Title : U.S. SCIENTISTS BEGIN 36TH CONSECUTIVE SEASON OF RESEARCH IN ANTARCTICA Type : Press Release NSF Org: OD / LPA Date : September 14, 1992 File : pr9271 Cheryl Dybas September 14, 1992 (202) 357-9498 NSF PR 92-71 U.S. SCIENTISTS BEGIN 36TH CONSECUTIVE SEASON OF RESEARCH IN ANTARCTICA A plume of smoke and steam rises from the floor of a volcanic crater, obscuring the terrain below. Periodically, small eruptions hurl debris out of a lava lake 50 meters below the main crater floor. At the crater's edge, an eight-legged robot, tethered to a large eight-wheeled autonomous land vehicle, begins to slowly descend the 150-meter, rock-strewn slope. Once it reaches the crater floor, the spider-like robot will begin to collect samples that it will bring back to waiting scientists, and to record other data that will be transmitted through a tether line. In November 1992, volcanologist Philip Kyle from the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology will join with specialists in robotics from Carnegie Mellon University's Field Robotics Center to bring advanced robotic technology to Mount Erebus, the 3,794-meter-high active volcano on Ross Island. Using a robotic rover, they will attempt for the first time in 15 years to directly measure volcanic gas emissions and make observations inside Mount Erebus, particularly of the volcano's active lava lake in the inner crater. This project is among the 120 scientific and technical projects to be supported in Antarctica during the 1992-93 austral summer by the National Science Foundation (NSF)-managed U.S. Antarctic Program (USAP). Research outposts in Antarctica include: the busiest on the ice-covered continent, McMurdo Station on Ross Island; Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, supplied by flights from McMurdo; and Palmer Station on the Antarctic Peninsula. The program, which NSF funds and manages, will support more than 500 researchers at the three U.S. stations, aboard two U.S. research ships (Polar Duke and Nathaniel B. Palmer), and at remote field sites in cooperation with other national antarctic programs. Icy Antarctica is a focus of study because processes there may reveal changes in earth's ecosystems, temperature, ice cover, sea level, and land masses over a broad range of time scales. Changes in phytoplankton blooms from year to year, in animal populations over decades, in ice-sheet flow and ocean circulation over centuries and millennia, in the movement of continental plates over eons, and in stars and galaxies over billions of years will be investigated by researchers in the upcoming field season. "Antarctica contributes to our understanding of ecological and environmental questions such as global climate change and ozone depletion," says Robert Corell, NSF assistant director for geosciences. "The ice and geology of the continent contain a record of natural global change processes as they occurred in the past, and may continue to occur in the future. By studying the ongoing interactions between the atmosphere, the ocean, the ice and the marine ecosystem of Antarctica, we can learn how these interactions may in turn affect climate globally." For example, recent studies show that Mount Erebus is an important source of aerosol emissions and may contribute significant quantities of chlorine, fluorine, sulfur dioxide, and other trace gases to snow falling in East Antarctica. By learning how much of these gases Mount Erebus contributes to the antarctic environment, New Mexico researcher Kyle hopes to assist other scientists studying ancient environments from snow samples and ice cores. In other geologic research in Antarctica, in Marie Byrd Land, West Antarctica, 21 scientists will use a specially equipped Twin Otter airplane to continue their geophysical survey of the Ross transect zone. The project includes airborne radar and surface altimetry augmented by satellite imagery. With the Twin Otter airplane, the geologists will be able to conduct airborne gravity surveys and take aeromagnetic measurements. Understanding of the tectonics of this regional system is critical for determining geologic controls on the dynamics of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, earth's last great marine-based ice sheet. Researchers include Donald Blankenship of the University of Texas at Austin, Robin Bell of the Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory of Columbia University, and John Behrendt and Steven Hodge of the U.S. Geological Survey. Astronomers and astrophysicists have also found that Antarctica offers observing conditions not found at any other terrestrial site. Because of the near-absence of water vapor in the atmosphere above the antarctic central plateau, the skies are clearer and darker there than anywhere