We’re getting closer and closer to deploying! The first shipment of 2000 pounds of gear and stuff is on its way! I have my tickets and am leaving earlier than originally planned, on September 22 (in 37 days), so that I can do more outreach in New Zealand. Most of the rest of the team is leaving September 27 and September 29th we will all meet up at the Clothing Distribution Center in Christchurch, New Zealand to get our Extreme Cold Weather gear and to board the gigantic plane that will take us down to the Ice! Yipppeee!!
Though some of the “ICE AGED” members know each other and have worked together, some of us have not yet met. This Thursday, the local ICE AGED team members will be getting together for our first official team meeting! I think we’re all excited to learn more about who we will be sharing this incredible expedition with. In order to share it all with you, here is a little run-down of our ICE AGED team.
Who is who? We'll all know more soon!
The person that I’ve had the most contact with is Dr. Stacy Kim. Stacy is our “lead oxette” and the project manager behind our team. As she says, she’s the “main grunt (like the lead dog on a dog sled team, but not the musher!)” The musher is Paul or John, who you’ll read about in just a bit.
Foremost, Stacy has been dealing with all of the logistics involved from arranging for when we’re doing what and how to ordering every last nut and bolt for our supplies in a 100-page SIP (Support Information Package). She’s also been dealing with questions and issues on all fronts. I, and other members of our expedition, have emailed or called at all hours of the day with probably thousands of questions regarding packing and preparations. She’s been clarifying and elaborating details for every journal that I’ve written and has worked with me on my presentations, education and publicity efforts. She’s also been intimately involved with the engineers in the ongoing, complicated upgrade and preparation of SCINI. I see her following their detailed discussions of things such as how to integrate navigation systems and am amazed by all that she knows.
On top of all of that, she’s one of the main scientists for our expedition! Stacy has studied the interaction of communities on the bottom of oceans in places such as her “home ocean”, the Monterey Bay in California, as well as in Alaska, Antarctica, and other deep-sea locations. She focuses on community ecology in disturbed or extreme habitats. Stacy has been to Antarctica many, many times since 1988. Her patience with me as well as her knowledge and ability to break down complicated topics and tasks has already helped me invaluably. I feel honored to work with her and to pass on her expedition and information to the world.
Next to Stacy we have our Principal Investigators, the brains behind this, the ones who submitted the grant proposal. The first PI is our “Aged SuperHuman”, Dr. Paul Dayton. Stacy has been to the Arctic with him and has this to say about him, “Despite my schoolgirl awe of this mental giant who established the initial paradigms of Antarctic marine ecology, he turned out to be someone you could talk and laugh with, and learn from.”
Paul really is one of the guys who started diving research in Antarctica. He wintered over in Antarctica in 1963, and as a graduate student asked his graduate school program manager, George Llano, if he could do something nobody had yet really done: research diving in Antarctica. With approval of his proposal, research diving got started in Antarctica and Paul set the stage for research that we will continue this year. Paul is an incredible asset for out team with his decades of knowledge and experience!
I’ve met Paul once and have emailed with him extensively for some of the science parts of our journal. So far he’s been just as patient, supportive, and enthusiastic as Stacy. I’ve had a quote from him from an earlier journal stuck in my head, “If you only have the one life, you really want to spend it doing things that you love.” I really like that motto! I am looking forward to working more with someone with such a motto and with someone who has done such amazing things for science and people but who seems so approachable and willing to help.
Our second PI is Dr. John Oliver. John is actually Paul’s former student and Stacy’s former teacher. Paul was John’s thesis advisor for his PhD and John was the thesis advisor for Stacy’s Master’s degree. Got all that?
John has explored the undersea communities in the mud and sand in places everywhere from Alaska to Antarctica including “every tropical island [he] could get to”. John, like Stacy, also focuses a great deal on disturbances on the seafloor communities, particularly due to humans. Additionally, John helped establish the “Habitat Restoration Group” and he coordinates habitat restoration projects in local sand dunes and wetlands with help from the Watershed Institute at CSUMB. John also recently discovered the most diverse soft bottom community in the world at the shelf edge in Monterey Bay. Sadly, he also discovered dramatic degradation of inner shelf communities from regional warming in the last 25 years. So far I’ve met John only once but was impressed by his good spirits and enthusiasm. I’m looking forward to learning much more from him.
