{"dp_type": "Project", "free_text": "BENTHIC"}
[{"awards": "2142914 Baker, Bill; 2142912 Murray, Alison; 2142913 Tresguerres, Martin", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-168 -60,-156 -60,-144 -60,-132 -60,-120 -60,-108 -60,-96 -60,-84 -60,-72 -60,-60 -60,-60 -62,-60 -64,-60 -66,-60 -68,-60 -70,-60 -72,-60 -74,-60 -76,-60 -78,-60 -80,-72 -80,-84 -80,-96 -80,-108 -80,-120 -80,-132 -80,-144 -80,-156 -80,-168 -80,180 -80,178 -80,176 -80,174 -80,172 -80,170 -80,168 -80,166 -80,164 -80,162 -80,160 -80,160 -78,160 -76,160 -74,160 -72,160 -70,160 -68,160 -66,160 -64,160 -62,160 -60,162 -60,164 -60,166 -60,168 -60,170 -60,172 -60,174 -60,176 -60,178 -60,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Thu, 17 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Non-technical description\u003cbr/\u003eMarine invertebrates often have mutually beneficial partnerships with microorganisms that biosynthesize compounds with nutritive or defensive functions and are integral for survival. Additionally, these \u201cnatural products\u201d often have bioactive properties with human health applications fighting infection or different types of cancer. This project focuses on the ascidian (\u201csea squirt\u201d) Synoicum adareanum, found in the Anvers Island region of the Antarctic Peninsula, and was recently discovered to contain high levels of a natural product, palmerolide A (palA) in its tissues. The microorganism that produces palA is a new bacterial species, Candidatus Synoicihabitans palmerolidicus, found in a persistent partnership with the sea squirt. There is still much to be learned about the fundamental properties of this sea squirt-microbe-palA system including the geographical range of the animal-microbe partnership, its chemical and microbiome complexity and diversity, and the biological effect of palA in the sea squirt. To address these questions, this multidisciplinary research team will investigate the sea squirt-microbiome partnership in the Antarctic Peninsula and McMurdo Sound regions of the Ross Sea using a state-of-the-art strategy that will advance our understanding of the structural and functional features of the sea squirt and microbiome in detail, and reveal the roles that the palA natural product plays in the host ecology in its native Antarctic seafloor habitat. The project will broaden diversity and provide new opportunities for early career students and postdoctoral researchers to participate in field and laboratory-based research that builds an integrative understanding of Antarctic marine biology, ecology, physiology and chemistry. In addition, advancing the understanding of palA and its biological properties may be of future benefit to biomedicine and human health.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eTechnical description\u003cbr/\u003eMarine invertebrates and their associated microbiomes can produce bioactive natural products; in fact, \u003e600 such compounds have been identified in species from polar waters. Although such compounds are typically hypothesized to serve ecological roles in host survival through deterring predation, fouling, and microbial infection, in most cases neither the producing organism nor the genome-encoded biosynthetic enzymes are known. This project will study an emerging biosynthetic system from a polar ascidian-microbe association that produces palA, a natural product with bioactivity against the proton-pumping enzyme V-type H+-ATPase (VHA). The objectives include: (i) Determining the microbiome composition, metabolome complexity, palA levels, and mitochondrial DNA sequence of S. adareanum morphotypes at sites in the Antarctic Peninsula and in McMurdo Sound, (ii) Characterizing the Synoicum microbiome using a multi-omics strategy, and (iii) Assessing the potential for co-occurrence of Ca. S. palmerolidicus-palA-VHA in host tissues, and (iv) exploring the role of palA in modulating VHA activity in vivo and its effects on ascidian-microbe ecophysiology. Through a coupled study of palA-producing and non-producing S. adareanum specimens, structural and functional features of the ascidian microbiome metagenome will be characterized to better understand the relationship between predicted secondary metabolite pathways and whether they are expressed in situ using a paired metatranscriptome sequencing and secondary metabolite detection strategy. Combined with tissue co-localization results, functional ecophysiological assays aim to determine the roles that the natural product plays in the host ecology in its native Antarctic seafloor habitat. The contributions of the project will inform this intimate host-microbial association in which the ascidian host bioaccumulates VHA-inhibiting palA, yet its geo-spatial distribution, cellular localization, ecological and physiological role(s) are not known. In addition to elucidating the ecophysiological roles of palA in their native ascidian-microbe association, the results will contribute to the success of translational science, which aligns with NSF\u2019s interests in promoting basic research that leads to advances in Biotechnology and Bioeconomy. The project will also broaden diversity and provide new opportunities for early career students and postdoctoral researchers to participate in field and laboratory-based research that builds an integrative understanding of Antarctic marine biology, ecology, physiology and chemistry.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis award reflects NSF\u0027\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 160.0, "geometry": "POINT(-130 -70)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONS; BACTERIA/ARCHAEA; BENTHIC; R/V NBP; Antarctic Peninsula; ANIMALS/INVERTEBRATES", "locations": "Antarctic Peninsula", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Baker, Bill; Murray, Alison; Tresguerres, Martin", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -80.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: ANT LIA: Diving into the Ecology of an Antarctic Ascidian-Microbiome-Palmerolide Association using a Multi-omic and Functional Approach", "uid": "p0010485", "west": -60.0}, {"awards": "2336354 Juarez Rivera, Marisol", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((160 -76.5,160.45 -76.5,160.9 -76.5,161.35 -76.5,161.8 -76.5,162.25 -76.5,162.7 -76.5,163.15 -76.5,163.6 -76.5,164.05 -76.5,164.5 -76.5,164.5 -76.7,164.5 -76.9,164.5 -77.1,164.5 -77.3,164.5 -77.5,164.5 -77.7,164.5 -77.9,164.5 -78.1,164.5 -78.3,164.5 -78.5,164.05 -78.5,163.6 -78.5,163.15 -78.5,162.7 -78.5,162.25 -78.5,161.8 -78.5,161.35 -78.5,160.9 -78.5,160.45 -78.5,160 -78.5,160 -78.3,160 -78.1,160 -77.9,160 -77.7,160 -77.5,160 -77.3,160 -77.1,160 -76.9,160 -76.7,160 -76.5))", "dataset_titles": "Lake Fryxell 2022-2023 benthic microbial mat thickness and number of laminae", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601839", "doi": "10.15784/601839", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cryosphere; Dry Valleys; Lake Fryxell; Laminae; Microbial Mat; Thickness", "people": "Hawes, Ian; Sumner, Dawn; Paul, Ann; Mackey, Tyler; Juarez Rivera, Marisol", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Lake Fryxell 2022-2023 benthic microbial mat thickness and number of laminae", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601839"}], "date_created": "Fri, 05 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Perennially ice-covered lakes in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica contain abundant microbial mats, and the export of this mat material can fertilize the surrounding polar desert ecosystems. These desert soils are one of the most organic-poor on earth yet host a community of microorganisms. Microbial mat material is exported from the shallow, gas-supersaturated regions of the lakes when gas bubbles form in the mats, lifting them to the ice cover. The perennial ice cover maintains gas supersaturation. These mats freeze in and are exported to the surrounding soils through ice ablation. The largest seasonal decrease and thinnest ice cover in the history of Lake Fryxell was recorded during the 2022-2023 Austral summer. In this thin ice year, the water column dissolved oxygen increased over prior observations, and the lake bottom surface area with bubble-disrupted mat was more than double that observed in 1980-1981 and 2006-2007. This work will constrain mat mobilization within and out of Lake Fryxell in the McMurdo Dry Valleys during a period of unprecedented ice thinning to understand how future changing regional climate and predicted seasonal loss of lake ice cover will affect nutrient transport in the McMurdo Dry Valleys. Exceptional years of mat export are hypothesized to have the most significant impact on nutrient export to soil communities. Variability in mat liftoff may thus play a role in the McMurdo Dry Valleys ecosystem response to changing climate. The perennial ice cover of lakes in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica modulates the transfer of gasses, organic and inorganic material, between the lakes and surrounding soils. The export of biomass in these lakes is driven by the supersaturation of atmospheric gasses in the shallow regions under perennial ice cover. Gas bubbles nucleate in the mats, producing buoyancy that lifts them to the bottom of the ice, where they freeze in and are exported to the surrounding soils through ice ablation. These mats represent a significant source of biomass and nutrients to the McMurdo Dry Valleys soils, which are among the most organic-poor on earth. Nevertheless, this biomass remains unaccounted for in organic carbon cycling models for the McMurdo Dry Valleys. Ice cover data from the McMurdo Dry Valleys Long Term Ecological Research Project shows that the ice thickness has undergone cyclical variation over the last 40 years, reaching the largest seasonal decrease and thinnest ice-cover in the recorded history of Lake Fryxell during the 2022-2023 austral summer. Preliminary work shows that the surface area with mat liftoff at Lake Fryxell is more than double that observed in 1980-1981 and 2006-2007, coinciding with this unprecedented thinning of the ice-cover and an increase in the water column dissolved O2. This research will constrain biomass mobilization within and out of Lake Fryxell in the McMurdo Dry Valleys during a period of unprecedented ice thinning. The researchers hypothesize that a thinner ice cover promotes more biomass mobilization by 1) stimulating additional production of gas bubbles from the existing gas-supersaturated waters during summertime photosynthesis to create microbial mat liftoff and 2) promoting mat liftoff in deeper, thicker microbial mats, and 3) that this biomass can be traced into the soils by characterizing its chemistry and modeling the most likely depositional settings. This work will use microbial mat samples, lake dissolved oxygen and photosynthetically active radiation data and underwater drone footage documenting the depth distribution of liftoff mats in January 2023, and long-term ice cover thickness, photosynthetically active radiation, and lake level change data collected by the McMurdo Dry Valleys Long Term Ecological Research Project to test hypotheses 1-3. The dispersal of the liftoff mat exposed at Lake Fryxell surface will be modeled using a Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model. Exceptional liftoff years like the present are hypothesized to have the most significant impact on the soil communities as the rates of soil respiration increase with the addition of carbon. However, continued warming in the next 10 - 40 years may result in seasonal loss of the ice cover and cessation of liftoff mat export.", "east": 164.5, "geometry": "POINT(162.25 -77.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Stable Isotopes; MINERALS; LAKE/POND; ISOTOPES; Organic Matter; McMurdo Dry Valleys; SEDIMENTARY ROCKS", "locations": "McMurdo Dry Valleys", "north": -76.5, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Juarez Rivera, Marisol", "platforms": null, "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.5, "title": "RAPID: Is Biomass Mobilization at Ice-covered Lake Fryxell, Antarctica reaching a Critical Threshold?", "uid": "p0010467", "west": 160.0}, {"awards": null, "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Thu, 13 Jun 2024 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The Amundsen Sea, near the fastest melting Antarctic glaciers, hosts one of the most productive polar ecosystems in the world. Phytoplankton serve as the base of the food chain, and their growth also removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Phytoplankton growth is fertilized in this area by nutrient iron, which is only present at low concentrations in seawater. Prior studies have shown the seabed sediments may provide iron to the Amundsen Sea ecosystem. However, sediment sources of iron have never been studied here directly. This project fills this gap by analyzing sediments from the Amundsen Sea and investigating whether sediment iron fertilizes plankton growth. The results will help scientists understand the basic ecosystem drivers and predict the effects of climate change on this vibrant, vulnerable region. This project also emphasizes inclusivity and openness to the public. The researchers will establish a mentoring network for diverse polar scientists through the Polar Impact Network and communicate their results to the public through the website CryoConnect.org. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis project leverages samples already collected from the Amundsen Sea (NBP22-02) to investigate sediment iron (Fe) cycling and fluxes. The broad questions driving this research are 1) does benthic Fe fertilize Antarctic coastal primary productivity, and 2) what are the feedbacks between benthic Fe release and carbon cycling in the coastal Antarctic? To answer these questions, the researchers will analyze pore water Fe content and speciation and calculate fluxes of Fe across the sediment-water interface. These results will be compared to sediment characteristics (e.g., organic carbon content, reactive Fe content, proximity to glacial sources) to identify controls on benthic Fe release. This research dovetails with and expands on the science goals of the ?Accelerating Thwaites Ecosystem Impacts for the Southern Ocean? (ARTEMIS) project through which the field samples were collected. In turn, the findings of ARTEMIS regarding modeled and observed trace metal dynamics, surface water productivity, and carbon cycling will inform the conclusions of this project, allowing insight into the impact of benthic Fe in the whole system. This project represents a unique opportunity for combined study of the water column and sediment biogeochemistry which will be of great value to the marine biogeochemistry community and will inform future sediment-ocean studies in polar oceanography and beyond.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "SEDIMENT CHEMISTRY; TRACE ELEMENTS", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": null, "paleo_time": null, "persons": null, "platforms": null, "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Benthic Iron Fluxes and Cycling in the Amundsen Sea", "uid": "p0010463", "west": null}, {"awards": "2325046 Thurber, Andrew", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((162 -77,162.6 -77,163.2 -77,163.8 -77,164.4 -77,165 -77,165.6 -77,166.2 -77,166.8 -77,167.4 -77,168 -77,168 -77.1,168 -77.2,168 -77.3,168 -77.4,168 -77.5,168 -77.6,168 -77.7,168 -77.8,168 -77.9,168 -78,167.4 -78,166.8 -78,166.2 -78,165.6 -78,165 -78,164.4 -78,163.8 -78,163.2 -78,162.6 -78,162 -78,162 -77.9,162 -77.8,162 -77.7,162 -77.6,162 -77.5,162 -77.4,162 -77.3,162 -77.2,162 -77.1,162 -77))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Fri, 10 May 2024 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This RAPID project aims to study a sporadic occurrence of sea star wasting syndrome (SSWS) in McMurdo sound by leveraging diving resources of a CAREER grant to Thurber. The disease was first noted in 2019, with a second occurrence documented by the group at their study site near a methane seep at Cinder Cone in McMurdo Sound in 2022. Sea stars are key species in many benthic ecosystems, including the Antarctic, and this disease has caused significant losses in populations worldwide. In the Southern Ocean, the sea star Odontaster validus preys upon Acodontaster conspicuous, a predator of Antarctic giant sponges. In 2022, about 30% of the O. validus at the methane seep were affected. The conditions associated with the disease in other areas are environmental hypoxia, warm temperatures, and organic enrichment. This recent outbreak provides the opportunity to study how the disease may progress in the Southern Ocean, and test the hypothesis that oxygen dynamics play a key role in the development of SSWS. The investigators aim to measure oxygen concentrations on and off the Cinder Cone seep and at the surface of affected and unaffected sea stars and identify whether the disease causes and microbiome characteristics of SSWS are similar between Antarctic and non-Antarctic outbreaks. These findings can be used to understand the potential effects of future climate conditions on disease outbreaks of Southern Ocean marine organisms critical to ecosystem function and health. In addition to disease dynamics, the study will also help to understand how methane seepage impacts benthic oxygen dynamics. Other broader impacts include communicating the research through a student led YouTube documentary and facilitating the transition of an early career URM researcher from NSF postdoc to a faculty position (lead on viral component of the project).", "east": 168.0, "geometry": "POINT(165 -77.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "BENTHIC; Antarctica; Sea Star Wasting Disease", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -77.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Thurber, Andrew; Moran, Amy", "platforms": null, "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -78.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: RAPID: Sea Star Wasting Disease in the High Antarctic: Deciphering the Role of Shifting Carbon and Climate Cycles on a Keystone Predator", "uid": "p0010458", "west": 162.0}, {"awards": null, "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Mon, 12 Feb 2024 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Undersea canyons play disproportionately important roles as oceanic biological hotspots and are critical for our understanding of many coastal ecosystems. Canyon-associated biological hotspots have persisted for thousands of years Along the Western Antarctic Peninsula, despite significant climate variability. Observations of currents over Palmer Deep canyon, a representative hotspot along the Western Antarctic Peninsula, indicate that surface phytoplankton blooms enter and exit the local hotspot on scales of ~1-2 days. This time of residence is in conflict with the prevailing idea that canyon associated hotspots are primarily maintained by phytoplankton that are locally grown in association with these features by the upwelling of deep waters rich with nutrients that fuel the phytoplankton growth. Instead, the implication is that horizontal ocean circulation is likely more important to maintaining these biological hotspots than local upwelling through its physical concentrating effects. This project seeks to better resolve the factors that create and maintain focused areas of biological activity at canyons along the Western Antarctic Peninsula and create local foraging areas for marine mammals and birds. The project focus is in the analysis of the ocean transport and concentration mechanisms that sustain these biological hotspots, connecting oceanography to phytoplankton and krill, up through the food web to one of the resident predators, penguins. In addition, the research will engage with teachers from school districts serving underrepresented and underserved students by integrating the instructors and their students completely with the science team. Students will conduct their own research with the same data over the same time as researchers on the project. Revealing the fundamental mechanisms that sustain these known hotspots will significantly advance our understanding of the observed connection between submarine canyons and persistent penguin population hotspots over ecological time, and provide a new model for how Antarctic hotspots function.\u003cbr/\u003e \u003cbr/\u003e \u003cbr/\u003eTo understand the physical mechanisms that support persistent hotspots along the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP), this project will integrate a modeling and field program that will target the processes responsible for transporting and concentrating phytoplankton and krill biomass to known penguin foraging locations. Within the Palmer Deep canyon, a representative hotspot, the team will deploy a High Frequency Radar (HFR) coastal surface current mapping network, uniquely equipped to identify the eddies and frontal regions that concentrate phytoplankton and krill. The field program, centered on surface features identified by the HFR, will include (i) a coordinated fleet of gliders to survey hydrography, chlorophyll fluorescence, optical backscatter, and active acoustics at the scale of the targeted convergent features; (ii) precise penguin tracking with GPS-linked satellite telemetry and time-depth recorders (TDRs); (iii) and weekly small boat surveys that adaptively target and track convergent features to measure phytoplankton, krill, and hydrography. A high resolution physical model will generalize our field measurements to other known hotspots along the WAP through simulation and determine which physical mechanisms lead to the maintenance of these hotspots. The project will also engage educators, students, and members of the general public in Antarctic research and data analysis with an education program that will advance teaching and learning as well as broadening participation of under-represented groups. This engagement includes professional development workshops, live connections to the public and classrooms, student research symposia, and program evaluation. Together the integrated research and engagement will advance our understanding of the role regional transport pathways and local depth dependent concentrating physical mechanisms play in sustaining these biological hotspots.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Palmer Station; BENTHIC; PENGUINS; FLUORESCENCE; PHYTOPLANKTON", "locations": "Palmer Station", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": null, "paleo_time": null, "persons": null, "platforms": null, "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: Physical Mechanisms Driving Food Web Focusing in Antarctic Biological Hotspots", "uid": "p0010448", "west": null}, {"awards": "2138993 Gerken, Sarah; 2138994 Kocot, Kevin", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Tue, 20 Sep 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The overarching goal of this research is to use cumaceans as a model system to explore invertebrate adaptations to the changing Antarctic. This project will leverage integrative taxonomy, functional, comparative and evolutionary genomics, and phylogenetic comparative methods to understand the true diversity of Cumacea in the Antarctic, identify genes and gene families experiencing expansions, selection, or significant differential expression, generate a broadly sampled and robust phylogenetic framework for Cumacea based on transcriptomes and genomes, and explore rates and timing of diversification in Antarctic cumaceans. The project will contribute to understanding of gene gain/loss, positive selection, and differential gene expression as a function of adaptation of organisms to Antarctic habitats. Phylogenomic analyses will provide a robust phylogenetic framework for Southern Ocean Cumacea. Currently, the only -omics level data that exists for the Cumacea is one transcriptome. This project will generate 8 genomes from 8 species, about 250 transcriptomes from about 70 species, and approximately 470 COI and 16S barcodes from about 100 species. Beyond the immediate scope of the current project, the genomic resources will be leveraged by members of the polar biology and invertebrate zoology communities for diverse other uses ranging from PCR primer development to inference of ancestral population sizes. In addition, curated morphological reference collections will be deposited at the Smithsonian, Los Angeles County Natural History Museum, and in the New Zealand National Water and Atmospheric Research collection at Greta Point, to assist future researchers in identification of Antarctic cumaceans.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Benthic; SHIPS; Antarctic Peninsula; Antarctica; Biodiversity; Peracarida; ARTHROPODS; East Antarctica; Chile; BENTHIC; Cumacea; Ross Sea; Crustacea", "locations": "Antarctica; East Antarctica; Chile; Ross Sea; Antarctic Peninsula", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Polar Special Initiatives; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": "NOT APPLICABLE", "persons": "Gerken, Sarah; Kocot, Kevin", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e SHIPS", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: ANT LIA: Cumacean -Omics to Measure Mode of Adaptation to Antarctica (COMMAA)", "uid": "p0010379", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "2026648 Tobin, Thomas; 2025724 Harwood, David; 2020728 Huber, Brian", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-56.93 -64.2,-56.894 -64.2,-56.858 -64.2,-56.822 -64.2,-56.786 -64.2,-56.75 -64.2,-56.714 -64.2,-56.678 -64.2,-56.642 -64.2,-56.606 -64.2,-56.57 -64.2,-56.57 -64.214,-56.57 -64.22800000000001,-56.57 -64.242,-56.57 -64.256,-56.57 -64.27000000000001,-56.57 -64.284,-56.57 -64.298,-56.57 -64.312,-56.57 -64.32600000000001,-56.57 -64.34,-56.606 -64.34,-56.642 -64.34,-56.678 -64.34,-56.714 -64.34,-56.75 -64.34,-56.786 -64.34,-56.822 -64.34,-56.858 -64.34,-56.894 -64.34,-56.93 -64.34,-56.93 -64.32600000000001,-56.93 -64.312,-56.93 -64.298,-56.93 -64.284,-56.93 -64.27000000000001,-56.93 -64.256,-56.93 -64.242,-56.93 -64.22800000000001,-56.93 -64.214,-56.93 -64.2))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Thu, 15 Sep 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Non-technical description: \u003cbr/\u003eThis 4-year project is evaluating evidence of extinction patterns and depositional conditions from a high southern latitude Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) outcrop section found on Seymore Island, in the Western Antarctic Peninsula. The team is using sediment samples collected below the weathering horizon to evaluate detailed sedimentary structures, geochemistry, and microfossils in targeted stratigraphic intervals. The study will help determine if the K-Pg mass extinction was a single or double phased event and whether Seymour Island region in the geological past was a restricted, suboxic marine environment or an open well-mixed shelf. The award includes an integrated plan for student training at all levels, enhanced by a highlighted partnership with a high school earth sciences teacher working in a school serving underrepresented students.\u003cbr/\u003eTechnical description:\u003cbr/\u003e The proposed research is applying multiple techniques to address an overarching research question for which recent studies are in disagreement: Is the fossil evidence from a unique outcropping on Seymour Island, Antarctica consistent with a single or double phased extinction? In a two-phased model, the first extinction would affect primarily benthic organisms and would have occurred ~150 kiloyears prior to a separate extinction at the K-Pg boundary. However, this early extinction could plausibly be explained by an unrecognized facies control that is obscured by surficial weathering. This team is using microfossil evidence with detailed sedimentary petrology and geochemistry data to evaluate if the fossil evidence from Seymour Island is consistent with a single or double phased extinction process. The team is using detailed sedimentary petrology and geochemistry methods to test for facies changes across the K-PG interval that would explain the apparent early extinction. Samples of core sedimentary foraminifera, siliceous microfossils, and calcareous nannofossils are being evaluated to provide a high-resolution stratigraphic resolution and to evaluate whether evidence for an early extinction is present. Additionally, the team is using multiple geochemical methods to evaluate whether there is evidence for intermittent anoxia or euxinia and/or physical restriction of the Seymore region basin. Data from this analysis will indicate if this region was a restricted, suboxic marine environment or an open well-mixed shelf.", "east": -56.57, "geometry": "POINT(-56.75 -64.27000000000001)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Seymour Island; PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTIONS; SEDIMENTARY ROCKS; MICROFOSSILS; FIELD INVESTIGATION", "locations": "Seymour Island", "north": -64.2, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Tobin, Thomas; Totten, Rebecca", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -64.34, "title": "Collaborative Research: Coring Seymour Island (CSI) Antarctica: Evaluating Causes and Effects of the End Cretaceous Mass Extinction", "uid": "p0010377", "west": -56.93}, {"awards": "2147045 Learman, Deric", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-168 -60,-156 -60,-144 -60,-132 -60,-120 -60,-108 -60,-96 -60,-84 -60,-72 -60,-60 -60,-60 -62,-60 -64,-60 -66,-60 -68,-60 -70,-60 -72,-60 -74,-60 -76,-60 -78,-60 -80,-72 -80,-84 -80,-96 -80,-108 -80,-120 -80,-132 -80,-144 -80,-156 -80,-168 -80,180 -80,171 -80,162 -80,153 -80,144 -80,135 -80,126 -80,117 -80,108 -80,99 -80,90 -80,90 -78,90 -76,90 -74,90 -72,90 -70,90 -68,90 -66,90 -64,90 -62,90 -60,99 -60,108 -60,117 -60,126 -60,135 -60,144 -60,153 -60,162 -60,171 -60,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Tue, 30 Aug 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Microbes in Antarctic surface marine sediments have an important role in degrading organic matter and releasing nutrients to the ocean. Organic matter degradation is at the center of the carbon cycle in the ocean, providing valuable information on nutrient recycling, food availability to animals and carbon dioxide release to the atmosphere. The functionality of these microbes has been inferred by their genomics, however these methods only address the possible function, not their actual rates. In this project the PIs plan to combine genomics methods with cellular estimates of enzyme abundance and activity as a way to determine the rates of carbon degradation. This project aims to sample in several regions of Antarctica to provide a large-scale picture of the processes under study and understand the importance of microbial community composition and environmental factors, such as primary productivity, have on microbial activity. The proposed work will combine research tools such as metagenomics, meta-transcriptomics, and metabolomics coupled with chemical data and enzyme assays to establish degradation of organic matter in Antarctic sediments. This project benefits NSFs goals of understanding the adaptation of Antarctic organisms to the cold and isolated environment, critical to predict effects of climate change to polar organisms, as well as contribute to our knowledge of how Antarctic organisms have adapted to this environment. Society will benefit from this project by education of 2 graduate students, undergraduates and K-12 students as well as increase public literacy through short videos production shared in YouTube.\r\n\r\nThe PIs propose to advance understanding of polar microbial community function, by measuring enzyme and gene function of complex organic matter degradation in several ocean regions, providing a circum-Antarctic description of sediment processes. Two hypotheses are proposed. The first hypothesis states that many genes for the degradation of complex organic matter will be shared in sediments throughout a sampling transect and that where variations in gene content occur, it will reflect differences in the quantity and quality of organic matter, not regional variability. The second hypothesis states that a fraction of gene transcripts for organic matter degradation will not result in measurable enzyme activity due to post-translational modification or rapid degradation of the enzymes. The PIs will analyze sediment cores already collected in a 2020 cruise to the western Antarctic Peninsula with the additional request of participating in a cruise in 2023 to East Antarctica. The PIs will analyze sediments for metagenomics, meta-transcriptomics, and metabolomics coupled with geochemical data and enzyme assays to establish microbial degradation of complex organic matter in Antarctic sediments. Organic carbon concentrations and content in sediments will be measured with \u03b413C, \u03b415N, TOC porewater fluorescence in bulk organic carbon. Combined with determination of geographical variability as well as dependence on carbon sources, results from this study could provide the basis for new hypotheses on how climate variability, with increased water temperature, affects geochemistry in the Southern Ocean.", "east": 90.0, "geometry": "POINT(-165 -70)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "BENTHIC; ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONS; Weddell Sea; Antarctic Peninsula; SEDIMENT CHEMISTRY; R/V NBP", "locations": "Antarctic Peninsula; Weddell Sea", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Learman, Deric", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -80.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: ANT LIA: Connecting Metagenome Potential to Microbial Function: Investigating Microbial Degradation of Complex Organic Matter Antarctic Benthic Sediments", "uid": "p0010373", "west": -60.0}, {"awards": "2132641 Bik, Holly", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -62,180 -64,180 -66,180 -68,180 -70,180 -72,180 -74,180 -76,180 -78,180 -80,144 -80,108 -80,72 -80,36 -80,0 -80,-36 -80,-72 -80,-108 -80,-144 -80,-180 -80,-180 -78,-180 -76,-180 -74,-180 -72,-180 -70,-180 -68,-180 -66,-180 -64,-180 -62,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Tue, 30 Aug 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Nematode worms are abundant and ubiquitous in marine sediment habitats worldwide, performing key functions such as nutrient cycling and sediment stability. However, study of this phylum suffers from a perpetual and severe taxonomic deficit, with less than 5,000 formally described marine species. Fauna from the Southern Ocean are especially poorly studied due to limited sampling and the general inaccessibility of the Antarctic benthos. This study is providing the first large-scale molecular-based investigation from marine nematodes in the Eastern Antarctic continental shelf, providing an important comparative dataset for the existing body of historical (morphological) taxonomic studies. This project uses a combination of classical taxonomy (microscopy) and modern -omics tools to achieve three overarching aims: 1) determine if molecular data supports high biodiversity and endemism of benthic meiofauna in Antarctic benthic ecosystems; 2) determine the proportion of marine nematode species that have a deep-sea versus shallow-water evolutionary origin on the Antarctic shelf, and assess patterns of cryptic speciation in the Southern Ocean; and 3) determine the most important drivers of the host-associated microbiome in Antarctic marine nematodes. This project is designed to rapidly advance knowledge of the evolutionary origins of Antarctic meiofauna, provide insight on population-level patterns within key indicator genera, and elucidate the potential ecological and environmental factors which may influence microbiome patterns. Broader Impacts activities include an intensive cruise- and land-based outreach program focusing on social media engagement and digital outreach products, raising awareness of Antarctic marine ecosystems and understudied microbial-animal relationships. The diverse research team includes female scientists, first-generation college students, and Latinx trainees.\r\n", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "East Antarctica; BENTHIC", "locations": "East Antarctica", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Bik, Holly", "platforms": null, "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -80.0, "title": "ANT LIA: Do Molecular Data Support High Endemism and Divergent Evolution of Antarctic Marine Nematodes and their Host-associated Microbiomes?", "uid": "p0010372", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "2212904 Herbert, Lisa", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-120 -71,-118 -71,-116 -71,-114 -71,-112 -71,-110 -71,-108 -71,-106 -71,-104 -71,-102 -71,-100 -71,-100 -71.4,-100 -71.8,-100 -72.2,-100 -72.6,-100 -73,-100 -73.4,-100 -73.8,-100 -74.2,-100 -74.6,-100 -75,-102 -75,-104 -75,-106 -75,-108 -75,-110 -75,-112 -75,-114 -75,-116 -75,-118 -75,-120 -75,-120 -74.6,-120 -74.2,-120 -73.8,-120 -73.4,-120 -73,-120 -72.6,-120 -72.2,-120 -71.8,-120 -71.4,-120 -71))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Sun, 07 Aug 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The Amundsen Sea, near the fastest melting Antarctic glaciers, hosts one of the most productive polar ecosystems in the world. Phytoplankton serve as the base of the food chain, and their growth also removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Phytoplankton growth is fertilized in this area by nutrient iron (Fe), which is only present at low concentrations in seawater. Prior studies have shown the seabed sediments may provide Fe to the Amundsen Sea ecosystem. However, sediment sources of Fe have never been studied here directly. This project fills this gap by analyzing sediments from the Amundsen Sea and investigating whether sediment Fe fertilizes plankton growth. The results will help scientists understand the basic ecosystem drivers and predict the effects of climate change on this vibrant, vulnerable region. This project also emphasizes inclusivity and openness to the public. The researchers will establish a mentoring network for diverse polar scientists through the Polar Impact Network and communicate their results to the public through CryoConnect.org. \r\n\r\nThis project leverages samples already collected from the Amundsen Sea (NBP22-02) to investigate sediment Fe cycling and fluxes. The broad questions driving this research are 1) does benthic Fe fertilize Antarctic coastal primary productivity, and 2) what are the feedbacks between benthic Fe release and carbon cycling in the coastal Antarctic? To answer these questions, the researchers will analyze pore water Fe content and speciation and calculate fluxes of Fe across the sediment-water interface. These results will be compared to sediment characteristics (e.g., organic carbon content, reactive Fe content, proximity to glacial sources) to identify controls on benthic Fe release. This research dovetails with and expands on the science goals of the \u201cAccelerating Thwaites Ecosystem Impacts for the Southern Ocean\u201d (ARTEMIS) project through which the field samples were collected. In turn, the findings of ARTEMIS regarding modeled and observed trace metal dynamics, surface water productivity, and carbon cycling will inform the conclusions of this project, allowing insight into the impact of benthic Fe in the whole system. This project represents a unique opportunity for combined study of the water column and sediment biogeochemistry which will be of great value to the marine biogeochemistry community and will inform future sediment-ocean studies in polar oceanography and beyond. \r\n", "east": -100.0, "geometry": "POINT(-110 -73)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "TRACE ELEMENTS; SEDIMENT CHEMISTRY; Amundsen Sea", "locations": "Amundsen Sea", "north": -71.