Burdwood bank – the work begins!

11th May 2011

The ARV N.B. Palmer arrived at our first station, Burdwood Bank, at 3am this morning, and work began in earnest. The first thing to do was to put down a couple of trawls. One of the main aims of this cruise is to sample deep-sea corals of the Drake Passage and we can do this either by dredge or trawl. Our favorite type of trawl for collecting benthic marine life is the Blake Trawl, which has a heavy frame attached to a net to scoop up biology from a small area of seafloor. We deployed two Blake trawls in the early hours of the morning, both of which brought up some goodies for us, including some living corals, echinoderms, sea-spiders, sponges, bryozoans and even a few fossil corals.

Our next target for Burdwood Bank was to retrieve some sediment cores using a Box Core. Unfortunately, the corer came up empty, even on the third try – it seemed that the sandy sediments here are just not right for this coring device. In this business it’s definitely a case of “win some, lose some”!

Not downhearted, the next step was to try out the WHOI TowCam system (see link on the right). This camera is purpose built to be towed behind the ship, very carefully to avoid hitting the seafloor and at a very slow speed, to taking photos and water samples along the way. It allows us to really understand the diversity and ecology of the corals growing on Burdwood Bank: do the corals form reefs, or do the corals grow in isolation? Do they grow in association with other animals, or particular types of seafloor rocks and sediment? We hope to be able to answer all of these questions, and more, by looking at the photos that the TowCam brings up. The TowCam team had a very successful day, taking photos and bringing up water samples for chemical analysis.

As the day watch shifted over to the night watch, a dredge was recovered, bringing up a large haul of biology, fossils and rocks, which pleased all the science team. So, although the swell has been fairly fiendish, making walking around on deck tricky at times ,everyone on board is in good spirits, after a good first day of science!

By: Kate

Weather: 41°F, 25°F windchill, 5-15 knots, sunny intervals!

The Marine Techs (Stian and Marc) deploy the Blake Trawl early this morning amidst some very large sea swell (R. Waller).


The Towcam in full splendor, on the starboard A-frame of the ARV N.B. Palmer (A. Margolin).


Towcam disappears into the water to take photos of the seafloor at 300m depth (A. Margolin).


Recovering material from the Hein dredge this afternoon (A. Margolin).


Biologist Sebastian with a primnoid octocoral recovered in the Hein dredge (A. Margolin).

First Time At Sea

10th May 2011

My name is Andrew and this is my first cruise. I began doing oceanographic research in Colorado in 2009 and earlier this year I began a project on the acidity of the Southern Ocean, which I’ll continue for another year if not longer. My interest in the Southern Ocean comes from the “summer bias” in data collected here because the winters get too rough for measurements to be taken. The ocean isn’t too rough yet, but it should start to get pretty crazy tomorrow as we approach the first station and I look forward to the craziness. I’ve always heard about seasickness and I’d like to understand what it is all about. I’ve not been sick yet and the motion of the ocean is nice. Last night I imagined I was sleeping on a giant waterbed as the waves rocked the ship and me to sleep.

I’m here to assist with the paleo projects collecting, sorting and analyzing fossilized corals and to complete any additional tasks that I’m asked to do. One of the tasks I have taken on for the cruise is photographing the work that is being done and documenting what life on a research vessel is like. So far that task is going smoothly and it has given me the opportunity to meet everyone on the cruise - a poster has been made with a photo of everyone on it so we can get to know each other better. All of the people I work with I met less than a week ago and they are all very nice.

We are divided into a 00:00 to 12:00 shift and a 12:00 to 00:00 shift and I am the 12:00 to 00:00 shift (day shift). I was in charge of keeping the log today, which entails writing our location and the depth of our location in a logbook every hour. Anyway, I should get going because I have some photos to get ready for the website. Thanks for reading!

By Andrew

Weather: 42F (21F wind chill), 15 knots wind, sunny!

Everybody on board is gearing up for arrival at the first station in the early hours of tomorrow morning. Here Chris, Eric and Michelle work in the biolab, preparing for the first sampling station coming up tomorrow in the early hours (A. Margolin).


Eric helping to prepare one of the more sizable aquarium tanks where live deep-sea animals will be kept until they can be processed (R. Waller).


Michelle and Sebastian making boxes in the cargo hold for storing and, ultimately shipping all the lovely samples we will be collecting on the cruise! (R.Waller).


