Fifth U.S. Southern
Ocean GLOBEC Science Steering Committee Meeting
03 Lounge, RVIB
Nathaniel B. Palmer
10 September 2002
Agenda
- Opening
Comments (Hofmann)
- Case
for going to Cape Shirreff
- Case
for requested packing time for dive van on L.M. Gould
- Time
Constraints - Transit times/positions required for the L.M. Gould to reach Punta
Arenas, Chile
on time
- Discussion
and resolution - Alternatives to current plans
- Other
joint ship science planning
Minutes of U.S. Southern Ocean GLOBEC Science Steering
Committee Meeting
Participants: Bob Beardsley, Dan Costa, Eileen Hofmann,
Jose Torres, Peter Wiebe, Karl Newyear (MPC, L.M. Gould), Chris Shepherd (MPC, N.B. Palmer), Captain Joe Borkowski (N.B.
Palmer), Captain Robert Verret (L.M. Gould)
The fifth meeting of the Science
Steering Committee (SSC) for the U.S. Southern Ocean Global Ocean Ecosystem
Dynamics (SO GLOBEC) was convened with the purpose of trying to resolve issues
associated with the L.M. Gould (LMG)
being able to reconnaissance the elephant seal colony at Cape Shirreff on Livingston Island while on the homeward
transit, and the time needed to pack a dive van that will be deployed at Palmer
Station when the LMG calls at the Station in about two days. The issue has arisen because the PI (Langdon Quetin) has requested three days to pack the van, which
will make it impossible for the LMG to stop and survey the Cape
Shirreff
elephant seal colony. Hence, Dan Costa,
the Chief Scientist on the LMG, has requested input from the SO GLOBEC SSC on
how best to resolve this issue.
The meeting began with Hofmann
giving background on the interaction between the SO GLOBEC program and the U.S.
Antarctic Marine Living Resources (AMLR) program. The elephant seal colony and research base on
Cape Shirreff are components of
the AMLR program. Hofmann said that from
the outset of the SO GLOBEC program there has been strong coordination and
interaction with the AMLR program. She
noted that Dr. Rennie Holt, director the AMLR
program, attended and participated in many of the U.S.
and International SO GLOBEC planning meetings and that he has tried to
incorporate SO GLOBEC-related science questions into the AMLR program, when
feasible. She also noted that the
elephant seal work that is ongoing at Cape
Shirreff
provides information on another seal species that is of interest to the SO
GLOBEC program.
Dan Costa said that the seal and
penguin groups on the LMG managed to deploy all of their satellite tags and
that this has given the LMG flexibility and time to do other activities. He also noted that seal team has not done
seal-related work for about three weeks and that this group has spent this time
assisting other science groups on the LMG.
Costa said that when it appeared that there might be time for the LMG to
call at Cape Shirreff, he contacted Rennie Holt to ask if this is acceptable. Rennie Holt
indicated that this would be a most welcome visit. Costa said that there is a viable science
issue for calling at Cape Shirreff. This site is the southern-most breeding
colony of elephant seals and when the AMLR scientists arrive in late October to
open the research base, elephant seal pups are already present. The issue is then to determine when the
adults arrive so that changes in arrival time due to such factors such as
climate warming in the Antarctic Peninsula region can be
detected. Observations from early
September would help in narrowing the time when the adults arrive. He also said that he would like to document
the snow and ice conditions on the breeding beaches. Costa also noted that he has a three-year NSF
grant to study fur seals and that he would like to determine if these animals
are present at Cape Shirreff.
Costa said that the Chilean
scientists who work with the U.S. AMLR program made a request for the SO GLOBEC
scientists to check the status of buildings at the research base on Cape
Shirreff. If damage has occurred to the buildings
during the austral winter, the Chilean scientists want to be able to bring the
materials needed to do the repair work when they arrive in late October.
