21 December 2012: Happy Solstice!

21 December 2012

Happy Solstice!

When we first arrived in McMurdo we still had sunrise and sunset, although the daylight was long.  On 23 October we got our last sunset for the field season and it is now 24 hours a day of daylight.

One of the last sunsets.  Photographer- Laurie Connell, Location McMurdo Station Antarctica.

But today marks a shift in our pattern.  For us in the far southern hemisphere, the December solstice is when the sun begins to shift downward toward the horizon as we slowly move into our long winter night.   Our next sunset is 20 February, still quite a long time away.  

Does all of this daylight bother us?  Well, it can make sleeping difficult but if you pull down your cap or put on eye shades it is plenty dark to sleep. 

 Laurie Connell at Fang Glacier camp- photographer Hubert Stadiguel.

We also work hard while in the field so can get so tired we could sleep just about any place.

 So, enjoy the return of the sun in the Northern hemisphere while we watch the sun slowly get ready to set again.

Photo of Rusty Rodriguez and Regina Redman sleeping in Helo.  Photographer Scott Craig, location some place over Taylor Valley Antarctica.

Polar Mirage

By: Dr. Laurie Connell

Here in McMurdo we often see mirages when looking across McMurdo Sound to the Royal Society range or Mount Discovery. These are specifically a form of superior mirage where alternating cold layers and warm layers of air bend the light and can form fantastical images, often appearing like cliffs or upside down mountains. This type of mirage is called a Fata Morgana after Morgan le Fay, who was a fairy enchantress skilled in the art of changing shape in the tales of King Arthur. How ever they are formed, they are enjoyable to watch.

Photos of the Day: Cape Royds and Penguins

 I'm out working at Cape Royds now.  It is the location of the southern most Adelie Penguin colony in the world.  Here is a photo of my tent with the Mr. Yeast flag on it and Mount Erebus in the background.  A second photo is of some penguins in the
colony displaying for each other.

Photo of the Day: Summit of Mount Erebus

Our Mr Yeast Flag on the summit of Mount Erebus, the crater rim.

The person holding the flag is New Mexico Tech Mount Erebus Volcano Observatory (MEVO) Graduate student Nial Peters.  Photo by Anthony Rigoni

Cesium Chloride Density Gradients

By: Sarah Turner

I last spoke about our BrdU project here. Once we have incubated the Antarctic fungi DNA with BrdU, we then must seperate out the unlabelled DNA from the BrdU labelled DNA. We accomplish this by ultracentrifugation in a solution of cesium chloride. Ultracentrifugation is like normal centrifugation, only it's much faster and for a lot longer. We usually spin our CsCl density gradients for 48 hours at 48,000 x gravity.

Due to the density differences of BrdU labelled DNA (BrdU labelled DNA is more dense than non-labelled DNA) the two seperate and form two bands, similarly to this:

Source

After 48 hours of ultracentrifugation, we are then able to fraction off the gradient in order to determine where the bands have developed in the tube. Fractionating separates the two bands into new tubes.

After fractionating, we precipitate the DNA out of the CsCl solution so we now have pure BrdU labelled DNA.

Here's a great video that helps to explain a similar application of CsCl density gradients, fractionating, and precipitating.

JoVE: DNA Stable-Isotope Probing (DNA-SIP)

Also, check out this video for more information on the chemistry of cesium chloride density gradients:

15 November 2012: Off to Mount Erebus!

 By: Dr. Laurie Connell

15 November 2012

Off to Mount Erebus!

We have been getting things ready here in McMurdo for quite some time.  Our team is assembled and we have been working with our mountaineer to hone our mountain skills.  Now it’s finally time to begin our trip up. 

First we need to weigh all the gear and get it to the helo hanger.  Accurate weights are important so the pilots know how much fuel needs to be on board.  With six people and our gear we will need several flights just to get to the acclimation camp at Fang Glacier.

We only bring what we need to rest and get used to the altitude.  Fang Camp is on a glacier at about 9000 ft.   We will be staying in Scott tents, a kind of tent that has been shown to be very good in the kinds of conditions we can expect.  

But if we get the chance to walk around we should do some light exercise so we acclimate better.  Below is a photo of the rock formation that gave Fang Glacier it’s name- I guess it looks a bit like a fang.   After two nights at Fang, we will move up again to Lower Erebus hut, we call it LEH for short.  I won’t be using email from Mount Erebus so we will post some photos and reports from back home at the lab.

Cheerio!

13 November 2012: Discovery Hut

13 November 2012

Discovery Hut

The history of this part of the world is pretty recent compared to most places, but quite interesting.  In the McMurdo area there are several historic huts remaining from the historic era of Antarctic exploration.  These huts are now maintained by the Antarctic Historic trust and there is an ongoing effort to archive the contents- in fact for some of the huts artifacts are now being returned by people who had taken souvenirs in the 1950’s before the huts were protected.