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Post Doc/Travel; Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Herbert, Lisa", "platforms": null, "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -75.0, "title": "OPP-PRF: Benthic Iron Fluxes and Cycling in the Amundsen Sea", "uid": "p0010362", "west": -120.0}, {"awards": "2032029 Gerken, Sarah", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-70 -62,-68.5 -62,-67 -62,-65.5 -62,-64 -62,-62.5 -62,-61 -62,-59.5 -62,-58 -62,-56.5 -62,-55 -62,-55 -62.8,-55 -63.6,-55 -64.4,-55 -65.2,-55 -66,-55 -66.8,-55 -67.6,-55 -68.4,-55 -69.2,-55 -70,-56.5 -70,-58 -70,-59.5 -70,-61 -70,-62.5 -70,-64 -70,-65.5 -70,-67 -70,-68.5 -70,-70 -70,-70 -69.2,-70 -68.4,-70 -67.6,-70 -66.8,-70 -66,-70 -65.2,-70 -64.4,-70 -63.6,-70 -62.8,-70 -62))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data of NBP2303; Invertebrate Zoology", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200385", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Alabama Museum of Natural History, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa", "science_program": null, "title": "Invertebrate Zoology", "url": "https://arctos.database.museum/"}, {"dataset_uid": "200386", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data of NBP2303", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP2303"}], "date_created": "Mon, 13 Jun 2022 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Ocean communities play an important role in determining the natural and human impacts of global change. The most conspicuous members of those communities are generally large vertebrates such as marine mammals and sea birds. But smaller animals often determine how the changes impact those charismatic animals. In the Antarctic, where some of the most dramatic physical changes are taking place, we do not know much about what small animals exist. This project will sample the sub-Antarctic and three different Antarctic seas with a hope of identifying, quantifying and discovering the variation in species of a group of small invertebrates. Comma shrimp, also called cumaceans, are rarely seen elsewhere but may be common and important in the communities of these locations. Antarctic sampling traditionally used gear that was not very effective at catching cumaceans so we do not know what species exist there and how common they are. This study will utilize modern sampling methods that will allow comma shrimp to be sampled. This will lead to discoveries about the diversity and abundance of comma shrimp, as well as their relationship to other invertebrate species. Major impacts of this work will be an enhancement of museum collections, the development of description of all the comma shrimp of Antarctica including new and unnamed species. Those contributions may be especially important as we strive to understand what drives the dynamics of charismatic vertebrates and fisheries that are tied to Antarctic food webs. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis project will collect cumaceans from benthic samples from the Antarctic peninsula, Bransfield Strait, and the Weddell Sea using benthic sleds, boxcores and megacores. Specimens will be fixed in 95% ethanol, preserved in 95% ethanol and 5% glycerin to preserve both morphology and DNA, and some specimens will be partially or wholly preserved in RNALater to preserve RNA and DNA. The specimens will form the basis for a monograph synthesizing current knowledge on the Subantarctic and Antarctic Cumacea, including diagnoses of all species, descriptions of new species, additional description for currently unknown life stages of known species, and vouchered gene sequences for all species collected. The monograph will include keys to all families, genera and species known from the region. Monographic revisions that include identification resources are typically useful for decades to a broad spectrum of other scientists.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": -55.0, "geometry": "POINT(-62.5 -66)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "AMD; NSF/USA; ANIMALS/INVERTEBRATES; SHIPS; USAP-DC; NBP2303; Weddell Sea; Amd/Us; Antarctic Peninsula", "locations": "Antarctic Peninsula; Weddell Sea", "north": -62.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Gerken, Sarah", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e SHIPS", "repo": "Alabama Museum of Natural History, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa", "repositories": "Alabama Museum of Natural History, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa; R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -70.0, "title": "RAPID: Monographing the Antarctic and Subantarctic Cumacea", "uid": "p0010338", "west": -70.0}, {"awards": "2139051 Guitard, Michelle", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-45 -57,-44.3 -57,-43.6 -57,-42.9 -57,-42.2 -57,-41.5 -57,-40.8 -57,-40.1 -57,-39.4 -57,-38.7 -57,-38 -57,-38 -57.5,-38 -58,-38 -58.5,-38 -59,-38 -59.5,-38 -60,-38 -60.5,-38 -61,-38 -61.5,-38 -62,-38.7 -62,-39.4 -62,-40.1 -62,-40.8 -62,-41.5 -62,-42.2 -62,-42.9 -62,-43.6 -62,-44.3 -62,-45 -62,-45 -61.5,-45 -61,-45 -60.5,-45 -60,-45 -59.5,-45 -59,-45 -58.5,-45 -58,-45 -57.5,-45 -57))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Fri, 05 Nov 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The Mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT; ~1.25\u20130.7 Ma) marks the shift from glacial-interglacial cycles paced by obliquity (~41 kyr cycles) to those paced by eccentricity (~100-kyr cycles). This transition occurred despite little variation in Earth\u2019s orbital parameters, suggesting a role for internal climate feedbacks. The MPT was accompanied by decreasing atmospheric pCO2, increasing deep ocean carbon storage, and changes in deep water formation and distribution, all of which are linked to Antarctic margin atmosphere-ice-ocean interactions. However, Pleistocene records that document such interactions are rarely preserved on the shelf due to repeated Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) advance; instead, they are preserved in deep Southern Ocean basins. This project takes advantage of the excellent preservation and recovery of continuous Pleistocene sediment sequences collected from the Scotia Sea during International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 382 to test the following hypotheses: 1) Southern Ocean upper ocean temperatures vary on orbital timescales during the early to middle Pleistocene (2.6\u20130.7 Ma), and 2) Southern Ocean temperatures co-vary with AIS advance/retreat cycles. Paleotemperatures will be reconstructed using the TetraEther indeX of tetraethers containing 86 carbons (TEX86), a proxy that utilizes marine archaeal biomarkers. The Scotia Sea TEX86-based paleotemperature record will be compared to records of AIS variability, including ice rafted debris. Expedition 382 records will be compared to orbitally paced climatic time series and the benthic oxygen isotope record of global ice volume and bottom water temperature to determine if a correlation exists between upper ocean temperature, AIS retreat/advance, and orbital climate forcing. ", "east": -38.0, "geometry": "POINT(-41.5 -59.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Amd/Us; SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE; USAP-DC; USA/NSF; LABORATORY; AMD; Scotia Sea", "locations": "Scotia Sea", "north": -57.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Post Doc/Travel", "paleo_time": "PHANEROZOIC \u003e CENOZOIC \u003e QUATERNARY \u003e PLEISTOCENE", "persons": "Michelle, Guitard", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -62.0, "title": "Investigating the influence of ocean temperature on Antarctic Ice Sheet evolution during the early to middle Pleistocene ", "uid": "p0010275", "west": -45.0}, {"awards": "2225144 Halanych, Kenneth; 1916665 Mahon, Andrew; 1916661 Halanych, Kenneth", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-72 -61,-69.8 -61,-67.6 -61,-65.4 -61,-63.2 -61,-61 -61,-58.8 -61,-56.6 -61,-54.4 -61,-52.2 -61,-50 -61,-50 -61.8,-50 -62.6,-50 -63.4,-50 -64.2,-50 -65,-50 -65.8,-50 -66.6,-50 -67.4,-50 -68.2,-50 -69,-52.2 -69,-54.4 -69,-56.6 -69,-58.8 -69,-61 -69,-63.2 -69,-65.4 -69,-67.6 -69,-69.8 -69,-72 -69,-72 -68.2,-72 -67.4,-72 -66.6,-72 -65.8,-72 -65,-72 -64.2,-72 -63.4,-72 -62.6,-72 -61.8,-72 -61))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Wed, 22 Sep 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Overview: \r\nThe ice cover of Antarctica is changing rapidly, and some reports already suggest we are at, or possibly beyond, the tipping point for the Western Antarctic Ice Sheet collapse. Loss of this ice sheet will have profound effects on marine fauna, including dramatically changing habitat availability for benthic marine species in the Southern Ocean. Formation and collapse of the Western Antarctic Ice Sheet is a cyclical process suggesting that we can learn how fauna respond to ice loss by examining historical climate conditions. Evidence from sediment cores suggests a near complete collapse occurred ~1.1 MYA and modeling suggests a collapse as recent at 125 KYA. During such periods, transantarctic seaways connected the Ross and Weddell Seas. Interestingly, most theories regarding marine invertebrate distributions around the Antarctic focus on dispersal by the Antarctic Circumpolar Current or population bottlenecks and expansions generated by repeated cycles of glaciation and fail to account for transcontinental seaways. Although the impact of previous seaways on genetic structure of present-day populations has been largely ignored, a growing body of data reveal historical connections between Ross and Weddell invertebrate communities, suggesting historical dispersal between these present-day disconnected and distant basins. Future ice shelf collapses will likely reestablish such connections causing redistribution of marine taxa. By exploring alternative hypotheses about the factors that may have shaped patterns of biodiversity in the last couple of million years, our proposed work will aid prediction of possible changes that may, or may not, occur as the Antarctic ice sheets continue to deteriorate.\r\nIntellectual Merit: \r\nThe overarching goal of this research is to understand environmental factors that have shaped patterns of present-day diversity in Antarctic benthic marine invertebrates. Building on our previous work examining circumpolar distributions of multiple marine benthic invertebrate, we are particularly interested in assessing if transantarctic waterways may help explain observed similarities between the Ross and Weddell Seas better than other possible explanations (e.g., dispersal by the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, or expansion from common glacial refugia). To this end, we will employ population genomic approaches using Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) markers that sample thousands of loci across the genome. Building on our previous phylogeographic studies, we will target 7 Antarctic benthic invertebrate taxa to test alternative hypothesis accounting for population genetic structure. Additionally, the current paradigm is that divergence between closely related, often cryptic, species is the result of genetic drift due to population bottlenecks caused by glaciation. We will directly test this assumption by mapping SNP data on to draft genomes of three of our target taxa to assess the degree of genetic divergence and look for signs of selection. If linkage groups under selection are found, we will examine cellular mechanisms under selection. Thus, our research directly addresses NSF programmatic goals to understand how Antarctic biota evolve and adapt.\r\nBroader Impacts: \r\nOur approach will test several hypotheses that dominate the current understanding of marine biodiversity patterns in the Antarctic providing relevance to several fields of Antarctic science. Also, there are implications for understanding and predicting effects of future ice shelf collapse. The PIs are committed to developing the next generation of researchers and actively engage underrepresented groups at all career stages. We expect to train a minimum of 4 graduate students, a postdoc and several undergraduates on this project. This work will include several specific outreach activities including continuation of our past social media efforts with cruise blogs which were accessed by several thousand unique IP addresses and presentations in K-8 classrooms that reach about 300+ children a year. We also propose to develop 15-20 short YouTube videos on Antarctic genomics as outreach products, we will conduct a photo exhibition, and we will develop two 3-day workshops aimed at students to introduce them to bioinformatics approaches. These works will have formal assessment. \r\nThis proposal requires fieldwork in the Antarctic. \r\n", "east": -50.0, "geometry": "POINT(-61 -65)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Marguerite Bay; USA/NSF; AMD; Weddell Sea; USAP-DC; FIELD SURVEYS; Amd/Us; MARINE ECOSYSTEMS; ANIMALS/INVERTEBRATES", "locations": "Weddell Sea; Marguerite Bay", "north": -61.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Halanych, Kenneth; Mahon, Andrew", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -69.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Have transantarctic dispersal corridors impacted Antarctic marine biodiversity?", "uid": "p0010266", "west": -72.0}, {"awards": "2046800 Thurber, Andrew", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((162 -77,162.6 -77,163.2 -77,163.8 -77,164.4 -77,165 -77,165.6 -77,166.2 -77,166.8 -77,167.4 -77,168 -77,168 -77.1,168 -77.2,168 -77.3,168 -77.4,168 -77.5,168 -77.6,168 -77.7,168 -77.8,168 -77.9,168 -78,167.4 -78,166.8 -78,166.2 -78,165.6 -78,165 -78,164.4 -78,163.8 -78,163.2 -78,162.6 -78,162 -78,162 -77.9,162 -77.8,162 -77.7,162 -77.6,162 -77.5,162 -77.4,162 -77.3,162 -77.2,162 -77.1,162 -77))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Sat, 21 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Due to persistent cold temperatures, geographical isolation, and resulting evolutionary distinctness of Southern Ocean fauna, the study of Antarctic reducing habitats has the potential to fundamentally alter our understanding of the biologic processes that inhibit greenhouse gas emissions from our oceans. Marine methane, a greenhouse gas 25x as potent as carbon dioxide for warming our atmosphere, is currently a minor component of atmospheric forcing due to the microbial oxidation of methane within the oceans. Based on studies of persistent deep-sea seeps at mid- and northern latitudes we have learned that bacteria and archaea create a \u2018sediment filter\u2019 that oxidizes methane prior to its release. As increasing global temperatures have and will continue to alter the rate and variance of methane release, the ability of the microbial filter to respond to fluctuations in methane cycles is a critical yet unexplored avenue of research. Antarctica contains vast reservoirs of methane, equivalent to all of the permafrost in the Arctic, and yet we know almost nothing about the fauna that may mitigate its release, as until recently, we had not discovered an active methane seep.\r\n\r\nIn 2012, a methane seep was discovered in the Ross Sea, Antarctica that formed in 2011 providing the first opportunity to study an active Antarctic methane-fueled habitat and simultaneously the impact of microbial succession on the oxidation of methane, a critical ecosystem service. Previous work has shown that after 5 years of seepage, the community was at an early stage of succession and unable to mitigate the release of methane from the seafloor. In addition, additional areas of seepage had begun nearby. This research aims to quantify the community trajectory of these seeps in relation to their role in the Antarctic Ecosystem, from greenhouse gas mitigation through supporting the food web. Through the application of genomic and transcriptomic approaches, taxa involved in methane cycling and genes activated by the addition of methane will be identified and contrasted with those from other geographical locations. These comparisons will elucidate how taxa have evolved and adapted to the polar environment.\r\n\r\nThis research uses a \u2018genome to ecosystem\u2019 approach to advance our understanding of organismal and systems ecology in Antarctica. By quantifying the trajectory of community succession following the onset of methane emission, the research will decipher temporal shifts in biodiversity/ecosystem function relationships. Phylogenomic approaches focusing on taxa involved in methane cycling will advance the burgeoning field of microbial biogeography on a continent where earth\u2019s history may have had a profound yet unquantified impact on microbial evolution. Further, the research will empirically quantify the role of chemosynthesis as a form of export production from seeps and in non-seep habitats in the nearshore Ross Sea benthos, informing our understanding of Antarctic carbon cycling.\r\n", "east": 168.0, "geometry": "POINT(165 -77.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "AMD; USA/NSF; USAP-DC; BACTERIA/ARCHAEA; McMurdo Sound; BENTHIC; FIELD SURVEYS; Amd/Us; ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONS", "locations": "McMurdo Sound", "north": -77.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Thurber, Andrew", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -78.0, "title": "CAREER: Ecosystem Impacts of Microbial Succession and Production at Antarctic Methane Seeps", "uid": "p0010250", "west": 162.0}, {"awards": "1941304 Sherrell, Robert; 1941483 Yager, Patricia; 1941327 Stammerjohn, Sharon; 1941292 St-Laurent, Pierre; 1941308 Fitzsimmons, Jessica", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-120 -71,-118 -71,-116 -71,-114 -71,-112 -71,-110 -71,-108 -71,-106 -71,-104 -71,-102 -71,-100 -71,-100 -71.4,-100 -71.8,-100 -72.2,-100 -72.6,-100 -73,-100 -73.4,-100 -73.8,-100 -74.2,-100 -74.6,-100 -75,-102 -75,-104 -75,-106 -75,-108 -75,-110 -75,-112 -75,-114 -75,-116 -75,-118 -75,-120 -75,-120 -74.6,-120 -74.2,-120 -73.8,-120 -73.4,-120 -73,-120 -72.6,-120 -72.2,-120 -71.8,-120 -71.4,-120 -71))", "dataset_titles": "Dataset: A numerical simulation of the ocean, sea ice and ice shelves in the Amundsen Sea (Antarctica) over the period 2006-2022 and its associated code and input files; Expedition Data of NBP2202; Numerical experiments examining the response of onshore oceanic heat supply to yearly changes in the Amundsen Sea icescape (Antarctica); Vertical ocean profiles collected by a Conductivity-Temperature-Depth (CTD) package in the Amundsen Sea", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200311", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data of NBP2202", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP2202"}, {"dataset_uid": "200399", "doi": "10.25773/bt54-sj65", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "William \u0026 Mary ScholarWorks", "science_program": null, "title": "Dataset: A numerical simulation of the ocean, sea ice and ice shelves in the Amundsen Sea (Antarctica) over the period 2006-2022 and its associated code and input files", "url": "https://doi.org/10.25773/bt54-sj65"}, {"dataset_uid": "200400", "doi": "10.17882/99231", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "SEANOE", "science_program": null, "title": "Numerical experiments examining the response of onshore oceanic heat supply to yearly changes in the Amundsen Sea icescape (Antarctica)", "url": "https://doi.org/10.17882/99231"}, {"dataset_uid": "601785", "doi": "10.15784/601785", "keywords": "Amundsen Sea; Antarctica; Cryosphere; CTD; NBP2202; Oceanography; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer", "people": "Stammerjohn, Sharon", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "Thwaites (ITGC)", "title": "Vertical ocean profiles collected by a Conductivity-Temperature-Depth (CTD) package in the Amundsen Sea", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601785"}], "date_created": "Fri, 20 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": " The Amundsen Sea hosts the most productive polynya in all of Antarctica, with its vibrant green waters visible from space, and an atmospheric CO2 uptake density 10x higher than the Southern Ocean average. The region is vulnerable to climate change, experiencing rapid losses in sea ice, a changing icescape, and some of the fastest melting glaciers flowing from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS). ARTEMIS aims to characterize the climate-sensitive nature of glacial meltwater-driven micronutrient (iron, Fe) contributions driving ecosystem productivity and CO2 uptake in the coastal Antarctic. We propose to integrate observations and ocean modeling of these processes to enhance predictive capabilities. Currently, basal melt resulting from warm deep waters penetrating ice shelf cavities dominates mass losses of WAIS, contributing to sea level rise. These physical melting processes are being studied by the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration (ITGC). The impact of melting on the marine ecosystem has also been explored, and we know that productivity is due in part to Fe-rich, glacial meltwater-driven outflow. The biogeochemical composition of the outflow from the glaciers surrounding the Amundsen Sea is largely unstudied, however. Improved knowledge would provide keys to understanding meltwater\u0027s future impact on the ecosystem. An ongoing field program (TARSAN, part of the ITGC) offers the ideal physical oceanographic framework for our biogeochemical effort. We propose here to collaborate with TARSAN-supported UK scientists, providing value added to both team efforts. ARTEMIS will add shipboard measurements (trace metals, carbonate system, nutrients, organic matter, microorganisms) and biogeochemical sensors on autonomous vehicles to gather critical knowledge needed to understand the impact of the melting WAIS on both the coastal ecosystem and the regional carbon (C) cycle. Driving questions include: 1) what are the fluxes and chemical forms of Fe, C, and microorganisms in the ice shelf outflow? 2) what are the relative contributions to the ouflow from deep water, benthic, and glacial melt sources, and how do these inputs combine to affect the bioavailability of Fe? 3) How are Fe and C compounds modified as the outflow advects along the coastal current and mixes into the bloom region? and 4) what will be the effect of increased glacial melting, changes in the coastal icescape, and declining sea ice on theecosystem of the Amundsen Sea? Such questions fall outside the focus of the ITGC, but are of keen interest to Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems and Antarctic Integrated System Science programs.", "east": -100.0, "geometry": "POINT(-110 -73)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES; USA/NSF; USAP-DC; AMD; Amundsen Sea; Amd/Us; SHIPS", "locations": "Amundsen Sea", "north": -71.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Yager, Patricia; Medeiros, Patricia; Sherrell, Robert; St-Laurent, Pierre; Fitzsimmons, Jessica; Stammerjohn, Sharon", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e SHIPS", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R; SEANOE; USAP-DC; William \u0026 Mary ScholarWorks", "science_programs": "Thwaites (ITGC)", "south": -75.0, "title": "NSFGEO-NERC: Collaborative Research: Accelerating Thwaites Ecosystem Impacts for the Southern Ocean (ARTEMIS)", "uid": "p0010249", "west": -120.0}, {"awards": "1745064 Perez-Huerta, Alberto; 1745080 Gillikin, David; 1745057 Walker, Sally", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": "Analysis of striae groups and interstrial increments from Adamussium colbecki valves from Explorers Cove and Bay of Sails; Annual growth of Adamussium colbecki from Explorers Cove and Bay of Sails; Linking Modern Benthic Communities and Taphonomic Processes to the Stratigraphic Record of Antarctic Cores; Nitrogen, carbon, and oxygen isotopes in the shell of the Antarctic scallop Adamussium colbecki as a proxy for sea ice cover in Antarctica.; Stable isotopes of Oxygen and Carbon in Adamissium colbecki from Explorers Cove and Bay of Sails", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601469", "doi": "10.15784/601469", "keywords": "Adamussium Colbecki; Antarctica; McMurdo", "people": "Cronin, Kelly; Walker, Sally", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Analysis of striae groups and interstrial increments from Adamussium colbecki valves from Explorers Cove and Bay of Sails", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601469"}, {"dataset_uid": "601764", "doi": null, "keywords": "Adamussium Colbecki; Antarctica; Biota; Carbon Isotopes; Explorers Cove; Nitrogen Isotopes; Oxygen Isotope; Scallop", "people": "Walker, Sally; Verheyden, Anouk; Cronin, Kelly; Camarra, Steve; Puhalski, Emma; Gillikin, David", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Nitrogen, carbon, and oxygen isotopes in the shell of the Antarctic scallop Adamussium colbecki as a proxy for sea ice cover in Antarctica.", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601764"}, {"dataset_uid": "600077", "doi": "10.15784/600077", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; McMurdo Sound; Oceans; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description", "people": "Walker, Sally", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Linking Modern Benthic Communities and Taphonomic Processes to the Stratigraphic Record of Antarctic Cores", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600077"}, {"dataset_uid": "601761", "doi": "10.15784/601761", "keywords": "Adamussium Colbecki; Antarctica; Bay Of Sails; Carbon; Explorers Cove; McMurdo Sound; Oxygen; Stable Isotopes", "people": "Gillikin, David; Puhalski, Emma; Cronin, Kelly; Camarra, Steve; Andrus, Fred; Perez-Huerta, Alberto; Walker, Sally; Verheyden, Anouk; Bowser, Samuel S.", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Stable isotopes of Oxygen and Carbon in Adamissium colbecki from Explorers Cove and Bay of Sails", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601761"}, {"dataset_uid": "601468", "doi": "10.15784/601468", "keywords": "Adamussium Colbecki; Antarctica; Growth; McMurdo Sound; Shell Fish", "people": "Cronin, Kelly; Walker, Sally", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Annual growth of Adamussium colbecki from Explorers Cove and Bay of Sails", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601468"}], "date_created": "Fri, 06 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The goal of this project is to discover whether the Antarctic scallop, Adamussium colbecki, provides a guide to sea-ice conditions in nearshore Antarctica today and in the past. Scallops may grow slower and live longer in habitats where sea ice persists for many years, limited by food, compared to habitats where sea ice melts out annually. Also, the chemicals retained in the shell during growth may provide crucial habitat information related to not only changing sea-ice conditions but also the type of food, whether it is recycled from the seafloor or produced by algae blooming when sea ice has melted. Unlocking the ecological imprint captured within the shell of the Antarctic Scallop will increase our understanding of changing sea-ice conditions in Antarctica. Further, because the Antarctic scallop had relatives living at the time when the Antarctic ice sheet first appeared, the scallop shell record may contain information on the stability of the ice sheet and the history of Antarctic shallow seas. Funding will also be integral for training a new generation of geoscientists in fossil and chemical forensics related to shallow sea habitats in Antarctica.\r\n\r\nScallops are worldwide in distribution, are integral for structuring marine communities have an extensive fossil record dating to the late Devonian, and are increasingly recognized as important paleoenvironmental proxies because they are generally well preserved in the sediment and rock record. The primary goal of this project is to assess the differences in growth, lifespan, and chemistry (stable isotopes, trace elements) archived in the shell of the Antarctic scallop that may be indicative of two ice states: persistent (multiannual) sea ice at Explorers Cove (EC) and annual sea ice (that melts out every year) at Bay of Sails (BOS), western McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. This project will investigate growth and lifespan proxies (physical and geochemical) and will use high-resolution records of stable oxygen isotopes to determine if a melt-water signal is archived in A. colbecki shells and whether that signal captures the differing ice behavior at two sites (EC versus BOS). Stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen in association with trace elements will be used to examine subannual productivity spikes indicative of phytoplankton blooms, which are predicted to be more pronounced during open ocean conditions. Small growth increments in the outer calcite layer will be assessed to determine if they represent fortnightly growth, if so, they could provide a high-resolution proxy for monthly environmental processes. Unlocking the environmental archive preserved in A. colbecki shells may prove to be an important proxy for understanding changing sea-ice conditions in Antarctica\u0027s past. Funding will support a Ph.D. student and undergraduates from multiple institutions working on independent research projects. Web content focused on Antarctic marine communities will be designed for museum outreach, reaching thousands of middle-school children each year.\r\n", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Amd/Us; PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTIONS; AMD; Dry Valleys; USAP-DC; LABORATORY; USA/NSF", "locations": "Dry Valleys", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Walker, Sally; Gillikin, David; Perez-Huerta, Alberto; Andrus, Fred", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -90.0, "title": "Collaborative research: The Antarctic Scallop as Key to Paleoenvironments and Sea Ice Conditions: Understanding the Modern to Predict the Past", "uid": "p0010238", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "2031442 Learman, Deric", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-167.5 -60,-155 -60,-142.5 -60,-130 -60,-117.5 -60,-105 -60,-92.5 -60,-80 -60,-67.5 -60,-55 -60,-55 -62,-55 -64,-55 -66,-55 -68,-55 -70,-55 -72,-55 -74,-55 -76,-55 -78,-55 -80,-67.5 -80,-80 -80,-92.5 -80,-105 -80,-117.5 -80,-130 -80,-142.5 -80,-155 -80,-167.5 -80,180 -80,178 -80,176 -80,174 -80,172 -80,170 -80,168 -80,166 -80,164 -80,162 -80,160 -80,160 -78,160 -76,160 -74,160 -72,160 -70,160 -68,160 -66,160 -64,160 -62,160 -60,162 -60,164 -60,166 -60,168 -60,170 -60,172 -60,174 -60,176 -60,178 -60,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": "Physical and geochemical data from shelf sediments near the Antartic Pennisula", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601607", "doi": "10.15784/601607", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Grain Size; Grain Size Analysis; Marine Geoscience; Marine Sediments; Organic Matter Geochemistry; Sediment Core Data; Shelf Sediments; Weddell Sea", "people": "Learman, Deric", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Physical and geochemical data from shelf sediments near the Antartic Pennisula", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601607"}], "date_created": "Wed, 28 Jul 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This proposal will provide genetic and enzymatic insight into how microbial communities in benthic sediments on the coastal shelf of Antarctica degrade complex organic matter. The current understanding of how benthic microbial communities respond and also degrade complex organic matter in Antarctica is fragmented. Recent work suggests benthic microbial communities are shaped by organic matter availability (encompassing both quantity and quality), however, these studies were observational and did not directly examine community function (e.g. enzyme activity and/or gene expression). Preliminary metagenomic data, collected from western Antarctica marine sediments, document gene potential for organic matter degradation throughout the entire sample set (spanning the Amundsen Sea, Bellingshausen Sea, and Ross Sea), but functional data was not collected. To date, studies have examined either enzyme activity or metagenomic potential but few have been able to directly connect the two. To address these gaps in knowledge, this proposal will utilize powerful tools such as metagenomics and metatranscriptomics, coupled with microcosm experiments, enzyme assays, and geochemical data. This hypothesis driven proposal will examine microbial communities from the continental shelf of Antarctica from two different regions (Bransfield Strait and Weddell Sea) to document the communities\u2019 enzymatic activity and genes used to degrade complex organic matter. These data will expand our current knowledge of genetic potential towards a more direct understanding of enzyme function as it relates to degradation of complex organic matter in marine sediments from Antarctica. ", "east": 160.0, "geometry": "POINT(-127.5 -70)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONS; USAP-DC; Antarctic Peninsula; BENTHIC; SHIPS; SEDIMENT CHEMISTRY; Amd/Us; AMD; USA/NSF; Weddell Sea", "locations": "Antarctic Peninsula; Weddell Sea", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Learman, Deric", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e SHIPS", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -80.0, "title": "RAPID: Meta-genomic and Transcriptomic Investigation of Complex Organic Matter Degradation in Antarctic Benthic Sediments", "uid": "p0010235", "west": -55.0}, {"awards": "1947040 Postlethwait, John", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-65.3 -63.3,-65 -63.3,-64.7 -63.3,-64.4 -63.3,-64.1 -63.3,-63.8 -63.3,-63.5 -63.3,-63.2 -63.3,-62.9 -63.3,-62.6 -63.3,-62.3 -63.3,-62.3 -63.47,-62.3 -63.64,-62.3 -63.81,-62.3 -63.98,-62.3 -64.15,-62.3 -64.32,-62.3 -64.49,-62.3 -64.66,-62.3 -64.83,-62.3 -65,-62.6 -65,-62.9 -65,-63.2 -65,-63.5 -65,-63.8 -65,-64.1 -65,-64.4 -65,-64.7 -65,-65 -65,-65.3 -65,-65.3 -64.83,-65.3 -64.66,-65.3 -64.49,-65.3 -64.32,-65.3 -64.15,-65.3 -63.98,-65.3 -63.81,-65.3 -63.64,-65.3 -63.47,-65.3 -63.3))", "dataset_titles": "18 SSU rDNA type sequences for Notoxcellia coronata (nov. sp.); 18 SSU rDNA type sequences for Notoxcellia picta (nov. sp.); Fish pictures and skin pathology of X-cell infection in Trematomus scotti.; Histopathology of X-cell xenomas in Trematomus scotti and Nototheniops larseni.; In situ hybridization of X-cell and host fish 18S SSU rRNA in alternate sections of tumor xenomas.; Metagenomic analysis of apparently healthy and tumor samples using Kaiju software ; microMRI analyses of Trematomus scotti Tsco_18_08 with X-cell xenomas; Morphological and pathological data of Trematomus scotti specimens captured on May 30th, 2018 in Andvord Bay.; Nomenclatural Act for the genus Notoxcellia; Nomenclatural Act for the species Notoxcellia coronata; Nomenclatural Act for the species Notoxcellia picta; Phylogenetic Analysis of Notoxcellia species.; Raw Illumina sequencing reads from skin tumors and visually healthy skins from Trematomus scotti and Nototheniops larseni; Temperature profiles at five fishing locations on the West Antarctic Peninsula during austral fall 2018.; Trematomus scotti with X-cell xenomas", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601537", "doi": "10.15784/601537", "keywords": "Alveolata; Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Notoxcellia Coronata; Notoxcellia Picta; Perkinsozoa; Xcellidae", "people": "Fontenele, Rafaela S. ; Kraberger, Simona ; Desvignes, Thomas; Postlethwait, John; Varsani, Arvind", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Metagenomic analysis of apparently healthy and tumor samples using Kaiju software ", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601537"}, {"dataset_uid": "601538", "doi": "10.15784/601538", "keywords": "Alveolata; Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Notoxcellia Coronata; Notoxcellia Picta; Perkinsozoa; Xcellidae", "people": "Desvignes, Thomas; Lauridsen, Henrik; Postlethwait, John", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "microMRI analyses of Trematomus scotti Tsco_18_08 with X-cell xenomas", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601538"}, {"dataset_uid": "601539", "doi": "10.15784/601539", "keywords": "Alveolata; Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Notoxcellia Coronata; Notoxcellia Picta; Perkinsozoa; Xcellidae", "people": "Desvignes, Thomas; Postlethwait, John", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "In situ hybridization of X-cell and host fish 18S SSU rRNA in alternate sections of tumor xenomas.", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601539"}, {"dataset_uid": "200384", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "ZooBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Nomenclatural Act for the species Notoxcellia picta", "url": "https://zoobank.org/NomenclaturalActs/31062dd2-7202-47fa-86e0-7be5c55ac0e2"}, {"dataset_uid": "200383", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "ZooBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Nomenclatural Act for the species Notoxcellia coronata", "url": "https://zoobank.org/NomenclaturalActs/194d91b2-e268-4238-89e2-385819f2c35b"}, {"dataset_uid": "200382", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "ZooBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Nomenclatural Act for the genus Notoxcellia", "url": "https://zoobank.org/NomenclaturalActs/5cf9609e-0111-4386-8518-bd50b5bdde0e"}, {"dataset_uid": "200262", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "MorphoSource", "science_program": null, "title": "Trematomus scotti with X-cell xenomas", "url": "https://www.morphosource.org/projects/000405843?locale=en"}, {"dataset_uid": "601536", "doi": "10.15784/601536", "keywords": "Alveolata; Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Notoxcellia Coronata; Notoxcellia Picta; Perkinsozoa; Xcellidae", "people": "Murray, Katrina N. ; Kent, Michael L. ; Desvignes, Thomas; Postlethwait, John", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Histopathology of X-cell xenomas in Trematomus scotti and Nototheniops larseni.", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601536"}, {"dataset_uid": "200277", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI SRA", "science_program": null, "title": "Raw Illumina sequencing reads from skin tumors and visually healthy skins from Trematomus scotti and Nototheniops larseni", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/?term=PRJNA789574"}, {"dataset_uid": "200276", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "18 SSU rDNA type sequences for Notoxcellia picta (nov. sp.)", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/OL630145"}, {"dataset_uid": "200275", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "18 SSU rDNA type sequences for Notoxcellia coronata (nov. sp.)", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/OL630144"}, {"dataset_uid": "601501", "doi": "10.15784/601501", "keywords": "Alveolata; Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Notoxcellia Coronata; Notoxcellia Picta; Oceans; Perkinsozoa; Xcellidae", "people": "Varsani, Arvind; Postlethwait, John; Desvignes, Thomas", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Phylogenetic Analysis of Notoxcellia species.", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601501"}, {"dataset_uid": "601496", "doi": "10.15784/601496", "keywords": "Andvord Bay; Antarctica; Fish", "people": "Desvignes, Thomas; Lauridsen, Henrik; Postlethwait, John", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Fish pictures and skin pathology of X-cell infection in Trematomus scotti.", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601496"}, {"dataset_uid": "601495", "doi": "10.15784/601495", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula", "people": "Desvignes, Thomas", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Temperature profiles at five fishing locations on the West Antarctic Peninsula during austral fall 2018.", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601495"}, {"dataset_uid": "601494", "doi": "10.15784/601494", "keywords": "Andvord Bay; Antarctica; Fish", "people": "Le Francois, Nathalie; Postlethwait, John; Lauridsen, Henrik; Desvignes, Thomas", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Morphological and pathological data of Trematomus scotti specimens captured on May 30th, 2018 in Andvord Bay.", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601494"}], "date_created": "Thu, 01 Jul 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Overview:\r\nAntarctic biota face increasing stressors from warming oceans. A key question is: What will be the effect of warming waters on Antarctic biota? A gap in our knowledge is the identify of early harbingers of new stressors. In our recent field season, we unexpectedly discovered pink, wart-like neoplasms in Antarctic notothenioid fish, including Trematomus scotti (crowned notothen) and Nototheniops larseni (painted notothen). Neoplasms affected about 30% of T. scotti collected in Andvord Bay on the West Antarctic Peninsula and covered 10 to 30% of the bodies of affected individuals, usually in one contiguous patch. We collected samples from affected and apparently unaffected controls. We could not find evidence of any similar outbreak. Our overall goal is to learn the biological origins of this neoplasm and how it affects cellular function and organismal physiology. \r\nIntellectual Merit:\r\nAim 1: Pathogenic agents. Aim 1a: To test the hypothesis that a virus causes the neoplasm. Methods involve isolating and sequencing viral nucleic acids from neoplasms and from unaffected skin and comparing sequences to known viruses. Aim 1b: To test the hypothesis that neoplasms are hosts to parasites not present in healthy skin. Methods include tissue sections and DNA sequencing to find evidence of parasitic organisms. Significance: achieving Aim 1 will narrow down possible etiological agents. An untested possibility is that environmental contaminants cause the condition; exploring that hypothesis would require further sampling outside the limits of an EAGER proposal.