Metal, Metal, Metal!

UPDATE- Ed Boyle's talk was very exciting- hydrothermal sources of iron to the ocean!!! And he graciously agreed to send me his metal sampling methods, which employ a quicker and cleaner filtration method that will save future lab hours.

Lonnie Thompson just popped in with Ed Boyle! This broke me from a writing induced trance. It is only appropriate that Dr. Boyle materialized... if ever anyone wondered what happened to metals in the environment, Ed Boyle is the person to ask. (I can't wait for his talk this afternoon!)

Why are metals a problem? Metals, especially in dissolved form, may be ingested by organisms in some cases replacing vital nutrients. Metal poisoning has been shown to compromise the health of smallest organisms to the largest mammals (including humans). Documented poisonings occurred as far back as Roman times- where it has been argued that metal smelting contributed to the death of those living near smelters.

Industrial activities (primarily burning fossil fuel and metal smelting) have increased the emission of many metals into the atmosphere, but perhaps worse, is that many of these metals are released in mine tailings and sewage sludge into soils... and waterways. Their release is usually not a one time event. Many metals bind to sediment and are rereleased into the environment with flood events.

Ed Boyle's research group primarily studies the fate of metals in the ocean. This includes investigating the nutrient capabilities of iron, acting as a fertilizer that increases oceanic productivity. Examining cadmium to understand deep ocean-shallow ocean interactions through time (cadmium distribution in the ocean is not homogeneous and is thought to relate to the connectivity between deep to shallow circulation). Changes in ocean circulation are likely tied to major changes in climate. I could go on and on... but I need to finish this paper today...and think of a few questions for Ed...

As the cake flows

This week while I alternated between dissertationing and running many miles my husband, Trey, crafted a glacier for my birthday. I, and several geology-loving friends, appreciated Trey's masterful attention to detail as he included lateral and terminal moraines (rocks scraped and piled along the glacier margin and snout) as well as a cryoconite hole and a proglacial lake. Fortunately, there was no life living in that cryoconite hole... and we all had our fill of buttery cream. In a few weeks for Women In Science Day I am hosting a 2 hour clinic for 60ish 7-10th grade girls on glacier dynamics. Normally, I'd use flubber (a glue-borax hybrid), but after seeing this cake, there may be some advantages to butter cream.

Running on Mars

Patterned ground, ice-covered ponds, untouched landscapes and legs that can't stop moving...

Adelie Penguins

This is especially for Penny Sanecki's Eclipse Class at Valley Forge Elementary School...

Supraglacial Stream

Here's a video from the inside of a supraglacial (flowing on the glacier) stream channel on the Canada Glacier, Taylor Valley, Antarctica. As time allows, I will archive this and other video footage at Byrd Polar Research Center, OSU (& will release it to all educators). FYI Antarctic rock samples (including many fossils) are available for classroom use at the Byrd Polar Rock Repository.

O-H-I-O

I made it home! Numerous flight reschedulings occured before the C-17 finally took about 30 of us from McMurdo Sound. Below you can see the lack of cargo allowed us all to stretch out during the 5 &1/2 hour flight from McMurdo to Christchurch. Now I am home with my husband and dog and we're laughing at some of the video footage I took in the valleys. I did pretty well with the still photos this season, but my video aim was slightly askew... for instance, I shoot an undergraduate lecture on chemical weathering in which my head was decapitated by the frame. To my credit it was 2 a.m., quite cold, and I had run out of chocolate and moved on to blocks of cheese.)One more look at that amazing sediment layer within a supraglacial stream channel on the Canada Glacier below (the dark band is about a meter from the surface of the glacier).
And below LeeAnn and I enjoy a lovely austral summer evening on the beach (sandy outwash from Canada Glacier). I'll add a link to her blog in the sidebar.
Below is an incredible example of the physical erosion that occurs in the Taylor Valley. Behind our camp at Lake Hoare a large piece of mountain broke off (perhaps in response to freeze-thaw) on Christmas morning. We rushed outside to make sure that cause of the rumble wouldn't crush us. (The camps on the other side of the glacier also heard the noise and gave us a call to check on us...).

To those that remain in the Taylor Valley (and/or head out soon) enjoy your season!

Sounds and Smells from the far South

My flight to Christchurch was canceled, rescheduled, and re-rescheduled, so I may be getting out of here this morning, I may not.... this calls for caffeine! Below are some pictures from the Sound Walkabout of McMurdo lead by Andrea Polli (artist). We recorded sounds heard around the station including the wastewater treatment plant (below). Admittedly, smell was my overwhelming sense at this location, but once I plugged my nose, I heard some lovely gurgles and stream-songs.
And the satellite tracker (Nik led us into the inner world of the golfball)


(Andrea is pictured listening above).
Anyway, I'll be heading up the hill again soon, with big red on, and my fingers crossed. I hope I'm home for New Year's, otherwise, I'll be blogging from Icestock and the great Antarctic Chili Cookoff. (and working on my dissertation from the office here). I went black-light bowling last night. A few folks act as pin-resetters, strategically wearing boldly striped socks to not get mowed over by over-eager bowlers.