You can find a more complete list of Antarctic huts and ruins at http://www.polarheritage.com/index.cfm/anthutlist.

The hut that is closest to McMurdo station is called Discovery Hut.  Captain Robert Falcon Scott built it for the British Antarctic expedition of 1901-1904.  It is the smallest of the three huts.  Captain Scott decided that the members of the party would live aboard the ship after it was frozen in for it’s two-year stay and the hut was primarily used as a science observation hut, storehouse, a work room and even a theater.    This was partly because the hut was difficult to keep warm with the limited amount of available coal and there had been some difficulty in digging into the permafrost for a foundation.  The hut was used by a number of other groups over the next decade. 

Originally there were a number of smaller huts used as research labs for magnetic and seismographic work.   One of the most interesting parts left in the Discovery Hut is the pit that had been used by Louis Bernacchi and Reginald Skelton for the pendulum apparatus used for gravity measurements.  This was constructed in November 1902 when the seismograph was moved to the main hut.

For more details and some great old photographs please check the Antarctic Historic trust website

http://www.nzaht.org/AHT/HutPointP1/

9 November 2012: Getting food!

 By: Dr. Laurie Connell

9 November 2012

Getting food!

As we prepare for our trips out into the field one of our tasks is doing a “Food Pull”.  We make a calculation of how many days we will be out and how many people will be on the trip.  We also have to take into consideration how we will be able to cook.  In some places, such as Fang Glacier, we will make hot water only so the food will consist of dehydrated meals, dry soups and tea.  When we are at a fixed field camp with a building then we have a stove and more room so we can have more regular meals.  Either way we have to collect, pack and weigh all the food so it can be transported with us out to our location. 

We did our dry food pull for our Mount Erebus trip yesterday and will do the frozen foods (meat and cheese) on Saturday.  Just the dry part of the pull took us well over 3 ½ hours to collect and pack. 

               So, What is the food room like?  It’s kind of like a small grocery store and the food manager, Peggy, has the inventory all bar coded so she can keep track of how much goes out to each field party.

9 November 2012: Our First Samples Are Up!

By: Dr. Laurie Connell

9 November 2012

Our first samples are up!

Most of our job while in Antarctica is to collect samples and bring them back home for analysis but as we retrieve our samples they need to be processed for the archive and travel home.

The first step is to open up the container.  In this case the sample was from a dive site at Cape Evan’s Wall.

The charge after opening.

The inside of the container had some small starfish and crabs as well as the usual fouling organisms.   The star fish were released into the McMurdo aquarium touch tank.

The remainder of the sample was split into parts that were fixed for microscopy and some that were stored for DNA extraction or for culturing.  We have a variety of rock types as well as slides to determine how the microbes alter the glass surface.

8 November 2012: Getting down to science

By: Dr. Laurie Connell

This project is focused on determining what the microbial community is that colonizes rocks from volcanoes- basaltic rocks.  These rocks are high in iron (Fe) and manganese (Mn).  There are some microbes that can get their energy directly from rocks and some that can get their carbon from the air as either carbon dioxide (CO₂) or carbon monoxide (CO).  Our part of the project is interested in the fungi in these microbial communities.

Four years ago we made microbe traps.  They were tubes and sachets with bits of rock with various amounts of Fe or Mn in them.  We then put them in several different habitats that have a natural basaltic substrate nearby. 

The first one we placed out is near a basaltic wall that is under seawater- called Cape Evan’s Wall.  Hubert and the divers will be recovering that trap later today.

Next we put traps at various depths in a permantly ice covered lake in the McMurdo Dry Valleys- Lake Fryxell.  The ice is quite thick on the lake and although light does penetrate the ice never goes off the surface.

Two other sets of traps were put in seasonal streams from Hughes Glacier and from Walcott glacier.  These streams are usually frozen but flow a few weeks a year when the glacier is actively melting.   The last set of traps was put on the active volcano, Mount Erebus. We are getting packed now to begin our Mount Erebus ascent next week.  More about Mount Erebus  and what we are doing up there in later posts. 

 Right now it is getting warmer as spring progresses but it is still very cold in the wind with a -41^oF windchill temperature.  That makes for a cold skidoo ride out to Cape Evan’s Wall to pick up our samples today!

Photo of the Day: Crevasse Training

Submitted by: Dr. Laurie Connell

Here I am all set for crevasse training.  We need to be in climbing harnesses so get into and out of the fumarole caves on Mount Erebus so practice is important.

30 October 2012: Driving to the South Pole

 By: Dr. Laurie Connell

30 October 2012

Driving to the South Pole

Yes, there actually is a pole at the South Pole, in fact there are several!