\r\nAim 2: Cell-level pathology. Aim 2a: To test the hypothesis that the histopathology of the neoplasms is similar to other known skin neoplasias; alternatively, it might be a previously unknown type of neoplasia. Methods involve the examination of histological sections to identify pathology-specific characters. Aim 2b: To find effects of neoplasms on cell function. Methods involve performing whole-genome transcriptomics of affected and normal skin by RNA-seq and aligning reads to a T. scotti reference genome. Significance: achieving Aim 2 will define the cell biology and gene-expression phenotypes of the neoplasia, thus suggesting mechanisms that cause it.\r\n[Note: NSF deleted funds specifically to achieve the Aim 3, which nevertheless appears here to represent the original proposal.] Aim 3: Organismal pathology. Aim 3a: To test the hypothesis that the neoplasm has adverse effects on growth and physiology. Methods are to perform morphometrics in fish with neoplasms compared to age-matched controls from otolith studies. Aim 3b: To test the hypothesis that the neoplasia affects reproductive traits. Methods compare reproductive effort in affected and unaffected individuals. Significance: if the neoplasia has little consequences on growth and reproduction, our worry about its spread will be lessened, but if it is harmful, then Antarctic ecology, which largely depends on notothenioid fish, might be in danger.\r\nAchieving Aims 1-3 will advance knowledge by identifying the causes of a neoplasia outbreak in Antarctic fish. Work is potentially transformative because it might represent an early sign of Antarctic fish responses to the stress of global climate change. Proposed work would be the first to investigate a neoplasia outbreak in Antarctic fish. We will assess the project\u2019s success by whether we identify a causative agent and its effects on physiology.\r\nBroader Impacts:\r\nAim 4: Publicizing the neoplasia. We aim to raise awareness of the outbreak and publicize its distinct diagnostic features, including assays to detect it, by contributing to groups that track Antarctic ecosystems. \r\nAim 5: Inclusion. We will involve underrepresented groups in scientific research with authentic research experiences.\r\nAchieving Aims 4 and 5 will benefit society because they will disseminate to scientific and lay communities a potential early-warning system for the effects of an apparently new neoplasia affecting, at least locally, a large proportion of a fish population. Dissemination will stir research to determine whether this neoplasia outbreak is an isolated event or is becoming a general phenomenon, and thus a concern for Antarctic ecosystems. Proposed research will enhance research infrastructure by providing tools to identify the neoplasia. Finally, the project will broaden access to research careers by exposing underserved high school students and undergraduates to an exciting live research project.\r\n", "east": -62.3, "geometry": "POINT(-63.8 -64.15)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "FIELD SURVEYS; Andvord Bay; Amd/Us; PROTISTS; BENTHIC; FISH; Dallmann Bay; USAP-DC; NSF/USA; AMD", "locations": "Andvord Bay; Dallmann Bay", "north": -63.3, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Postlethwait, John; Varsani, Arvind; Desvignes, Thomas", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "GenBank; MorphoSource; NCBI SRA; USAP-DC; ZooBank", "science_programs": null, "south": -65.0, "title": "EAGER: Origin and Physiological Consequences of a Neoplasm Outbreak in Antarctic Fish ", "uid": "p0010221", "west": -65.3}, {"awards": "1937748 Sumner, Dawn", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(163.183333 -77.616667)", "dataset_titles": "Lake Fryxell 2022-2023 benthic microbial mat thickness and number of laminae", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601839", "doi": "10.15784/601839", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cryosphere; Dry Valleys; Lake Fryxell; Laminae; Microbial Mat; Thickness", "people": "Hawes, Ian; Sumner, Dawn; Paul, Ann; Mackey, Tyler; Juarez Rivera, Marisol", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Lake Fryxell 2022-2023 benthic microbial mat thickness and number of laminae", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601839"}], "date_created": "Wed, 30 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This project focuses on understanding annual changes in microbial life that grows on the bottom of Lake Fryxell, Antarctica. Because of its polar latitude, photosynthesis can only occur during the summer. During summer, photosynthetic bacteria supply communities with energy and oxygen. However, it is unknown how the microbes behave in the dark winter, when observations are not possible. This project will perform laboratory experiments with a cyanobacterial mat grown from Lake Fryxell samples. Once fieldwork is allowed, we will install environmental monitors and light-blocking shades over small parts of the communities in Lake Fryxell. The shades will extend winter conditions into the spring to allow researchers to characterize the winter behavior of the microbial communities. Researchers will measure changes in the water chemistry due to their activities when they first receive light as the shades are removed. Results are expected to provide insights into how organisms interact with and change their environments. \r\n\r\nThe project extends these scientific results to building a better-prepared, more diverse workforce to perform scientific fieldwork. Fieldwork, including diving, will be performed in part by graduate students under the mentorship of world experts in Antarctic field science. In addition, the project will help students and early career scientists learn field skills by building an online \u201cGuide to Thrive.\u201d This web site will compile field tips ranging from basic gear use to advanced environmental protection techniques. Group leaders ranging from undergraduate teaching assistants to Antarctic expedition leaders will be able to choose appropriate components to build tailored guides for their participants to help them thrive in difficult field conditions. \r\n\r\nThe researchers will measure laboratory-based and field-based seasonal metabolic and biogeochemical changes in benthic mats using differential gene expression and geochemical gradients. They will identify seasonal phenotypic differences and ecosystem effects induced by spring oxygen production. To do so, researchers will install environmental sensors and opaque shades over mats at three depths in the lake. The following spring, they will sample shaded and unshaded mats, remove the shades, track changes in pore water O2, H2S, pH, and redox with microelectrodes, and sample mats for transcriptomic analyses at intervals guided by geochemical changes. Pore water will be sampled for nutrient analyses. Field research will be supplemented with: laboratory experiments to refine field techniques (expanded effort due to COVID field restrictions); gene expression data analysis; and integration of results into a seasonal model of productivity and nitrogen cycling in Lake Fryxell. Results will provide insights into several key priorities for NSF, including how biotic, abiotic and environmental components of the benthic mats interact to affect the regional ecosystem.\r\n", "east": 163.183333, "geometry": "POINT(163.183333 -77.616667)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Antarctica; Amd/Us; AMD; USA/NSF; FIELD SURVEYS; ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONS; Lake Fryxell; USAP-DC; LAKE/POND", "locations": "Antarctica; Lake Fryxell", "north": -77.616667, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Integrated System Science", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Sumner, Dawn; Mackey, Tyler", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.616667, "title": "Seasonal Primary Productivity and Nitrogen Cycling in Photosynthetic Mats, Lake Fryxell, McMurdo Dry Valleys", "uid": "p0010219", "west": 163.183333}, {"awards": "1848887 McClintock, James", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(-64.0527 -64.77423)", "dataset_titles": "2020 and 2023 Underwater video transect community analysis data; 2020 daily seawater carbonate chemistry; 2023 daily seawater carbonate chemistry; Amphipod counts from 2020 ocean acidification experiment; Feeding of Gondogeneia antarctica maintained under ambient and low pH treatments; Palatability of Desmarestia menziesii extracts from ambient and low pH treatments; Palatability of Palmaria decipiens thallus from ambient and low pH treatments; Underwater transect videos used for 2020 and 2023 community analyses", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601701", "doi": "10.15784/601701", "keywords": "Antarctica; Palmer Station", "people": "Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "2023 daily seawater carbonate chemistry", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601701"}, {"dataset_uid": "601700", "doi": "10.15784/601700", "keywords": "Antarctica; Palmer Station", "people": "Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "2020 daily seawater carbonate chemistry", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601700"}, {"dataset_uid": "601796", "doi": "10.15784/601796", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Cryosphere; Oceans; Southern Ocean; Video Transects", "people": "Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Underwater transect videos used for 2020 and 2023 community analyses", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601796"}, {"dataset_uid": "601702", "doi": "10.15784/601702", "keywords": "Antarctica; Palmer Station", "people": "Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Amphipod counts from 2020 ocean acidification experiment", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601702"}, {"dataset_uid": "601787", "doi": "10.15784/601787", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Cryosphere; Species Abundance; Video Transects", "people": "Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "2020 and 2023 Underwater video transect community analysis data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601787"}, {"dataset_uid": "601793", "doi": "10.15784/601793", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cryosphere; Palmer Station", "people": "Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Feeding of Gondogeneia antarctica maintained under ambient and low pH treatments", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601793"}, {"dataset_uid": "601792", "doi": "10.15784/601792", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cryosphere; Palmer Station", "people": "Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Palatability of Palmaria decipiens thallus from ambient and low pH treatments", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601792"}, {"dataset_uid": "601791", "doi": "10.15784/601791", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cryosphere; Palmer Station", "people": "Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Palatability of Desmarestia menziesii extracts from ambient and low pH treatments", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601791"}], "date_created": "Mon, 21 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Undersea forests of seaweeds dominate the shallow waters of the central and northern coast of the western Antarctic Peninsula and provide critical structural habitat and carbon resources (food) for a host of marine organisms. Most of the seaweeds are chemically defended against herbivores yet support very high densities of herbivorous shrimp-like grazers (crustaceans, primarily amphipods) which greatly benefit their hosts by consuming filamentous and microscopic algae that otherwise overgrow the seaweeds. The amphipods benefit from the association with the chemically defended seaweeds by gaining an associational refuge from fish predation. The project builds on recent work that has demonstrated that several species of amphipods that are key members of crustacean assemblages associated with the seaweeds suffer significant mortality when chronically exposed to increased seawater acidity (reduced pH) and elevated temperatures representative of near-future oceans. By simulating these environmental conditions in the laboratory at Palmer Station, Antarctica, the investigators will test the overall hypothesis that ocean acidification will play a significant role in structuring crustacean assemblages associated with seaweeds. Broader impacts include expanding fundamental knowledge of the impacts of global climate change by focusing on a geographic region of the earth uniquely susceptible to climate change. This project will also further the NSF goals of training new generations of scientists and of making scientific discoveries available to the general public. This includes training graduate students and early career scientists with an emphasis on diversity, presentations to K-12 groups and the general public, and a variety of social media-based outreach programs.\r\n\r\nThe project will compare population and assemblage-wide impacts of natural (ambient) and carbon dioxide enriched seawater on assemblages of seaweed-associated crustacean grazers. Based on prior results, it is likely that some species will be relative \"winners\" and some will be relative \"losers\" under the changed conditions. The project will then aim to carry out measurements of growth, calcification, mineralogy, the incidence of molts, and biochemical and energetic body composition for two key amphipod \"winners\" and two key amphipod \"losers\". These measurements will allow an assessment of what factors drive species-specific enhanced or diminished performance under conditions of ocean acidification and sea surface warming. The project will expand on what little is known about prospective impacts of changing conditions on benthic marine Crustacea, in Antarctica, a taxonomic group that faces the additional physiological stressor of molting. The project is likely to provide additional insight on the indirect regulation of the seaweeds that comprise Antarctic undersea forests that provide key architectural components of the coastal marine ecosystem.", "east": -64.0527, "geometry": "POINT(-64.0527 -64.77423)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "USA/NSF; Amd/Us; AMD; COASTAL; BENTHIC; USAP-DC; Palmer Station; ANIMALS/INVERTEBRATES; FIELD INVESTIGATION; MACROALGAE (SEAWEEDS)", "locations": "Palmer Station", "north": -64.77423, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Amsler, Charles; McClintock, James", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -64.77423, "title": "Assemblage-wide effects of ocean acidification and ocean warming on ecologically important macroalgal-associated crustaceans in Antarctica", "uid": "p0010193", "west": -64.0527}, {"awards": "1750630 Smith, Craig; 1750903 Ingels, Jeroen; 1750888 Aronson, Richard", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-64 -66,-63.3 -66,-62.6 -66,-61.9 -66,-61.2 -66,-60.5 -66,-59.8 -66,-59.1 -66,-58.4 -66,-57.7 -66,-57 -66,-57 -66.3,-57 -66.6,-57 -66.9,-57 -67.2,-57 -67.5,-57 -67.8,-57 -68.1,-57 -68.4,-57 -68.7,-57 -69,-57.7 -69,-58.4 -69,-59.1 -69,-59.8 -69,-60.5 -69,-61.2 -69,-61.9 -69,-62.6 -69,-63.3 -69,-64 -69,-64 -68.7,-64 -68.4,-64 -68.1,-64 -67.8,-64 -67.5,-64 -67.2,-64 -66.9,-64 -66.6,-64 -66.3,-64 -66))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Mon, 21 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Worldwide publicity surrounding the calving of an iceberg the size of Delaware in July 2017 from the Larsen C Ice Shelf on the eastern side of the Antarctic Peninsula presents a unique and time-sensitive opportunity for research and education on polar ecosystems in a changing climate. The goal of this project was to convene a workshop, drawing from the large fund of intellectual capital in the US and international Antarctic research communities. The two-day workshop was designed to bring scientists with expertise in Antarctic biological, ecological, and ecosystem sciences to Florida State University to share knowledge, identify important research knowledge gaps, and outline strategic plans for research. Major outcomes from the project were as follows. The international workshop to share and review knowledge concerning the response of Antarctic ecosystems to ice-shelf collapse was held at the Florida State University Coastal and Marine Laboratory (FSUCML) on 18-19 November 2017. Thirty-eight U.S. and international scientists attended the workshop, providing expertise in biological, ecological, geological, biogeographical, and glaciological sciences. Twenty-six additional scientists were either not able to attend or were declined because of having reached maximum capacity of the venue or for not responding to our invitation before the registration deadline. The latest results of ice-shelf research were presented, providing an overview of the current scientific knowledge and understanding of the biological, ecological, geological and cryospheric processes associated with ice-shelf collapse and its ecosystem-level consequences. In addition, several presentations focused on future plans to investigate the impacts of the recent Larsen C collapse. The following presentations were given at the meeting: 1) Cryospheric dynamics and ice-shelf collapse \u2013 past and future (M. Truffer, University of Alaska, Fairbanks) 2) The geological history and geological impacts of ice-shelf collapse on the Antarctic Peninsula (Scottt Ishman, Amy Leventer) 3) Pelagic ecosystem responses to ice-shelf collapse (Mattias Cape, Amy Leventer) 4) Benthic ecosystem response to ice-shelf collapse (Craig Smith, Pavica Sr\u0161en, Ann Vanreusel) 5) Larsen C and biotic homogenization of the benthos (Richard Aronson, James McClintock, Kathryn Smith, Brittany Steffel) 6) British Antarctic Survey: plans for Larsen C investigations early 2018 and in the future (Huw Griffiths) 7) Feedback on the workshop \u201cClimate change impacts on marine ecosystems: implications for management of living resources and conservation\u201d held 19-22 September 2017, Cambridge, UK (Alex Rogers) 8) Past research activities and plans for Larsen field work by the Alfred Wegener Institute, Germany (Charlotte Havermans, Dieter Piepenburg. One of the salient points emerging from the presentations and ensuing discussions was that, given our poor abilities to predict ecological outcomes of ice-shelf collapses, major cross-disciplinary efforts are needed on a variety of spatial and temporal scales to achieve a broader, predictive understanding of ecosystem consequences of climatic warming and ice-shelf failure. As part of the workshop, the FSUCML Polar Academy Team\u2014Dr. Emily Dolan, Dr. Heidi Geisz, Barbara Shoplock, and Dr. Jeroen Ingels\u2014initiated AntICE: \"Antarctic Influences of Climate Change on Ecosystems\" (AntICE). They reached out to various groups of school children in the local area (and continue to do so). The AntICE Team have been interacting with these children at Wakulla High School and Wakulla Elementary in Crawfordville; children from the Cornerstone Learning Community, Maclay Middle School, Gilchrist Elementary, and the School of Arts and Sciences in Tallahassee; and the Tallahassee-area homeschooling community to educate them about Antarctic ecosystems and ongoing climate change. The underlying idea was to make the children aware of climatic changes in the Antarctic and their effect on ecosystems so they, in turn, can spread this knowledge to their communities, family and friends \u2013 acting as \u2018Polar Ambassadors\u2019. We collaborated with the Polar-ICE project, an NSF-funded educational project that established the Polar Literacy Initiative. This program developed the Polar Literacy Principles, which outline essential concepts to improve public understanding of Antarctic and Arctic ecosystems. In the Polar Academy work, we used the Polar Literacy principles, the Polar Academy Team\u2019s own Antarctic scientific efforts, and the experience of the FSU outreach and education program to engage with the children. We focused on the importance of Antarctic organisms and ecosystems, the uniqueness of its biota and the significance of its food webs, as well as how all these are changing and will change further with climate change. Using general presentations, case studies, scientific methodology, individual experiences, interactive discussions and Q\u0026A sessions, the children were guided through the many issues Antarctic ecosystems are facing. Over 300 \u0027\u0027Polar ambassadors\u0027\u0027 attended the interactive lectures and afterwards took their creativity to high latitudes by creating welcome letters, displays, dioramas, sculptures, videos and online media to present at the scientific workshop. Over 50 projects were created by the children (Please see supporting files for images). We were also joined by a photographer, Ryan David Reines, to document the event. More information, media and links to online outreach products are available at https://marinelab.fsu.edu/labs/ingels/outreach/polar-academy/\n\nFurther concrete products of the workshop: 1) a position-paper focusing on ideas, hypotheses and priorities for investigating the ecological impacts of ice-shelf collapse along the Antarctic Peninsula (Ingels et al., 2018; \u201cThe scientific response to Antarctic ice-shelf loss; Nature Climate Change 8, 848-851), and 2) a publication reviewing what is known and unknown about ecological responses to ice-shelf melt and collapse, outlining expected ecological outcomes of ice-shelf disintegration along the Antarctic Peninsula (Ingels et al., 2020; \u201cAntarctic ecosystem responses following ice\u2010shelf collapse and iceberg calving: Science review and future research\u201d, WIREs Climate Change, e682). The second publication was covered in the The Scientist and by a press-release in Germany, see https://www.altmetric.com/details/91826381. Other products included a poster presentation at the MEASO2018 conference in Hobart, Australia in 2018, and the above-mentioned visits to schools and institutes to talk about the research in invited seminars. We also conducted and active online outreach campaign, with dissemination of our work in various news outlets, blogs, and social media (e.g. reaching \u003e750k total followers on twitter with the publications alone).\u0027", "east": -57.0, "geometry": "POINT(-60.5 -67.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "MARINE ECOSYSTEMS; USAP-DC; LABORATORY; AMD; Weddell Sea; GLACIERS/ICE SHEETS; ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS; USA/NSF; SEA ICE; Amd/Us; Antarctica", "locations": "Antarctica; Weddell Sea", "north": -66.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Ingels, Jeroen; Aronson, Richard; Smith, Craig", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -69.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: RAPID/Workshop - Antarctic Ecosystem Research following Ice Shelf Collapse and Iceberg Calving Events", "uid": "p0010189", "west": -64.0}, {"awards": "1745130 Moran, Amy", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((163 -76,163.3 -76,163.6 -76,163.9 -76,164.2 -76,164.5 -76,164.8 -76,165.1 -76,165.4 -76,165.7 -76,166 -76,166 -76.2,166 -76.4,166 -76.6,166 -76.8,166 -77,166 -77.2,166 -77.4,166 -77.6,166 -77.8,166 -78,165.7 -78,165.4 -78,165.1 -78,164.8 -78,164.5 -78,164.2 -78,163.9 -78,163.6 -78,163.3 -78,163 -78,163 -77.8,163 -77.6,163 -77.4,163 -77.2,163 -77,163 -76.8,163 -76.6,163 -76.4,163 -76.2,163 -76))", "dataset_titles": "Egg diameters of Colossendeis megalonyx; Video of Colossendeis megalonyx behavior around egg mass", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601717", "doi": "10.15784/601717", "keywords": "Antarctica; McMurdo", "people": "Moran, Amy", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Egg diameters of Colossendeis megalonyx", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601717"}, {"dataset_uid": "601716", "doi": "10.15784/601716", "keywords": "Antarctica; McMurdo; Pycnogonida; Sea Spider", "people": "Moran, Amy; Lobert, Graham", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Video of Colossendeis megalonyx behavior around egg mass", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601716"}], "date_created": "Wed, 09 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Antarctic marine ectotherms exhibit universally slow growth, low metabolic rates, and extended development, yet many of their rate processes related to physiology and metabolism are highly thermally sensitive. This suggests that small changes in temperature may result in dramatic changes to energy metabolism, growth, and the rate and duration of development. This project will measure the effects of temperature on metabolism, developmental rate, and the energetic cost of development of four common and ecologically important species of benthic Antarctic marine invertebrates. These effects will be measured over the functional ranges of the organisms and in the context of environmentally relevant seasonal shifts in temperature around McMurdo Sound. Recent data show that seasonal warming of ~1\u00b0C near McMurdo Station is accompanied by long-lasting hyperoxic events that impact the benthos in the nearshore boundary layer. This research will provide a more comprehensive understanding of both annual variation in environmental oxygen and temperature across the Sound, and whether this variation drives changes in developmental rate and energetics that are consistent with physiological acclimatization. These data will provide key information about potential impacts of warming Antarctic ectotherms. In addition, this project will support undergraduate and graduate research and partner with large-enrollment undergraduate courses and REU programs at an ANNH and AANAPISI Title III minority-serving institution. \r\nWe have completed one of our two scheduled field and data-collecting seasons, but our research was put on hold by COVID and by equipment and sea ice conditions at McMurdo. We have established baseline information on energy utilization by embryos of several species under ambient conditions and early data suggest that metabolism is highly affected by temperature in the range of -2.0 C to 1 C, and less so thereafter.", "east": 166.0, "geometry": "POINT(164.5 -77)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "USAP-DC; Amd/Us; McMurdo Sound; AMD; BENTHIC; USA/NSF; FIELD INVESTIGATION", "locations": "McMurdo Sound", "north": -76.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Moran, Amy", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.0, "title": "Thermal Sensitivity of Antarctic Embryos and Larvae: Effects of Temperature on Metabolism, Developmental Rate, and the Metabolic Cost of Development ", "uid": "p0010187", "west": 163.0}, {"awards": "1644196 Cziko, Paul", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((163.47 -77.14,163.803 -77.14,164.136 -77.14,164.469 -77.14,164.802 -77.14,165.135 -77.14,165.468 -77.14,165.801 -77.14,166.134 -77.14,166.467 -77.14,166.8 -77.14,166.8 -77.216,166.8 -77.292,166.8 -77.368,166.8 -77.444,166.8 -77.52,166.8 -77.596,166.8 -77.672,166.8 -77.748,166.8 -77.824,166.8 -77.9,166.467 -77.9,166.134 -77.9,165.801 -77.9,165.468 -77.9,165.135 -77.9,164.802 -77.9,164.469 -77.9,164.136 -77.9,163.803 -77.9,163.47 -77.9,163.47 -77.824,163.47 -77.748,163.47 -77.672,163.47 -77.596,163.47 -77.52,163.47 -77.444,163.47 -77.368,163.47 -77.292,163.47 -77.216,163.47 -77.14))", "dataset_titles": "High-resolution nearshore benthic seawater temperature from around McMurdo Sound, Antarctica (2017-2019); Long-Term broadband underwater acoustic recordings from McMurdo Sound, Antarctica (2017-2019); Long-term underwater images from around a single mooring site in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica (2017-2019)", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601417", "doi": "10.15784/601417", "keywords": "Antarctica; Benthic Ecology; Benthic Invertebrates; Biota; McMurdo Sound; Notothenioid; Notothenioid Fishes; Photo/video; Photo/Video; Rocky Reef Community; Soft-Bottom Community; Timelaps Images", "people": "Cziko, Paul", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Long-term underwater images from around a single mooring site in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica (2017-2019)", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601417"}, {"dataset_uid": "601416", "doi": "10.15784/601416", "keywords": "Antarctica; Bioacoustics; Biota; Hydroacoustics; Killer Whales; Leptonychotes Weddellii; McMurdo Sound; Oceans; Orcinus Orca; Sea Ice; Weddell Seal; Whales", "people": "Cziko, Paul", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Long-Term broadband underwater acoustic recordings from McMurdo Sound, Antarctica (2017-2019)", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601416"}, {"dataset_uid": "601420", "doi": "10.15784/601420", "keywords": "Antarctica; Benthic Ecology; CTD; Depth; McMurdo Sound; Oceanography; Oceans; Physical Oceanography; Pressure; Salinity; Seawater Measurements; Seawater Temperature; Supercooling; Tides", "people": "Cziko, Paul", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "High-resolution nearshore benthic seawater temperature from around McMurdo Sound, Antarctica (2017-2019)", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601420"}], "date_created": "Tue, 15 Dec 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Notothenioid fishes live in the world\u0027s coldest marine waters surrounding Antarctica and have evolved strategies to avoid freezing. Past studies have shown that most Antarctic notothenioids produce special antifreeze proteins that prevent the growth of ice crystals that enter the body. While these proteins help prevent individuals from being killed by growing ice crystals, it is unclear how these fish avoid the accumulation of these small ice crystals inside their tissues over time. This project will observe how ice crystal accumulation relates to the harshness of a fish\u0027s environment within different habitats of McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. The researchers collected fishes and ocean observations at different field sites that cover a range of habitat severity in terms of temperature and iciness. The researchers installed an underwater ocean observatory near McMurdo Station (The McMurdo Oceanographic Observatory, MOO; Nov. 2017 - Nov. 2019) which included a conductivity-temperature-depth sensor (CTD), a high-definition video/still image camera and a research quality hydrophone. The observatory produced oceanographic data, time-lapse images of the immediate environs, and a high-resolution hydroacoustic dataset from the entire deployment. Seawater temperature data loggers were also deployed at other shallow, nearshore sites around McMurdo Sound to provide context and assessment of environmental conditions experienced by the fishes. ", "east": 166.8, "geometry": "POINT(165.135 -77.52)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Benthic Ecology; ANIMALS/VERTEBRATES; USA/NSF; OCEAN TEMPERATURE; USAP-DC; MAMMALS; FIELD INVESTIGATION; Amd/Us; McMurdo Sound; FISH; AMD", "locations": "McMurdo Sound", "north": -77.14, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Instrumentation and Support; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Cziko, Paul; DeVries, Arthur", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.9, "title": "Habitat Severity and Internal Ice in Antarctic Notothenioid Fishes", "uid": "p0010147", "west": 163.47}, {"awards": "0732917 McCormick, Michael; 0732983 Vernet, Maria; 0732711 Smith, Craig; 0732450 Van Dover, Cindy", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-60.5 -63.1,-59.99 -63.1,-59.48 -63.1,-58.97 -63.1,-58.46 -63.1,-57.95 -63.1,-57.44 -63.1,-56.93 -63.1,-56.42 -63.1,-55.91 -63.1,-55.4 -63.1,-55.4 -63.29,-55.4 -63.48,-55.4 -63.67,-55.4 -63.86,-55.4 -64.05,-55.4 -64.24,-55.4 -64.43,-55.4 -64.62,-55.4 -64.81,-55.4 -65,-55.91 -65,-56.42 -65,-56.93 -65,-57.44 -65,-57.95 -65,-58.46 -65,-58.97 -65,-59.48 -65,-59.99 -65,-60.5 -65,-60.5 -64.81,-60.5 -64.62,-60.5 -64.43,-60.5 -64.24,-60.5 -64.05,-60.5 -63.86,-60.5 -63.67,-60.5 -63.48,-60.5 -63.29,-60.5 -63.1))", "dataset_titles": "LARISSA: Impact of ice-shelf loss on geochemical profiles and microbial community composition in marine sediments of the Larsen A embayment, Antarctic Peninsula; NBP1001 cruise data; NBP1203 cruise data; Species Abundance Data from the Larsen Ice Shelf Ice acquired during R/V Nathaniel B. Palmer expedition NBP1203", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601304", "doi": null, "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Box Corer; LARISSA; Larsen Ice Shelf; Macrofauna; Megafauna; NBP1203; Oceans; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Seafloor Sampling; Species Abundance", "people": "Smith, Craig", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "LARISSA", "title": "Species Abundance Data from the Larsen Ice Shelf Ice acquired during R/V Nathaniel B. Palmer expedition NBP1203", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601304"}, {"dataset_uid": "601073", "doi": "10.15784/601073", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Chemistry:ice; Chemistry:Ice; Geochemistry; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Ice Core Records; LARISSA; Microbiology", "people": "McCormick, Michael", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "LARISSA: Impact of ice-shelf loss on geochemical profiles and microbial community composition in marine sediments of the Larsen A embayment, Antarctic Peninsula", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601073"}, {"dataset_uid": "000142", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP1001 cruise data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1001"}, {"dataset_uid": "000143", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP1203 cruise data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1203"}], "date_created": "Fri, 09 Oct 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "A profound transformation in ecosystem structure and function is occurring in coastal waters of the western Weddell Sea, with the collapse of the Larsen B ice shelf. This transformation appears to be yielding a redistribution of energy flow between chemoautotrophic and photosynthetic production, and to be causing the rapid demise of the extraordinary seep ecosystem discovered beneath the ice shelf. This event provides an ideal opportunity to examine fundamental aspects of ecosystem transition associated with climate change. We propose to test the following hypotheses to elucidate the transformations occurring in marine ecosystems as a consequence of the Larsen B collapse: (1) The biogeographic isolation and sub-ice shelf setting of the Larsen B seep has led to novel habitat characteristics, chemoautotrophically dependent taxa and functional adaptations. (2) Benthic communities beneath the former Larsen B ice shelf are fundamentally different from assemblages at similar depths in the Weddell sea-ice zone, and resemble oligotrophic deep-sea communities. Larsen B assemblages are undergoing rapid change. (3) The previously dark, oligotrophic waters of the Larsen B embayment now support a thriving phototrophic community, with production rates and phytoplankton composition similar to other productive areas of the Weddell Sea. To document rapid changes occurring in the Larsen B ecosystem, we will use a remotely operated vehicle, shipboard samplers, and moored sediment traps. We will characterize microbial, macrofaunal and megafaunal components of the seep community; evaluate patterns of surface productivity, export flux, and benthic faunal composition in areas previously covered by the ice shelf, and compare these areas to the open sea-ice zone. These changes will be placed within the geological, glaciological and climatological context that led to ice-shelf retreat, through companion research projects funded in concert with this effort. Together these projects will help predict the likely consequences of ice-shelf collapse to marine ecosystems in other regions of Antarctica vulnerable to climate change. The research features international collaborators from Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom. The broader impacts include participation of a science writer; broadcast of science segments by members of the Jim Lehrer News Hour (Public Broadcasting System); material for summer courses in environmental change; mentoring of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows; and showcasing scientific activities and findings to students and public through podcasts.", "east": -55.4, "geometry": "POINT(-57.95 -64.05)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "NBP1203; USAP-DC; Amd/Us; LARISSA; Larsen Ice Shelf; Species Abundance Data; R/V NBP; Antarctic Peninsula; NBP1001; USA/NSF; AMD; Antarctica; MARINE ECOSYSTEMS", "locations": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Larsen Ice Shelf", "north": -63.1, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Integrated System Science", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "McCormick, Michael; Vernet, Maria; Van Dover, Cindy; Smith, Craig", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "R2R; USAP-DC", "science_programs": "LARISSA", "south": -65.0, "title": "Collaborative Research in IPY: Abrupt Environmental Change in the Larsen Ice Shelf System, a Multidisciplinary Approach - Marine Ecosystems.", "uid": "p0010135", "west": -60.5}, {"awards": "1542962 Anderson, Robert", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-171 -57,-170.8 -57,-170.6 -57,-170.4 -57,-170.2 -57,-170 -57,-169.8 -57,-169.6 -57,-169.4 -57,-169.2 -57,-169 -57,-169 -57.72,-169 -58.44,-169 -59.16,-169 -59.88,-169 -60.6,-169 -61.32,-169 -62.04,-169 -62.76,-169 -63.48,-169 -64.2,-169.2 -64.2,-169.4 -64.2,-169.6 -64.2,-169.8 -64.2,-170 -64.2,-170.2 -64.2,-170.4 -64.2,-170.6 -64.2,-170.8 -64.2,-171 -64.2,-171 -63.48,-171 -62.76,-171 -62.04,-171 -61.32,-171 -60.6,-171 -59.88,-171 -59.16,-171 -58.44,-171 -57.72,-171 -57))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data of NBP1702; Water Mass Structure and Bottom Water Formation in the Ice-age Southern Ocean ; Water Mass Structure and Bottom Water Formation in the Ice-age Southern Ocean (SNOWBIRDS)", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200166", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCEI", "science_program": null, "title": "Water Mass Structure and Bottom Water Formation in the Ice-age Southern Ocean ", "url": "https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/study/31312"}, {"dataset_uid": "200126", "doi": "10.7284/907211", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data of NBP1702", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1702"}, {"dataset_uid": "200165", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "BCO-DMO", "science_program": null, "title": "Water Mass Structure and Bottom Water Formation in the Ice-age Southern Ocean (SNOWBIRDS)", "url": "https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/813379/data"}], "date_created": "Fri, 25 Sep 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "General:\r\nScientists established more than 30 years ago that the climate-related variability of carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere over Earth\u2019s ice-age cycles was regulated by the ocean. Hypotheses to explain how the ocean that regulates atmospheric carbon dioxide have long been debated, but they have proven to be difficult to test. This project was designed test one leading hypothesis, specifically that the ocean experienced greater density stratification during the ice ages. That is, with greater stratification during the ice ages and the slower replacement of deep water by cold dense water formed near the poles, the deep ocean would have held more carbon dioxide, which is produced by biological respiration of the organic carbon that constantly rains to the abyss in the form of dead organisms and organic debris that sink from the sunlit surface ocean. To test this hypothesis, the degree of ocean stratification during the last ice age and the rate of deep-water replacement was to be constrained by comparing the radiocarbon ages of organisms that grew in the surface ocean and at the sea floor within a critical region around Antarctica, where most of the replacement of deep waters occurs. Completing this work was expected to contribute toward improved models of future climate change. Climate scientists rely on models to estimate the amount of fossil fuel carbon dioxide that will be absorbed by the ocean in the future. Currently the ocean absorbs about 25% of the carbon dioxide produced by burning fossil fuels. Most of this carbon is absorbed in the Southern Ocean (the region around Antarctica). How this will change in the future is poorly known. Models have difficulty representing physical conditions in the Southern Ocean accurately, thereby adding substantial uncertainty to projections of future ocean uptake of carbon dioxide. Results of the proposed study will provide a benchmark to test the ability of models to simulate ocean processes under climate conditions distinctly different from those that occur today, ultimately leading to improvement of the models and to more reliable projections of future absorption of carbon dioxide by the ocean. \r\n\r\nTechnical:\r\nThe project added a research component to an existing scientific expedition to the Southern Ocean, in the region between the Ross Sea and New Zealand, that collected sediment cores at locations down the northern flank of the Pacific-Antarctic Ridge at approximately 170\u00b0W. The goal was to collect sediments at each location deposited since early in the peak of the last ice age. This region is unusual in the Southern Ocean in that sediments deposited during the last ice age contain foraminifera, tiny organisms with calcium carbonate shells, in much greater abundance than in other regions of the Southern Ocean. Foraminifera are widely used as an archive of several geochemical tracers of past ocean conditions. We proposed to compare the radiocarbon age of foraminifera that inhabited the surface ocean with the age of contemporary specimens that grew on the seabed. The difference in age between surface and deep-swelling organisms would have been used to discriminate between two proposed mechanisms of deep water renewal during the ice age: formation in coastal polynyas around the edge of Antarctica, much as occurs today, versus formation by open-ocean convection in deep-water regions far from the continent. If the latter mechanism prevails, then it was expected that surface and deep-dwelling foraminifera would exhibit similar radiocarbon ages. In the case of dominance of deep-water formation in coastal polynyas, one expects to find very different radiocarbon ages in the two populations of foraminifera. In the extreme case of greater ocean stratification during the last ice age, one even expects the surface dwellers to appear to be older than contemporary bottom dwellers because the targeted core sites lie directly under the region where the oldest deep waters outcrop at the surface following their long circuitous transit through the deep ocean. The primary objective of the proposed work was to reconstruct the water mass age structure of the Southern Ocean during the last ice age, which, in turn, is a primary factor that controls the amount of carbon dioxide stored in the deep sea. In addition, the presence of foraminifera in the cores to be recovered provides a valuable resource for many other paleoceanographic applications, such as: 1) the application of nitrogen isotopes to constrain the level of nutrient utilization in the Southern Ocean and, thus, the efficiency of the ocean\u2019s biological pump, 2) the application of neodymium isotopes to constrain the transport history of deep water masses, 3) the application of boron isotopes and boron/calcium ratios to constrain the pH and inorganic carbon system parameters of ice-age seawater, and 4) the exploitation of metal/calcium ratios in foraminifera to reconstruct the temperature (Mg/Ca) and nutrient content (Cd/Ca) of deep waters during the last ice age at a location near their source near Antarctica. \r\n\r\nUnfortunately, the cores were shipped to the core repository in a horizontal orientation and there was sufficient distortion of the sediment that the radiocarbon ages of benthic foraminifera were uninterpretable. Therefore, we report only the radiocarbon dates for planktonic foraminifera as well as the total counts of elemental relative abundance from X-ray Fluorescence analysis of the cores. In addition, we used the expedition as an opportunity to collect water samples from which dissolved concentrations of long-lived isotope of thorium and protactinium were determined. Results from those analyses showed that lateral transport by isopycnal mixing dominates the supply of Pa to the Southern Ocean. We have also developed a new algorithm to correct for supply of Th by isopycnal mixing and thereby derive estimates of dust flux to the Southern Ocean. \r\n", "east": -169.0, "geometry": "POINT(-170 -60.6)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES; SEDIMENT CHEMISTRY; South Pacific Ocean; SHIPS", "locations": "South Pacific Ocean", "north": -57.