on earth. These environmental conditions overcome the daily variations in temperature that lead to atmospheric "noise" and wind at higher latitudes, as well as much of the infrared background radiation. With new, more sensitive observing instruments and advances in instrument automation, astronomers are now able to take greater advantage of the South Pole's unique physical characteristics and geographic location. This austral summer, research will continue at the South Pole at the new Center for Astrophysical Research in Antarctica (CARA), a collaborative project of the University of Chicago, Princeton University, AT&T Bell Laboratories, and other institutions. CARA's goal is to provide an observatory housing three instruments designed to probe the far reaches of the universe--an antarctic submillimeter telescope and remote observatory (ASTRO), the South Pole infrared explorer (SPIREX), and a cosmic background radiation anisotropy (COBRA) instrument. CARA is headed by D.A. Harper of the University of Chicago's Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin. Far from the South Pole in the Antarctic Peninsula region, biologists and other marine scientists will continue a six-year ecological research project near Palmer Station. Their objectives are to document inter-annual variations in the development and extent of pack ice, to determine interannual variations in the life histories of "primary producers" and populations of key species from different trophic levels, and to quantify the processes underlying this natural variation. With these data they will construct models that link ecosystem processes to variations in the physical environment, simulate spatial and temporal relationships among selected populations, and predict the impact of changes in the extent of the annual pack ice cover on ecosystem dynamics. Researchers involved in the project are Barbara Prezelin, Robin Ross, Langdon Quetin, and Raymond Smith of the University of California at Santa Barbara, and Wayne Trivelpiece, William Fraser, and Eileen Hofmann of Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. The 1992-93 field season marks the second year of this interdisciplinary project, which is part of NSF's long-term ecological research (LTER) program. The nearshore program, which focuses on an area within two nautical miles of Palmer Station, includes research on the hydrography, chemistry, and biology of local waters, as well as the population dynamics and ecology of Adelie penguins and south polar birds called skuas. In addition to continuing nearshore research at Palmer Station, the 1992-93 season plan includes two research cruises, one aboard the research vessel Polar Duke and the other aboard the research vessel Nathaniel B. Palmer, along the Antarctic Peninsula. Other research projects being supported during this year's field season include: o Antarctic fish live in waters that are perennially at the freezing point of body fluids. If they had not adapted to these conditions by developing natural antifreeze molecules, the southern oceans would be devoid of fish. The evolutionary aspects of these antifreezes are of considerable scientific interest, according to Arthur DeVries of the University of Illinois, who will journey to the Antarctic this season to study the fish and their antifreeze proteins. o Continued monitoring and study of ozone depletion above McMurdo and Amundsen-Scott South Pole Stations. o The launch of two 81.2-thousand-cubic-meter, high- altitude helium balloons to support a gamma-ray investigation and to test instruments that are similar to those planned for use on U.S.-Russian planetary space flight missions to Mars. o Marine geophysical cruises in Chilean canals and fjords to extend on-going studies of glacial-marine environments in the Antarctic Peninsula region. o Environmental research focusing on the impact of human activities on the nearshore marine environment at McMurdo Station. Support for the U.S. Antarctic Program is provided by NSF's contractor Antarctic Support Associates (ASA) and by military personnel under the command of the U.S. Naval Support Force Antarctica (NSFA). Besides ski-equipped Hercules (LC- 130) airplanes and UH-1N helicopters flown by the Antarctic Development Squadron Six (VXE-6), the program is supported by U.S. Air Force wheeled C-141 and C-5A transport airplanes; LC- 130s of the 109th Tactical Air Group of the Air National Guard from Schenectady, New York; wheeled C-130s of the Royal New Zealand Air Force; and Twin Otter airplanes flown on contract for the National Science Foundation. Ship support, in addition to research support by the Polar Duke and Nathaniel B. Palmer, is provided by U.S. Coast Guard icebreakers and ships under contract to the Military Sealift Command.