There is the geographic South Pole that is put in each year by the USGS and the ceremonial South Pole- that’s were people go to get their photos taken.  Here is a photo of one of our friends at the geographic South Pole a few years ago. 

But did you know that there is also a Road to the South Pole?  It is the ULTIMATE Ice Road and is a bit over 1600km (that is nearly 1000 miles) long from McMurdo Station to The Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station.  It took several years to build by filling in crevasses in the steep glacier section.   The McMurdo Ice Shelf and the Polar Plateau are relatively stable so required much less work to develop a road but the section between that climbs the Leverett glacier and is a mass of crevasses.  This is what is called the shear zone- where two ice sheets collide.  This highway to the South Pole was first used in 2007.  The South Pole Traverse, as it is known, is a convoy of vehicles that carry fuel and other supplies up the glacier and onward to the pole.  It takes about 40 days to get there but faster on the way back since they carry less weight.

 

Map From Wikipedia

It takes big vehicles to pull all that weight and equipment up the traverse route.  Here is one of the Case tractors that have been fitted with treads that they use.  They pull housing modules (also pictured) and well as fuel bladders.   The first of two trips will leave McMurdo in a few days and the second will leave a week or two later.  They can transport enough fuel to reduce the need for LC130 flights significantly.  The LC130s burn 2 gallons of fuel for each gallon they deliver but the traverse burns only 1 gallon for each gallon they deliver- a significant savings on a precious commodity.

Photo of the Day: 1 Nov 2012: Say Cheese

Photo by Hubert Staudigel
Emperor penguin on the Sea Ice near the Barnes Glacier, Ross Island, Antarctica.

The people in the photo are (Left to right)  Anthony Rigoni, Laurie Connell and Forrest McCarthy

Snow Craft I Course Recap

28 October 2012

by Dr. Laurie Connell

I didn’t need to do the snow craft I course this year since I have had the refresher course in the last 5 years but I thought I’d post some photos from when we did take it back in 2002.

The first photo is our group cutting snow blocks for our protection wall.  The snow in this area of Antarctica is perfect for walls and igloos.

The second photo is of us ready to cook dinner- our wall is up and a big storm is coming in.

Quinsy huts are like igloos but are built from packing snow down on gear and then pulling the gear out – then you dig down and back up for an entrance to keep the colder air out and the air you warm up by body heat in.  They are great places to be in a big storm but take some time to build.

 This is the whole camp out on the Ross Ice Shelf- it was a cold night and very windy but we were comfortable in our Quinsy.

Antarctic Update: 26 Oct 2012

by: Dr. Laurie Connell

When we arrive in McMurdo Station we have to take all sorts of training before we can go out into the field.  This includes snow craft (camping in the snow and survival training), helicopter training, sea ice training, environmental protection training- the list goes on…As I wait in town to get my snowmobile driver training all updated I am not allowed to drive one myself- but I can ride on the back.  Today one of the penguin researchers gave me the chance to go out to Cape Royds with her.  I jumped that the chance!  Cape Royds is one of the most southern penguin rookeries in the world.  There are Adelie penguins there and they are just now starting to arrive for the season.  Check out the website for more information about this location and nest checks throughout the season (http://www.penguinscience.com/classroom_home.php).

Four of us ventured out and although the weather was not clear and bright it was a great trip none the less.

I am collecting some penguin bones and skulls to mount for display in classrooms.  You need a permit for that so not everyone can collect penguin parts (and I have one.)  We got several but I’ll still need a few more. Here is what they look like before we begin the process of getting them ready for the classroom.

Hopefully we will be able to go back to make a bigger collection next week and the weather will be better for photos.

On the way back we stopped at the Barnes Glacier and took a few photos.  The beautiful blue is the real color of the glacier and the small bits of ice at the bottom make great ice for drinks since it pops and fizzles as it melts. 

While Dr. Connell's away, what does the lab do?

We keep on doing science!

by: Sarah Turner

While Dr. Connell is on her Antarctic adventure for the next couple months, Katie and I (the Connell techs) are holding down the fort in the laboratory. 

 We've been very busy with a variety of research projects including a project we call "the BrdU project." (Pronounced Burr-doo) 

The BrdU project involves the use of a synthetic chemical called 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BrdU for short). It can replace thymidine during DNA replication and results in labelled DNA. 

Because BrdU can be incorporated into DNA (including human DNA), it is considered a mutagenic hazard. (causing DNA mutations) We always use extreme caution in the lab when working with BrdU including wearing gloves, a lab coat, and working in a chemical fume hood. Ben talked more about the importance of chemical fume hoods here. 

BrdU is of special interest to scientists because of it's unique quality to label DNA. At the Connell lab, we are especially interested in BrdU labelling of Antarctic fungi DNA.    