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Anderson, Robert; Fleisher, Martin; Pavia, Frank", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e SHIPS", "repo": "NCEI", "repositories": "BCO-DMO; NCEI; R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -64.2, "title": "Water Mass Structure and Bottom Water Formation in the Ice-age Southern Ocean", "uid": "p0010130", "west": -171.0}, {"awards": "1744602 Iken, Katrin; 1744584 Klein, Andrew; 1744550 Amsler, Charles; 1744570 Galloway, Aaron", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-70 -61,-69 -61,-68 -61,-67 -61,-66 -61,-65 -61,-64 -61,-63 -61,-62 -61,-61 -61,-60 -61,-60 -61.772,-60 -62.544,-60 -63.316,-60 -64.088,-60 -64.86,-60 -65.632,-60 -66.404,-60 -67.176,-60 -67.948,-60 -68.72,-61 -68.72,-62 -68.72,-63 -68.72,-64 -68.72,-65 -68.72,-66 -68.72,-67 -68.72,-68 -68.72,-69 -68.72,-70 -68.72,-70 -67.948,-70 -67.176,-70 -66.404,-70 -65.632,-70 -64.86,-70 -64.088,-70 -63.316,-70 -62.544,-70 -61.772,-70 -61))", "dataset_titles": "Average global horizontal solar irradiance at study sites; Carbon and nitrogen isotope data along a gradient at the Antarctic Peninsula; Computed fetch for project study sites; Five year mean annual and summer sea ice concentration grids for the Western Antarctic Peninsula from AMSR2, National Ice Center Charts and the Sea Ice Index ; Gridded sea ice concentrations from National Ice Center (NIC) Charts 2014-2019 for Western Antarctic Peninsula ; Initial release of code and data associated with Whippo et al. (2024) Fatty acid profiles and stable isotope composition of Antarctic macroalgae: A baseline for a combined biomarker approach in food web studies.; Landsat Sea Ice/Cloud classifications surrounding project study sites; Latitude and longitude data for project study sites; LMG1904 expedition data; Macroalgal species collected along horizontal transect components ; Modelled Solar Irradiance for Western Antarctic Pennisula; Sea Ice Concentration Timeseries for study sites; Underwater transect videos used for community analyses; Underwater video transect community analysis data; VIIRS KD(490) diffuse attenuation coefficients for study sites", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601651", "doi": "10.15784/601651", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; GIS; GIS Data; LMG1904; R/v Laurence M. Gould; Solar Radiation", "people": "Klein, Andrew", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Modelled Solar Irradiance for Western Antarctic Pennisula", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601651"}, {"dataset_uid": "601654", "doi": "10.15784/601654", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; GIS; LANDSAT; LMG1904; Remote Sensing; R/v Laurence M. Gould", "people": "Klein, Andrew", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Landsat Sea Ice/Cloud classifications surrounding project study sites", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601654"}, {"dataset_uid": "601653", "doi": "10.15784/601653", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Carbon; Carbon Isotopes; LMG1904; Nitrogen Isotopes; Oceans", "people": "Iken, Katrin", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Carbon and nitrogen isotope data along a gradient at the Antarctic Peninsula", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601653"}, {"dataset_uid": "601643", "doi": "10.15784/601643", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; LMG1904; National Ice Center Charts; R/v Laurence M. Gould; Sea Ice Concentration", "people": "Klein, Andrew", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Gridded sea ice concentrations from National Ice Center (NIC) Charts 2014-2019 for Western Antarctic Peninsula ", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601643"}, {"dataset_uid": "601649", "doi": "10.15784/601649", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; LMG1904; National Ice Center Charts; Sea Ice Concentration", "people": "Klein, Andrew", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Five year mean annual and summer sea ice concentration grids for the Western Antarctic Peninsula from AMSR2, National Ice Center Charts and the Sea Ice Index ", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601649"}, {"dataset_uid": "200147", "doi": "10.7284/908260", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "LMG1904 expedition data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG1904"}, {"dataset_uid": "601725", "doi": "10.15784/601725", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula", "people": "Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Macroalgal species collected along horizontal transect components ", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601725"}, {"dataset_uid": "601610", "doi": "10.15784/601610", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Benthic Communities; Biota; Macroalgae; Macroinvertebrates; Oceans; Video Transects", "people": "Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Underwater transect videos used for community analyses", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601610"}, {"dataset_uid": "601619", "doi": "10.15784/601619", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Benthic Communities; Biota; Macroalgae; Macroinvertebrates; Oceans; Video Transects", "people": "Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Underwater video transect community analysis data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601619"}, {"dataset_uid": "601639", "doi": "10.15784/601639", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Fetch; LMG1904; R/v Laurence M. Gould", "people": "Klein, Andrew", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Computed fetch for project study sites", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601639"}, {"dataset_uid": "601640", "doi": "10.15784/601640", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Diffuse Attenuation Coefficient; LMG1904; R/v Laurence M. Gould; Turbidity", "people": "Klein, Andrew", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "VIIRS KD(490) diffuse attenuation coefficients for study sites", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601640"}, {"dataset_uid": "601330", "doi": "10.15784/601330", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; LMG1904; R/v Laurence M. Gould; Sample Location", "people": "Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Latitude and longitude data for project study sites", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601330"}, {"dataset_uid": "601641", "doi": "10.15784/601641", "keywords": "Antarctica; Average Global Horizontal Solar Irradiance; Biota; LMG1904; R/v Laurence M. Gould", "people": "Klein, Andrew", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Average global horizontal solar irradiance at study sites", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601641"}, {"dataset_uid": "200402", "doi": "10.5281/zenodo.10524919", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Zendo", "science_program": null, "title": "Initial release of code and data associated with Whippo et al. (2024) Fatty acid profiles and stable isotope composition of Antarctic macroalgae: A baseline for a combined biomarker approach in food web studies.", "url": "https://zenodo.org/records/10524920"}, {"dataset_uid": "601642", "doi": "10.15784/601642", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; LMG1904; R/v Laurence M. Gould; Sea Ice Concentration", "people": "Klein, Andrew", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Sea Ice Concentration Timeseries for study sites", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601642"}], "date_created": "Thu, 04 Jun 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The western Antarctic Peninsula has become a model for understanding cold water communities and how they may be changing in Antarctica and elsewhere. Brown macroalgae (seaweeds) form extensive undersea forests in the northern portion of this region where they play a key role in providing both physical structure and a food (carbon) source for shallow water communities. Yet between Anvers Island (64 degrees S latitude) and Adelaide Island (67 S latitude) these macroalgae become markedly less abundant and diverse. This is probably because the habitat to the south is covered by more sea ice for a longer period, and the sea ice reduces the amount of light that reaches the algae. The reduced macroalgal cover undoubtedly impacts other organisms in the food web, but the ways in which it alters sea-floor community processes and organization is unknown. This project will quantitatively document the macroalgal communities at multiple sites between Anvers and Adelaide Islands using a combination of SCUBA diving, video surveys, and algal collections. Sea ice cover, light levels, and other environmental parameters on community structure will be modelled to determine which factors have the largest influence. Impacts on community structure, food webs, and carbon flow will be assessed through a mixture of SCUBA diving and video surveys. Broader impacts include the training of graduate students and a postdoctoral researcher, as well as numerous informal public education activities including lectures, presentations to K-12 groups, and a variety of social media-based outreach.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eMacroalgal communities are more abundance and diverse to the north along the Western Antarctic Peninsula, perhaps due to the greater light availability that is associated with shorter period of sea-ice cover. This project will determine the causes and community level consequence of this variation in algal community structure. First, satellite data on sea ice extent and water turbidity will be used to select study sites between 64 S and 69 S where the extent of annual sea ice cover is the primary factor influencing subsurface light levels. Then, variations in macroalgal cover across these study sites will be determined by video line-transect surveys conducted by SCUBA divers. The health, growth, and physiological status of species found at the different sites will be determined by quadrat sampling. The relative importance of macroalgal-derived carbon to the common invertebrate consumers in the foodweb will be assessed with stable isotope and fatty acid biomarker techniques. This will reveal how variation in macroalgal abundance and species composition across the sea ice cover gradient impacts sea floor community composition and carbon flow throughout the food web. In combination, this work will facilitate predictions of how the ongoing reductions in extent and duration of sea ice cover that is occurring in the region as a result of global climate change will impact the structure of nearshore benthic communities.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": -60.0, "geometry": "POINT(-65 -64.86)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "COASTAL; R/V LMG; MACROALGAE (SEAWEEDS); BENTHIC; USAP-DC; Antarctic Peninsula", "locations": "Antarctic Peninsula", "north": -61.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Amsler, Charles; McClintock, James; Iken, Katrin; Galloway, Aaron; Klein, Andrew", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "R2R; USAP-DC; Zendo", "science_programs": null, "south": -68.72, "title": "Collaborative Research: Sea ice as a driver of Antarctic benthic macroalgal community composition and nearshore trophic connectivity", "uid": "p0010104", "west": -70.0}, {"awards": "0231006 DeVries, Arthur; 1142158 Cheng, Chi-Hing", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((163 -76.5,163.5 -76.5,164 -76.5,164.5 -76.5,165 -76.5,165.5 -76.5,166 -76.5,166.5 -76.5,167 -76.5,167.5 -76.5,168 -76.5,168 -76.63,168 -76.76,168 -76.89,168 -77.02,168 -77.15,168 -77.28,168 -77.41,168 -77.54,168 -77.67,168 -77.8,167.5 -77.8,167 -77.8,166.5 -77.8,166 -77.8,165.5 -77.8,165 -77.8,164.5 -77.8,164 -77.8,163.5 -77.8,163 -77.8,163 -77.67,163 -77.54,163 -77.41,163 -77.28,163 -77.15,163 -77.02,163 -76.89,163 -76.76,163 -76.63,163 -76.5))", "dataset_titles": "High-resolution benthic seawater temperature record 1999-2012 (25-40m depth) from near intake jetty at McMurdo Station, Antarctica; Metadata associated with the description of Akarotaxis gouldae n. sp. (Bathydraconidae)", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601811", "doi": null, "keywords": "Antarctica; Bellingshausen Sea; Cryosphere; Southern Ocean", "people": "Desvignes, Thomas; Hilton, Eric; Steinberg, Deborah; Biesack, Ellen; Cheng, Chi-Hing; McDowell, Jan; Corso, Andrew", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "LTER", "title": "Metadata associated with the description of Akarotaxis gouldae n. sp. (Bathydraconidae)", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601811"}, {"dataset_uid": "601275", "doi": null, "keywords": "Antarctica; Benthic; McMurdo Sound; Mcmurdo Station; Oceans; Physical Oceanography; Temperature Probe; Water Temperature", "people": "Cziko, Paul; Cheng, Chi-Hing; Devries, Arthur", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "High-resolution benthic seawater temperature record 1999-2012 (25-40m depth) from near intake jetty at McMurdo Station, Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601275"}], "date_created": "Wed, 08 Apr 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Antarctic notothenioid fishes exhibit two adaptive traits to survive in frigid temperatures. The first of these is the production of anti-freeze proteins in their blood and tissues. The second is a system-wide ability to perform cellular and physiological functions at extremely cold temperatures.The proposal goals are to show how Antarctic fishes use these characteristics to avoid freezing, and which additional genes are turned on, or suppressed in order for these fishes to maintain normal physiological function in extreme cold temperatures. Progressively colder habitats are encountered in the high latitude McMurdo Sound and Ross Shelf region, along with somewhat milder near?shore water environments in the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP). By quantifying the extent of ice crystals invading and lodging in the spleen, the percentage of McMurdo Sound fish during austral summer (Oct-Feb) will be compared to the WAP intertidal fish during austral winter (Jul-Sep) to demonstrate their capability and extent of freeze avoidance. Resistance to ice entry in surface epithelia (e.g. skin, gill and intestinal lining) is another expression of the adaptation of these fish to otherwise lethally freezing conditions.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThe adaptive nature of a uniquely characteristic polar genome will be explored by the study of the transcriptome (the set of expressed RNA transcripts that constitutes the precursor to set of proteins expressed by an entire genome). Three notothenioid species (E.maclovinus, D. Mawsoni and C. aceratus) will be analysed to document evolutionary genetic changes (both gain and loss) shaped by life under extreme chronic cold. A differential gene expression (DGE) study will be carried out on these different species to evaluate evolutionary modification of tissue-wide response to heat challenges. The transcriptomes and other sequencing libraries will contribute to de novo ice-fish genome sequencing efforts.", "east": 168.0, "geometry": "POINT(165.5 -77.15)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "McMurdo Sound; MARINE ECOSYSTEMS; Water Temperature; AQUATIC SCIENCES; OCEAN TEMPERATURE; FIELD INVESTIGATION; USAP-DC", "locations": "McMurdo Sound", "north": -76.5, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Cheng, Chi-Hing; Devries, Arthur", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.8, "title": "Antarctic Notothenioid Fish Freeze Avoidance and Genome-wide Evolution for Life in the Cold", "uid": "p0010091", "west": 163.0}, {"awards": "1341496 Girton, James", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-142 -66,-135.3 -66,-128.6 -66,-121.9 -66,-115.2 -66,-108.5 -66,-101.8 -66,-95.1 -66,-88.4 -66,-81.7 -66,-75 -66,-75 -66.8,-75 -67.6,-75 -68.4,-75 -69.2,-75 -70,-75 -70.8,-75 -71.6,-75 -72.4,-75 -73.2,-75 -74,-81.7 -74,-88.4 -74,-95.1 -74,-101.8 -74,-108.5 -74,-115.2 -74,-121.9 -74,-128.6 -74,-135.3 -74,-142 -74,-142 -73.2,-142 -72.4,-142 -71.6,-142 -70.8,-142 -70,-142 -69.2,-142 -68.4,-142 -67.6,-142 -66.8,-142 -66))", "dataset_titles": "Bottom Photographs from the Antarctic Peninsula acquired during R/V Laurence M. Gould expedition LMG1703; Expedition Data; Expedition data of NBP1701", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "001369", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1701"}, {"dataset_uid": "601302", "doi": null, "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Benthic Images; Benthos; Biota; LMG1708; Oceans; Photo; Photo/video; Photo/Video; R/v Laurence M. Gould; Ship; Yoyo Camera", "people": "Girton, James", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Bottom Photographs from the Antarctic Peninsula acquired during R/V Laurence M. Gould expedition LMG1703", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601302"}, {"dataset_uid": "002661", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP1701", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1701"}], "date_created": "Tue, 10 Dec 2019 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Current oceanographic interest in the interaction of relatively warm water of the Southern Ocean Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) as it moves southward to the frigid waters of the Antarctic continental shelves is based on the potential importance of heat transport from the global ocean to the base of continental ice shelves. This is needed to understand the longer term mass balance of the continent, the stability of the vast Antarctic ice sheets and the rate at which sea-level will rise in a warming world. Improved observational knowledge of the mechanisms of how warming CDW moves across the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) is needed. Understanding this dynamical transport, believed to take place through the eddy flux of time-varying mesoscale circulation features, will improve coupled ocean-atmospheric climate models. The development of the next generation of coupled ocean-ice-climate models help us understand future changes in atmospheric heat fluxes, glacial and sea-ice balance, and changes in the Antarctic ecosystems. A recurring obstacle to our understanding is the lack of data in this distant region. In this project, a total of 10 subsurface profiling EM-APEX floats adapted to operate under sea ice were launched in 12 missions (and 2 recoveries) from 4 cruises of opportunity to the Amundsen Sea sector of the Antarctic continental margin during Austral summer. The floats were launched south of the Polar Front and measured shear, turbulence, temperature, and salinity to 2000m depth for 1-2 year missions while drifting with the CDW layer between profiles.", "east": -75.0, "geometry": "POINT(-108.5 -70)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e FLUOROMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e RECORDERS/LOGGERS \u003e AWS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e ACTIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ECHO SOUNDERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MBES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e THERMOSALINOGRAPHS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e CAMERAS \u003e CAMERA", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "OCEAN TEMPERATURE; R/V NBP; USAP-DC; ICE DEPTH/THICKNESS; HEAT FLUX; OCEAN CURRENTS; SALINITY/DENSITY; LMG1703; Bellingshausen Sea; Yoyo Camera; WATER MASSES; R/V LMG; NBP1701", "locations": "Bellingshausen Sea", "north": -66.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Girton, James; Rynearson, Tatiana", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -74.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Pathways of Circumpolar Deep Water to West Antarctica from Profiling Float and Satellite Measurements", "uid": "p0010074", "west": -142.0}, {"awards": "1401489 Sigman, Daniel", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -45,-144 -45,-108 -45,-72 -45,-36 -45,0 -45,36 -45,72 -45,108 -45,144 -45,180 -45,180 -47.5,180 -50,180 -52.5,180 -55,180 -57.5,180 -60,180 -62.5,180 -65,180 -67.5,180 -70,144 -70,108 -70,72 -70,36 -70,0 -70,-36 -70,-72 -70,-108 -70,-144 -70,-180 -70,-180 -67.5,-180 -65,-180 -62.5,-180 -60,-180 -57.5,-180 -55,-180 -52.5,-180 -50,-180 -47.5,-180 -45))", "dataset_titles": "Deep-sea coral evidence for lower Southern Ocean surface nitrate concentrations during the last ice age; Diatom-bound N isotope records over the last two glacial cycles in sediment core PS75/072-4.; Diatom-bound nitrogen isotope and opal flux records over the Holocene period in Southern Ocean sediment cores MD12-3396, MD11-3353 and PS75/072-4.; GOSHIP section IO8S and P18S", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200049", "doi": "doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.848271", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "PANGAEA", "science_program": null, "title": "Diatom-bound N isotope records over the last two glacial cycles in sediment core PS75/072-4.", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.848271"}, {"dataset_uid": "200048", "doi": "doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.891436.", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "PANGAEA", "science_program": null, "title": "Diatom-bound nitrogen isotope and opal flux records over the Holocene period in Southern Ocean sediment cores MD12-3396, MD11-3353 and PS75/072-4.", "url": "https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.891436"}, {"dataset_uid": "200051", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Publication", "science_program": null, "title": "Deep-sea coral evidence for lower Southern Ocean surface nitrate concentrations during the last ice age", "url": "https://www.pnas.org/content/suppl/2017/03/14/1615718114.DCSupplemental"}, {"dataset_uid": "200050", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "CLIVAR", "science_program": null, "title": "GOSHIP section IO8S and P18S", "url": "https://cchdo.ucsd.edu/"}], "date_created": "Thu, 08 Aug 2019 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "ABSTRACT\u003cbr/\u003eIntellectual Merit:\u003cbr/\u003eThe high concentration of the major nutrients nitrate and phosphate is a fundamental characteristic of the Antarctic Zone in the Southern Ocean and is central to its role in global ocean fertility and the global carbon cycle. The isotopic composition of diatom-bound organic nitrogen is one of the best hopes for reconstructing the nutrient status of polar surface waters over glacial cycles, which in turn may hold the explanation for the decline in atmospheric carbon dioxide during ice ages. The PIs propose to generate detailed diatom-bound nitrogen isotope (\u0026#948;15Ndb) records from high sedimentation rate cores from the Kerguelen Plateau. Because the cores were collected at relatively shallow seafloor depths, they have adequate planktonic and benthic foraminifera to develop accurate age models. The resulting data could be compared with climate records from Antarctic ice cores and other archives to investigate climate-related changes, including the major steps into and out of ice ages and the millennial-scale events that occur during ice ages and at their ends. The records generated in this project will provide a critical test of hypotheses for the cause of lower ice age CO2.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eBroader impacts:\u003cbr/\u003eThis study will contribute to the goal of understanding ice ages and past CO2 changes, which both have broad implications for future climate. Undergraduates will undertake summer internships, with the possibility of extending their work into junior year projects and senior theses. In addition, the PI will lead modules for two Princeton programs for middle school teachers and will host a teacher for a six-week summer research project.", "east": 180.0, "geometry": "POINT(0 -89.999)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES; South Pacific Ocean; USAP-DC; NOT APPLICABLE", "locations": "South Pacific Ocean", "north": -45.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Sigman, Daniel", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repo": "PANGAEA", "repositories": "CLIVAR; PANGAEA; Publication", "science_programs": null, "south": -70.0, "title": "High-resolution, Assemblage-specific Records of Diatom-bound N Isotopes from the Indian Sector of the Antarctic Ocean", "uid": "p0010046", "west": -180.0}, {"awards": "1443420 Dodd, Justin", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((167.07 -77.87,167.073 -77.87,167.076 -77.87,167.079 -77.87,167.082 -77.87,167.085 -77.87,167.088 -77.87,167.091 -77.87,167.094 -77.87,167.097 -77.87,167.1 -77.87,167.1 -77.873,167.1 -77.876,167.1 -77.879,167.1 -77.882,167.1 -77.885,167.1 -77.888,167.1 -77.891,167.1 -77.894,167.1 -77.897,167.1 -77.9,167.097 -77.9,167.094 -77.9,167.091 -77.9,167.088 -77.9,167.085 -77.9,167.082 -77.9,167.079 -77.9,167.076 -77.9,167.073 -77.9,167.07 -77.9,167.07 -77.897,167.07 -77.894,167.07 -77.891,167.07 -77.888,167.07 -77.885,167.07 -77.882,167.07 -77.879,167.07 -77.876,167.07 -77.873,167.07 -77.87))", "dataset_titles": "Diatom Oxygen Isotope Evidence of Pliocene (~4.68 to 3.44 Ma) Antarctic Ice Sheet Dynamics and Ross Sea Paleoceanography", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601220", "doi": "10.15784/601220", "keywords": "And-1B; Andrill; Antarctica; Chemistry:sediment; Chemistry:Sediment; Delta 18O; Diatom; Mass Spectrometer; Oxygen Isotope; Paleoclimate; Pliocene; Sediment; Wais Project; West Antarctic Ice Sheet", "people": "Dodd, Justin; Abbott, Tirzah", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "ANDRILL", "title": "Diatom Oxygen Isotope Evidence of Pliocene (~4.68 to 3.44 Ma) Antarctic Ice Sheet Dynamics and Ross Sea Paleoceanography", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601220"}], "date_created": "Tue, 06 Aug 2019 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Abstract\u003cbr/\u003eDuring the Early Pliocene, 4.8 to 3.4 million years ago, warmer-than-present global temperatures resulted in a retreat of the Ross Ice Shelf and West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Understanding changes in ocean dynamics during times of reduced ice volume and increased temperatures in the geologic past will improve the predictive models for these conditions. The primary goal of the proposed research is to develop a new oxygen isotope record of Pliocene oceanographic conditions near the Antarctic continent. Oxygen isotope values from the carbonate tests of benthic foraminifera have become the global standard for paleo-oceanographic studies, but foraminifera are sparse in high-latitude sediment cores. This research will instead make use of oxygen isotope measurements from diatom silica preserved in a marine sediment core from the Ross Sea. The project is the first attempt at using this method and will advance understanding of global ocean dynamics and ice sheet-ocean interactions during the Pliocene. The project will foster the professional development of two early-career scientists and serve as training for graduate and undergraduate student researchers. The PIs will use this project to introduce High School students to polar/oceanographic research, as well as stable isotope geochemistry. Collaboration with teachers via NSTA and Polar Educators International will ensure the implementation of excellent STEM learning activities and curricula for younger students. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eTechnical Description\u003cbr/\u003eThis project will produce a high-resolution oxygen isotope record from well-dated diatom rich sediments that have been cross-correlated with global benthic foraminifera oxygen isotope records. Diatom silica frustules deposited during the Early Pliocene and recovered by the ANDRILL Project (AND-1B) provide ideal material for this objective. Diatomite unites in the AND-1B core are nearly pure, with little evidence of opal formation. A diatom oxygen isotope record from this core offers the potential to constrain lingering uncertainties about Ross Sea and Southern Ocean paleoceanography and Antarctic Ice Sheet history during a time of high atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. Specifically, oxygen isotope variations will be used to constrain changes in the water temperature and/or freshwater flux in the Pliocene Ross Sea. Diatom species data from the AND-1B core have been used to infer variations in the extent and duration of seasonal sea ice coverage, sea surface temperatures, and mid-water advection onto the continental shelf. However, the diatom oxygen isotope record will provide the first direct measure of water/oxygen isotope values at the Antarctic continental margin during the Pliocene.", "east": 167.1, "geometry": "POINT(167.085 -77.885)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "OXYGEN ISOTOPES; USAP-DC; Antarctica; NOT APPLICABLE", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -77.87, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Dodd, Justin; Scherer, Reed Paul; Warnock, Jonathan", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": "ANDRILL", "south": -77.9, "title": "Diatom and Oxygen Isotope Evidence of Pliocene Antarctic Ice Sheet Dynamics and Ross Sea Paleoceanography", "uid": "p0010042", "west": 167.07}, {"awards": "1246357 Bart, Philip", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "NBP1502 Cruise Geophysics and underway data; NBP1502 YoYo camera benthic images from Ross Sea", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "000245", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP1502 Cruise Geophysics and underway data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1502"}, {"dataset_uid": "601182", "doi": "10.15784/601182", "keywords": "Antarctica; Benthic; Benthic Images; Benthos; Bentic Fauna; Camera Tow; Marine Geoscience; Marine Sediments; NBP1502; Photo; Photo/video; Photo/Video; Ross Sea; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Southern Ocean; Yoyo Camera", "people": "Bart, Philip", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP1502 YoYo camera benthic images from Ross Sea", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601182"}], "date_created": "Mon, 03 Jun 2019 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Intellectual Merit:\n\nEvidence from the eastern Ross Sea continental shelf indicates that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet advanced and retreated during the last glacial cycle, but it is unclear whether the ice sheet advanced to the shelf edge or just to the middle shelf. These two end-member scenarios offer different interpretations as to why, how, and when the West Antarctic Ice Sheet oscillated. The PI proposes to acquire seismic, multibeam, and core data from Whales Deep, to evaluate the timing and duration of two advances of grounded ice to the outer and middle shelf of the Whales Deep Basin, a West Antarctic Ice Sheet paleo ice stream trough in eastern Ross Sea. Grounding events are represented by seismically resolvable Grounding Zone Wedges. The PI will collect radiocarbon dates on in situ benthic foraminifera from the grounding zone diamict as well as ramped pyrolysis radiocarbon dates on acid insoluble organics from open-marine mud overlying the grounding zone diamict. Using these data the PI will calculate the duration of the two grounding events. Furthermore, the PI will test a numerical model prediction that West Antarctic Ice Sheet retreat must have involved melting at the marine terminus of the ice sheet. Pore-water from the grounding zone diamict will be extracted from piston cores to determine salinity and \u03b418O values that should indicate if significant melting occurred at the grounding line.\n\nBroader impacts:\n\nThe data collected will provide constraints on the timing and pattern of Last Glacial Maximum advance and retreat that can be incorporated into interpretations of ice-surface elevation changes. The proposed activities will provide valuable field and research training to undergraduate/graduate students and a Louisiana high-school science teacher. The research will be interactively shared with middle- and high-school science students and with visitors to the LSU Museum of Natural Science Weekend-Science Program. ", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e AIRGUN ARRAYS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e SEISMIC REFLECTION PROFILERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e LONG STREAMERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MSBS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e CORING DEVICES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e CAMERAS \u003e CAMERA; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e FLUOROMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e RECORDERS/LOGGERS \u003e AWS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e ACTIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ECHO SOUNDERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MBES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e THERMOSALINOGRAPHS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "STRATIGRAPHIC SEQUENCE; R/V NBP; Ross Sea; Antarctica; MICROFOSSILS; RADIOCARBON; PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTIONS; SEDIMENTS; Southern Ocean; OCEANS; GEOSCIENTIFIC INFORMATION", "locations": "Antarctica; Ross Sea; Southern Ocean", "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Bart, Philip; Steinberg, Deborah", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Timing and Duration of the LGM and Post-LGM Grounding Events in Whales Deep Paleo Ice Stream, Eastern Ross Sea Middle Continental Shelf", "uid": "p0000877", "west": null}, {"awards": "1642570 Thurber, Andrew", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(166.666 -77.8)", "dataset_titles": "Microbial community composition of the Cinder Cones Cold Seep", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200035", "doi": "DOI:10.1575/1912/bco-dmo.756997.1", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "BCO-DMO", "science_program": null, "title": "Microbial community composition of the Cinder Cones Cold Seep", "url": "https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/756997"}], "date_created": "Fri, 24 May 2019 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that is naturally emitted into the oceans by geologic seeps and microbial production. Based on studies of persistent deep-sea seeps at mid- and northern latitudes, researchers have learned that bacteria and archaea can create a \"sediment filter\" that oxidizes methane prior to its release. Antarctica is thought to contain large reservoirs of organic carbon buried beneath its ice which could a quantity of methane equivalent to all of the permafrost in the Arctic and yet we know almost nothing about the methane oxidizing microbes in this region. How these microbial communities develop and potentially respond to fluctuations in methane levels is an under-explored avenue of research. A bacterial mat was recently discovered at 78 degrees south, suggesting the possible presence of a methane seep, and associated microbial communities. This project will explore this environment in detail to assess the levels and origin of methane, and the nature of the microbial ecosystem present. \u003cbr/\u003e \u003cbr/\u003eAn expansive bacterial mat appeared and/or was discovered at 78 degrees south in 2011. This site, near McMurdo Station Antarctica, has been visited since the mid-1960s, but this mat was not observed until 2011. The finding of this site provides an unusual opportunity to study an Antarctic marine benthic habitat with active methane cycling and to examine the dynamics of recruitment and community succession of seep fauna including bacteria, archaea, protists and metazoans. This project will collect the necessary baseline data to facilitate further studies of Antarctic methane cycling. The concentration and source of methane will be determined at this site and at potentially analogous sites in McMurdo Sound. In addition to biogeochemical characterization of the sites, molecular analysis of the microbial community will quantify the time scales on which bacteria and archaea respond to methane input and provide information on rates of community development and succession in the Southern Ocean. Project activities will facilitate the training of at least one graduate student and results will be shared at both local and international levels. A female graduate student will be mentored as part of this project and data collected will form part of her dissertation. Lectures will be given in K-12 classrooms in Oregon to excite students about polar science. National and international audiences will be reached through blogs and presentations at a scientific conference. The PI\u0027s previous blogs have been used by K-12 classrooms as part of their lesson plans and followed in over 65 countries.