MERRY CHRISTMAS!

 Merry Christmas from Rothera! Hope you are all having a wonderful time :)

World Antarctica day - talking to school children!

Last week we spoke to over 200 children across the UK to mark world Antarctica day.

From the BAS facebook page: ''Children aged 7-9 yrs old from Selborne Primary School in Hampshire enjoyed speaking to marine biologist Sarah Reed at our Rothera Research Station. And here they are all dressed up for speaking to Sarah as part of their 'extreme survival' module''

Throughout my time here I have been connecting with various different schools; here is a video John Law the meteorologist and I made for a school he was in contact with.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4EaRXC1g5g&feature=youtu.be



Kat Morgan my childhood friend is a teacher at a school in England, her class sent me lots of questions to answer! This is the letter I sent them.

 

Kat has also made a funny 3D model of me for her school board!

 

Last year I spoke to Sue Hamilton Peach and her school in Southampton  - this is the board she made about science in Antarctica, they also sent me lots of questions which I answered by letter!



We are having a tough time at Rothera this season, Antarctica is not playing nicely! There are currently no sea ice operations as the sea ice is rotting and too unsafe to work on, thus preventing us from completing our dive and boat work. The sea ice has not been around Rothera Point for this long since 2005. Hopefully the sea ice will break up soon so that we can go boating again! So we were all really happy to speak to children across the UK for world Antarctica last week to get up our spirits and motivation again. It was truly inspiring for us to hear how excited the children were and to answer all the questions that they came up with! If anyone would like to get in contact with researchers or base workers here at Rothera let me know.

 

Iceberg diving!

Kate our diving officer recently got a risk assessment approved for us to go diving on ice bergs. The conditions need to be calm on the surface and we an air temperature of > -5 oC, the icebergs also need to be grounded and fasted within fast ice for us to get close to them, if not then we can look at them from a distance.

 

 

 

When there is no fast ice, ice bergs move with the wind and currents, unless grounded. During this time ice bergs are too unpredictable to dive on, as below the surface is 3 x the height of what is above the water. Even on a cold day icebergs can roll and break up.

 

Kate Stanton's photo

Here is a wide angle shot of the ice berg in Hangar

You can see the excitement in my eyes!

 

 

One day last week we went diving through the main hole whilst Ben's controlled his remotely operated vehicle (ROV) called Debra through the safety hole and videoed our dive! It was such an incredible experience diving under the ice whilst on an iceberg and an ROV which looked like an alien under water followed us.

 

DEBRA the ROV

These are the incredible shots Ben took with the ROV - you can use us for scale. The iceberg is 14 m deep!

 

Undulating cusps of the icerberg

Collecting algae (mostly diatoms) off the iceberg!!!!!

 

 

 

It is such an amazing opportunity to dive under the ice and then around an iceberg that I took the time to have a bit of a relax in the dive hole afterwards!

Way too acclimatised...the water is -1.8 and I'm not wearing any gloves....

 

 

 

Fossil Bluff open up

 

 

In the last week of October Al and Rob went out to Fossil Bluff to begin the opening up of the hut at Fossil Bluff. I then went into Fossil Bluff and Rob got moved onto Sky Blue, so I helped Al to finish off getting the site up and running for the summer after 8 months of being winterised.

Fossil Bluff

Fossil Bluff is used as a refuelling site for the twin otters that fly from Rothera to Sky Blue and then further afield to the Berkner ice shelf where there is a traverse of scientists or onto Halley and other remote sites. I managed to spend a few days here last February (I wrote a blog post called the silent sound). Fossil Bluff has an amazing mountain type hut (photo above) beneath the ridges, the building itself was brought over from Stonington when BAS were the FIDs and then it was rebuilt next to King Geroge IV ice shelf.

We had a big list of jobs to do, I won't lie, it took me a few days to get into the swing of digging as I really just wanted to have a day to get my head straight and have a rest from the busy life of Rothera. However, I got into the swing of it as Al and I started the big dig!

The circle at the top is Rothera, Fossil bluff is the middle circle and then Sky Blue another refuelling station has been circled at the bottom

Luckily all the fuel drums that were left last summer could be hit out one at a time so didn't need digging out. Our first epic dig was of one of the depos. There were 4 drums that made a square to hold up dunnage (pieces of wood), it's taken me ages to remember that word and then on top of that is manfood for the hut and some science gear.