BrdU's molecular structure and labeling of DNA
(citation)

There are many steps involved in the process, but recently I've been culturing some of our Antarctic fungi  with BrdU to try to determine which species incorporate the BrdU into their DNA and which species do not. After the BrdU is incubated with the cells, the DNA is then extracted from the cells and put on a cesium chloride (CsCl) gradient in order to separate the labelled DNA (+BrdU) from the unlabelled DNA (-BrdU).

Stay tuned for more about CsCl gradients and updates from Dr. Connell's adventures in Antarctica!

Captain Scott takes a fall

by: Dr. Laurie Connell

It is a beautiful day here is McMurdo but not all of the team is here yet and Anthony
needs to do his complete Snow Craft course (AKA Happy Camper). This involves going
out onto the Ross Iceshelf and camping over night. It can be lots of fun and is a great
learning experience.

While I wait in “town” I thought I’d fill you in on one of the other points of interest in
Christchurch. As many groups travel down to “The Ice” they have made a pilgrimage of
sorts to the statue of Captain Robert Falcon Scott that was along the Avon River near the
Center of Christchurch.

Captain Scott was one of the early British Antarctic explorers and is most famous for his
ill-fated trip to the South Pole. Their team walked to the South Pole and arrived on 17
January 1912, just over 100 years ago. Unfortunately, they found that the Norwegian
expedition, lead by Roald Amundsen had beaten them. The British group all perished
during the trip back but managed to acquire some very important rocks that later
supported plate tectonics.

The Captain Scott statue fell during the February 2011 earthquake but was lucky enough
to fall on the grass. Right now just his pedestal stands.

But all is not lost. The statue broke at the ankles and has some other less serious damage
so it is now in storage and will eventually be repaired and replaced. The statue was on
display for awhile at the 2012 Ice Festival before going back into storage.

Check out these sites to see more photos of the statue after it fell.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/7649093/Quake-damaged-statue-back-on-display

Captain Scott Statue update
http://www.ccc.govt.nz/cityleisure/artsculture/artinthecity/statues/
captainrobertfalconscottstatue.aspx

The Travel to Antarctica

 by: Dr. Laurie Connell

On my way and already lost a day!

It is a long trip from backwoods Maine to Sunny Antarctica.  We have already had freezes and sleet here so perhaps it isn't that big of a difference after all.

I took off from the teaming metropolis of Bangor (Bangor International Airport)  early on the morning of October 18th.
Here I am at the airport ready to go. 

My first flight was to Philadelphia with a several hour layover.  Then a flight that was a bit shorter than 6 hours “seat time” to Los Angeles.

 I arrived in the evening but it was still pretty hot and sultry.

 Next is a long flight to Auckland New Zealand- our port of entry.   That flight is over 13 hours.
Although we left in the evening of October 18th we arrived in New Zealand on the morning of October 20th.  We lost a day because we crossed the International Date line.

More to come in a future posting on our short visit to Christchurch New Zealand.  That is where we pick up our cold weather gear and catch our Air Force flight to Antarctica!

Shipping Cargo to Antarctica

Submitted by Laurie Connell

It is time to ship cargo!  Even tough we have a few months to go before we leave for Antarctica it is time for us to ship our cargo so that it will be there for us when we arrive.  This is a critical part of the planning process with many steps.  Each piece of cargo has to have a complete inventory, size (cube) and weight.  It is shipped from Maine to Port Hueneme, CA so that it can be put into the cargo stream.  We call Port Hueneme PH for short- one of the very many acronyms we use while working with the Antarctic program.  In PH each cargo crate is given a transport control number (TCN)- this is just like what companies like Fed Ex use to track their shipments. 

From PH the cargo travels to the Antarctic Gateway of Christchurch New Zealand. 

  

From there it is loaded onto military cargo planes and flown down to McMurdo Station on large pallets.

When we pack we have to be careful that we do not use any shipping “peanuts”.  These polystyrene packing materials are banned under the Antarctic Conservation act!  I prepare a detailed inventory list of each item in each crate- this one has ascent boots, extra arm coats and cameras for our Mount Erebus volcanic caves work.

Then each box gets labeled with stickers that tell the cargo handlers if they can freeze or not- as you can see all of ours are DNF- that means Do Not Freeze.   I have packed things with batteries in these crates and freezing is bad for them.

Then each crate is banded and shipped out!

Timelapse #2!

Hey there everyone. We have ourselves another shiny new timelapse video! This one is of a yeast genus called Alternaria. This particular isolate we got from Taylor Valley, Antarctica.

The video shuts off sometimes because the incubator we grew these guys in was made for plankton, and as such it shuts off the light at night (too much light can be bad for plants). Also some condensation built up on the inside of the plate making it hard to see, but rest assured, we are working on fixing these problems.

Enjoy!

By Ben Segee