\u003cbr/\u003e", "east": 166.666, "geometry": "POINT(166.666 -77.8)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Sea Floor; USAP-DC; Ross Sea; BACTERIA/ARCHAEA; NOT APPLICABLE", "locations": "Ross Sea; Sea Floor", "north": -77.8, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Thurber, Andrew", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repo": "BCO-DMO", "repositories": "BCO-DMO", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.8, "title": "EAGER: Elucidating the Antarctic Methane Cycle at the Cinder Cones Reducing Habitat.", "uid": "p0010030", "west": 166.666}, {"awards": "1822289 Vernet, Maria; 1822256 Smith, Craig", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-59.5 -62,-59.05 -62,-58.6 -62,-58.15 -62,-57.7 -62,-57.25 -62,-56.8 -62,-56.35 -62,-55.9 -62,-55.45 -62,-55 -62,-55 -62.27,-55 -62.54,-55 -62.81,-55 -63.08,-55 -63.35,-55 -63.62,-55 -63.89,-55 -64.16,-55 -64.43,-55 -64.7,-55.45 -64.7,-55.9 -64.7,-56.35 -64.7,-56.8 -64.7,-57.25 -64.7,-57.7 -64.7,-58.15 -64.7,-58.6 -64.7,-59.05 -64.7,-59.5 -64.7,-59.5 -64.43,-59.5 -64.16,-59.5 -63.89,-59.5 -63.62,-59.5 -63.35,-59.5 -63.08,-59.5 -62.81,-59.5 -62.54,-59.5 -62.27,-59.5 -62))", "dataset_titles": "CTD stations and logs for Araon 2018 ANA08D expedition to Larson C; Yoyo camera survey transects, King George Island and Bransfield Strait", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601178", "doi": "10.15784/601178", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Chlorophyll; CTD; Glacier; Iceberg; Ice Shelf; Larsen C Ice Shelf; Oceans; Physical Oceanography; Phytoplankton; Sample Location; Sea Ice; Southern Ocean; Station List", "people": "Vernet, Maria; Pan, B. Jack", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "CTD stations and logs for Araon 2018 ANA08D expedition to Larson C", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601178"}, {"dataset_uid": "601199", "doi": "10.15784/601199", "keywords": "Antarctica; Araon; Araon Ana08d; Benthic Images; Benthos; Photo/video; Photo/Video; Southern Ocean; Station List; Yoyo Camera", "people": "Ziegler, Amanda; Smith, Craig", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Yoyo camera survey transects, King George Island and Bransfield Strait", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601199"}], "date_created": "Wed, 15 May 2019 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Marine ecosystems under large ice shelves are thought to contain sparse, low-diversity plankton and seafloor communities due the low supply of food from productive sunlight waters. Past studies have shown sub-ice shelf ecosystems to change in response to altered oceanographic processes resulting from ice-shelve retreat. However, information on community changes and ecosystem structure under ice shelves are limited because sub-ice-shelf ecosystems have either been sampled many years after ice-shelf breakout, or have been sampled through small boreholes, yielding extremely limited spatial information. The recent breakout of the A-68 iceberg from the Larsen C ice shelf in the western Weddell Sea provides an opportunity to use a ship-based study to evaluate benthic communities and water column characteristics in an area recently vacated by a large overlying ice shelf. The opportunity will allow spatial assessments at the time of transition from an under ice-shelf environment to one initially exposed to conditions more typical of a coastal Antarctic marine setting. \\r\\n\\r\\n\\r\\n\\r\\nThis RAPID project will help determine the state of a coastal Antarctic ecosystem newly exposed from ice-shelf cover and will aid in understanding of rates of community change during transition. The project will conduct a 10-day field program, allowing contrasts to be made of phytoplankton and seafloor megafaunal communities in areas recently exposed by ice-shelf loss to areas exposed for many decades. The project will be undertaken in a collaborative manner with the South Korean Antarctic Agency, KOPRI, by participating in a cruise in March/May 2018. Combining new information in the area of Larsen C with existing observations after the Larsen A and B ice shelf breakups further to the north, the project is expected to generate a dataset that can elucidate fundamental processes of planktonic and benthic community development in transition from food-poor to food-rich ecosystems. The project will provide field experience to two graduate students, a post-doctoral associate and an undergraduate student. Material from the project will be incorporated into graduate courses and the project will communicate daily work and unfolding events through social media and blogs while they explore this area of the world that is largely underexplored.", "east": -55.0, "geometry": "POINT(-57.25 -63.35)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Antarctica; R/V NBP; Sea Floor; ANIMALS/INVERTEBRATES; ICEBERGS; USAP-DC", "locations": "Antarctica; Sea Floor", "north": -62.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Vernet, Maria; Smith, Craig", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -64.7, "title": "RAPID: Collaborative Research: Marine Ecosystem Response to the Larsen C Ice-Shelf Breakout: \"Time zero\"", "uid": "p0010029", "west": -59.5}, {"awards": "1245766 Waller, Rhian", "bounds_geometry": "POINT(-63.0796667 -61.5157)", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data; Log Sheets of coral samples for LMG1509", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "001378", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG1509"}, {"dataset_uid": "601160", "doi": "10.15784/601160", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Corals; CTD; LMG1509; Oceans; Otter Trawl; R/v Laurence M. Gould; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Sample Location; Southern Ocean", "people": "Waller, Rhian", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Log Sheets of coral samples for LMG1509", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601160"}], "date_created": "Thu, 07 Mar 2019 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The Western Antarctic Peninsula is experiencing climate change at one of the fastest rates of anywhere around the globe. Accelerated climate change is likely to affect the many benthic marine invertebrates that live within narrow temperature windows along the Antarctic Continental Shelf in presently unidentified ways. At present however, there are few data on the physiological consequences of climate change on the sensitive larval stages of cold-water corals, and none on species living in thermal extremes such as polar waters. This project will collect the larvae of the non-seasonal, brooding scleractinian Flabellum impensum to be used in a month-long climate change experiment at Palmer Station. Multidisciplinary techniques will be used to examine larval development and cellular stress using a combination of electron microscopy, flow cytometry, and Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectometry. Data from this project will form the first systematic study of the larval stages of polar cold-water corals, and how these stages are affected by temperature stress at the cellular and developmental level. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eCold-water corals have been shown to be important ecosystem engineers, providing habitat for thousands of associated species, including many that are of commercial importance. Understanding how the larvae of these corals react to warming trends seen today in our oceans will allow researchers to predict future changes in important benthic communities around the globe. Associated education and outreach include: 1) Increasing student participation in polar research by involving postdoctoral and undergraduate students in the field and research program; ii) promotion of K-12 teaching and learning programs by providing information via a research website, Twitter, and in-school talks in the local area; iii) making the data collected available to the wider research community via peer reviewed published literature and iv) reaching a larger public audience through such venues as interviews in the popular media, You Tube and other popular media outlets, and local talks to the general public.", "east": -63.0796667, "geometry": "POINT(-63.0796667 -61.5157)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SAMPLERS \u003e TRAWLS/NETS \u003e OTTER TRAWL", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "AQUATIC SCIENCES; ANIMALS/INVERTEBRATES; R/V LMG; Southern Ocean; USAP-DC; WATER TEMPERATURE", "locations": "Southern Ocean", "north": -61.5157, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Waller, Rhian; Jay, Lunden", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -61.5157, "title": "Cold Corals in Hot Water - Investigating the Physiological Responses of Antarctic Coral Larvae to Climate change Stress", "uid": "p0010017", "west": -63.0796667}, {"awards": "1341333 McClintock, James; 1341339 Baker, Bill", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-65 -65,-64.8 -65,-64.6 -65,-64.4 -65,-64.2 -65,-64 -65,-63.8 -65,-63.6 -65,-63.4 -65,-63.2 -65,-63 -65,-63 -64.9,-63 -64.8,-63 -64.7,-63 -64.6,-63 -64.5,-63 -64.4,-63 -64.3,-63 -64.2,-63 -64.1,-63 -64,-63.2 -64,-63.4 -64,-63.6 -64,-63.8 -64,-64 -64,-64.2 -64,-64.4 -64,-64.6 -64,-64.8 -64,-65 -64,-65 -64.1,-65 -64.2,-65 -64.3,-65 -64.4,-65 -64.5,-65 -64.6,-65 -64.7,-65 -64.8,-65 -64.9,-65 -65))", "dataset_titles": "Data from Amsler et al. 2019 Antarctic Science; Plocamium cartilagineum field chemotyping; Plocamium reproductive system data and R code; Plocamium transect and transplant data; Raw gastropod collection data from Amsler et al. 2022 Antarctic Science; Supplementary information provided with Murray et al.: Discovery of an Antarctic ascidian-associated uncultivated Verrucomicrobia with antimelanoma palmerolide biosynthetic potential; Synoicum adareanum sampling underwater video Mar 2011 Palmer Station Antarctica; The Chemical Ecology of Shallow-water Marine Macroalgae and Invertebrates on the Antarctic Peninsula - 2010 experimental data; The Chemical Ecology of Shallow-water Marine Macroalgae and Invertebrates on the Antarctic Peninsula - 2010 field data; The Chemical Ecology of Shallow-water Marine Macroalgae and Invertebrates on the Antarctic Peninsula - 2011 Clad Outplant; The Chemical Ecology of Shallow-water Marine Macroalgae and Invertebrates on the Antarctic Peninsula - 2013 Chemo Phylo data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601621", "doi": "10.15784/601621", "keywords": "Antarctica; Benthic; Biota; Macroalgae; Mesograzer; Microscopy; Oceans; Secondary Metabolites", "people": "Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Plocamium transect and transplant data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601621"}, {"dataset_uid": "601533", "doi": "10.15784/601533", "keywords": "Antarctica; Benthos; Palmer Station", "people": "Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Raw gastropod collection data from Amsler et al. 2022 Antarctic Science", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601533"}, {"dataset_uid": "600047", "doi": "10.15784/600047", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Oceans; Southern Ocean", "people": "Baker, Bill", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "The Chemical Ecology of Shallow-water Marine Macroalgae and Invertebrates on the Antarctic Peninsula - 2010 experimental data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600047"}, {"dataset_uid": "601622", "doi": "10.15784/601622", "keywords": "Antarctica; Benthic; Biota; Macroalgae; Population Genetics", "people": "Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Plocamium reproductive system data and R code", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601622"}, {"dataset_uid": "200357", "doi": "10.5061/dryad.gxd2547gw", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Dryad", "science_program": null, "title": "Synoicum adareanum sampling underwater video Mar 2011 Palmer Station Antarctica", "url": "https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.gxd2547gw"}, {"dataset_uid": "601215", "doi": "10.15784/601215", "keywords": "Algae; Antarctica; Biota; Chemical Ecology; Chemotyping; Halogenated Monoterpenes; Natural Products; Oceans; Palmer Station; Plocamium Cartilagineum; Southern Ocean; Terpenes", "people": "Baker, Bill", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Plocamium cartilagineum field chemotyping", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601215"}, {"dataset_uid": "600096", "doi": "10.15784/600096", "keywords": "Algae; Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Oceans; Southern Ocean", "people": "Baker, Bill", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "The Chemical Ecology of Shallow-water Marine Macroalgae and Invertebrates on the Antarctic Peninsula - 2013 Chemo Phylo data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600096"}, {"dataset_uid": "600095", "doi": "10.15784/600095", "keywords": "Algae; Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Oceans; Southern Ocean", "people": "Amsler, Charles; McClintock, James", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "The Chemical Ecology of Shallow-water Marine Macroalgae and Invertebrates on the Antarctic Peninsula - 2011 Clad Outplant", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600095"}, {"dataset_uid": "200356", "doi": "10.5061/dryad.8sf7m0cpp", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Dryad", "science_program": null, "title": "Supplementary information provided with Murray et al.: Discovery of an Antarctic ascidian-associated uncultivated Verrucomicrobia with antimelanoma palmerolide biosynthetic potential", "url": "https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.8sf7m0cpp"}, {"dataset_uid": "601159", "doi": "601159", "keywords": "Antarctica; Benthic; Biota; Macroalgae; Mesograzer; Microscopy; Oceans; Zooplankton", "people": "Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Data from Amsler et al. 2019 Antarctic Science", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601159"}, {"dataset_uid": "600046", "doi": "10.15784/600046", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Oceans; Southern Ocean", "people": "McClintock, James; Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "The Chemical Ecology of Shallow-water Marine Macroalgae and Invertebrates on the Antarctic Peninsula - 2010 field data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600046"}], "date_created": "Tue, 05 Mar 2019 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The coastal environments of the western Antarctic Peninsula harbor rich assemblages of marine animals and algae. The importance of the interactions between these groups of organisms in the ecology of coastal Antarctica are well known and often mediated by chemical defenses in the tissues of the algae. These chemicals are meant to deter feeding by snails and other marine animals making the Antarctic Peninsula an excellent place to ask important questions about the functional and evolutionary significance of chemical compound diversity for marine communities. This project will focus on three main objectives: the first objective is to expand the current understanding of the relationship between algae and their associated marine animals. The second objective focuses on the diversity of chemical compounds used to defend algae from being consumed. The third objective seeks to understand how marine animals can benefit from these compounds by consuming the algae that contain them, and then using those compounds to chemically deter predators. The field components of this research will be performed during three expeditions to the US Palmer Station, Antarctica. During these expeditions, a variety of laboratory feeding bioassays, manipulative field and laboratory experiments, and on-site chemical analyses will be performed. The investigators will also foster opportunities to integrate their NSF research with a variety of educational activities. As in the past they will support undergraduate research, both through NSF programs as well as home, university-based, programs, and they will also continue to support and foster graduate education. Through their highly successful University of Alabama in Antarctica interactive web program (two time recipient of awards of excellence from the US Council for Advancement and Support of Education), they will continue to involve large numbers of teachers, K-12 students, and other members of the community at large in their scientific endeavors in Antarctica. In addition, the investigators have hosted K-12 teachers on their Antarctic field teams through the former NSF Teachers Experiencing Antarctica and the Arctic program and will pursue participation in PolarTREC, the successor to this valuable program. Moreover, they will actively participate in outreach efforts by presenting numerous talks on their research to local school and community groups. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThe near shore environments of the western Antarctic Peninsula harbor rich assemblages of macroalgae and macroinvertebrates. The importance of predator-prey interactions and chemical defenses in mediating community-wide trophic interactions makes the western Antarctic Peninsula an excellent place to ask important questions about the functional and evolutionary significance of defensive compound diversity for marine communities. This project will focus on three main objectives which are a direct outcome of the past studies of the chemical ecology of shallow-water marine macroalgae and invertebrates on the Antarctic Peninsula by this group of investigators. The first objective is to expand the current understanding of a community-wide mutualism between macroalgae and their associated amphipods to include gastropods, which are also abundant on many macroalgae. The second objective focuses on the diversity of chemical compounds used to defend macroalgae from being consumed, particularly in the common red alga Plocamium cartilagineum. The third objective seeks to understand the relationship between P. cartilagineum and the amphipod Paradexamine fissicauda, including the ecological benefits and costs to P. fissicauda resulting from the ability to consume P. cartilagineum and other chemically defended red algae. The investigators will focus on the costs and benefits related to the ability of P. fissicauda to sequester defensive compounds from the alga P. cartilagineum and use those chemicals to defend itself from predation. The field components of this research will be performed during three expeditions to Palmer Station, Antarctica. During these expeditions, a variety of laboratory feeding bioassays, manipulative field and laboratory experiments, and on-site chemical analyses will be performed. Phylogenetic analyses, detailed secondary metabolite chemical analyses and purifications, and other data analyses will also be performed at the investigators\u0027 home institutions between and after their field seasons.", "east": -63.0, "geometry": "POINT(-64 -64.5)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "FIELD INVESTIGATION; Antarctica; BENTHIC; USAP-DC", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -64.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Amsler, Charles; Baker, Bill; McClintock, James", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "Dryad; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -65.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: The Chemical Ecology of Shallow-water Marine Macroalgae and Invertebrates on the Antarctic Peninsula - continuing", "uid": "p0010016", "west": -65.0}, {"awards": "1750630 Smith, Craig", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-64 -66,-63.3 -66,-62.6 -66,-61.9 -66,-61.2 -66,-60.5 -66,-59.8 -66,-59.1 -66,-58.4 -66,-57.7 -66,-57 -66,-57 -66.3,-57 -66.6,-57 -66.9,-57 -67.2,-57 -67.5,-57 -67.8,-57 -68.1,-57 -68.4,-57 -68.7,-57 -69,-57.7 -69,-58.4 -69,-59.1 -69,-59.8 -69,-60.5 -69,-61.2 -69,-61.9 -69,-62.6 -69,-63.3 -69,-64 -69,-64 -68.7,-64 -68.4,-64 -68.1,-64 -67.8,-64 -67.5,-64 -67.2,-64 -66.9,-64 -66.6,-64 -66.3,-64 -66))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Fri, 15 Feb 2019 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Worldwide publicity surrounding the calving of an iceberg the size of Delaware in July 2017 from the Larsen C Ice Shelf on the eastern side of the Antarctic Peninsula presents a unique and time-sensitive opportunity for research and education on polar ecosystems in a changing climate. The goal of this project was to convene a workshop, drawing from the large fund of intellectual capital in the US and international Antarctic research communities. The two-day workshop was designed to bring scientists with expertise in Antarctic biological, ecological, and ecosystem sciences to Florida State University to share knowledge, identify important research knowledge gaps, and outline strategic plans for research. \r\n\r\nMajor outcomes from the project were as follows. The international workshop to share and review knowledge concerning the response of Antarctic ecosystems to ice-shelf collapse was held at the Florida State University Coastal and Marine Laboratory (FSUCML) on 18-19 November 2017. Thirty-eight U.S. and international scientists attended the workshop, providing expertise in biological, ecological, geological, biogeographical, and glaciological sciences. Twenty-six additional scientists were either not able to attend or were declined because of having reached maximum capacity of the venue or for not responding to our invitation before the registration deadline.\r\n\r\nThe latest results of ice-shelf research were presented, providing an overview of the current scientific knowledge and understanding of the biological, ecological,\r\ngeological and cryospheric processes associated with ice-shelf collapse and its\r\necosystem-level consequences. In addition, several presentations focused on future plans to investigate the impacts of the recent Larsen C collapse. The following presentations were given at the meeting:\r\n\r\n1) Cryospheric dynamics and ice-shelf collapse \u2013 past and future (M. Truffer,\r\nUniversity of Alaska, Fairbanks)\r\n2) The geological history and geological impacts of ice-shelf collapse on the Antarctic Peninsula (Scottt Ishman, Amy Leventer)\r\n3) Pelagic ecosystem responses to ice-shelf collapse (Mattias Cape, Amy Leventer)\r\n4) Benthic ecosystem response to ice-shelf collapse (Craig Smith, Pavica Sr\u0161en, Ann Vanreusel)\r\n5) Larsen C and biotic homogenization of the benthos (Richard Aronson, James\r\nMcClintock, Kathryn Smith, Brittany Steffel)\r\n6) British Antarctic Survey: plans for Larsen C investigations early 2018 and in the\r\nfuture (Huw Griffiths)\r\n7) Feedback on the workshop \u201cClimate change impacts on marine ecosystems:\r\nimplications for management of living resources and conservation\u201d held 19-22\r\nSeptember 2017, Cambridge, UK (Alex Rogers)\r\n8) Past research activities and plans for Larsen field work by the Alfred Wegener\r\nInstitute, Germany (Charlotte Havermans, Dieter Piepenburg.\r\n\r\nOne of the salient points emerging from the presentations and ensuing discussions was that, given our poor abilities to predict ecological outcomes of ice-shelf collapses, major cross-disciplinary efforts are needed on a variety of spatial and temporal scales to achieve a broader, predictive understanding of ecosystem\r\nconsequences of climatic warming and ice-shelf failure. As part of the workshop, the FSUCML Polar Academy Team\u2014Dr. Emily Dolan, Dr. Heidi Geisz, Barbara Shoplock, and Dr. Jeroen Ingels\u2014initiated AntICE: \"Antarctic Influences of Climate Change on Ecosystems\" (AntICE). They reached out to various groups of school children in the local area (and continue to do so). The AntICE Team have been interacting with these children at Wakulla High School and Wakulla Elementary in Crawfordville; children from the Cornerstone Learning Community, Maclay Middle School, Gilchrist Elementary, and the School of Arts and Sciences in Tallahassee; and the Tallahassee-area homeschooling community to educate them about Antarctic ecosystems and ongoing climate change. The underlying idea was to\r\nmake the children aware of climatic changes in the Antarctic and their effect on\r\necosystems so they, in turn, can spread this knowledge to their communities, family\r\nand friends \u2013 acting as \u2018Polar Ambassadors\u2019. We collaborated with the Polar-ICE\r\nproject, an NSF-funded educational project that established the Polar Literacy\r\nInitiative. This program developed the Polar Literacy Principles, which outline\r\nessential concepts to improve public understanding of Antarctic and Arctic\r\necosystems. In the Polar Academy work, we used the Polar Literacy principles, the\r\nPolar Academy Team\u2019s own Antarctic scientific efforts, and the experience of the FSU outreach and education program to engage with the children. We focused on the importance of Antarctic organisms and ecosystems, the uniqueness of its biota and the significance of its food webs, as well as how all these are changing and will\r\nchange further with climate change. Using general presentations, case studies,\r\nscientific methodology, individual experiences, interactive discussions and Q\u0026A\r\nsessions, the children were guided through the many issues Antarctic ecosystems\r\nare facing. Over 300 \u0027Polar ambassadors\u0027 attended the interactive lectures and\r\nafterwards took their creativity to high latitudes by creating welcome letters, displays, dioramas, sculptures, videos and online media to present at the scientific workshop. Over 50 projects were created by the children (Please see supporting files for images). We were also joined by a photographer, Ryan David Reines, to document the event. More information, media and links to online outreach products are available at https://marinelab.fsu.edu/labs/ingels/outreach/polar-academy/", "east": -57.0, "geometry": "POINT(-60.5 -67.5)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "GLACIERS/ICE SHEETS; USAP-DC; ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS; NOT APPLICABLE; MARINE ECOSYSTEMS; Weddell Sea", "locations": "Weddell Sea", "north": -66.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Smith, Craig", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -69.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: RAPID/Workshop- Antarctic Ecosystem Research following Ice Shelf Collapse and Iceberg Calving Events", "uid": "p0010012", "west": -64.0}, {"awards": "1443705 Vernet, Maria; 1443680 Smith, Craig; 1443733 Winsor, Peter", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-66 -64,-65.6 -64,-65.2 -64,-64.8 -64,-64.4 -64,-64 -64,-63.6 -64,-63.2 -64,-62.8 -64,-62.4 -64,-62 -64,-62 -64.1,-62 -64.2,-62 -64.3,-62 -64.4,-62 -64.5,-62 -64.6,-62 -64.7,-62 -64.8,-62 -64.9,-62 -65,-62.4 -65,-62.8 -65,-63.2 -65,-63.6 -65,-64 -65,-64.4 -65,-64.8 -65,-65.2 -65,-65.6 -65,-66 -65,-66 -64.9,-66 -64.8,-66 -64.7,-66 -64.6,-66 -64.5,-66 -64.4,-66 -64.3,-66 -64.2,-66 -64.1,-66 -64))", "dataset_titles": "Andvord Bay Glacier Timelapse; Andvord Bay sediment core data collected during the FjordEco project (LMG1510 and NBP1603); Expedition Data; Expedition data of LMG1702; FjordEco Phytoplankton Ecology Dataset in Andvord Bay ; Fjord-Eco Sediment OrgC OrgN Data - Craig Smith; LMG1510 Expedition data; NBP1603 Expedition data; Sediment macrofaunal abundance and family richness from inner Andvord Bay to the open continental shelf", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601193", "doi": "10.15784/601193", "keywords": "Antarctica; Geochronology; Grain Size; LMG1510; NBP1603; Sediment; Sediment Core Data", "people": "Homolka, Khadijah; Eidam, Emily; Smith, Craig; Nittrouer, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Andvord Bay sediment core data collected during the FjordEco project (LMG1510 and NBP1603)", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601193"}, {"dataset_uid": "200039", "doi": "10.7284/907205", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP1603 Expedition data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1603"}, {"dataset_uid": "200040", "doi": "10.7284/907085", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "LMG1510 Expedition data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG1510"}, {"dataset_uid": "601111", "doi": "10.15784/601111", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Iceberg; Photo; Photo/video; Photo/Video", "people": "Winsor, Peter; Truffer, Martin", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "FjordEco", "title": "Andvord Bay Glacier Timelapse", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601111"}, {"dataset_uid": "002733", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG1702", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG1702"}, {"dataset_uid": "001366", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG1702"}, {"dataset_uid": "000402", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG1702"}, {"dataset_uid": "601157", "doi": "10.15784/601157", "keywords": "Antarctica; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Glaciology; Snow/ice; Snow/Ice", "people": "Smith, Craig", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "FjordEco", "title": "Fjord-Eco Sediment OrgC OrgN Data - Craig Smith", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601157"}, {"dataset_uid": "601158", "doi": "10.15784/601158", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Ecology; Fjord; Phytoplankton", "people": "Pan, B. Jack; Vernet, Maria; Forsch, Kiefer; Manck, Lauren", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "FjordEco", "title": "FjordEco Phytoplankton Ecology Dataset in Andvord Bay ", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601158"}, {"dataset_uid": "601236", "doi": "10.15784/601236", "keywords": "Abundance; Andvord Bay; Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Fjord; LMG1510; Marine Sediments; Oceans; Polychaete; Polychaete Family Richness; R/v Laurence M. Gould; Sediment Core Data; Sediment Macrofauna", "people": "Smith, Craig", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "FjordEco", "title": "Sediment macrofaunal abundance and family richness from inner Andvord Bay to the open continental shelf", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601236"}], "date_created": "Wed, 13 Feb 2019 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Marine communities along the western Antarctic Peninsula are highly productive ecosystems which support a diverse assemblage of charismatic animals such as penguins, seals, and whales as well as commercial fisheries such as that on Antarctic krill. Fjords (long, narrow, deep inlets of the sea between high cliffs) along the central coast of the Peninsula appear to be intense, potentially climate sensitive, hotspots of biological production and biodiversity, yet the structure and dynamics of these fjord ecosystems are very poorly understood. Because of this intense biological activity and the charismatic fauna it supports, these fjords are also major destinations for a large Antarctic tourism industry. This project is an integrated field and modeling program to evaluate physical oceanographic processes, glacial inputs, water column community dynamics, and seafloor bottom community structure and function in these important yet little understood fjord systems. These Antarctic fjords have characteristics that are substantially different from well-studied Arctic fjords, likely yielding much different responses to climate warming. This project will provide major new insights into the dynamics and climate sensitivity of Antarctic fjord ecosystems, highlighting contrasts with Arctic sub-polar fjords, and potentially transforming our understanding of the ecological role of fjords in the rapidly warming west Antarctic coastal marine landscape. The project will also further the NSF goal of training new generations of scientists, providing scientific training for undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral students. This includes the unique educational opportunity for undergraduates to participate in research cruises in Antarctica and the development of a novel summer graduate course on fjord ecosystems. Internet based outreach activities will be enhanced and extended by the participation of a professional photographer who will produce magazine articles, websites, radio broadcasts, and other forms of public outreach on the fascinating Antarctic ecosystem. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis project will involve a 15-month field program to test mechanistic hypotheses concerning oceanographic and glaciological forcing, and phytoplankton and benthic community response in the Antarctic fjords. Those efforts will be followed by a coupled physical/biological modeling effort to evaluate the drivers of biogeochemical cycles in the fjords and to explore their potential sensitivity to enhanced meltwater and sediment inputs. Fieldwork over two oceanographic cruises will utilize moorings, weather stations, and glacial, sea-ice and seafloor time-lapse cameras to obtain an integrated view of fjord ecosystem processes. The field team will also make multiple shipboard measurements and will use towed and autonomous underwater vehicles to intensively evaluate fjord ecosystem structure and function during spring/summer and autumn seasons. These integrated field and modeling studies are expected to elucidate fundamental properties of water column and sea bottom ecosystem structure and function in the fjords, and to identify key physical-chemical-glaciological forcing in these rapidly warming ecosystems.", "east": -62.0, "geometry": "POINT(-64 -64.5)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e FLUOROMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e RECORDERS/LOGGERS \u003e AWS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e ACTIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ECHO SOUNDERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e THERMOSALINOGRAPHS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "OCEAN CURRENTS; Bellingshausen Sea; LMG1702; COMMUNITY DYNAMICS; FJORDS; R/V LMG; MARINE ECOSYSTEMS; USAP-DC; ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONS; ANIMALS/INVERTEBRATES; SEDIMENTATION; NOT APPLICABLE; BENTHIC", "locations": "Bellingshausen Sea", "north": -64.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Winsor, Peter; Truffer, Martin; Smith, Craig; Powell, Brian; Merrifield, Mark; Vernet, Maria; Kohut, Josh", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "R2R; USAP-DC", "science_programs": "FjordEco", "south": -65.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Fjord Ecosystem Structure and Function on the West Antarctic Peninsula - Hotspots of Productivity and Biodiversity? (FjordEco)", "uid": "p0010010", "west": -66.0}, {"awards": "1341669 DeMaster, David", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-70 -62,-68.8 -62,-67.6 -62,-66.4 -62,-65.2 -62,-64 -62,-62.8 -62,-61.6 -62,-60.4 -62,-59.2 -62,-58 -62,-58 -62.6,-58 -63.2,-58 -63.8,-58 -64.4,-58 -65,-58 -65.6,-58 -66.2,-58 -66.8,-58 -67.4,-58 -68,-59.2 -68,-60.4 -68,-61.6 -68,-62.8 -68,-64 -68,-65.2 -68,-66.4 -68,-67.6 -68,-68.8 -68,-70 -68,-70 -67.4,-70 -66.8,-70 -66.2,-70 -65.6,-70 -65,-70 -64.4,-70 -63.8,-70 -63.2,-70 -62.6,-70 -62))", "dataset_titles": "DeMaster Compiled Larsen Ice Shelf and the West Antarctic Peninsula C14 Data; Expedition Data of NBP1203; Labile Organic Carbon distributions on the West Antarctic Peninsula Shelf; Radioisotope data (C-14 and Pb-210) from bulk sediments, Larsen A Ice Shelf; Species Abundance Data from the Larsen Ice Shelf Ice acquired during R/V Nathaniel B. Palmer expedition NBP1203", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601319", "doi": "10.15784/601319", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Bioturbation Coefficients; Diagenesis; Labile Organic Carbon; LOC Mean Residence Times; Marguerite Bay; Oceans; Organic Carbon Degradation Rates; Sediment Core", "people": "Isla, Enrique; Smith, Craig; DeMaster, David; Taylor, Richard; Thomas, Carrie", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Labile Organic Carbon distributions on the West Antarctic Peninsula Shelf", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601319"}, {"dataset_uid": "601304", "doi": null, "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Box Corer; LARISSA; Larsen Ice Shelf; Macrofauna; Megafauna; NBP1203; Oceans; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Seafloor Sampling; Species Abundance", "people": "Smith, Craig", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "LARISSA", "title": "Species Abundance Data from the Larsen Ice Shelf Ice acquired during R/V Nathaniel B. Palmer expedition NBP1203", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601304"}, {"dataset_uid": "001438", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data of NBP1203", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1203"}, {"dataset_uid": "601336", "doi": "10.15784/601336", "keywords": "Antarctica; Carbon-14; Larsen Ice Shelf; Lead-210; Marine Sediments; Radioisotope Analysis", "people": "Taylor, Richard; DeMaster, David", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "LARISSA", "title": "Radioisotope data (C-14 and Pb-210) from bulk sediments, Larsen A Ice Shelf", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601336"}, {"dataset_uid": "601082", "doi": "10.15784/601082", "keywords": null, "people": "DeMaster, David", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "LARISSA", "title": "DeMaster Compiled Larsen Ice Shelf and the West Antarctic Peninsula C14 Data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601082"}], "date_created": "Sat, 03 Feb 2018 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The PI requests support to analyze sediments from multi-cores and mega-cores previously collected from beneath the former Larsen B and Larsen A ice shelves. These unique cores will allow the PI to develop a time-integrated understanding of the benthic response to ice shelf collapse off the East Antarctic Peninsula over time periods as short as 5 years following ice shelf collapse up to \u003e170 years after collapse. High latitudes are responding to climate change more rapidly than the rest of the planet and the disappearance of ice shelves are a key manifestation of climate warming. The PI will investigate the newly created benthic environments and associated ecosystems that have resulted from the re-initiation of fresh planktonic material to the sediment-water interface. This proposal will use a new geochemical technique, based on naturally occurring 14C that can be used to assess the distribution and inventory of recently produced organic carbon accumulating in the sediments beneath the former Larsen A and B ice shelves. The PI will couple 14C measurements with 210Pb analyses to assess turnover times for sedimentary labile organic matter. By comparing the distributions and inventories of labile organic matter as well as the bioturbation intensities among different locations as a function of time following ice shelf collapse/retreat, the nature and timing of the benthic response to ice shelf collapse can be assessed.", "east": -58.0, "geometry": "POINT(-64 -65)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Pb-210; C-14; NBP1203; Radioisotop; USAP-DC; R/V NBP; Species Abundance; Labile Organic Carbon; LABORATORY", "locations": null, "north": -62.