1. Antarctic Summer 2008-2009 Scientific exploration of the Antarctic Peninsula

2. Meet the Scientists

3. L. Alex Kahl age: 29 years old from: New York City undergrad: UC Santa Barbara grad: Rutgers University profession: Oceanographer Elizabeth Leonardis age: 28 years old from: New York City undergrad: UC Santa Barbara grad: starting Fall 2009 profession: Nurse/Lab Technician

5. Palmer Station

6. The U.S. research station where we will be living and conducting research for the next 6 months Accessible only by ship, a 5 day journey from Punta Arenas, Chile Currently 21 employees and 5 scientists living on station for the summer season Station has many luxuries including comfortable rooms, a gym, bar and 24hr internet connection

7. Bar LoungeBedroom Gym

8. Using our zodiac “Bruiser”, we travel to stations B & E for collection of: Phytoplankton samples bio-optical characteristics (absorption, scattering of light) physical properties (temperature, salinity) of seawater

9. Palmer Station B E Boating Map of the Palmer Station Area including our sampling stations B & E

10. photo: Scott Sternbach Using a GPS for precise location we drive our zodiac to each sampling station Go-Flow bottles are lowered using a winch on the zodiac to collect seawater samples at different depths

11. Bio-optical measurements are taken in the field by lowering a cage equipped with optical instruments that detect light utilized by phytoplankton Real time data is collected that shows physical and bio-optical properties of the water column photo: Scott Sternbach

12. Back at the lab...... seawater is filtered for phytoplankton

13. Samples are then analyzed for: - total chlorophyll - pigment composition - nutrients - dissolved organic carbon - flow cytometry - DNA - rate of photosynthesis Photo: Scott Sternbach

14. “Gliders” Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) Gliders will be deployed from Palmer Station to study the properties of the water column in the Antarctic

15. Palmer Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Study An annual month long research cruise along the Antarctic Peninsula, Jan. 2009 Studying changes in sea ice, phytoplankton, zooplankton, and penguins photo: Nathan Hoople

16. The LTER is investigating ecosystem changes in response to climate warming and pole ward shifts in the climatic gradient Our focus on the LTER will be the phytoplankton/bio-optics component Gliders will be deployed and programed to follow the LTER research grid

17. To find out more about our Antarctic research, check out our website http://rucool.rutgers.marine.edu/antarctica feel free to contact us with any questions