Al standing on top of the depo we dug out, before this photo it was covered in snow up to the boxes on top! It did feel great to have it sitting on the surface.

Our next big day was to get the apple hut raised out of the windscoop that had been made around it during the winter. We used a hand turf winch that we attached with rope to the sides of the hut. It was a pretty epic day getting this to the surface, Al felt like a coal miner as he has to hack at the ice that had formed around the runners of the apple hut.

We use this apple hut to keep warm whilst waiting for planes but also it has a HF radio inside that we use to pass our meterological observations (met obs) to Rothera. We complete met obs every hour when there are planes flying in or around our area. We give them information on the horiztonal definition, contrast, present weather so things like drifting or blowing snow, also the cloud coverage in oktas and then the layers of those clouds. The temperature, dewpoint, wind and also the QNH are given to Rothera and then passed onto the pilots. The pilots use the QNH of the airstrip (we have an altimeter that we use to get the pressure setting of the airfield) at fossil bluff to set that in their altimeter so that they know the height of the airfeild.

Great view of the hut from the peak near Gizza

It was pretty fun discussing the weather with Al, especially cloud heights as we wanted to get it right for the pilots. Usually when the pilots landed I asked for feedback on cloud heights and things to makesure we were being as accurate as we could be!

Feeling happy that everything is now back on the ground!

We battled with a skidoo (I couldn't help much) whilst we were at the Bluff we tried everything with our best knowledge and tips from the mechanic over the radio but we had to give up when we left the bluff and passed it onto Ali Rose who loves skidoos....

 

Al's sledging skidoo fixing service

Al spent alot of his time with his head stuck in the skidoo

 

We managed to get out walking on a few evenings and afternoons. The recreational area around the Bluff is incredible, so close to the hut and so out there on our own ! We carried a sat phone so that we could call Rothera every 3 hours.

Amazing to see how the wind shapes where the snow falls

We managed a few big days of walking up behind the hut one evening ending it with an epic scree run. We also got to the top of Gizza the peak behind the skiway and then on another afternoon we got to the top of Pyramid (I always mix this up and call it triangle). We climbed it late in the afternoon as orographic cloud was forming around us, it was pretty awesome!

We also ate pretty well, it was great to have a bit of freedom with things like not signing out in the Rothera book to tell people where you're going and also choosing when to have dinner was exciting; I don't mind the routine at Rothera just sometimes it's great to have a bit of a break and that's exactly why all of the winters get to go on copilot flights and get to stay at the Bluff and Sky Blue to have a break from the base!

An awesome invention by a friend of Als, burning toilet paper to chargrill the tuna in its own oil...you should definitely try this!




We then added it to the top of a pizza which we made in a frying pan ontop of a primus...also amazing!!

 

The other best thing about this break was that I got to go flying!!! I haven't been flying for 8 months (I think that's the longest break I've ever had from flying). On the way there we got a great view of what the sea ice was doing as it has started to break up around the Islands to the south of us; it's so thick around Marguerite bay. On the way back from Fossil Bluff I was the co-pilot with Ollie, it was so much fun, I was allowed to fly the whole way back and with the new Garmin G950, so for all those flying enthusiasts check it out...https://www.garmin.com/en-US/blog/aviation/british-antarctic-survey-upgrades-twin-otter-g950/ ... it was weird flying without the now old school instruments and flying off screens..!

It was great to have a little mental break and to recharge by batteries, we are now back at Rothera and in the full swing of summer. Watch this space for another blog as I've had an epic week of diving on icebergs!!!

 

What am I actually doing here?

So I thought I would enlighten everyone on what job I am actually employed here at Rothera to do. I am here as a marine assistant for BAS to maintain a long term data set called the RaTs programme which is a data set that has been running since 1997 collecting biological and oceanographical data around Rothera.

 

Here is some great drone footage showing exactly where I live and work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3r4jrKmuBo

You can see from this graph that we have large fluctuation in air temperature and surface winds (Julian day numbers).