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Instrumentation and Support; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "DeMaster, David; Smith, Craig", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "R2R; USAP-DC", "science_programs": "LARISSA", "south": -68.0, "title": "Using Radiochemical Data from Collapsed Ice Shelf Sediments to Understand the Nature and Timing of the Benthic Response to High-Latitude Climate Change", "uid": "p0000382", "west": -70.0}, {"awards": "1143834 Huber, Bruce; 1430550 Domack, Eugene; 1143833 Orsi, Alejandro; 1143836 Leventer, Amy", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((116 -65.2,116.5 -65.2,117 -65.2,117.5 -65.2,118 -65.2,118.5 -65.2,119 -65.2,119.5 -65.2,120 -65.2,120.5 -65.2,121 -65.2,121 -65.38,121 -65.56,121 -65.74,121 -65.92,121 -66.1,121 -66.28,121 -66.46,121 -66.64,121 -66.82,121 -67,120.5 -67,120 -67,119.5 -67,119 -67,118.5 -67,118 -67,117.5 -67,117 -67,116.5 -67,116 -67,116 -66.82,116 -66.64,116 -66.46,116 -66.28,116 -66.1,116 -65.92,116 -65.74,116 -65.56,116 -65.38,116 -65.2))", "dataset_titles": "AU1402 Final UCTD data; AU1402 mooring data; Bottom photos from the Southern Ocean acquired during R/V Nathaniel B. Palmer expedition NBP1402 ; NBP1402 diatom data; NBP1402 Final CTD data; NBP1402 Final UCTD data; NBP1402 JPC43 Diatom Data; NBP14-02 JPC-54 and JPC-55 Pollen Assemblage data; NBP14-02 JPC-55 Bulk Sediment Carbon and Nitrogen data; NBP14-02 JPC-55 foraminifer assemblage data; NBP1402 Lowered ADCP data; Near-bottom Videos from the Southern Ocean acquired during R/V Nathaniel B. Palmer expedition NBP1402; Sabrina Coast mooring data - sediment trap mooring 2014", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601146", "doi": "10.15784/601146", "keywords": "Antarctica; CTD Data; NBP1402; Oceans; Ocean Temperature; Physical Oceanography; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Sabrina Coast; Salinity; Southern Ocean; Temperature", "people": "Orsi, Alejandro", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP1402 Final UCTD data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601146"}, {"dataset_uid": "601046", "doi": "10.15784/601046", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Marine Sediments; NBP1402; Oceans; Paleoclimate; Pollen; Sabrina Coast; Sediment Core; Southern Ocean; Totten Glacier", "people": "Domack, Eugene Walter; Shevenell, Amelia; Smith, Catherine", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP14-02 JPC-54 and JPC-55 Pollen Assemblage data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601046"}, {"dataset_uid": "601068", "doi": "10.15784/601068", "keywords": "ADCP Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler; Antarctica; NBP1402; Oceans; Physical Oceanography; Sabrina Coast; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Southern Ocean", "people": "Huber, Bruce", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP1402 Lowered ADCP data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601068"}, {"dataset_uid": "601044", "doi": "10.15784/601044", "keywords": "Antarctica; Carbon; Chemistry:sediment; Chemistry:Sediment; Geochemistry; Marine Sediments; NBP1402; Nitrogen; Oceans; Sabrina Coast; Sediment Core; Southern Ocean; Totten Glacier", "people": "Smith, Catherine; Domack, Eugene Walter; Shevenell, Amelia", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP14-02 JPC-55 Bulk Sediment Carbon and Nitrogen data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601044"}, {"dataset_uid": "601312", "doi": null, "keywords": "Antarctica; Benthic Images; Camera; East Antarctica; Marine Geoscience; NBP1402; Photo/video; Photo/Video; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Sabrina Coast; Totten Glacier; Video Data; Yoyo Camera", "people": "Leventer, Amy; Post, Alexandra; Blankenship, Donald D.; Domack, Eugene Walter; Gulick, Sean; Orsi, Alejandro; Shevenell, Amelia; Huber, Bruce", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Near-bottom Videos from the Southern Ocean acquired during R/V Nathaniel B. Palmer expedition NBP1402", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601312"}, {"dataset_uid": "601148", "doi": "10.15784/601148", "keywords": "Antarctica; Au1402; Mooring; NBP1402; Oceans; Ocean Temperature; Physical Oceanography; R/v Aurora Australis; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Sabrina Coast; Salinity; Southern Ocean; Temperature", "people": "Orsi, Alejandro", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "AU1402 mooring data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601148"}, {"dataset_uid": "601069", "doi": "10.15784/601069", "keywords": "Antarctica; Mooring; NBP1402; Oceans; Physical Oceanography; Sabrina Coast; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Southern Ocean", "people": "Huber, Bruce", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Sabrina Coast mooring data - sediment trap mooring 2014", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601069"}, {"dataset_uid": "601440", "doi": "10.15784/601440", "keywords": "Antarctica; Diatom; Holocene; Jumbo Piston Corer; NBP1402; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Sabrina Coast; Sediment Core Data; Species Abundance; Totten Glacier", "people": "Leventer, Amy", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP1402 JPC43 Diatom Data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601440"}, {"dataset_uid": "601147", "doi": "10.15784/601147", "keywords": "Antarctica; CTD Data; NBP1402; Ocean Temperature; Physical Oceanography; Sabrina Coast; Salinity; Southern Ocean; Temperature; Underway CTD", "people": "Orsi, Alejandro", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "AU1402 Final UCTD data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601147"}, {"dataset_uid": "601067", "doi": "10.15784/601067", "keywords": "Antarctica; CTD Data; NBP1402; Oceans; Physical Oceanography; Sabrina Coast; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Southern Ocean", "people": "Huber, Bruce", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP1402 Final CTD data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601067"}, {"dataset_uid": "601310", "doi": null, "keywords": "Antarctica; Benthic Images; Benthos; East Antarctica; Marine Geoscience; NBP1402; Photo; Photo/video; Photo/Video; R/v Nathaniel B. Palmer; Totten Glacier; Yoyo Camera", "people": "Domack, Eugene Walter; Leventer, Amy; Shevenell, Amelia; Orsi, Alejandro; Huber, Bruce; Gulick, Sean; Post, Alexandra", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Bottom photos from the Southern Ocean acquired during R/V Nathaniel B. Palmer expedition NBP1402 ", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601310"}, {"dataset_uid": "601845", "doi": "10.15784/601845", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cryosphere; Diatom; NBP1402; Totten Glacier", "people": "Leventer, Amy; NBP1402 science party, ", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP1402 diatom data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601845"}, {"dataset_uid": "601042", "doi": "10.15784/601042", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Continental Margin; Foraminifera; NBP1402; Oceans; Paleoclimate; Sabrina Coast; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Southern Ocean; Totten Glacier", "people": "Shevenell, Amelia; Leventer, Amy", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "NBP14-02 JPC-55 foraminifer assemblage data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601042"}], "date_created": "Fri, 26 Jan 2018 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This project will investigate the marine component of the Totten Glacier and Moscow University Ice Shelf, East Antarctica. This system is of critical importance because it drains one-eighth of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet and contains a volume equivalent to nearly 7 meters of potential sea level rise, greater than the entire West Antarctic Ice Sheet. This nearly completely unexplored region is the single largest and least understood marine glacial system that is potentially unstable. Despite intense scrutiny of marine based systems in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, little is known about the Totten Glacier system. This study will add substantially to the meager oceanographic and marine geology and geophysics data available in this region, and will significantly advance understanding of this poorly understood glacial system and its potentially sensitive response to environmental change.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eIndependent, space-based platforms indicate accelerating mass loss of the Totten system. Recent aerogeophysical surveys of the Aurora Subglacial Basin, which contains the deepest ice in Antarctica and drains into the Totten system, have provided the subglacial context for measured surface changes and show that the Totten Glacier has been the most significant drainage pathway for at least two previous ice flow regimes. However, the offshore context is far less understood. Limited physical oceanographic data from the nearby shelf/slope break indicate the presence of Modified Circumpolar Deep Water within a thick bottom layer at the mouth of a trough with apparent access to Totten Glacier, suggesting the possibility of sub-glacial bottom inflow of relatively warm water, a process considered to be responsible for West Antarctic Ice Sheet grounding line retreat. This project will conduct a ship-based marine geologic and geophysical survey of the region, combined with a physical oceanographic study, in order to evaluate both the recent and longer-term behavior of the glacial system and its relationship to the adjacent oceanographic system. This endeavor will complement studies of other Antarctic ice shelves, oceanographic studies near the Antarctic Peninsula, and ongoing development of ice sheet and other ocean models.", "east": 121.0, "geometry": "POINT(118.5 -66.1)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CORERS \u003e CORING DEVICES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Totten Glacier; NBP1402; Sabrina Coast; LABORATORY; Diatom; R/V NBP; Amd/Us; Bottom Photos; R/V AA; Not provided; USAP-DC; AMD; USA/NSF", "locations": "Sabrina Coast; Totten Glacier", "north": -65.2, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Integrated System Science; Antarctic Integrated System Science", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Orsi, Alejandro; Huber, Bruce; Leventer, Amy; Domack, Eugene Walter", "platforms": "Not provided; OTHER \u003e PHYSICAL MODELS \u003e LABORATORY; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V AA; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -67.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Totten Glacier System and the Marine Record of Cryosphere - Ocean Dynamics", "uid": "p0000008", "west": 116.0}, {"awards": "1143981 Domack, Eugene", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-69.9517 -52.7581,-69.02971 -52.7581,-68.10772 -52.7581,-67.18573 -52.7581,-66.26374 -52.7581,-65.34175 -52.7581,-64.41976 -52.7581,-63.49777 -52.7581,-62.57578 -52.7581,-61.65379 -52.7581,-60.7318 -52.7581,-60.7318 -54.31551,-60.7318 -55.87292,-60.7318 -57.43033,-60.7318 -58.98774,-60.7318 -60.54515,-60.7318 -62.10256,-60.7318 -63.65997,-60.7318 -65.21738,-60.7318 -66.77479,-60.7318 -68.3322,-61.65379 -68.3322,-62.57578 -68.3322,-63.49777 -68.3322,-64.41976 -68.3322,-65.34175 -68.3322,-66.26374 -68.3322,-67.18573 -68.3322,-68.10772 -68.3322,-69.02971 -68.3322,-69.9517 -68.3322,-69.9517 -66.77479,-69.9517 -65.21738,-69.9517 -63.65997,-69.9517 -62.10256,-69.9517 -60.54515,-69.9517 -58.98774,-69.9517 -57.43033,-69.9517 -55.87292,-69.9517 -54.31551,-69.9517 -52.7581))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data; Processed Camera Images acquired during the Laurence M. Gould expedition LMG1311", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "000402", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG1702"}, {"dataset_uid": "601311", "doi": "10.15784/601311", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Benthic Images; Camera; LARISSA; LMG1311; Marine Geoscience; Photo; Photo/video; Photo/Video; R/v Laurence M. Gould", "people": "Domack, Eugene Walter", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": "LARISSA", "title": "Processed Camera Images acquired during the Laurence M. Gould expedition LMG1311", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601311"}, {"dataset_uid": "001366", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG1702"}], "date_created": "Fri, 29 Dec 2017 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This project aims to identify which portions of the glacial cover in the Antarctic Peninsula are losing mass to the ocean. This is an important issue to resolve because the Antarctic Peninsula is warming at a faster rate than any other region across the earth. Even though glaciers across the Antarctic Peninsula are small, compared to the continental ice sheet, defining how rapidly they respond to both ocean and atmospheric temperature rise is critical. It is critical because it informs us about the exact mechanisms which regulate ice flow and melting into the ocean. For instance, after the break- up of the Larsen Ice Shelf in 2002 many glaciers began to flow rapidly into the sea. Measuring how much ice was involved is difficult and depends upon accurate estimates of volume and area. One way to increase the accuracy of our estimates is to measure how fast the Earth\u0027s crust is rebounding or bouncing back, after the ice has been removed. This rebound effect can be measured with very precise techniques using instruments locked into ice free bedrock surrounding the area of interest. These instruments are monitored by a set of positioning satellites (the Global Positioning System or GPS) in a continuous fashion. Of course the movement of the Earth\u0027s bedrock relates not only to the immediate response but also the longer term rate that reflects the long vanished ice masses that once covered the entire Antarctic Peninsula?at the time of the last glaciation. These rebound measurements can, therefore, also tell us about the amount of ice which covered the Antarctic Peninsula thousands of years ago. Glacial isostatic rebound is one of the complicating factors in allowing us to understand how much the larger ice sheets are losing today, something that can be estimated by satellite techniques but only within large errors when the isostatic (rebound) correction is unknown.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThe research proposed consists of maintaining a set of six rebound stations until the year 2016, allowing for a longer time series and thus more accurate estimates of immediate elastic and longer term rebound effects. It also involves the establishment of two additional GPS stations that will focus on constraining the \"bull\u0027s eye\" of rebound suggested by measurements over the past two years. In addition, several more geologic data points will be collected that will help to reconstruct the position of the ice sheet margin during its recession from the full ice sheet of the last glacial maximum. These will be based upon the coring of marine sediment sequences now recognized to have been deposited along the margins of retreating ice sheets and outlets. Precise dating of the ice margin along with the new and improved rebound data will help to constrain past ice sheet configurations and refine geophysical models related to the nature of post glacial rebound. Data management will be under the auspices of the UNAVCO polar geophysical network or POLENET and will be publically available at the time of station installation. This project is a small scale extension of the ongoing LARsen Ice Shelf, Antarctica Project (LARISSA), an IPY (International Polar Year)-funded interdisciplinary study aimed at understanding earth system connections related to the Larsen Ice Shelf and the northern Antarctic Peninsula.", "east": -60.7318, "geometry": "POINT(-65.34175 -60.54515)", "instruments": "EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e CAMERAS \u003e CAMERAS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e SEISMIC REFLECTION PROFILERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e FLUOROMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e RECORDERS/LOGGERS \u003e AWS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e ACTIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ECHO SOUNDERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e THERMOSALINOGRAPHS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "LMG1702; R/V LMG", "locations": null, "north": -52.7581, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Integrated System Science", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Kohut, Josh; Domack, Eugene Walter", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -68.3322, "title": "Continuation of the LARISSA Continuous GPS Network in View of Observed Dynamic Response to Antarctic Peninsula Ice Mass Balance and Required Geologic Constraints", "uid": "p0000233", "west": -69.9517}, {"awards": "1141877 Aronson, Richard", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-111.18 -49.98,-105.429 -49.98,-99.678 -49.98,-93.927 -49.98,-88.176 -49.98,-82.425 -49.98,-76.674 -49.98,-70.923 -49.98,-65.172 -49.98,-59.421 -49.98,-53.67 -49.98,-53.67 -52.826,-53.67 -55.672,-53.67 -58.518,-53.67 -61.364,-53.67 -64.21,-53.67 -67.056,-53.67 -69.902,-53.67 -72.748,-53.67 -75.594,-53.67 -78.44,-59.421 -78.44,-65.172 -78.44,-70.923 -78.44,-76.674 -78.44,-82.425 -78.44,-88.176 -78.44,-93.927 -78.44,-99.678 -78.44,-105.429 -78.44,-111.18 -78.44,-111.18 -75.594,-111.18 -72.748,-111.18 -69.902,-111.18 -67.056,-111.18 -64.21,-111.18 -61.364,-111.18 -58.518,-111.18 -55.672,-111.18 -52.826,-111.18 -49.98))", "dataset_titles": "Climate Change and Predatory Invasion of the Antarctic Benthos; Expedition Data; Material properties of the exoskeleton of Paralomis birsteini", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601109", "doi": "10.15784/601109", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Callinectes; Exoskeleton; Fish; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; Paralomis", "people": "Steffel, Brittan", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Material properties of the exoskeleton of Paralomis birsteini", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601109"}, {"dataset_uid": "600385", "doi": "10.15784/600385", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Anvers Island; Benthos; Biota; Camera Tow; LMG1502; Marguerite Bay; NBP1002; NBP1310; Oceans; Photo/video; Photo/Video; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Southern Ocean", "people": "Aronson, Richard", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Climate Change and Predatory Invasion of the Antarctic Benthos", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600385"}, {"dataset_uid": "600171", "doi": "10.15784/600171", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Anvers Island; Benthos; Biota; Camera Tow; LMG1502; Marguerite Bay; NBP1002; NBP1310; Oceans; Photo/video; Photo/Video; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Southern Ocean", "people": "Aronson, Richard", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Climate Change and Predatory Invasion of the Antarctic Benthos", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600171"}, {"dataset_uid": "001417", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1310"}], "date_created": "Wed, 14 Sep 2016 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Elevated temperatures and ocean acidification are both threatening the Southern Ocean. The effects of these environmental changes are poorly understood, but preliminary data suggest that they are driving a biological invasion. Specifically, large populations of skeleton-crushing king crabs, Paralomis birsteini, have been detected off Marguerite Bay on the West Antarctic Peninsula. These crabs appear to be invading the continental shelf region where benthic communities have evolved in the absence of such top-predators. Thus, this invasion could result in a wholesale restructuring of the Antarctic benthic ecosystem. The proposed work seeks to document this invasion and better understand the effects of the introduction of P. birsteini on the ecology of this region. A towed underwater vehicle will be used to photographically image communities, and communities with and without P. birsteini will be compared quantitatively. Additionally, crabs will trapped and various aspects of their morphology and physiology will be assessed. This research is unique in that it will document a biological invasion in real-time and it will therefore enhance our general understandings of the drivers of invasion and resilience in biological communities. Results will be widely disseminated through publications as well as through presentations at national and international meetings. In addition, raw data will be made available through open-access databases. This project will support the research and training of undergraduate and graduate students and will foster an international collaboration with British scientists. Researchers on this project will participate in outreach thorough the development of K-12 curricular materials.", "east": -53.67, "geometry": "POINT(-82.425 -64.21)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e FLUOROMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e RECORDERS/LOGGERS \u003e AWS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e ACTIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ECHO SOUNDERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MBES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e THERMOSALINOGRAPHS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "R/V NBP; Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -49.98, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Aronson, Richard", "platforms": "Not provided; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "R2R; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.44, "title": "Collaborative Research: Climate Change and Predatory Invasion of the Antarctic Benthos", "uid": "p0000303", "west": -111.18}, {"awards": "1355533 Dayton, Paul", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((163 -78,163.4 -78,163.8 -78,164.2 -78,164.6 -78,165 -78,165.4 -78,165.8 -78,166.2 -78,166.6 -78,167 -78,167 -78.05,167 -78.1,167 -78.15,167 -78.2,167 -78.25,167 -78.3,167 -78.35,167 -78.4,167 -78.45,167 -78.5,166.6 -78.5,166.2 -78.5,165.8 -78.5,165.4 -78.5,165 -78.5,164.6 -78.5,164.2 -78.5,163.8 -78.5,163.4 -78.5,163 -78.5,163 -78.45,163 -78.4,163 -78.35,163 -78.3,163 -78.25,163 -78.2,163 -78.15,163 -78.1,163 -78.05,163 -78))", "dataset_titles": "A Multi-decadal Record of Antarctic Benthos: Image Analysis to Maximize Data Utilization", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600164", "doi": "10.15784/600164", "keywords": "Antarctica; Bentic Fauna; Biota; McMurdo Sound; Oceans; Ross Sea; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Southern Ocean", "people": "Dayton, Paul", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "A Multi-decadal Record of Antarctic Benthos: Image Analysis to Maximize Data Utilization", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600164"}], "date_created": "Tue, 31 May 2016 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Antarctic benthic communities are characterized by many species of sponges (Phylum Porifera), long thought to exhibit extremely slow demographic patterns of settlement, growth and reproduction. This project will analyze many hundreds of diver and remotely operated underwater vehicle photographs documenting a unique, episodic settlement event that occurred between 2000 and 2010 in McMurdo Sound that challenges this paradigm of slow growth. Artificial structures were placed on the seafloor between 1967 and 1974 at several sites, but no sponges were observed to settle on these structures until 2004. By 2010 some 40 species of sponges had settled and grown to be surprisingly large. Given the paradigm of slow settlement and growth supported by the long observation period (37 years, 1967-2004), this extraordinary large-scale settlement and rapid growth over just a 6-year time span is astonishing. This project utilizes image processing software (ImageJ) to obtain metrics (linear dimensions to estimate size, frequency, percent cover) for sponges and other fauna visible in the photographs. It uses R to conduct multidimensional scaling to ordinate community data and ANOSIM to test for differences of community data among sites and times and structures. It will also use SIMPER and ranked species abundances to discriminate species responsible for any differences. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis work focuses on Antarctic sponges, but the observations of massive episodic recruitment and growth are important to understanding seafloor communities worldwide. Ecosystems are composed of populations, and populations are ecologically described by their distribution and abundance. A little appreciated fact is that sponges often dominate marine communities, but because sponges are so hard to study, most workers focus on other groups such as corals, kelps, or bivalves. Because most sponges settle and grow slowly their life history is virtually unstudied. The assumption of relative stasis of the Antarctic seafloor community is common, and this project will shatter this paradigm by documenting a dramatic episodic event. Finally, the project takes advantage of old transects from the 1960s and 1970s and compares them with extensive 2010 surveys of the same habitats and sometimes the same intact transect lines, offering a long-term perspective of community change. The investigators will publish these results in peer-reviewed journals, give presentations to the general public and will involve students from local outreach programs, high schools, and undergraduates at UCSD to help with the analysis.", "east": 167.0, "geometry": "POINT(165 -78.25)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -78.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Dayton, Paul", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.5, "title": "EAGER: A Multi-decadal Record of Antarctic Benthos: Image Analysis to Maximize Data Utilization", "uid": "p0000401", "west": 163.0}, {"awards": "1041022 McClintock, James", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-79 -60,-76.4 -60,-73.8 -60,-71.2 -60,-68.6 -60,-66 -60,-63.4 -60,-60.8 -60,-58.2 -60,-55.6 -60,-53 -60,-53 -61,-53 -62,-53 -63,-53 -64,-53 -65,-53 -66,-53 -67,-53 -68,-53 -69,-53 -70,-55.6 -70,-58.2 -70,-60.8 -70,-63.4 -70,-66 -70,-68.6 -70,-71.2 -70,-73.8 -70,-76.4 -70,-79 -70,-79 -69,-79 -68,-79 -67,-79 -66,-79 -65,-79 -64,-79 -63,-79 -62,-79 -61,-79 -60))", "dataset_titles": "Data from Schram et al. 2017 MEPS; Response time data for snails escaping from predatory sea stars; The effects of ocean acidification and rising sea surface temperatures on shallow-water benthic organisms in Antarctica", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600122", "doi": "10.15784/600122", "keywords": "Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Oceans; Southern Ocean", "people": "McClintock, James; Angus, Robert; Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "The effects of ocean acidification and rising sea surface temperatures on shallow-water benthic organisms in Antarctica", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600122"}, {"dataset_uid": "601062", "doi": "10.15784/601062", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Chemistry:fluid; Chemistry:Fluid; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Southern Ocean", "people": "Amsler, Charles; Schram, Julie", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Data from Schram et al. 2017 MEPS", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601062"}, {"dataset_uid": "601162", "doi": "10.15784/601162", "keywords": "Antarctica; Benthos; Biota; Oceans; Snail; Southern Ocean; Visual Observations", "people": "Amsler, Charles; Schram, Julie", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Response time data for snails escaping from predatory sea stars", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601162"}], "date_created": "Fri, 22 May 2015 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The research will investigate the individual and combined effects of rising ocean acidification and sea surface temperatures on shallow-water calcified benthic organisms in western Antarctic Peninsular (WAP) marine communities. The Southern Ocean is predicted to become undersaturated in terms of both aragonite and calcite within 50 and 100 years, respectively, challenging calcification processes. Adding to the problem, antarctic calcified benthic marine organisms are more vulnerable to ocean acidification than temperate and tropical species because they are generally weakly calcified. Many antarctic organisms are essentially stenothermal, and those in the West Antarctic Peninsula are being subjected to rising seawater temperatures. The project employs both single-species and multi-species level approaches to evaluating the impacts of rising ocean acidification and seawater temperature on representative calcified and non-calcified macroalgae, on calcified and non-calcified mesograzers, and on a calcified macro-grazer, all of which are important ecological players in the rich benthic communities. Multi-species analysis will focus on the diverse assemblage of amphipods and mesogastropods that are associated with dominant macroalgae that collectively play a key role in community dynamics along the WAP. The project will support undergraduate research, both through NSF programs, as well as home university-based programs, some designed to enhance the representation of minorities in the sciences. The principal investigators also will support and foster graduate education through mentoring of graduate students. Through their highly successful UAB IN ANTARCTICA interactive web program, they will continue to involve large numbers of teachers, K-12 students, and other members of the community at large in their scientific endeavors in Antarctica.", "east": -53.0, "geometry": "POINT(-66 -65)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "NOT APPLICABLE", "locations": null, "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Angus, Robert; Amsler, Charles; McClintock, James", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -70.0, "title": "The effects of ocean acidification and rising sea surface temperatures on shallow-water benthic organisms in Antarctica", "uid": "p0000426", "west": -79.0}, {"awards": "1142107 Durbin, Edward", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Expedition data of NBP1304", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002660", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP1304", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1304"}], "date_created": "Fri, 07 Feb 2014 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Krill, Euphausia superba, is a keystone species in the Antarctic ecosystem and provides the trophic link between microscopic plankton and charismatic megafauna such as penguins and whales. Recent evidence suggests krill may not be exclusively planktonivorous, which introduces the potential of new pathways of carbon flux through krill based ecosystems. A change in our view of krill from one of being herbivores to omnivores opens up several questions.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eClimate induced change in the extent, thickness and duration of overlying sea ice coverage is expected to change the prey fields available to krill, and to have subsequent effects on the suite of predators supported by krill. The nature of this benthic prey?krill link, which may be crucial in those parts of the seasonal cycle other than the well studied spring bloom, is yet to be determined. DNA techniques will be used to identify and quantify the prey organisms. \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis project will measure the in situ feeding ecology and behavior of krill and, ultimately, the success of this key species. An overall goal is\u003cbr/\u003eto investigate seasonal changes in Euphausia superba in-situ feeding and swimming behavior in the Wilhelmina Bay region of the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) area, known to be a region of changing climate. Understanding the biological impacts of climate change is important to societal and economic goals. The project scientists will additionally team with a marine and environmental reporting group to design presentations for an annual journalist meeting.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e FLUOROMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e RECORDERS/LOGGERS \u003e AWS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e XBT; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e ACTIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ECHO SOUNDERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MBES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e THERMOSALINOGRAPHS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Instrumentation and Support", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Durbin, Edward", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: Seasonal Trophic Roles of Euphausia Superba (STRES)", "uid": "p0000848", "west": null}, {"awards": "1043745 Halanych, Kenneth", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "001427", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1210"}, {"dataset_uid": "000439", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG1312"}], "date_created": "Fri, 07 Feb 2014 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The research will explore the genetics, diversity, and biogeography of Antarctic marine benthic invertebrates, seeking to overturn the widely accepted suggestion that benthic fauna do not constitute a large, panmictic population. The investigators will sample adults and larvae from undersampled regions of West Antarctica that, combined with existing samples, will provide significant coverage of the western hemisphere of the Southern Ocean. The objectives are: 1) To assess the degree of genetic connectivity (or isolation) of benthic invertebrate species in the Western Antarctic using high-resolution genetic markers. 2) To begin exploring planktonic larvae spatial and bathymetric distributions for benthic shelf invertebrates in the Bellinghausen, Amundsen and Ross Seas. 3) To continue to develop a Marine Antarctic Genetic Inventory (MAGI) that relates larval and adult forms via DNA barcoding. Broader impacts include traditional forms of training (postdocs, graduate studentships, undergraduate research experiences) and lectures to K-12 groups.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e FLUOROMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e RECORDERS/LOGGERS \u003e AWS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e XBT; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e ACTIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ECHO SOUNDERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e THERMOSALINOGRAPHS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e PROFILERS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e XBT; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MBES", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V LMG; R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Halanych, Kenneth", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: Genetic connectivity and biogeographic patterns of Antarctic benthic invertebrates", "uid": "p0000263", "west": null}, {"awards": "1043749 Rouse, Gregory", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Expedition data of NBP1105", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002659", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP1105", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP1105"}], "date_created": "Mon, 24 Jun 2013 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The west Antarctic Peninsula is warming rapidly, and continuing changes in the thermal regime will likely result in severe consequences for marine fauna, including potential extinction of strongly adapted stenotherms, and invasions from neighboring faunas. Initial impacts of climate change may result in changes in connectivity among populations of the same species. These changes may will be undetectable by direct observation, but may be assessed via genetic connectivity, i.e. differences in allele or haplotype frequencies among populations can be used to infer levels of gene flow. The proposed research will explore the role that the Scotia Arc plays in connecting populations from South America to Antarctica, a corridor identified as a likely entry route for invaders into Antarctica. It also will examine the way in which cryptic species may confound our knowledge of broad-scale distributions, and in doing so, make contributions towards understanding biodiversity and testing the paradigm of circumpolarity in Antarctica. The principal investigator will to collect multi-locus genetic data across \u0027species\u0027 from a broad suite of benthic marine invertebrate phyla, from multiple locations, in order to address hypotheses regarding speciation and connectivity, to estimate demographic population changes, and to identify the underlying processes that drive observed phylogeographic patterns. Comparative phylogeography is a particularly valuable approach because it enables the identification of long-term barriers and refugia common to groups of species and is consequently highly relevant to conservation planning. Moreover, this work will form a valuable baseline for detecting future changes in connectivity. The results of the research will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications and presentations at conferences. In addition, the project will support the interdisciplinary training of a female graduate student, two undergraduate students, and host additional summer students through the STARS program at SIO, which helps minority students prepare for graduate school. This project will integrate research and education through conducting an interdisciplinary workshop that brings together Earth Science and Biology high school teachers. This workshop aims to assist teachers derive their own curricula uniting plate tectonics, ocean history and evolution, supporting a new high school earth sciences program. Information generated by this project will also directly feed into international efforts to design a series of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in Antarctica.