"Let's go fly a kite
Up to the highest height!
Let's go fly a kite and send it soaring
Up through the atmosphere
Up where the air is clear
Oh, let's go fly a kite!"
-from Mary Poppins, written by Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman
Well, I didn't fly a kite yesterday but I did get to launch a balloon. Graham, Aaron, and I visited Kevin Dennert who is a Weather Observer at NPP Meteorology. He showed us what happens twice a day in McMurdo to launch the weather balloons. The balloons are launched around 11:30am and 11:30pm. The goal is to start receiving the data at noon and midnight. I felt really to hold the balloon...I was wishing it would lift me off of the ground and I could soar through the air for a bit. Although, the landing would probably be pretty difficult on all of the Antarctic ice.
Check out this video to find out what we learned from Kevin.
Today, was another exciting day researching on the ice. We headed to the closest dive hut...The Jetty. While Amy, Steve, Rob, and Aaron went diving for sea spiders and nudibranchs, Graham and I checked salinity, O2 percentages, and we even towed some plankton!!!! I know yesterday I said I love nudibranchs. Well, I REALLY love plankton!
Amy Osborne dropping a plankton tow into the diver's ice hole at the Jetty Hut. Near McMurdo Station, Antarctica.
This plankton tow involves a fine mesh net with a bottle at the end of it. We were conducting vertical tows so we dropped the net down through the ice and into the water and then pulled it back up. We did this two times.
Plankton means drifter or wanderer. Pretty much anything that's living in the ocean that can't swim against a current is plankton. There are zooplankton and phytoplankton. One of these is an animal-like plankton and one is plant-like plankton. If you had to choose one, which name seems like it's an animal-like plankton? (The names are giving you a clue.)
This copepod is a zooplankton. That means it is animal-like. It moves and it gets its energy by eating phytoplankton like diatoms shown below.Sheldon B. Plankton in SpongeBob is modeled after a copepod. Copepods may be the most abundant species of animal on earth.
This diatom, which is a phytoplankton, has capsule-shaped cell walls (also called tests) made of silica. The brownish part is the living cell inside the test. Note also empty tests left behind when a diatom cell dies. These tests are about 55 microns (millionths of a meter) long and about 25 microns wide. Diatoms, and other phytoplankton, get their energy from the sun. Aboard the USCGC Healy in the Makarov Basin. 86.70°, -149.48°. Photo by Sara Rauschenberg, Courtesy of Bill Schmoker (PolarTREC 2015), Courtesy of ARCUS
Jellyfish are plankton, the larvae of barnacles, crabs, and sea stars are plankton. These plankton that start off as plankton but then, in their larger adult forms are no longer plankton are called meroplankton. The type of plankton that stays plankton their whole lives are called holoplankton.
Shown are a barnacle larvae, on the left, which is a meroplankton and a copepod, on the right, which is a holoplankton. These plankton were collected from McMurdo Sound, Antarctica.
I was really excited to tow plankton because it's something I do with students back in California. For me, getting plankton is one of the most relaxing things I get to do. I love the net, I love the steady movement of bringing up the net or, at home, pacing back and forth on the dock in the early mornings slowly pulling the plankton net through the water.
Amy Osborne pulling up the plankton tow, Jetty Hut, McMurdo Sound, Antarctica.
Then, there's the excitement of looking at the plankton! Today I saw some copepods, a pteropod, and most likely a barnacle larvae. Tomorrow we are headed to Turtle Rock and Graham and I are hoping to gather more plankton. It's exciting for me to see such familiar ocean life that remind me of my California home.
This microscope has a cooling block.This keeps the animals, that call the frigid waters of Antarctica home, cool while looking at them. Crary Lab, McMurdo Station, Antarctica
Thanks to those who are asking so many questions. I'll answer you all soon! Please feel free to comment and ask away.
Don't forget to turn in your answers to October 23rd's trivia questions. Turn your answers in by 5pm PST on October 31st to get a postcard from Antarctica!
Also, there were two spelling errors in the diving video from the October 28th-Meet the Creatures journal. If you can spot them let me know and I'll send you a postcard from Antarctica.
Comments
Add new comment