Before I talk about the science I am doing I would just like to note that living and working at the same place means that not only am I here at Rothera for science, but also to assist in keeping the base up and running. This can be from cooking tasks, to cleaning rotas (we called it gash).

 In addition to this as a wintering team we are trained up in fire response and oil response. 

That's me in the front learning how to use the breathing apparatus (BA) kit and how to enter
burning building safely.

As we are such a small team during the winter any one of us could be nearer the problem so it helps if everyone on base can act if there is an issue. In addition to this before I came south I was sent on training to become a medical assistant; 5 of us over winter are on standby to assist the doctor if there are any medical issues that may need help with.

Training exercise 

During the winter our other task is to complete night watch, lasting one week we monitor the base for any issues but more importantly are on standby to alert the base if there is a fire.

In-between assisting with base life my main job is to conduct water sampling every week (2 times in summer and once in winter).

Our trusty rib called Stella!!!

I send a CTD (conductivity temperature depth) down to 500 m at site 1, 4 km from base.

WE take the winch off the boat in the summer and attach
it to a nansen sledge, winching through a hole in the fast ice

Manuhauling the CTD sledge

Winching the CTD down to depth off
the rib stella in the summer. 

 If ice or weather does not allow then we go to our secondary site which is 2 km south of the wharf at 300 m depth or if the ice is unpredictable we sample 500 m off the wharf in 100 m of water depth.

My second job on the boat/ice is to send a niskin down to 15 m (that's where the chlorophyll maximum is), a niskin is sent down held open and when we want to sample a specific depth (15 m) we send a messenger down (a weight) to set off the trigger on the niskin to close it shut. 



WE often take helpers on the boat to speed up the sampling!
 On this day my dive had
been cancelled as a lep popped up so I
jumped on the boat to help sample.

Photo from past RMasst, a weight holds the niskin straight down
 in the water column so that it fires
Especially needed if there is a current.

 

In the winter I also completed the first under the ice turbulence measurement using a MSS profiler - pretty exciting! The data shows how much the ocean is mixing. Adam had to chainsaw this massive hole in the ice...pretty scary when you're standing on it!  

When back on land, I then have an afternoon or if the filters are running slow then an evening and maybe even a night in the lab. I filter 15 m water through Sartorius filters to get three repeats of size fractionated plankton; the plankton is fractionated through different size filters. The filters are then left in chloromethanol for 24 hours and then read in a fluorometer the next day. Acid is then added to the samples so that phaeopigment counts can be read by the fluorometer. 15 m water is also filtered for HPLC (phytoplankton pigments)

 

I also collect 15 m water for isotope, salt, nutrients, DOC (dissolved organic carbon), ammonia, virus and bacteria and 0 m (surface water) for isotope and ammonia analysis.

 

Lab book to keep all of the samples recorded

 

Fluorometer for measuring the samples

After the lab work I use programming software to download the CTD data and produce these depth profiles. These profiles show temperature, salinity, fluorescence and also PAR (photosynthetic active radition) so how far the light travels down the water column; all plotted against depth. These are key to present when the phytoplankton bloom is at it's peak and how much mixing or stratification is happening in the water column.  

Summer cast presenting high PAR, fluorescence with vertical
mixing of the phytoplankton down the water column
as results are usually higher in January.  Higher surface temperature and stratification against salinity.

Note how little PAR and fluorescence there is in this winter cast,
Sea surface temperature is low here, the sea ice formed
1 month before this cast explaining how the temperature
deeper down in the cast is kept warmer than in previous
years when there has been no sea ice. The salinity increases in winter
as salt is excluded as the sea ice forms.

Skidoos (you may have watched slednecks...not quite like that),
these machines are used to get us around Rothera in winter,
to our dive sites and sampling sites in winter and all year
round we use skidoos to get us to different climbing and skiing spots.

It's not just safely driving the boats around ice and strong currents oh and don't forget strong winds; we operate a crane and tractor in the summer to get the boats into the water.

Before we came down all of the marine team were put
through a crane course as it can be dangerous if used
incorrectly!!

All of the marine team help each other out. So Ben the marine biologists project is currently to look at the depth diversity relationship around Rothera using an ROV (remotely operated vehicle) which he has named Debra. 

