April 25 2008
April 25 2008
Iceburgs, with one iceberg calving into the water.
Scientist Tina van de Flierdt sees her first icebergs!
Seabirds seem to be attracted to the ship, including the majestic Wandering Albatross (photographed by Dann Blackwood)
Zim Zimmerman repairs the net used in trawl number 4
These little penguins jumped out of the water near the ship! (photo by John Swartz)
Strong beams light up the ocean so Watch can keep an eye out for icebergs. (photo by John Swartz)
Well, the big news of today was that we saw our first icebergs! Nearly all the scientists headed up for a better view up on the bridge. We really are in the Southern Ocean now, and the Nathaniel Palmer has begun to feel, more than ever, like our refuge from the extreme conditions outside. Just to remind us again where we are sailing, some penguins were also spotted “porpoising” off the side of the ship!
In the lab, the coral scientists were busy cutting up specimens, using a small hand saw, for analysis back home. The biologists were braving the cold outside to get into the chemical van to top up specimens and pack them away for shipping, and the geophysicists are busy multibeaming the seafloor, making bathymetric maps to select their dredging sites. We’re at present surveying an area which has affectionately begun to be called the “Starfish Seamount” because of its fun shape. As it’s real dimensions become clearer through the multibeam maybe it will change name. We’re hoping to do some sampling of this site in the next few days.
A day at sea with Tina:
Hi there,
I am Tina, and I am a scientist in the coral team, which here on board is often referred to as the “biology team”. Although I am really interested in learning more about how and where corals live, I am (as most of us) not a biologist. My background is in geology and I spend most of my time in clean laboratories and in front of big mass spectrometers to measure small amounts of certain trace metals and their isotopes in corals and other archives such as ferromanganese crusts or marine sediments to reconstruct past ocean circulation and climate. A science field we call isotope geochemistry. The amazing thing about isotope geochemistry is that once you have learned the tools well, you can apply them to questions as broad as the evolution of the solar system, the beginning of life on earth, and the investigation of past climate.
I got involved with deep-sea coral research by some work I started with Laura Robinson, one of our PIs, some years ago. As many science projects, it started out with a little pilot project to see whether we can apply a certain isotope tracer, Nd isotopes, to deep-sea corals. Neodymium isotopes are used as tracer for water masses in the past. For the present day ocean we can distinguish water masses by their physical properties such as temperature, salinity, and density. However, these properties are not preserved in the past. But we can overcome this hurdle by measuring the Nd isotopic composition of past seawater. After two years of ground-truthing work, we can now say that Nd isotopes in deep-sea corals record past seawater compositions accurately. This is great news, as it allows us to reconstruct past water mass distributions and their connection to climate change more closely by using precisely dated deep-sea corals .
For me it is the first time at sea, and there are many highlights and personal impressions to share. The most important thing up front: I did not get sea sick! Admittedly I cheated a bit in the beginning by taking some medication to prevent it, but I am “clean” since three days and feel great. I just love it when I get into my bunk bed and feel the movement of the ship. This happens usually between 1 and 2 am, as I am on the noon to midnight shift. When I get up in the morning, the first thing is always to open the curtains and look at the sea. However, I did not do so this morning, as Rhian, our PI on the project, came to wake me up before my usual time to tell me that there are icebergs outside – can you imagine??? ICEBERGS !!! I have no words to express my excitement, but my room mate Kathy got very amused by my jumping up and down while trying to get in my clothes. When I finally managed to get dressed and followed Rhian on deck, it only took another 10 minutes and then we spotted two penguins swimming right next to the boat. Now we had icebergs and PENGUINS! Normally I hate to be in pictures, but this morning was the first time that I like to be photographed – in front of some beautiful iceberg. I feel very grateful to be on this trip and I look forward to spend the next weeks among the wonderful group of people Laura and Rhian put together for this cruise. We are not only having a diverse range of scientist in our team, most importantly we have a real fun team. Especially over the first few days when we did our first coral surveying and trawling on Burdwood Bank we all worked incredibly hard, but we are still having lots of fun. This is how science is supposed to be!
Tina van de Flierdt
All photos by Dann Blackwood unless otherwise stated