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e CHEMICAL METERS/ANALYZERS \u003e FLUOROMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e RECORDERS/LOGGERS \u003e AWS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e XBT; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e ACTIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ECHO SOUNDERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MBES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e THERMOSALINOGRAPHS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Rouse, Gregory", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Using molecular data to test connectivity and the circumpolar paradigm for Antarctic marine invertebrates", "uid": "p0000847", "west": null}, {"awards": "0125172 Gordon, Arnold", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data; Expedition data of NBP0302; Expedition data of NBP0304C; Expedition data of NBP0304D; Expedition data of NBP0402; Expedition data of NBP0408; Expedition data of NBP0501", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "001692", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0304D"}, {"dataset_uid": "002620", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP0408", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0408"}, {"dataset_uid": "001691", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0304C"}, {"dataset_uid": "002624", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP0304C", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0304C"}, {"dataset_uid": "002625", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP0304D", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0304D"}, {"dataset_uid": "002627", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP0501", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0501"}, {"dataset_uid": "002629", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP0501", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0501"}, {"dataset_uid": "002638", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP0402", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0402"}, {"dataset_uid": "002588", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP0302", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0302"}], "date_created": "Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This study will investigate how the Antarctic Slope Front and continental slope morphology determine the exchanges of mass, heat, and fresh water between the shelf and the deep ocean, in particular those leading to outflows of dense water into intermediate and deep layers of the adjacent basins and into the world ocean circulation \u003cbr/\u003eWhile the importance to the global ocean circulation and climate of cold water masses originating in the Antarctic is unquestioned, the processes by which these water masses enter the deep ocean circulation are not. The primary goal of this work therefore is to identify the principal physical processes that govern the transfer of shelf-modified dense water into intermediate and deep layers of the adjacent deep ocean. At the same time, it seeks to understand the compensatory poleward flow of waters from the oceanic regime. The upper continental slope has been identified as the critical gateway for the exchange of shelf and deep ocean waters. Here the topography, velocity and density fields associated with the nearly ubiquitous front must strongly influence the advective and turbulent transfer of water properties between the shelf and oceanic regimes. The study has four specific objectives: [1] Determine the mean frontal structure and the principal scales of variability, and estimate the role of the front on cross-slope exchanges and mixing of adjacent water masses; [2] Determine the influence of slope topography and bathymetry on frontal location and outflow of dense Shelf Water; [3] Establish the role of frontal instabilities, benthic boundary layer transports, tides and other oscillatory processes on cross-slope advection and fluxes; and [4] Assess the effect of diapycnal mixing, lateral mixing identified through intrusions, and nonlinearities in the equation of state on the rate of descent and the fate of outflowing, near-freezing Shelf Water.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PRESSURE/HEIGHT METERS \u003e PRESSURE SENSORS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e SAMPLERS \u003e BOTTLES/FLASKS/JARS \u003e WATER BOTTLES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e TURBIDITY METERS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ADCP; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MSBS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Gordon, Arnold; Cande, Steven; Visbeck, Martin; Jacobs, Stanley", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: Anslope, Cross-slope Exchanges at the Antarctic Slope Front", "uid": "p0000807", "west": null}, {"awards": "0442769 McClintock, James; 0838776 Baker, Bill; 0442857 Baker, Bill; 0838773 McClintock, James", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-65 -63,-64.8 -63,-64.6 -63,-64.4 -63,-64.2 -63,-64 -63,-63.8 -63,-63.6 -63,-63.4 -63,-63.2 -63,-63 -63,-63 -63.2,-63 -63.4,-63 -63.6,-63 -63.8,-63 -64,-63 -64.2,-63 -64.4,-63 -64.6,-63 -64.8,-63 -65,-63.2 -65,-63.4 -65,-63.6 -65,-63.8 -65,-64 -65,-64.2 -65,-64.4 -65,-64.6 -65,-64.8 -65,-65 -65,-65 -64.8,-65 -64.6,-65 -64.4,-65 -64.2,-65 -64,-65 -63.8,-65 -63.6,-65 -63.4,-65 -63.2,-65 -63))", "dataset_titles": "The Chemical Ecology of Shallow-water Marine Macroalgae and Invertebrates on the Antarctic Peninsula - 2010 experimental data; The Chemical Ecology of Shallow-water Marine Macroalgae and Invertebrates on the Antarctic Peninsula - 2010 field data; The Chemical Ecology of Shallow-water Marine Macroalgae and Invertebrates on the Antarctic Peninsula - 2011 Clad Outplant; The Chemical Ecology of Shallow-water Marine Macroalgae and Invertebrates on the Antarctic Peninsula - 2013 Chemo Phylo data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600047", "doi": "10.15784/600047", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Oceans; Southern Ocean", "people": "Baker, Bill", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "The Chemical Ecology of Shallow-water Marine Macroalgae and Invertebrates on the Antarctic Peninsula - 2010 experimental data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600047"}, {"dataset_uid": "600046", "doi": "10.15784/600046", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Oceans; Southern Ocean", "people": "McClintock, James; Amsler, Charles", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "The Chemical Ecology of Shallow-water Marine Macroalgae and Invertebrates on the Antarctic Peninsula - 2010 field data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600046"}, {"dataset_uid": "600096", "doi": "10.15784/600096", "keywords": "Algae; Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Oceans; Southern Ocean", "people": "Baker, Bill", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "The Chemical Ecology of Shallow-water Marine Macroalgae and Invertebrates on the Antarctic Peninsula - 2013 Chemo Phylo data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600096"}, {"dataset_uid": "600095", "doi": "10.15784/600095", "keywords": "Algae; Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Oceans; Southern Ocean", "people": "Amsler, Charles; McClintock, James", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "The Chemical Ecology of Shallow-water Marine Macroalgae and Invertebrates on the Antarctic Peninsula - 2011 Clad Outplant", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600095"}], "date_created": "Sun, 07 Nov 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThe near shore environments of the western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) harbor extremely high densities of mesograzers (small invertebrate predators approximately 1-25 mm in length) such as benthic amphipods, as well as rich assemblages of macroalgae, endophytes, and macroinvertebrates. Unlike temperate and tropical shallow marine environments, where fish and sea urchins are key grazers structuring the community, mesograzers appear to be much more important in the WAP. Accordingly, the proposed research has two main objectives: (1) To further investigate the interactions between the ecologically dominant large macrophytes, filamentous epi/endophytes, and mesograzers and (2) To determine the nature of interactions between mesograzers and sessile invertebrates. Specifically, the research will examine the following hypotheses: 1: The effects of endophytes on macrophytes are often negative, and consequently macrophytes defend against endophytic infection. 2: Mesoherbivores prevent filamentous algal species, common in the intertidal, from dominating subtidal assemblages. 3: Mesograzer predation pressure on sessile benthic macroinvertebrates, primarily sponges and tunicates, is greatest in shallow habitats dominated by macrophytes, and this impacts depth distributions of macroinvertebrate species. 4: Benthic macroinvertebrates may defend against mesograzers with secondary metabolites which effect molting and/or deter feeding.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eBroader impacts include involvement of undergraduates, including minorities, in research; training of graduate students, and continuation of the highly successful UAB IN ANTARCTICA interactive web program (two time recipient of awards of excellence from the US Council for Advancement and Support of Education). The researchers also will share their scientific endeavors with teachers, K-12 students, and other members of the community at large while in residence in Antarctica. In addition, the investigators will request the participation of a PolarTREC teacher.", "east": -63.0, "geometry": "POINT(-64 -64)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -63.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Baker, Bill; Amsler, Charles; McClintock, James", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -65.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: The Chemical Ecology of Shallow-water Marine Macroalgae and Invertebrates on the Antarctic Peninsula", "uid": "p0000475", "west": -65.0}, {"awards": "9816049 DeMaster, David", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-70.90654 -52.35368,-70.220384 -52.35368,-69.534228 -52.35368,-68.848072 -52.35368,-68.161916 -52.35368,-67.47576 -52.35368,-66.789604 -52.35368,-66.103448 -52.35368,-65.417292 -52.35368,-64.731136 -52.35368,-64.04498 -52.35368,-64.04498 -53.639401,-64.04498 -54.925122,-64.04498 -56.210843,-64.04498 -57.496564,-64.04498 -58.782285,-64.04498 -60.068006,-64.04498 -61.353727,-64.04498 -62.639448,-64.04498 -63.925169,-64.04498 -65.21089,-64.731136 -65.21089,-65.417292 -65.21089,-66.103448 -65.21089,-66.789604 -65.21089,-67.47576 -65.21089,-68.161916 -65.21089,-68.848072 -65.21089,-69.534228 -65.21089,-70.220384 -65.21089,-70.90654 -65.21089,-70.90654 -63.925169,-70.90654 -62.639448,-70.90654 -61.353727,-70.90654 -60.068006,-70.90654 -58.782285,-70.90654 -57.496564,-70.90654 -56.210843,-70.90654 -54.925122,-70.90654 -53.639401,-70.90654 -52.35368))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data; Expedition data of LMG0003", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002690", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG0003", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0003"}, {"dataset_uid": "001983", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0004"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "OPP98-15823 P.I. Craig Smith\u003cbr/\u003eOPP98-16049 P.I. David DeMaster\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003ePrimary production in Antarctic coastal waters is highly seasonal, yielding an intense pulse of biogenic particles to the continental shelf floor. This seasonal pulse may have major ramifications for carbon cycling, benthic ecology and material burial on the west Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) shelf. Thus, we propose a multii-disciplinary program to evaluate the seafloor accumulation, fate and benthic community impacts of bloom material along a transect of three stations crossing the Antarctic shelf in the Palmer LTER study area. Using a seasonal series of five cruises to our transect, we will test the following hypostheses: (1) A substantial proportion of spring/summer export production is deposited ont eh WAP shelf as phytodetritus or fecal pellets. (2) The deposited bloom production is a source of labile particulate organic carbon for benthos for an extended period of time (months). (3) Large amounts of labile bloom POC are rapidly subducted into the sediment column by the deposit-feeding and caching activities of benthos. (4) Macrobenthic detritivores sustain a rapid increase in biomass and abundance following the spring/summer particulate organic carbon pulse. To test these hypotheses, we will evaluate seabed deposition and lability of particulate organic carbon, patterns of particulate organic carbon mixing into sediments, seasonal variations in macrofaunal and megafaunal abundance, biomass and reproductive condition, and rates of particulate organic carbon and silica mineralization and accumulation in the seabed. Fluxes of biogenic materials and radionuclides into midwater particle traps will be contrasted with seabed deposition and burial rates to establish water-column and seabed preservation efficiencies for these materials. The project will substantially improve our understanding of the spring/summer production pulse on the WAP shelf and its impacts on seafloor communities and carbon cycling in Antarctic coastal systems.", "east": -64.04498, "geometry": "POINT(-67.47576 -58.782285)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP; R/V LMG", "locations": null, "north": -52.35368, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "DeMaster, David; Smith, Craig", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -65.21089, "title": "Collaborative Research: Bentho-Pelagic Coupling on the West Antarctic Peninsula Shelf: The Impact and Fate of Bloom Material at the Seafloor", "uid": "p0000618", "west": -70.90654}, {"awards": "0636773 DeMaster, David; 0636806 Smith, Craig", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-71.2358 -52.7603,-69.75336 -52.7603,-68.27092 -52.7603,-66.78848 -52.7603,-65.30604 -52.7603,-63.8236 -52.7603,-62.34116 -52.7603,-60.85872 -52.7603,-59.37628 -52.7603,-57.89384 -52.7603,-56.4114 -52.7603,-56.4114 -54.29969,-56.4114 -55.83908,-56.4114 -57.37847,-56.4114 -58.91786,-56.4114 -60.45725,-56.4114 -61.99664,-56.4114 -63.53603,-56.4114 -65.07542,-56.4114 -66.61481,-56.4114 -68.1542,-57.89384 -68.1542,-59.37628 -68.1542,-60.85872 -68.1542,-62.34116 -68.1542,-63.8236 -68.1542,-65.30604 -68.1542,-66.78848 -68.1542,-68.27092 -68.1542,-69.75336 -68.1542,-71.2358 -68.1542,-71.2358 -66.61481,-71.2358 -65.07542,-71.2358 -63.53603,-71.2358 -61.99664,-71.2358 -60.45725,-71.2358 -58.91786,-71.2358 -57.37847,-71.2358 -55.83908,-71.2358 -54.29969,-71.2358 -52.7603))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data; Expedition data of LMG0802; Expedition data of LMG0902; Expedition Data of LMG0902; Expedition data of NBP0808; Labile Organic Carbon distributions on the West Antarctic Peninsula Shelf; Species List, Species Abundance, and Sediment Geochemistry processed data acquired during Laurence M. Gould expedition LMG0802", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002611", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP0808", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0808"}, {"dataset_uid": "002725", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG0802", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0802"}, {"dataset_uid": "601319", "doi": "10.15784/601319", "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Bioturbation Coefficients; Diagenesis; Labile Organic Carbon; LOC Mean Residence Times; Marguerite Bay; Oceans; Organic Carbon Degradation Rates; Sediment Core", "people": "Isla, Enrique; Smith, Craig; DeMaster, David; Taylor, Richard; Thomas, Carrie", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Labile Organic Carbon distributions on the West Antarctic Peninsula Shelf", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601319"}, {"dataset_uid": "601303", "doi": null, "keywords": "Antarctica; Antarctic Peninsula; Biota; Box Corer; Chlorophyll Concentration; LMG0802; Marcofauna; Megafauna; Oceans; R/v Laurence M. Gould; Seafloor Sampling; Species Abundance", "people": "Smith, Craig; DeMaster, David", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Species List, Species Abundance, and Sediment Geochemistry processed data acquired during Laurence M. Gould expedition LMG0802", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601303"}, {"dataset_uid": "001486", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data of LMG0902", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0902"}, {"dataset_uid": "001513", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0802"}, {"dataset_uid": "002669", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG0902", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0902"}, {"dataset_uid": "002727", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG0902", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0902"}, {"dataset_uid": "002726", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG0802", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0802"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The Antarctic Peninsula region exhibits one of the largest warming trends in the world. Climate change in this region will reduce the duration of winter sea-ice cover, altering both the pelagic ecosystem and bentho-pelagic coupling. We postulate that shelf benthic ecosystems are highly suitable for tracking climate change because they act as \"low-pass\" filters, removing high-frequency seasonal noise and responding to longer-term trends in pelagic ecosystem structure and export production. We propose to conduct a 3-year study of bentho-pelagic coupling along a latitudinal climate gradient on the Antarctic Peninsula to explore the potential impacts of climate change (e.g., reduction in sea-ice duration) on Antarctic shelf ecosystems. We will conduct three cruises during summer and winter regimes along a 5- station transect from Smith Island to Marguerite Bay, evaluating a broad range of benthic ecological and biogeochemical processes. Specifically, we will examine the feeding strategies of benthic deposit feeders along this climatic gradient to elucidate the potential response of this major trophic group to climatic warming. In addition, we will (1) quantify carbon and nitrogen cycling and burial at the seafloor and (2) document changes in megafaunal, macrofaunal, and microbial community structure along this latitudinal gradient. We expect to develop predictive insights into the response of Antarctic shelf ecosystems to some of the effects of climate warming (e.g., a reduction in winter sea-ice duration). The proposed research will considerably broaden the ecological and carbon-flux measurements made as parts of the Palmer Station LTER and GLOBEC programs by providing a complementary benthic component. This project also will promote science education from the 9th grade to graduate-student levels. We will partner with the NSF-sponsored Southeastern Center for Ocean Science Education Excellence to reach students of all races in all areas of NC, SC and GA. The project will also benefit students at the post secondary level by supporting three graduate and two undergraduate students. During each of the three field excursions, NCSU and UH students will travel to Chile and Antarctica to participate in scientific research. Lastly, all three PIs will incorporate material from this project into their undergraduate and graduate courses.", "east": -56.4114, "geometry": "POINT(-63.8236 -60.45725)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PRESSURE/HEIGHT METERS \u003e PRESSURE SENSORS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ADCP; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PRESSURE/HEIGHT METERS \u003e PRESSURE SENSORS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ADCP; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e TURBIDITY METERS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "LMG0802; R/V LMG; AMD; Amd/Us; LMG0902; USA/NSF; NBP0808; USAP-DC; R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": -52.7603, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "DeMaster, David; Smith, Craig", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -68.1542, "title": "Collaborative Research: Benthic Faunal Feeding Dynamics on the Antarctic Shelf and the Effects of Global Climate Change on Bentho-Pelagic Coupling", "uid": "p0000552", "west": -71.2358}, {"awards": "9908828 Aronson, Richard", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-70.906 -52.350166,-69.4494 -52.350166,-67.9928 -52.350166,-66.5362 -52.350166,-65.0796 -52.350166,-63.623 -52.350166,-62.1664 -52.350166,-60.7098 -52.350166,-59.2532 -52.350166,-57.7966 -52.350166,-56.34 -52.350166,-56.34 -53.6028324,-56.34 -54.8554988,-56.34 -56.1081652,-56.34 -57.3608316,-56.34 -58.613498,-56.34 -59.8661644,-56.34 -61.1188308,-56.34 -62.3714972,-56.34 -63.6241636,-56.34 -64.87683,-57.7966 -64.87683,-59.2532 -64.87683,-60.7098 -64.87683,-62.1664 -64.87683,-63.623 -64.87683,-65.0796 -64.87683,-66.5362 -64.87683,-67.9928 -64.87683,-69.4494 -64.87683,-70.906 -64.87683,-70.906 -63.6241636,-70.906 -62.3714972,-70.906 -61.1188308,-70.906 -59.8661644,-70.906 -58.613498,-70.906 -57.3608316,-70.906 -56.1081652,-70.906 -54.8554988,-70.906 -53.6028324,-70.906 -52.350166))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data; Expedition data of NBP0107", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "001962", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0011"}, {"dataset_uid": "002656", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of NBP0107", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0107"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "9908828\u003cbr/\u003eAronson\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThis award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports a paleoecological and paleoenvironmental study of Seymour Island. Global climate change late in the Eocene epoch had an important influence in Antarctica. This was the beginning of the transition from a cool-temperate climate in Antarctica to the polar climate that exists there today. The cooling trend strongly influenced the structure of shallow-water, Antarctic marine communities, and these effects are still evident in the peculiar ecological relationships among species living in modern Antarctic communities. Cooling late in the Eocene reduced the abundance of fish and crabs, which in turn reduced skeleton-crushing predation on invertebrates. Reduced predation allowed dense populations of ophiuroids (brittlestars) and crinoids (sea lilies) to appear in shallow-water settings at the end of the Eocene. These low-predation communities appear as dense fossil echinoderm assemblages in the upper portion of the late Eocene La Meseta Formation on Seymour Island, off the Antarctic Peninsula. Today, dense ophiuroid and crinoid populations are common in shallow-water habitats in Antarctica but generally have been eliminated by predators from similar habitats at temperate and tropical latitudes; their persistence in Antarctica to this day is an important ecological legacy of climatic cooling in the Eocene. Although the influence of declining predation on Antarctic ophiuroids and crinoids is now well documented, the effects of cooling on the more abundant mollusks have not been investigated. This study will examine the evolutionary ecology of gastropods (snails) and bivalves (clams) in the late Eocene.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eA series of hypotheses will be tested in the La Meseta Formation, based on the predicted responses of mollusks to declining temperature and changing levels of predation. The shapes of gastropod shells, the activities of gastropods that prey on other mollusks by drilling holes in their shells, and the effects of predation on the thickness of mollusk shells should have changed significantly through late Eocene time. First, defensive features of gastropod shells, such as spines and ribbing, should decline as temperature and, therefore, the activity of skeleton-crushing predators declined. Second, drilling of bivalve prey by predatory gastropods should increase with time since the drillers should themselves have been subject to lower predation pressure as temperature declined. Drilled shells, therefore, should become more common through time. Third, patterns in the thickness of shells through time will make it possible to separate the direct, physiological effects of declining temperature (shells are more difficult to produce at cooler temperatures, and so should be thinner) from the indirect effects of temperature on evolving biological interactions (increased drilling predation should result in thicker shells). \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eSeymour Island contains the only fossil outcrops readily accessible in Antarctica from this crucial period in Earth history. The La Meseta Formation on Seymour Island thus provides a unique opportunity to learn how climate change affected Antarctic marine communities. In practical terms, global climate change will probably increase upwelling over the next few decades to centuries in some temperate coastal regions. Recent ecological evidence suggests that the resultant lowering of sea temperatures could lower predation in those areas. Understanding the response of the La Meseta faunas to global cooling in the late Eocene will provide direct insight into the rapidly changing structure of modern benthic communities.", "east": -56.34, "geometry": "POINT(-63.623 -58.613498)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e TURBIDITY METERS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ADCP; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e MSBS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP; Hugo Island; R/V LMG; Palmer Deep", "locations": "Hugo Island", "north": -52.350166, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Aronson, Richard; Domack, Eugene Walter", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -64.87683, "title": "Global Climate Change and the Evolutionary Ecology of Antarctic Mollusks in the Late Eocene", "uid": "p0000617", "west": -70.906}, {"awards": "0636474 Rathburn, Anthony", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-64.919 -60.1023,-63.70316 -60.1023,-62.48732 -60.1023,-61.27148 -60.1023,-60.05564 -60.1023,-58.8398 -60.1023,-57.62396 -60.1023,-56.40812 -60.1023,-55.19228 -60.1023,-53.97644 -60.1023,-52.7606 -60.1023,-52.7606 -60.89191,-52.7606 -61.68152,-52.7606 -62.47113,-52.7606 -63.26074,-52.7606 -64.05035,-52.7606 -64.83996,-52.7606 -65.62957,-52.7606 -66.41918,-52.7606 -67.20879,-52.7606 -67.9984,-53.97644 -67.9984,-55.19228 -67.9984,-56.40812 -67.9984,-57.62396 -67.9984,-58.8398 -67.9984,-60.05564 -67.9984,-61.27148 -67.9984,-62.48732 -67.9984,-63.70316 -67.9984,-64.919 -67.9984,-64.919 -67.20879,-64.919 -66.41918,-64.919 -65.62957,-64.919 -64.83996,-64.919 -64.05035,-64.919 -63.26074,-64.919 -62.47113,-64.919 -61.68152,-64.919 -60.89191,-64.919 -60.1023))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "001511", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0804"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This project studies seasonal variation in the abundance and shell composition of foraminifera from the northern Gerlache-southern Bransfield Straits region of the Western Antarctic Peninsula. Its goal is to improve interpretation of microfaunal and geochemical proxies for reconstruction of ancient ocean currents, climate, and ecologies. Since seasonal variation may greatly affect interpretation, this project focuses on the Antarctic region, where intense seasonality should generate a more obvious signal than at the less extreme mid-latitudes. The results should allow a better understanding of the coupling to seasonal productivity, as well as improve regional reconstructions.\u003cbr/\u003eThe broader impacts are graduate, undergraduate, and postdoctoral student education; as well as outreach to both the English and Spanish-speaking public. The work will also improve society\u0027s understanding of past climate change as an analogue to the future.", "east": -52.7606, "geometry": "POINT(-58.8398 -64.05035)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PRESSURE/HEIGHT METERS \u003e PRESSURE SENSORS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ADCP", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V LMG", "locations": null, "north": -60.1023, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Ishman, Scott", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -67.9984, "title": "Collaborative Research: Testing the Impact of Seasonality on Benthic Foraminifers as Paleoenvironmental Proxies.", "uid": "p0000113", "west": -64.919}, {"awards": "0132032 Detrich, H. William", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-68.84315 -42.87167,-61.576321 -42.87167,-54.309492 -42.87167,-47.042663 -42.87167,-39.775834 -42.87167,-32.509005 -42.87167,-25.242176 -42.87167,-17.975347 -42.87167,-10.708518 -42.87167,-3.441689 -42.87167,3.82514 -42.87167,3.82514 -44.482708,3.82514 -46.093746,3.82514 -47.704784,3.82514 -49.315822,3.82514 -50.92686,3.82514 -52.537898,3.82514 -54.148936,3.82514 -55.759974,3.82514 -57.371012,3.82514 -58.98205,-3.441689 -58.98205,-10.708518 -58.98205,-17.975347 -58.98205,-25.242176 -58.98205,-32.509005 -58.98205,-39.775834 -58.98205,-47.042663 -58.98205,-54.309492 -58.98205,-61.576321 -58.98205,-68.84315 -58.98205,-68.84315 -57.371012,-68.84315 -55.759974,-68.84315 -54.148936,-68.84315 -52.537898,-68.84315 -50.92686,-68.84315 -49.315822,-68.84315 -47.704784,-68.84315 -46.093746,-68.84315 -44.482708,-68.84315 -42.87167))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "001655", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0404"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Notothenioid fish are a major group of fish in the Southern Ocean. The ancestral notothenioid fish stock of Antarctica probably arose as a sluggish, bottom-dwelling perciform species that evolved some 40-60 million years ago in the then temperate shelf waters of the Antarctic continent. The grounding of the ice sheet on the continental shelf and changing trophic conditions may have eliminated the taxonomically diverse late Eocene fauna and initiated the original diversification of notothenioids. On the High Antarctic shelf, notothenioids today dominate the ichthyofauna in terms of species diversity, abundance and biomass, the latter two at levels of 90-95%. Since the International Geophysical Year of 1957-58, fish biologists from the Antarctic Treaty nations have made impressive progress in understanding the notothenioid ichthyofauna of the cold Antarctic marine ecosystem. However, integration of this work into the broader marine context has been limited, largely due to lack of access to, and analysis of, specimens of Sub-Antarctic notothenioid fishes. Sub-Antarctic fishes of the notothenioid suborder are critical for a complete understanding of the evolution, population dynamics, eco-physiology, and eco-biochemistry of their Antarctic relatives. This project will support an international, collaborative research cruise to collect and study fish indigenous to sub-antarctic habitats. The topics included in the research plans of the international team of researchers includes Systematics and Evolutionary Studies; Life History Strategies and Population Dynamics; Physiological, Biochemical, and Molecular Biological Investigations of Major Organ and Tissue Systems; Genomic Resources for the Sub-Antarctic Notothenioids; and Ecological Studies of Transitional Benthic Invertebrates. In a world that is experiencing changes in global climate, the loss of biological diversity, and the depletion of marine fisheries, the Antarctic, Sub-Antarctic, and their biota offer compelling natural laboratories for understanding the evolutionary impacts of these processes. The proposed work will contribute to development of a baseline understanding of these sensitive ecosystems, one against which future changes in species distribution and survival may be evaluated judiciously.", "east": 3.82514, "geometry": "POINT(-32.509005 -50.92686)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ADCP", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP", "locations": null, "north": -42.87167, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Detrich, H. William", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -58.98205, "title": "International Collaborative Expedition to Collect and Study Fish Indigenous to Sub-Antarctic Habitats", "uid": "p0000584", "west": -68.84315}, {"awards": "9815823 Smith, Craig", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-70.90683 -52.35533,-69.8661302 -52.35533,-68.8254304 -52.35533,-67.7847306 -52.35533,-66.7440308 -52.35533,-65.703331 -52.35533,-64.6626312 -52.35533,-63.6219314 -52.35533,-62.5812316 -52.35533,-61.5405318 -52.35533,-60.499832 -52.35533,-60.499832 -53.818664,-60.499832 -55.281998,-60.499832 -56.745332,-60.499832 -58.208666,-60.499832 -59.672,-60.499832 -61.135334,-60.499832 -62.598668,-60.499832 -64.062002,-60.499832 -65.525336,-60.499832 -66.98867,-61.5405318 -66.98867,-62.5812316 -66.98867,-63.6219314 -66.98867,-64.6626312 -66.98867,-65.703331 -66.98867,-66.7440308 -66.98867,-67.7847306 -66.98867,-68.8254304 -66.98867,-69.8661302 -66.98867,-70.90683 -66.98867,-70.90683 -65.525336,-70.90683 -64.062002,-70.90683 -62.598668,-70.90683 -61.135334,-70.90683 -59.672,-70.90683 -58.208666,-70.90683 -56.745332,-70.90683 -55.281998,-70.90683 -53.818664,-70.90683 -52.35533))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data; Expedition data of LMG0009", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "001983", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/NBP0004"}, {"dataset_uid": "002689", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG0009", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0009"}, {"dataset_uid": "001811", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0009"}, {"dataset_uid": "001880", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0102"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "OPP98-15823 P.I. Craig Smith\u003cbr/\u003eOPP98-16049 P.I. David DeMaster\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003ePrimary production in Antarctic coastal waters is highly seasonal, yielding an intense pulse of biogenic particles to the continental shelf floor. This seasonal pulse may have major ramifications for carbon cycling, benthic ecology and material burial on the west Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) shelf. Thus, we propose a multii-disciplinary program to evaluate the seafloor accumulation, fate and benthic community impacts of bloom material along a transect of three stations crossing the Antarctic shelf in the Palmer LTER study area. Using a seasonal series of five cruises to our transect, we will test the following hypostheses: (1) A substantial proportion of spring/summer export production is deposited ont eh WAP shelf as phytodetritus or fecal pellets. (2) The deposited bloom production is a source of labile particulate organic carbon for benthos for an extended period of time (months). (3) Large amounts of labile bloom POC are rapidly subducted into the sediment column by the deposit-feeding and caching activities of benthos. (4) Macrobenthic detritivores sustain a rapid increase in biomass and abundance following the spring/summer particulate organic carbon pulse. To test these hypotheses, we will evaluate seabed deposition and lability of particulate organic carbon, patterns of particulate organic carbon mixing into sediments, seasonal variations in macrofaunal and megafaunal abundance, biomass and reproductive condition, and rates of particulate organic carbon and silica mineralization and accumulation in the seabed. Fluxes of biogenic materials and radionuclides into midwater particle traps will be contrasted with seabed deposition and burial rates to establish water-column and seabed preservation efficiencies for these materials. The project will substantially improve our understanding of the spring/summer production pulse on the WAP shelf and its impacts on seafloor communities and carbon cycling in Antarctic coastal systems.", "east": -60.499832, "geometry": "POINT(-65.703331 -59.672)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e MAGNETIC/MOTION SENSORS \u003e GRAVIMETERS \u003e GRAVIMETERS", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V NBP; R/V LMG", "locations": null, "north": -52.35533, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Smith, Craig", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V NBP", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": "LTER", "south": -66.98867, "title": "Bentho-Pelagic Coupling on the West Antarctic Peninsula Shelf: The Impact and Fate of Bloom Material at the Seafloor", "uid": "p0000610", "west": -70.90683}, {"awards": "9910164 Scheltema, Rudolf", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-70.557 -52.351,-68.9316 -52.351,-67.3062 -52.351,-65.6808 -52.351,-64.0554 -52.351,-62.43 -52.351,-60.8046 -52.351,-59.1792 -52.351,-57.5538 -52.351,-55.9284 -52.351,-54.303 -52.351,-54.303 -53.60557,-54.303 -54.86014,-54.303 -56.11471,-54.303 -57.36928,-54.303 -58.62385,-54.303 -59.87842,-54.303 -61.13299,-54.303 -62.38756,-54.303 -63.64213,-54.303 -64.8967,-55.9284 -64.8967,-57.5538 -64.8967,-59.1792 -64.8967,-60.8046 -64.8967,-62.43 -64.8967,-64.0554 -64.8967,-65.6808 -64.8967,-67.3062 -64.8967,-68.9316 -64.8967,-70.557 -64.8967,-70.557 -63.64213,-70.557 -62.38756,-70.557 -61.13299,-70.557 -59.87842,-70.557 -58.62385,-70.557 -57.36928,-70.557 -56.11471,-70.557 -54.86014,-70.557 -53.60557,-70.557 -52.351))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "001846", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0109"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Because of the extreme isolation of Antarctica since the early Oligocene one can expect to encounter a unique invertebrate fauna with a high degree of endemism. Yet, some benthic taxa include from 20 to \u003e50 percent non-endemic species. To account for such species it has been proposed that an intermittent reciprocal exchange must occur between the antiboreal populations of South America and the Antarctic continent. One possible means by which the geographical distribution can be maintained and genetic exchange may be accomplished is by the passive dispersal of planktonic larvae. To show that such dispersal is actually accomplished it must be demonstrated that (1) larvae of sublittoral species actually are found within the Drake passage and that such larvae belong to species that occur both in the antiboreal South American and Antarctic faunas and (2) that a hydrographic mechanism exists that can explain how the passive transport of larvae may occur between the two continents. The proposed research will address these two requirements by making transects of plankton samples across the Drake passage and by examining the possibility of cross frontal exchange of larvae at the subantarctic and polar fronts of the Antarctic circumpolar current as well as the possible transport of larvae in mesoscale rings. The outcome may suggest species that in the future may profitably be examined using molecular techniques, comparing individuals from bottom populations of South America and Antarctica. The study necessarily must be of a very preliminary nature since the occurrence of planktonic larvae of sublittoral benthic species in the Drake Passage has never before been examined.", "east": -54.303, "geometry": "POINT(-62.43 -58.62385)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V LMG", "locations": null, "north": -52.351, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Scheltema, Rudolf; Veit, Richard", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -64.8967, "title": "SGER: Dispersal of Planktonic Invertebrate Larvae and the Biogeography of the Antarctic Benthos", "uid": "p0000602", "west": -70.557}, {"awards": "9908856 Blake, Daniel", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data; Expedition data of LMG0309", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "001683", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0309"}, {"dataset_uid": "002675", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG0309", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0309"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports a paleoecological and paleoenvironmental study of Seymour Island. Global climate change late in the Eocene epoch had an important influence in Antarctica. This was the beginning of the transition from a cool-temperate climate in Antarctica to the polar climate that exists there today. The cooling trend strongly influenced the structure of shallow-water, Antarctic marine communities, and these effects are still evident in the peculiar ecological relationships among species living in modern Antarctic communities. Cooling late in the Eocene reduced the abundance of fish and crabs, which in turn reduced skeleton-crushing predation on invertebrates. Reduced predation allowed dense populations of ophiuroids (brittlestars) and crinoids (sea lilies) to appear in shallow-water settings at the end of the Eocene. These low-predation communities appear as dense fossil echinoderm assemblages in the upper portion of the late Eocene La Meseta Formation on Seymour Island, off the Antarctic Peninsula. Today, dense ophiuroid and crinoid populations are common in shallow-water habitats in Antarctica but generally have been eliminated by predators from similar habitats at temperate and tropical latitudes; their persistence in Antarctica to this day is an important ecological legacy of climatic cooling in the Eocene. Although the influence of declining predation on Antarctic ophiuroids and crinoids is now well documented, the effects of cooling on the more abundant mollusks have not been investigated. This study will examine the evolutionary ecology of gastropods (snails) and bivalves (clams) in the late Eocene.