You can see Ben in the background sitting on the floor controlling the ROV whilst
I retrieve it (you can just see the lights flashing).

WE also assist other parts of the summer team with the sea gliders by collecting and deploying them Usually the data is then sent back to people at Cambridge to analyse.

Last SAR day of summer - we got drenched.

SAR (search and recuse) is also an important part of the boat training with the boat man. Boat SAR is used when it is either a strong cross wind, particularly windy or if the pilots request it. We then position the boat in the cove that the planes are taking off over and wait for them to take off safely. WE are carrying medical equipment - but we really hope it wouldn't come to that.

 

 

I collect daily data about what wildlife we spot around Rothera. Snow petrels are seen for most of the year, whilst Adelie penguins are usually around from November to April and elephant seals occupy our base for about the same time as Adelies and a bit longer into winter they are seen hauled out around Rothera point. Everyone around base helps with this task as there are tick sheets in two of the main building. This creates a good present/absence data base. 

My second major job is dive related; mostly collecting biological information. Diving in the cold is not as much as an issue as I thought it would be. We have thick O'three specialized drysuits (so we pump air into our suit to keep us warm; we also use this for our buoyancy). I collect 4 different species from South Cove and 4 species from Hangar cove for preservation so that their gonads can be studied. A longterm data set which is important for reproductive history.

We dive in lots of different conditions from windy, to high density brash ice or underneath fast ice. Every day I record the ice state of Hangar cove, South cove and Ryder bay; stating out of 10th if it's filled with brash ice, fast ice or pack ice!


Odontaster

 

Under the sea ice in Hangar. Lots of  Sterechinus (sea urchins)

Parabolasia...they are so slimy..I always get Kate to collect these ha ha
They are pretty cool though..they kill its prey by rapidly and repeatedly stabbing it with a harpoon like barbed proboscis.

SEALEMON -my favourite animal here

 

Ice coring for the dutch collaberation

Cutting Turebellid worms out of their cast ready for preservation in for

Amphipod hoover and below the amphipods we then caught in a net that we retrieved. 



Lots of amphipods we then caught in a net that we retrieved.



Diving near icebergs is incredible - as we are doing a study on the impact of iceberg scouring
on the benthic communities.



Transect 3, depth 10 m

In south cove we have 3 transects with 3 repeats at 5 m, 10 m and 25 m of concrete grids with 25 concrete blocks. Every year we count how many blocks have been crushed/moved and then replace them.

When the sea temperature drops to -1.8 degree's Celsius then the sea water will start to freeze; this only happens on calm days with low air temperatures.

Data taken from a permanent logger at Ceshire cove. Notice how low the sea temperature is.

When the sea ice forms dive holes are cut, this is a big job for the dive team!

WE drive out to the site and get the correct location by GPS

Kate or Adam then chainsaw the boxes of ice out, we then haul them out with an ice screw and rope!

Then we dive through them - terrifying at first! Such an incredible experience.

It's even more cool (sometimes scary encase it's a lep) when a weddel pops it's head out of our diving hole to breathe.

 

In the summer I helped by boss the big DKA Barnes an awesome marine biologist to set up a sea ice camera to monitor the sheldon glacial retreat. This camera unfortunately failed so we are now trying out a different camera over looking Ryder Bay which is monitoring fast ice development and ice berg movement.

Above is Emily changing the memory card and checking the solar powered battery.

I monitor the sewage treatment plant (STP) by counting total coliforms which is a marker for pollution, I also look at the bacteria that is used to seed the STP under the microscope. 

My last task as marine assistant will be to take this container all of the way from the Antarctic Peninsula here at Rothera all of the way to Immingham in the UK....yes that's a very long way so it's going to take from April probably until June!! It is going to be such an incredible journey to travel that far across the world. And no it's not just any container, this container is a transport aquarium which I will be setting up in January and starting the biological loading. I will then be taking species back to the UK for scientists in Cambridge to run experiments on. 

When I'm not doing science or assisting base then I am out embracing this incredible continent either snowboarding or mixed climbing; both incredible sports or hanging out with this crazy bunch!

Al & I posing with Kelvin Helmholtz wave...



Full winter team

Where next? No idea....I've got another 8 months to figure it out!