While Stacy, Paul, and John are the lead scientists, Bob Zook and DJ Osborne are the lead engineers. Bob helped build the prototype of SCINI back in 2006, the first funded version of SCINI in 2007, and has been on every SCINI expedition to Antarctica since. While he’s got incredible engineering skills not just with SCINI but also from a background in communications technology, Bob also has lots of Ice time and mountain climbing and search and rescue experience. Bob’s story of climbing El Capitan by himself, during a rain-storm, in the early days of climbing should be made into a movie if not a book. I’ve had the pleasure of being around Bob in various places and situations and I’m always impressed with how willing he is to help and how incredibly optimistic and resourceful he can be.
I’ve also had the most entertaining experience of listening to Bob and DJ discuss SCINI and some of the technical difficulties they’re trying to problem solve. For me it’s like another language. Will I learn it enough in time to properly pass on their information to you?
Those two are probably as intelligent when it comes to engineering as Stacy, Paul, and John are when it comes to science. We really are lucky to have all of these brilliant people leading our expedition. DJ has also worked with SCINI since the beginning and he’s deployed to Antarctica numerous times though he’s had to maintain his job of piloting and fixing the ROVs at MBARI at the same time. I’ll be heading out with DJ on a mission on his institute’s ship to learn more about his other ROVs, Ventana and the Doc Ricketts, in the next week or so. Is there anything you want to know? Post us a question on “Ask the Team”. I’ve also been fortunate to have had opportunities to be around DJ and I’m impressed not only with his deep intelligence but also with his diligent work ethic, his willingness to help in any way he can, and his fun, adventurous nature.
Besides these 5 characters and myself, we have Kevin O’Connor, Julie Barber, Jennifer Fisher, Paul Mahacek, David Burnett, and Dustin Carroll.
Kevin, Julie, and Jennifer are all divers and research technicians and I am really excited to meet them. I will meet Kevin on Thursday as he also works at Moss Landing Marine Labs. Kevin will be a “Funny New Guy” on the Ice like me. I’ll attend the Happy Camper School with him! Sadly, I will not meet Julie or Jennifer as Julie is in Washington and Jennifer is in Oregon. Julie, however, will attend “Happy Camper School” with Kevin and me as she is also new to the Ice. Even though Jennifer went to Antarctica seven years ago, she will also accompany us at “Happy Camper School” as they have a five-year renewal policy.
I am curious about these ICE AGED members! What are they like? So far, Julie is ensuring we will all be properly lubricated. She has offered to make special hydrating, good smelling lotion for all of us. Julie is also helping me with outreach in her community. Jennifer is making sure we’ll all stay warm. She worked with Patagonia in order to supply us with “team jerseys” and clothing to keep us toasty! I love how our group is taking care of each other already!
Lastly, we have our engineers, Paul Mahacek, David Burnett, Dustin Carroll, and our “intern”, Justin Burnett. Though I met Paul briefly when a group of us saw the movie, The Lost Boys on the beach in Santa Cruz, I have not really met any of our engineers and I am equally anxious to meet them. I will meet them all on Thursday as they have been busy for the last few months helping out at with SCINI down at the Moss Landing Marine Labs. Our engineers are working not only for our expedition but also for a second project that Bob is spear-heading which involves taking SCINI to deeper depths beneath the ice. Due to this, some of the engineers will work with us on the Ice and some will arrive later to help Bob. David is the only one who is heading down at the same time as most of our group. Paul, who incidentally is getting married before we leave (Congratulations Paul!), is heading down with Dustin later in the season, at the end of November. Justin, our intern and undergraduate Mechanical Engineering student is sadly not going with us. He’ll be in warm and toasty Santa Cruz!
So those, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, are the members of ICE AGED!
I’ll provide an update and more tidbits after I meet with them on Thursday. If you have questions, ask us on “Ask the Team”.