Mount Erebus, Ross Island, Antarctica

Mount Erebus (English pronunciation: /ˈɛrɨbəs/) is the second highest volcano in Antarctica (after Mount Sidley), and the 6th highestultra mountain on an island. With a summit elevation of 3,794 metres (12,448 ft), it is located on Ross Island, which is also home to three inactive volcanoes, notably Mount Terror. Mount Erebus is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, which includes over 160 active volcanoes.

The volcano has been observed to be continuously active since 1972 and is the site of the Mount Erebus Volcano Observatory run by the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (source wikipedia)

Mount Erebus is the site we visited recently. We will be returning to the region upon completion of our cruise toward the beginning of February.

Mount Erebus, Ross Island, Antarctica (Photo by Marco Pedulli)

Back on Track!

Finally, we are back on track!  It looks like science has successfully resumed after the rescue operations, which, by the way, went very well. Needless to say they were very organized. Hats off to the crew, passengers and guests of the Nathaniel B. Palmer. There is no way these operations could have been dealt with more professionally. 

The ban on sharing photos and intimate details about the incident still holds to protect the privacy of the fishermen.  More on this soon!

Now, after a two-day hiatus we are back on track with our sampling protocol. The next stations to be occupied and sampled will be Station #7 followed by Station #8. The former is the site of the Ross ice shelf water while the latter features a high biomass (HB#1, with high chlorophyll concentrations).  MODIS satellite was used to describe HB#1 based on fluorescence values, while Temperature-Salinity plots will be used to characterize the distinct ice shelf water. The usual sampling protocol includes trace metal sampling followed by CTD casts from different depths and net towing. As mentioned in one of the earlier blogs the PRISM project hinges around 4 major hypotheses. One such hypothesis is that sea ice tends to melt during the austral summer (December-February) because of high solar incidence (24hrs of sunlight) and this water mass is a potential source for new iron for photosynthesis to take place  unhindered, resultantly allowing biomass to accumulate. 

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A side note:

Pictures were not uploaded properly in my earlier blogs. Apologies for the inconvenience this might have created.  I'll try to fix the problem as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience and please don't hesitate to drop me a line or two whenever you can at the following address:

"Marco Pedulli" <marco.pedulli.guest@nbp.usap.gov>

or twit your queries at @mpedulli 

Signing off for now.

Marco Pedulli

Science suspended for a day or two!

All is well aboard our research ship which participated in a rescue of fishermen from their burning vessel (Korean fishing vessel).  We have been asked until further notice not to communicate any details regarding this situation out of respect for the privacy of those we took aboard.  The media has many articles regarding this situation which can readily be found online.

The hydrography group

Work Station for the hydrography group (our office for the next two months or so) - Staphanie Hathcock (PRISM Outreach, ODU) and Pierre St. Laurent (hydro group, ODU) - Photo by Marco Pedulli

Eddies

En route to our next sampling station we spotted two eddies (a smaller, eddy # 1 and a little larger eddy #2) and stopped to sample them using CTD and trace metal tow fish. The 'M' in PRIMS - RS stands for mesoscale  processes and it looks like there is going to be a lot of those in the Ross Sea. One way to detect these oceanographic features is by looking at satellite pictures for chlorophyll patterns - usually circular or elliptical in shape, with high concentrations at the edges. The moving vessel profiler, which is towed from the ship, is sending in images and a computer software onboard of NBP (Nathaniel B. Palmer) is analyzing the pictures in near-real time  and decisions for where to exactly take samples from will be based on these observations.

On the hunt for CDW (Circumpolar Deep Water)

Now that we have finished sampling Station #3 we are on an incessant hunt for CDW. This mass of water has distinct characteristics and along-track sensors mounted on the MVP (moving vessel profiler) will be able to identify such properties of the CDW as salinity, temperature, etc. 

In the meanwhile, however the sea-ice is always a pleasure to look at and never ceases to surprise us. At times this white 'desert' is punctured by large animals as Emperor penguins and seals (pictured below). Other unidentified birds do, from time to time, hover over the ice in search for food.

Two is company (A pair of Emperor Penguins) – Photo by Stephanie Hathcock

Three is crowd (Seals) – Photo by Stephanie Hathcock

Photo of the Day

Iceberg near Antarctica (Photo by Marco Pedulli)