John and Tina at the mulitbeam station. The multibeam allows us to map the topography of the seafloor as we sail, which helps us decide where to sample (D. Case).

Anchors away!

Today has been spent doing some last minute preparations, and making sure that everything is thoroughly tied down and won’t fly around the labs when the ship starts pitching and rolling.  Folk headed off into a rainy Punta Arenas for last minute shopping: watches, sea-sickness tablets, tissues and all those little things that will make life easier on board.  

We also had to say goodbye to Maureen and Dan, who came to help us set up but aren’t sailing with us.  They have both been so immensely helpful – and we’re just hoping we’ll survive without them!  Thanks to them both for all their hard work.

After lunch, we all had to go to some very important meetings.  We were told all about safety on board (from the lab to the deck) and what to do in an emergency.  We all had to try on our lifejackets, and survival suits (not the greatest of fashion statements, but they will do a good job at keeping you alive in cold, Antarctic waters!).

After our briefings, we all finished securing everything down before heading off.  Everyone stood out on deck and watched the ropes tying us to land one by one get released.  Punta Arenas disappeared into the distance.  Leaving port is always a fairly emotional time, and a sobering reminder that we are going to be in such a remote place that very few people are privileged to experience (although, having said that, it is very likely to get bumpy in places!)  It’s very important that we look out for each other, and it’s very reassuring that we have worked so well together as a team over the past few days. Let’s see what the Southern Ocean has in store for us.

On a lighter note it’s also Suzy’s birthday today!  Many happy returns – what a fantastic way to celebrate!

And, so, we are finally on our way.  Next stop: Burdwood Bank.

By: Kate

Weather: 39F, 10 knot winds, very rainy!

Birthday girl Suzy trying on her life jacket.  Everyone has a life jacket and a survival suit in their rooms, and it’s really important that we all know how to use them properly!

Eric modeling his survival suit.

The science party during a lifeboat drill.  In an emergency, there are two lifeboats and several rafts, and everyone has to crowd into a small space.  There are provisions and fuel for two days, and each lifeboat has an officer to steer them to safety.

The science party during a briefing on deck safety, given by Marine Technician Stian.

Photos by  Andrew Margolin.

ECW: Extreme Cold Weather

8th May 2011
Antarctica: Discovered in 1820, the most southerly continent, encapsulating the South Pole and 98% covered in ice = one of the most extreme and harsh continents in the world. Considered a desert (an average of just 8 inches of rain fall here a year) there are no permanent residents and just a few thousand people visit this continent each year, primarily for science purposes. Though the average temperatures at this time of year on the Western Antarctic Peninsula (where this expedition is headed) are around -10C, the coldest natural temperature on earth was recorded on this continent, -89.2C, at the Russian Vostok Station in 1983. All of this cold weather calls for some pretty serious exposure protection - ECW Gear.

Every person deploying with the United States Antarctic Program (USAP) is kitted out with ECW (Extreme Cold Weather) gear before deployment either to the ships or bases that enter Antarctica. One of the first things we do when we enter Chile, usually the day after we fly into Punta Arenas, is head to the warehouse at the docks and try on all our ECW gear to make sure it all fits and we have enough to keep us warm while working in the cold. Every person on the cruise gets the following:-

2 pairs of thermal underwear
2 pairs of wool socks
1 outer Gore-Tex jacket
1 polar fleece jacket
1 polar fleece pants
1 polar fleece neck gaiter
1 polar fleece hat
1 Gore-Tex bib
3 pairs of gloves (1 pair of liners, 1 pair of leather work gloves, 1 pair wool gloves)
2 pairs of fishermen's gloves
1 pair waterproof mitts
1 pair googles
1 PVC jacket
1 PVC bib
1 set of steel toe waterproof boots

By supplying all of these warm clothes to the scientists who deploy to the Antarctic, the USAP is ensuring we both stay warm, but also that we stay safe while working in the coldest, driest, windiest and harshest place on earth.

With last minute preparations almost finished, we'll be ready to sail at 1600 on Monday!

