Speed 2.5 knots (kts) (slow going in the ice)
Course 346°
Location Weddell Sea (-65.02950333, -57.37742167)
Depth 343 m
Our field teams managed to get to Robertson Island yesterday. It was a beautiful, sunny day and everyone was excited to get off the boat and see something new. Due to a limited number of seats, I stayed on the NBP and helped process some samples from our last core.
Journey to Robertson Island
There were a few teams who left to explore the island or the waters nearby. The geology team sampled exposed rock and mapped surface features, the microbiology team looked for organisms near volcanic vents called fumaroles, the phytoplankton team collected water samples, and the benthic ecology team gathered algae. Since the Nathaniel B. Palmer is obviously too big to get extremely close to the island, the teams rode out in rigid rubber motorboats called Zodiacs.
Zodiacs returning from Robertson Island
The geology team collected pieces of granite that had been exposed on the island when the last glaciers retreated. The team chiseled off samples that they will later send to a laboratory for cosmogenic exposure dating. Those results will give the scientists an approximate date for when the glaciers retreated.
Kara Vadman chiseling granite on Robertson Island (taken by Natalie Elking)
In addition the team were mapping features of the island and looking for evidence of previous shorelines in the terrain. That information could help scientists determine how the seas and island were affected as the glaciers melted.
Jeff Evans (l) and Caroline Lavoie (r) mapping Robertson Island (photo taken by Jason Theis)
The last time that the LARISSA team visited the island, they found evidence of fumaroles. Fumaroles are the result of volcanic activity and emit hot gases containing sulfur. Unfortunately, this time around the microbiologists couldn't find any fumaroles at all on the island.
The phytoplankton team did manage to collect water samples and the algae team was able to collect several different types of algae near shore. David Honig, a Ph.D. student from Duke University, showed off some of their finds. In the picture below, he is holding macroalgae (literally "big algae") that is large enough to see with the naked eye. Taken under a microscope, the top right picture shows green microalgae ("little algae") and the bottom right picture shows ice algae.
David Honig with macroalgae, green microalgae (top right) and ice algae (bottom right)
Today we are in transit looking for a good location to set up a station to conduct a wide range of investigations.