

Program Director:
Dr. William Ambrose

ASC POC/Implementer:
Ryan Steiner / Jamee Johnson

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: 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 team will deploy one to two participants to Palmer Station for the austral summer. Field operations focus on multidisciplinary research to study the behavior, ecology, distribution, and abundance of marine mammals in the waters around the station. Researchers will routinely conduct visual surveys, deploy an uncrewed aerial system (UAS) to collect photogrammetric images of whales, collect remote biopsy samples using crossbows, and deploy suction cup tags to whales. The team will deploy two passive acoustic moorings (one in the Palmer boating area and one near the Wauwermans Islands). To the greatest extent possible, these must be deployed immediately after station science opens and serviced again right at the close of summer field work to maintain a complete and uninterrupted acoustic data stream.

Deploying Team Members