Costa also noted that Chris Fritsen (SO GLOBEC PI on the LMG) is currently funded by
the NSF as part of the Life in Extreme Environments program and that Fritsen indicated that he would like to obtain bacterial
samples from the glacier/land interface from a glacier that is near the Cape
Shirreff
research site.
Costa then said stopping at Cape
Shirreff
on the homeward transit would require about 12 hours
additional time in order to make this detour. Therefore, the proposal is to
move the LMG arrival/departure times at Palmer Station by 12 hours. This desire was communicated to the Palmer
Station manager, as required when changes are made to the published arrival
and/or departure dates for Palmer Station.
The Station manager said that changing the dates by 12 hours would not
cause any problems for the Station.
Thus, the plan was for the LMG to arrive at Palmer the morning of 12
September, begin off-loading activities immediately, and depart on the morning
of 13 September in time to detour by Cape Shirreff
and still arrive in Punta Arenas, Chile on time.
Costa said that the issue that
has arisen on LMG is that Langdon Quetin has
indicated that the proposed changes to the LMG schedule would severely impact
his packing schedule for his van. Quetin also complained that the schedule for Palmer Station
arrivals/departures cannot be changes without unanimous agreement of all
parties on the ship, as per a document written by ARVOC. This document was subsequently checked and it
indicated that a schedule change cannot impact a science program and that all
parties must remain open to unusual and new opportunities. Costa noted that Quetin
closed his science program on 9 September and that the issue is one of packing
a van that has been used for staging dives.
Several of the SSC members noted that stopping at Cape
Shirreff
constituted an exciting and unusual science activity. Captain Robert Verret
indicated that he would prefer to arrive at Palmer Station on the morning of 12
September because it would give flexibility to ensure that the cargo operations
go smoothly.
Costa reported that Quetin said that it will take him three days to pack his
van for off-loading at Palmer Station.
(It should be noted that Quetin was asked to
attend the SSC meeting, but declined to do so). Quetin
further said that he could not have his van packed and ready to be off-loaded
until the morning of 13 September. This
would cause the LMG to depart too late to call at Cape Shirreff
because the van used by Quetin needs to be off-loaded
first before any of the other vans from the LMG can be moved, off-loaded, or
other vans, such as hazardous waste vans, loaded onto the LMG. Newyear noted that
LMG is scheduled to pick up three hazardous waste vans at Palmer Station and
that the vans currently in the hold of the LMG need to be moved/off-loaded to
allow on-loading of these vans.
Several suggestions were made as
to how to help Quetin get his van packed in time for
the LMG to depart for Cape Shirreff. These included: 1) having other scientists on
the LMG help Quetin's group, 2) sending over extra
people from the NBP to help pack, 3) packing up other labs on the LMG (e.g.,
Costa's lab) to provide staging space for Quetin's
group to store equipment for packing, and 4) delaying the LMG's
crossing ceremony until after the call at Palmer Station so that packing could
continue uninterrupted. Additional suggestions were made on how to do the
cargo/van off-loading at Palmer Station so that Quetin
could have maximum time to pack.
Costa said that he had talked to Quetin prior to coming to the NBP and that he had agreed to
at least try to get his van packed in time to allow the LMG to depart and call
at Cape Shirreff.
The SSC supported the request by
Dan Costa to detour to Cape Shirreff. It was felt that this was an opportunity to
add to the SO GLOBEC science program, provide international cooperation, and to
support the U.S. AMLR program. It was
felt that a 12-hour detour in a fifty-day cruise was not a big issue and that
considerable benefit could be gained from doing this. The SSC also noted that
the cruise plan laid out for this series of U.S. SO GLOBEC cruises called for
being flexible and taking advantage of opportunities, such as this. Therefore, the SSC agreed to write a letter
of support for Costa and encouraged him to work with Quetin
to find a solution to that would allow visiting Cape
Shirreff.
The discussion then turned to
logistics issues related to the two ships calling at Palmer Station at the same
time and potential science projects that may be undertaken by the NBP on the
homeward transit.
There being no other business,
the meeting was adjourned.