Reminiscent

The warm yellow of my tent-favored laundry gets to dry out, or 'air-cleanse'.
Sleeping is surprisingly easy even in the glow, my skin burns yellow.
High flow from the Suess Glacier creates a braided bed, where sediment drops out in small bar deposits.
I think this might still be Mars.
Rae deserves a postcard every year for managing camp- many thanks to her and Sandra!
Differential melt caused by dark sediment absorbing heat creates strange forms on the glacier's surface.
Descending from the glacier to the lake, there is little difference between the two surfaces.
The jamesway at Lake Hoare, storage facility and where some of the diving equipment is stored. (people scuba here in the beginning of the year to observe the algal mats at the bottom of the lake).
Poles sticking out of Matt's Glacier pack were used for setting up sensors to measure discharge and conductivity on the glacier surface- to ultimately estimate the amount of melt.

The clouds lifted and Paul (pilot) and Grifford (helitech) swooped down taking me back to McMurdo and dropping LeeAnn off at F-6. We flew dauntingly close to the ground, it felt much like being in a sports tank (something fast, but ground-crunching). I loved it (and got some amazing video footage until my battery died). The smell of the paella that I missed lingered in my brain fading with my dinner of soggy raisin bran, social hour with Kathy and Nik, and the happy discovery that my town roommate was a friend from home (Stephanie Konfal).

Now, I am packing samples to ship home, and getting ready to bag-drag this evening (take all my hand-carry items up the hill to transport back to Christchurch and then home). I will post more soon- on my adventures in McMurdo Soundscapes with artist Andrea Polli. Andrea had visited us out at Lake Hoare. Last night, Andrea led a group of townies around recording the sounds of McMurdo. Tonight will likely be my last night in McMurdo and then I shall head almost immediately home. I won't be spending any time in Christchurch, as lovely as it is, I would much prefer the comfort of home and time with my wonderful husband. Besides, I am inspired by the data to come, the answers revealed, and the new questions to pose. These, and the inspiration of students and colleagues, are the great motivators.

Weather Hold

(Canada Stream)
Produce is such a treat!
A seal weathering.
The Suess Glacier
A pyramid for rock mites.

See the algal mats?
I may get out today, I may not. Such is the weather hold. Clouds tethered tightly grasped by vapor fingers to the ground, their thick congestion means that for a while no helos will fly. The only wildlife is us, and we are caged in our waiting. (All of the scientists at camp have flights planned today to get to their research sites, or back to town). Still I will lug my sleep kit up the hill in anticipation of the brightening sky.

Happy Holidays at Lake Hoare

LeeAnn and I finished our second 24 hour sampling event-just in time to join holiday festivities. This included decorating cookies and camp.

We all decorated the gingerbread house that Rae and Sandra had baked a few days prior (equipped with candy-pane windows). (We covered the windows with dark cloth to block out the 24 hour sunlight and illuminated our special dinner with lights and candles).

We exchanged gifts and laughter after our wonderful holiday meal!

Tomorrow I fly back to McMurdo and will post more pics from the field. Happy Holidays!

Two times 24

House Stream (LeeAnn's first Taylor Valley Samples).Salt in the soil, drawn from the lake... patterned ground created by freezing and thawing of the icy soil (much like pot holes in the pavement)
Canada Stream Gauge (Flume with stage height- used to determine the amount of flow per/time, otherwise known as discharge)
Our sampling coolers, we had some help unloading sampling equipment.
Done with our first 24 hours, (waiting to find out if we had helo support or if we had to hike to Lake Fryxell Camp)
(We rolled out of our helo wait position and hiked to Lake Fryxell, our LTER and NASA friends had prepared a nice spaghetti dinner and we had nice conversations until we fell soundly asleep).

LeeAnn and I have been sampling a lot of bottles in a row. Because of a helo delay we got started sampling Canada Stream a few hours late, another helo delay had us staying the night at Lake Fryxell Camp, and so soon after completing our first 24 hour sampling cycle, we are in the midst of another. I have been filtering time-sensitive samples from our first collections in between collecting our next set from Andersen Creek. LeeAnn and I are rotating sleeping, sampling, putting together sampling bottles, and filtering. In the meantime, camp is alive with holiday cheer, I'll post some pics of the cookies that are keeping us going soon! We're exhausted, but wouldn't trade it for this amazing experience!

Whittled Away

We can walk alone in the Taylor Valley, attached to civilization by a radio. Stretching legs, you wonder what you are doing heading out into the striking landscape, so whittled by the elements. The winds or snow set in at you feel changed by the mesmerizing power. You know you will make it back to camp, but shudder. So thankful that your body is fueled by sugar and motion. This is not our permanent camp, especially, in a timescale of millions of years- the age of the oldest exposed terraces. Small resilient creatures thrive here, their bodies joined to rock and sediment, or entombed in ice to revitalize for a few watery blinks every year. Some ancient and some newly birthed, a mystery to solve. Their persistence endures.