Thank you for those of you that were able to join our first webinar. We hope you enjoyed it and if you missed it then you can view it at your leisure on http://www.polartrec.com/resources/event/antarctic-seafloor-ecology-tina-sander. We look forward to two more: on Wednesday, Nov. 17 (4:30-5:30 pm) PST and on Friday, Dec. 3 (10-11 am) PST. (New Zealand times are November 18 (1:30 – 2:30 pm), and December 4 (7-8 am)). Mark your calendars and see you there. Remember to register before on http://www.polartrec.com/polar-connect/register
Here are a few pictures of what it looked like on our side and more pictures of the area around McMurdo.
Stacy, Bob, and David connecting to some of you! What was the most interesting thing you learned?
Tina, Stacy, and Bob talking to some of you.
This is the entrance to the Crary Lab. The conference room was up some stairs to the left. Our lab is on the bottom floor. Scientists here study animals like seals, penguins, urchins or sponges. Others study what's in the ice or what's in the air. What would you want to study?
This is what it looks like from a window close to the conference room. Can you see the sea ice in the distance?
For a quick update, the divers have finished the monitoring dives at 10 of Stacy's 14 sites, SCINI has successfully completed many transects of Paul's deeper locations, we've pulled up 3 of Paul's floaters, and we've located and photographed many of Paul's old pictures, cages, and boxes. In addition to diving and taking SCINI out, we're now also counting animals in the photographs and we're having fun trying to identify 4 different kinds of anemones, 11 sponges, and 4 sea stars as well as all kinds of other critters.
This is the view from our lab on a sunnier day. Can you see our fish hut? What do we do in this hut?
What buildings do you recognize? What do we do in the blue building? What would you think of the big, open space with no trees, buildings, or people?
Can you find the two Pisten Bullies racing across the ice? How thick is the ice? How do we know the ice is thick enough for cars?
Otherwise, John is still in New Zealand and we are very sad that he will not be able to return to finish the season with us. We are now trying to get Kamile Hammerstrom from Moss Landing Marine Labs to come down and help us with our diving though she's having to jump through all the hoops and pass her physical qualifications as well as get the paperwork in. Keep your fingers crossed that things go smoothly and she can come quickly to help us.