Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 02/23/2012 - 10:11
Forums
Seafloor Organisms and Changing Ocean Conditions in Antarctic

Has anyone has been attacked by the seals? Can you feel the cold through your gear when you dive? Have you found any answers to your questions about he acidity of the water there? How many types of penguins have you seen?

Thu, 02/23/2012 - 10:21

Nell Herrmann

Hi to Mrs. Morse's class!I am hoping I can Skype with you at some point soon, but I can't do that until the Laurence M. Gould goes back out to sea. She (boats are called "she") is docked here now and she uses about half of the bandwidth at the station. This means there isn't much potential to use Skype. The Gould will be leaving on Friday and will be back again. I'll figure out timing so that maybe we can talk "face to face." I think that would be fun.
Thanks for the great questions! I'll answer them in order.
1) Yes, people have been attacked by the seals. Dr. Amsler, one of the scientists I am working with has been head butted by a seal and has had one swim over his head with an open mouth. Other people have also been attacked at the nearby British station called Rothera. When we were coming back in from the water today, I saw a group of crabeater seals hauled out on the ice (I'll post pictures of them tomorrow). Some of them had large scratches and scars on their backs; those were from leopard seals. Leopard seals are predators and they eat penguins and smaller seals (like crabeaters).
2) Yes, the divers report that their fingers in particular get very cold and numb while diving, even though they wear thick rubber gloves with wool gloves underneath. Their faces are partly exposed, so faces get cold too. The divers stay under water for about 20 or 30 minutes at a time.
3) The scientists are still setting up their experiment and collecting the algae, limpets and snails they need for the experiment. That's what they're doing while SCUBA diving. They haven't found any answers quite yet; they are still in the beginning stages of the project. It may be several more weeks or even months before they have definite answers. I will be very interested to see what they find.
4) I have seen all the species of penguins that live in this part of Antarctica! Those include chinstraps, gentoos and Adelies. This makes for three different species all together
Thanks for writing to me!
-Nell / Ms. Herrmann
P.S.- HI JULES!!!