By: Rhian

Weather: 37F, 5 knots wind, sunny

The manekin at the USAP warehouse, showing us all what we will look like by the time ECW gear issues is done! (T. Vd Flierdt)

To get your ECW gear, the first thing you need to do is see Pablo, who will help you choose all the right gear to go on your science expedition. (T. Vd Flierdt)

Everyone going out on an expedition is handed a large duffel bag, with clothes to try on to make sure they all fit. We'll all keep, and wear, these clothes until the end of the expedition, then hand them back in to be washed and passed onto the next USAP participant. (D. Case)

Shannon Hoy shows us her polar fleece and googles! (T. Vd Flierdt)

There are rack and racks of every size scientist coming through the ECW warehouse! (D. Case)

David Case shows off his new ECW hat! (T. Vd Flierdt)

Boxes, boxes and more boxes!

6th May 2011

No rest today after some long flights yesterday, we all started to unload, unpack, and organize at way before the crack of dawn (the sun isn’t rising here until after 9am). After a quick tour of the main science spaces and some instructions on where boxes should go, it was all hands to the starboard deck to unload all of our science gear from the van it travelled down to Chile in. With amazing efficiency our science party, many of whom only met each other for the first time last night, worked together to get all the science gear unloaded from the van, unpacked into laboratories, organized and inventoried to make sure all was there. Things that were missing were chased up, equipment from the ship was found and set up and the Towed Camera engineers worked tirelessly to start to get the camera system put together.

There is a lot to do before you can actually go to sea and often not much time to do it in. Large research ships spend most of their time at sea, stopping only to let the last science party off, the new one embark, refuel and restock. These ships see literally hundreds of different scientists cross the gangplank, each to do slightly different projects onboard that require different equipment, set-up and skills. As such the turnover from one science party to another can be fast and furious. Having a great science party and ship crew can make this process a lot easier, and we certainly have that here in Punta Arenas.

There is still much to do tomorrow and Sunday, but with our team working so well together today, we are well ahead of the curve. 

By: Rhian

Weather: 39F, 12 knot wind, rain

Most of our boxes were shipped down to Southern Chile inside the WHOI TowCam van. After a few days delay for high winds, it was loaded onto the ship yesterday morning, where it will stay for the duration of our cruise. (R. Waller)

And all the boxes needed to be unloaded today so the TowCam engineers could get inside to set up our camera system. It was all hands on deck! (A. Margolin)

Once all the boxes were unloaded from the container, it was time to start setting up equipment and unpacking. Andrea starts to set up the titration system in the Hydro Lab. (R. Waller)

By the end of the day the Hydro Lab was looking well used! (R. Waller)

 David (left), John and Suzanne cover the Dry Lab tables in contact paper, to both protect the tables and prevent any contamination to sensitive samples. (A. Margolin)

Punta Arenas

Sitting in the Straits of Magellan, Punta Arenas is Chile’s most southerly city and the capital of the Magellanes region. It is also where the science vessels dock for the United States Antarctic Program and the starting point on our journey to the Drake Passage and Western Antarctic Peninsula, less than 900 miles directly south of here. To even get to Punta Arenas is no mean feat, taking over 28 hours of travel for most of our crew. Take a look at our investigators page and you’ll see we’re all congregating here not only from many locations around the US but abroad too. With a little luck, by the end of the day, all of our science crew will be here.

Getting here is just the start however. Over the next few days there is a lot of work to do before we can leave on Monday. All of the science gear for this cruise left Massachusetts in January, and many supplies and chemicals were directly shipped down here, so we need to make sure everything made it in one piece. The next few days will involve a lot of unpacking and setting up gear, finding all our supplies and making sure we have everything – once we leave the dock there is no turning back because something is missing. All the science party has to get kitted out with their ‘Extreme Cold Weather” gear (more on that later this week!) and make sure they have everything they need personally - it’s no fun going on a 5 week cruise to discover you forgot the shampoo!

Lets hope all those lists that were made many months ago covered all our bases!

By: Rhian

Weather – 41F, 40 knot winds, cloudy and rain

Flying over the Patagonian Andes en-route to Punta Arenas is probably one of the most spectacular flights on this planet. Luckily the weather turned clear in time for us to see some of the amazing mountains, glaciers and fjords in this region.

The ARV Nathaniel B. Palmer, our research vessel for the next 5 weeks, at the dock at Punta Arenas.

Laura Robinson (left) and Andrea Burke (right) next to the ARV Nathaniel B. Palmer.

Posting will start on the 5th May 2011!