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eA series of hypotheses will be tested in the La Meseta Formation, based on the predicted responses of mollusks to declining temperature and changing levels of predation. The shapes of gastropod shells, the activities of gastropods that prey on other mollusks by drilling holes in their shells, and the effects of predation on the thickness of mollusk shells should have changed significantly through late Eocene time. First, defensive features of gastropod shells, such as spines and ribbing, should decline as temperature and, therefore, the activity of skeleton-crushing predators declined. Second, drilling of bivalve prey by predatory gastropods should increase with time since the drillers should themselves have been subject to lower predation pressure as temperature declined. Drilled shells, therefore, should become more common through time. Third, patterns in the thickness of shells through time will make it possible to separate the direct, physiological effects of declining temperature (shells are more difficult to produce at cooler temperatures, and so should be thinner) from the indirect effects of temperature on evolving biological interactions (increased drilling predation should result in thicker shells). \u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eSeymour Island contains the only fossil outcrops readily accessible in Antarctica from this crucial period in Earth history. The La Meseta Formation on Seymour Island thus provides a unique opportunity to learn how climate change affected Antarctic marine communities. In practical terms, global climate change will probably increase upwelling over the next few decades to centuries in some temperate coastal regions. Recent ecological evidence suggests that the resultant lowering of sea temperatures could lower predation in those areas. Understanding the response of the La Meseta faunas to global cooling in the late Eocene will provide direct insight into the rapidly changing structure of modern benthic communities.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PRESSURE/HEIGHT METERS \u003e PRESSURE SENSORS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ADCP", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V LMG", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Blake, Daniel", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Global Climate Change and the Evolutionary Ecology of Antarctic Mollusks in the Late Eocene.", "uid": "p0000857", "west": null}, {"awards": "0635531 Ishman, Scott", "bounds_geometry": null, "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data; Expedition data of LMG0804; Expedition data of LMG0808", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002674", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG0808", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0808"}, {"dataset_uid": "002673", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG0804", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0804"}, {"dataset_uid": "001511", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0804"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This project studies seasonal variation in the abundance and shell composition of foraminifera from the northern Gerlache-southern Bransfield Straits region of the Western Antarctic Peninsula. Its goal is to improve interpretation of microfaunal and geochemical proxies for reconstruction of ancient ocean currents, climate, and ecologies. Since seasonal variation may greatly affect interpretation, this project focuses on the Antarctic region, where intense seasonality should generate a more obvious signal than at the less extreme mid-latitudes. The results should allow a better understanding of the coupling to seasonal productivity, as well as improve regional reconstructions.\u003cbr/\u003eThe broader impacts are graduate, undergraduate, and postdoctoral student education; as well as outreach to both the English and Spanish-speaking public. The work will also improve society\u0027s understanding of past climate change as an analogue to the future.", "east": null, "geometry": null, "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PRESSURE/HEIGHT METERS \u003e PRESSURE SENSORS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ADCP", "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V LMG", "locations": null, "north": null, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Ishman, Scott", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": null, "title": "Collaborative Research: Testing the Impact of Seasonality on Benthic Foraminifers as Paleoenvironmental Proxies.", "uid": "p0000856", "west": null}, {"awards": "9727077 Smith, Kenneth", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-70.907166 -52.348,-69.6496994 -52.348,-68.3922328 -52.348,-67.1347662 -52.348,-65.8772996 -52.348,-64.619833 -52.348,-63.3623664 -52.348,-62.1048998 -52.348,-60.8474332 -52.348,-59.5899666 -52.348,-58.3325 -52.348,-58.3325 -53.600917,-58.3325 -54.853834,-58.3325 -56.106751,-58.3325 -57.359668,-58.3325 -58.612585,-58.3325 -59.865502,-58.3325 -61.118419,-58.3325 -62.371336,-58.3325 -63.624253,-58.3325 -64.87717,-59.5899666 -64.87717,-60.8474332 -64.87717,-62.1048998 -64.87717,-63.3623664 -64.87717,-64.619833 -64.87717,-65.8772996 -64.87717,-67.1347662 -64.87717,-68.3922328 -64.87717,-69.6496994 -64.87717,-70.907166 -64.87717,-70.907166 -63.624253,-70.907166 -62.371336,-70.907166 -61.118419,-70.907166 -59.865502,-70.907166 -58.612585,-70.907166 -57.359668,-70.907166 -56.106751,-70.907166 -54.853834,-70.907166 -53.600917,-70.907166 -52.348))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data; Expedition data of LMG0002; Expedition data of LMG0005", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002670", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG0002", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0002"}, {"dataset_uid": "001964", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0010"}, {"dataset_uid": "002667", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG0005", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0005"}], "date_created": "Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "9727077 SMITH The annual expansion and contraction of ice cover in the Southern Ocean is the largest seasonal process in the World Ocean. This seasonal variability in ice cover creates extensive fluctuations in primary production, which heavily impacts pelagic and benthic communities. This research will initiate a long time-series study of the water column and sea floor using long-term, autonomous monitoring and sampling systems developed for use in the Antarctic. The study will be located in Post Foster, Deception Island, which supports a pelagic and benthic fauna representative of the Antarctic coastal zone and experiences seasonal ice cover. A bottom-moored, upward-looking acoustic instrument will be deployed on the sea floor for a period of one year to monitor the vertical distribution, abundance and biomass of acoustically-detectable macrozooplankton and micronekton in the water column. Collections will be made over this period using a newly-developed vertically-profiling pump sampling. Simultaneously, a time-lapse camera system will be moored on the sea floor to monitor the spatial distribution, sizes and movements of the epibenthic megafauna component of the benthic community. The instrumentation development will allow the research project to focus on the effect of the seasonal sea ice cycle on the distribution, abundance and biomass of the macrozooplankton and micronekton in the water column. Similar questions on the distribution, abundance, size and movements of the epibenthic megafauna will be addressed. Results from this study will provide a valuable data base for the evaluation of the pelagic and benthic community responses to seasonal variability in the Southern Ocean.", "east": -58.3325, "geometry": "POINT(-64.619833 -58.612585)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": false, "keywords": "R/V LMG", "locations": null, "north": -52.348, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Smith, Kenneth", "platforms": "WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R", "science_programs": null, "south": -64.87717, "title": "Influence of Seasonal Ice Cover on Pelagic and Benthic Communities: Long Time-Series Studies", "uid": "p0000608", "west": -70.907166}, {"awards": "0739496 Miller, Molly; 0739512 Walker, Sally; 0739583 Bowser, Samuel", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((163.41667 -77.33333,163.46667 -77.33333,163.51667 -77.33333,163.56667 -77.33333,163.61667 -77.33333,163.66667 -77.33333,163.71667 -77.33333,163.76667 -77.33333,163.81667 -77.33333,163.86667 -77.33333,163.91667 -77.33333,163.91667 -77.369997,163.91667 -77.406664,163.91667 -77.443331,163.91667 -77.479998,163.91667 -77.516665,163.91667 -77.553332,163.91667 -77.589999,163.91667 -77.626666,163.91667 -77.663333,163.91667 -77.7,163.86667 -77.7,163.81667 -77.7,163.76667 -77.7,163.71667 -77.7,163.66667 -77.7,163.61667 -77.7,163.56667 -77.7,163.51667 -77.7,163.46667 -77.7,163.41667 -77.7,163.41667 -77.663333,163.41667 -77.626666,163.41667 -77.589999,163.41667 -77.553332,163.41667 -77.516665,163.41667 -77.479998,163.41667 -77.443331,163.41667 -77.406664,163.41667 -77.369997,163.41667 -77.33333))", "dataset_titles": "Linking Modern Benthic Communities and Taphonomic Processes to the Stratigraphic Record of Antarctic Cores; Nitrogen, carbon, and oxygen isotopes in the shell of the Antarctic scallop Adamussium colbecki as a proxy for sea ice cover in Antarctica.; Sequence Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "600076", "doi": "10.15784/600076", "keywords": "Biota; Geochronology; Marine Sediments; Oceans; Southern Ocean", "people": "Miller, Molly; Furbish, David", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Linking Modern Benthic Communities and Taphonomic Processes to the Stratigraphic Record of Antarctic Cores", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600076"}, {"dataset_uid": "600077", "doi": "10.15784/600077", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Glaciers/ice Sheet; Glaciers/Ice Sheet; McMurdo Sound; Oceans; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description", "people": "Walker, Sally", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Linking Modern Benthic Communities and Taphonomic Processes to the Stratigraphic Record of Antarctic Cores", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600077"}, {"dataset_uid": "000144", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Sequence Data", "url": "http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/myncbi/collections/public/1rMU2lBNcxWAsa9h9WyD8rzA8/"}, {"dataset_uid": "601764", "doi": null, "keywords": "Adamussium Colbecki; Antarctica; Biota; Carbon Isotopes; Explorers Cove; Nitrogen Isotopes; Oxygen Isotope; Scallop", "people": "Walker, Sally; Verheyden, Anouk; Cronin, Kelly; Camarra, Steve; Puhalski, Emma; Gillikin, David", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Nitrogen, carbon, and oxygen isotopes in the shell of the Antarctic scallop Adamussium colbecki as a proxy for sea ice cover in Antarctica.", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601764"}], "date_created": "Wed, 15 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "This project answers a simple question: why are there so few fossils in sediment cores from Antarctica?s continental shelf? Antarctica?s benthos are as biologically rich as those of the tropics. Shell-secreting organisms should have left a trail throughout geologic time, but have not. This trail is particularly important because these organisms record regional climate in ways that are critical to interpreting the global climate record. This study uses field experiments and targeted observations of modern benthic systems to examine the biases inflicted by fossil preservation. By examining a spectrum of ice-affected habitats, this project provides paleoenvironmental insights into carbonate preservation, sedimentation rates, and burial processes; and will provide new approaches to reconstructing the Cenozoic history of Antarctica. Broader impacts include graduate and undergraduate research and education, development of undergraduate curricula to link art and science, K12 outreach, public outreach via the web, and societal relevance through improved understanding of records of global climate change.", "east": 163.91667, "geometry": "POINT(163.66667 -77.516665)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -77.33333, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Earth Sciences", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Walker, Sally; Bowser, Samuel; Miller, Molly; Furbish, David", "platforms": "Not provided", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "NCBI GenBank; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -77.7, "title": "Collaborative Research: Linking Modern Benthic Communities and Taphonomic Processes to the Stratigraphic Record of Antarctic Cores", "uid": "p0000203", "west": 163.41667}, {"awards": "0338218 Halanych, Kenneth; 0338087 Scheltema, Rudolf", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-70 -55,-68 -55,-66 -55,-64 -55,-62 -55,-60 -55,-58 -55,-56 -55,-54 -55,-52 -55,-50 -55,-50 -56,-50 -57,-50 -58,-50 -59,-50 -60,-50 -61,-50 -62,-50 -63,-50 -64,-50 -65,-52 -65,-54 -65,-56 -65,-58 -65,-60 -65,-62 -65,-64 -65,-66 -65,-68 -65,-70 -65,-70 -64,-70 -63,-70 -62,-70 -61,-70 -60,-70 -59,-70 -58,-70 -57,-70 -56,-70 -55))", "dataset_titles": "Expedition Data; Expedition data of LMG0414; Expedition data of LMG0605; Relevance of Planktonic Larval Dispersal to Endemism and Biogeography of Antarctic Benthic Invertebrates", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002711", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG0414", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0414"}, {"dataset_uid": "600035", "doi": "10.15784/600035", "keywords": "Antarctica; Biota; Oceans; R/v Laurence M. Gould; Sample/collection Description; Sample/Collection Description; Southern Ocean", "people": "Scheltema, Rudolf", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Relevance of Planktonic Larval Dispersal to Endemism and Biogeography of Antarctic Benthic Invertebrates", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/600035"}, {"dataset_uid": "002682", "doi": null, "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition data of LMG0605", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0605"}, {"dataset_uid": "001565", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "R2R", "science_program": null, "title": "Expedition Data", "url": "https://www.rvdata.us/search/cruise/LMG0414"}], "date_created": "Wed, 18 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Because of extreme isolation of the Antarctic continent since the Early Oligocene, one expects a unique invertebrate benthic fauna with a high degree of endemism. Yet some invertebrate taxa that constitute important ecological components of sedimentary benthic communities include more than 40 percent non-endemic species (e.g., benthic polychaetes). To account for non-endemic species, intermittent genetic exchange must occur between Antarctic and other (e.g. South American) populations. The most likely mechanism for such gene flow, at least for in-faunal and mobile macrobenthos, is dispersal of planktonic larvae across the sub- Antarctic and Antarctic polar fronts. To test for larval dispersal as a mechanism of maintaining genetic continuity across polar fronts, the scientists propose to (1) take plankton samples along transects across Drake passage during both the austral summer and winter seasons while concurrently collecting the appropriate hydrographic data. Such data will help elucidate the hydrographic mechanisms that allow dispersal across Drake Passage. Using a molecular phylogenetic approach, they will (2) compare seemingly identical adult forms from Antarctic and South America continents to identify genetic breaks, historical gene flow, and control for the presence of cryptic species. (3) Similar molecular tools will be used to relate planktonic larvae to their adult forms. Through this procedure, they propose to link the larval forms respectively to their Antarctic or South America origins. The proposed work builds on previous research that provides the basis for this effort to develop a synthetic understanding of historical gene flow and present day dispersal mechanism in South American/Drake Passage/Antarctic Peninsular region. Furthermore, this work represents one of the first attempts to examine recent gene flow in Antarctic benthic invertebrates. Graduate students and a postdoctoral fellow will be trained during this research.", "east": -50.0, "geometry": "POINT(-60 -60)", "instruments": "IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e CTD; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PRESSURE/HEIGHT METERS \u003e PRESSURE SENSORS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e TURBIDITY METERS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PROFILERS/SOUNDERS \u003e ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS \u003e ADCP", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "EU735823-EU735850; R/V LMG; FIELD SURVEYS; Genbank Ef565745-Ef565820; Not provided", "locations": null, "north": -55.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Scheltema, Rudolf; Halanych, Kenneth", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS; Not provided; WATER-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e VESSELS \u003e SURFACE \u003e R/V LMG", "repo": "R2R", "repositories": "R2R; USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -65.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Relevance of Planktonic Larval Dispersal to Endemism and Biogeography of Antarctic Benthic Invertebrates", "uid": "p0000189", "west": -70.0}]
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Project Title/Abstract/Map | NSF Award(s) | Date Created | PIs / Scientists | Dataset Links and Repositories | Abstract | Bounds Geometry | Geometry | Selected | Visible | |||||||||
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Collaborative Research: ANT LIA: Diving into the Ecology of an Antarctic Ascidian-Microbiome-Palmerolide Association using a Multi-omic and Functional Approach
|
2142914 2142912 2142913 |
2024-10-17 | Baker, Bill; Murray, Alison; Tresguerres, Martin | No dataset link provided | Non-technical description<br/>Marine invertebrates often have mutually beneficial partnerships with microorganisms that biosynthesize compounds with nutritive or defensive functions and are integral for survival. Additionally, these “natural products” often have bioactive properties with human health applications fighting infection or different types of cancer. This project focuses on the ascidian (“sea squirt”) Synoicum adareanum, found in the Anvers Island region of the Antarctic Peninsula, and was recently discovered to contain high levels of a natural product, palmerolide A (palA) in its tissues. The microorganism that produces palA is a new bacterial species, Candidatus Synoicihabitans palmerolidicus, found in a persistent partnership with the sea squirt. There is still much to be learned about the fundamental properties of this sea squirt-microbe-palA system including the geographical range of the animal-microbe partnership, its chemical and microbiome complexity and diversity, and the biological effect of palA in the sea squirt. To address these questions, this multidisciplinary research team will investigate the sea squirt-microbiome partnership in the Antarctic Peninsula and McMurdo Sound regions of the Ross Sea using a state-of-the-art strategy that will advance our understanding of the structural and functional features of the sea squirt and microbiome in detail, and reveal the roles that the palA natural product plays in the host ecology in its native Antarctic seafloor habitat. The project will broaden diversity and provide new opportunities for early career students and postdoctoral researchers to participate in field and laboratory-based research that builds an integrative understanding of Antarctic marine biology, ecology, physiology and chemistry. In addition, advancing the understanding of palA and its biological properties may be of future benefit to biomedicine and human health.<br/><br/>Technical description<br/>Marine invertebrates and their associated microbiomes can produce bioactive natural products; in fact, >600 such compounds have been identified in species from polar waters. Although such compounds are typically hypothesized to serve ecological roles in host survival through deterring predation, fouling, and microbial infection, in most cases neither the producing organism nor the genome-encoded biosynthetic enzymes are known. This project will study an emerging biosynthetic system from a polar ascidian-microbe association that produces palA, a natural product with bioactivity against the proton-pumping enzyme V-type H+-ATPase (VHA). The objectives include: (i) Determining the microbiome composition, metabolome complexity, palA levels, and mitochondrial DNA sequence of S. adareanum morphotypes at sites in the Antarctic Peninsula and in McMurdo Sound, (ii) Characterizing the Synoicum microbiome using a multi-omics strategy, and (iii) Assessing the potential for co-occurrence of Ca. S. palmerolidicus-palA-VHA in host tissues, and (iv) exploring the role of palA in modulating VHA activity in vivo and its effects on ascidian-microbe ecophysiology. Through a coupled study of palA-producing and non-producing S. adareanum specimens, structural and functional features of the ascidian microbiome metagenome will be characterized to better understand the relationship between predicted secondary metabolite pathways and whether they are expressed in situ using a paired metatranscriptome sequencing and secondary metabolite detection strategy. Combined with tissue co-localization results, functional ecophysiological assays aim to determine the roles that the natural product plays in the host ecology in its native Antarctic seafloor habitat. The contributions of the project will inform this intimate host-microbial association in which the ascidian host bioaccumulates VHA-inhibiting palA, yet its geo-spatial distribution, cellular localization, ecological and physiological role(s) are not known. In addition to elucidating the ecophysiological roles of palA in their native ascidian-microbe association, the results will contribute to the success of translational science, which aligns with NSF’s interests in promoting basic research that leads to advances in Biotechnology and Bioeconomy. The project will also broaden diversity and provide new opportunities for early career students and postdoctoral researchers to participate in field and laboratory-based research that builds an integrative understanding of Antarctic marine biology, ecology, physiology and chemistry.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF''s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation''s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria. | POLYGON((-180 -60,-168 -60,-156 -60,-144 -60,-132 -60,-120 -60,-108 -60,-96 -60,-84 -60,-72 -60,-60 -60,-60 -62,-60 -64,-60 -66,-60 -68,-60 -70,-60 -72,-60 -74,-60 -76,-60 -78,-60 -80,-72 -80,-84 -80,-96 -80,-108 -80,-120 -80,-132 -80,-144 -80,-156 -80,-168 -80,180 -80,178 -80,176 -80,174 -80,172 -80,170 -80,168 -80,166 -80,164 -80,162 -80,160 -80,160 -78,160 -76,160 -74,160 -72,160 -70,160 -68,160 -66,160 -64,160 -62,160 -60,162 -60,164 -60,166 -60,168 -60,170 -60,172 -60,174 -60,176 -60,178 -60,-180 -60)) | POINT(-130 -70) | false | false | |||||||||
RAPID: Is Biomass Mobilization at Ice-covered Lake Fryxell, Antarctica reaching a Critical Threshold?
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2336354 |
2024-07-05 | Juarez Rivera, Marisol |
|
Perennially ice-covered lakes in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica contain abundant microbial mats, and the export of this mat material can fertilize the surrounding polar desert ecosystems. These desert soils are one of the most organic-poor on earth yet host a community of microorganisms. Microbial mat material is exported from the shallow, gas-supersaturated regions of the lakes when gas bubbles form in the mats, lifting them to the ice cover. The perennial ice cover maintains gas supersaturation. These mats freeze in and are exported to the surrounding soils through ice ablation. The largest seasonal decrease and thinnest ice cover in the history of Lake Fryxell was recorded during the 2022-2023 Austral summer. In this thin ice year, the water column dissolved oxygen increased over prior observations, and the lake bottom surface area with bubble-disrupted mat was more than double that observed in 1980-1981 and 2006-2007. This work will constrain mat mobilization within and out of Lake Fryxell in the McMurdo Dry Valleys during a period of unprecedented ice thinning to understand how future changing regional climate and predicted seasonal loss of lake ice cover will affect nutrient transport in the McMurdo Dry Valleys. Exceptional years of mat export are hypothesized to have the most significant impact on nutrient export to soil communities. Variability in mat liftoff may thus play a role in the McMurdo Dry Valleys ecosystem response to changing climate. The perennial ice cover of lakes in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica modulates the transfer of gasses, organic and inorganic material, between the lakes and surrounding soils. The export of biomass in these lakes is driven by the supersaturation of atmospheric gasses in the shallow regions under perennial ice cover. Gas bubbles nucleate in the mats, producing buoyancy that lifts them to the bottom of the ice, where they freeze in and are exported to the surrounding soils through ice ablation. These mats represent a significant source of biomass and nutrients to the McMurdo Dry Valleys soils, which are among the most organic-poor on earth. Nevertheless, this biomass remains unaccounted for in organic carbon cycling models for the McMurdo Dry Valleys. Ice cover data from the McMurdo Dry Valleys Long Term Ecological Research Project shows that the ice thickness has undergone cyclical variation over the last 40 years, reaching the largest seasonal decrease and thinnest ice-cover in the recorded history of Lake Fryxell during the 2022-2023 austral summer. Preliminary work shows that the surface area with mat liftoff at Lake Fryxell is more than double that observed in 1980-1981 and 2006-2007, coinciding with this unprecedented thinning of the ice-cover and an increase in the water column dissolved O2. This research will constrain biomass mobilization within and out of Lake Fryxell in the McMurdo Dry Valleys during a period of unprecedented ice thinning. The researchers hypothesize that a thinner ice cover promotes more biomass mobilization by 1) stimulating additional production of gas bubbles from the existing gas-supersaturated waters during summertime photosynthesis to create microbial mat liftoff and 2) promoting mat liftoff in deeper, thicker microbial mats, and 3) that this biomass can be traced into the soils by characterizing its chemistry and modeling the most likely depositional settings. This work will use microbial mat samples, lake dissolved oxygen and photosynthetically active radiation data and underwater drone footage documenting the depth distribution of liftoff mats in January 2023, and long-term ice cover thickness, photosynthetically active radiation, and lake level change data collected by the McMurdo Dry Valleys Long Term Ecological Research Project to test hypotheses 1-3. The dispersal of the liftoff mat exposed at Lake Fryxell surface will be modeled using a Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model. Exceptional liftoff years like the present are hypothesized to have the most significant impact on the soil communities as the rates of soil respiration increase with the addition of carbon. However, continued warming in the next 10 - 40 years may result in seasonal loss of the ice cover and cessation of liftoff mat export. | POLYGON((160 -76.5,160.45 -76.5,160.9 -76.5,161.35 -76.5,161.8 -76.5,162.25 -76.5,162.7 -76.5,163.15 -76.5,163.6 -76.5,164.05 -76.5,164.5 -76.5,164.5 -76.7,164.5 -76.9,164.5 -77.1,164.5 -77.3,164.5 -77.5,164.5 -77.7,164.5 -77.9,164.5 -78.1,164.5 -78.3,164.5 -78.5,164.05 -78.5,163.6 -78.5,163.15 -78.5,162.7 -78.5,162.25 -78.5,161.8 -78.5,161.35 -78.5,160.9 -78.5,160.45 -78.5,160 -78.5,160 -78.3,160 -78.1,160 -77.9,160 -77.7,160 -77.5,160 -77.3,160 -77.1,160 -76.9,160 -76.7,160 -76.5)) | POINT(162.25 -77.5) | false | false | |||||||||
Benthic Iron Fluxes and Cycling in the Amundsen Sea
|
None | 2024-06-13 | None | No dataset link provided | The Amundsen Sea, near the fastest melting Antarctic glaciers, hosts one of the most productive polar ecosystems in the world. Phytoplankton serve as the base of the food chain, and their growth also removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Phytoplankton growth is fertilized in this area by nutrient iron, which is only present at low concentrations in seawater. Prior studies have shown the seabed sediments may provide iron to the Amundsen Sea ecosystem. However, sediment sources of iron have never been studied here directly. This project fills this gap by analyzing sediments from the Amundsen Sea and investigating whether sediment iron fertilizes plankton growth. The results will help scientists understand the basic ecosystem drivers and predict the effects of climate change on this vibrant, vulnerable region. This project also emphasizes inclusivity and openness to the public. The researchers will establish a mentoring network for diverse polar scientists through the Polar Impact Network and communicate their results to the public through the website CryoConnect.org. <br/><br/>This project leverages samples already collected from the Amundsen Sea (NBP22-02) to investigate sediment iron (Fe) cycling and fluxes. The broad questions driving this research are 1) does benthic Fe fertilize Antarctic coastal primary productivity, and 2) what are the feedbacks between benthic Fe release and carbon cycling in the coastal Antarctic? To answer these questions, the researchers will analyze pore water Fe content and speciation and calculate fluxes of Fe across the sediment-water interface. These results will be compared to sediment characteristics (e.g., organic carbon content, reactive Fe content, proximity to glacial sources) to identify controls on benthic Fe release. This research dovetails with and expands on the science goals of the ?Accelerating Thwaites Ecosystem Impacts for the Southern Ocean? (ARTEMIS) project through which the field samples were collected. In turn, the findings of ARTEMIS regarding modeled and observed trace metal dynamics, surface water productivity, and carbon cycling will inform the conclusions of this project, allowing insight into the impact of benthic Fe in the whole system. This project represents a unique opportunity for combined study of the water column and sediment biogeochemistry which will be of great value to the marine biogeochemistry community and will inform future sediment-ocean studies in polar oceanography and beyond.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria. | None | None | false | false | |||||||||
Collaborative Research: RAPID: Sea Star Wasting Disease in the High Antarctic: Deciphering the Role of Shifting Carbon and Climate Cycles on a Keystone Predator
|
2325046 |
2024-05-10 | Thurber, Andrew; Moran, Amy | No dataset link provided | This RAPID project aims to study a sporadic occurrence of sea star wasting syndrome (SSWS) in McMurdo sound by leveraging diving resources of a CAREER grant to Thurber. The disease was first noted in 2019, with a second occurrence documented by the group at their study site near a methane seep at Cinder Cone in McMurdo Sound in 2022. Sea stars are key species in many benthic ecosystems, including the Antarctic, and this disease has caused significant losses in populations worldwide. In the Southern Ocean, the sea star Odontaster validus preys upon Acodontaster conspicuous, a predator of Antarctic giant sponges. In 2022, about 30% of the O. validus at the methane seep were affected. The conditions associated with the disease in other areas are environmental hypoxia, warm temperatures, and organic enrichment. This recent outbreak provides the opportunity to study how the disease may progress in the Southern Ocean, and test the hypothesis that oxygen dynamics play a key role in the development of SSWS. The investigators aim to measure oxygen concentrations on and off the Cinder Cone seep and at the surface of affected and unaffected sea stars and identify whether the disease causes and microbiome characteristics of SSWS are similar between Antarctic and non-Antarctic outbreaks. These findings can be used to understand the potential effects of future climate conditions on disease outbreaks of Southern Ocean marine organisms critical to ecosystem function and health. In addition to disease dynamics, the study will also help to understand how methane seepage impacts benthic oxygen dynamics. Other broader impacts include communicating the research through a student led YouTube documentary and facilitating the transition of an early career URM researcher from NSF postdoc to a faculty position (lead on viral component of the project). | POLYGON((162 -77,162.6 -77,163.2 -77,163.8 -77,164.4 -77,165 -77,165.6 -77,166.2 -77,166.8 -77,167.4 -77,168 -77,168 -77.1,168 -77.2,168 -77.3,168 -77.4,168 -77.5,168 -77.6,168 -77.7,168 -77.8,168 -77.9,168 -78,167.4 -78,166.8 -78,166.2 -78,165.6 -78,165 -78,164.4 -78,163.8 -78,163.2 -78,162.6 -78,162 -78,162 -77.9,162 -77.8,162 -77.7,162 -77.6,162 -77.5,162 -77.4,162 -77.3,162 -77.2,162 -77.1,162 -77)) | POINT(165 -77.5) | false | false | |||||||||
Collaborative Research: Physical Mechanisms Driving Food Web Focusing in Antarctic Biological Hotspots
|
None | 2024-02-12 | None | No dataset link provided | Undersea canyons play disproportionately important roles as oceanic biological hotspots and are critical for our understanding of many coastal ecosystems. Canyon-associated biological hotspots have persisted for thousands of years Along the Western Antarctic Peninsula, despite significant climate variability. Observations of currents over Palmer Deep canyon, a representative hotspot along the Western Antarctic Peninsula, indicate that surface phytoplankton blooms enter and exit the local hotspot on scales of ~1-2 days. This time of residence is in conflict with the prevailing idea that canyon associated hotspots are primarily maintained by phytoplankton that are locally grown in association with these features by the upwelling of deep waters rich with nutrients that fuel the phytoplankton growth. Instead, the implication is that horizontal ocean circulation is likely more important to maintaining these biological hotspots than local upwelling through its physical concentrating effects. This project seeks to better resolve the factors that create and maintain focused areas of biological activity at canyons along the Western Antarctic Peninsula and create local foraging areas for marine mammals and birds. The project focus is in the analysis of the ocean transport and concentration mechanisms that sustain these biological hotspots, connecting oceanography to phytoplankton and krill, up through the food web to one of the resident predators, penguins. In addition, the research will engage with teachers from school districts serving underrepresented and underserved students by integrating the instructors and their students completely with the science team. Students will conduct their own research with the same data over the same time as researchers on the project. Revealing the fundamental mechanisms that sustain these known hotspots will significantly advance our understanding of the observed connection between submarine canyons and persistent penguin population hotspots over ecological time, and provide a new model for how Antarctic hotspots function.<br/> <br/> <br/>To understand the physical mechanisms that support persistent hotspots along the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP), this project will integrate a modeling and field program that will target the processes responsible for transporting and concentrating phytoplankton and krill biomass to known penguin foraging locations. Within the Palmer Deep canyon, a representative hotspot, the team will deploy a High Frequency Radar (HFR) coastal surface current mapping network, uniquely equipped to identify the eddies and frontal regions that concentrate phytoplankton and krill. The field program, centered on surface features identified by the HFR, will include (i) a coordinated fleet of gliders to survey hydrography, chlorophyll fluorescence, optical backscatter, and active acoustics at the scale of the targeted convergent features; (ii) precise penguin tracking with GPS-linked satellite telemetry and time-depth recorders (TDRs); (iii) and weekly small boat surveys that adaptively target and track convergent features to measure phytoplankton, krill, and hydrography. A high resolution physical model will generalize our field measurements to other known hotspots along the WAP through simulation and determine which physical mechanisms lead to the maintenance of these hotspots. The project will also engage educators, students, and members of the general public in Antarctic research and data analysis with an education program that will advance teaching and learning as well as broadening participation of under-represented groups. This engagement includes professional development workshops, live connections to the public and classrooms, student research symposia, and program evaluation. Together the integrated research and engagement will advance our understanding of the role regional transport pathways and local depth dependent concentrating physical mechanisms play in sustaining these biological hotspots.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria. | None | None | false | false | |||||||||
Collaborative Research: ANT LIA: Cumacean -Omics to Measure Mode of Adaptation to Antarctica (COMMAA)
|
2138993 2138994 |
2022-09-20 | Gerken, Sarah; Kocot, Kevin | No dataset link provided | The overarching goal of this research is to use cumaceans as a model system to explore invertebrate adaptations to the changing Antarctic. This project will leverage integrative taxonomy, functional, comparative and evolutionary genomics, and phylogenetic comparative methods to understand the true diversity of Cumacea in the Antarctic, identify genes and gene families experiencing expansions, selection, or significant differential expression, generate a broadly sampled and robust phylogenetic framework for Cumacea based on transcriptomes and genomes, and explore rates and timing of diversification in Antarctic cumaceans. The project will contribute to understanding of gene gain/loss, positive selection, and differential gene expression as a function of adaptation of organisms to Antarctic habitats. Phylogenomic analyses will provide a robust phylogenetic framework for Southern Ocean Cumacea. Currently, the only -omics level data that exists for the Cumacea is one transcriptome. This project will generate 8 genomes from 8 species, about 250 transcriptomes from about 70 species, and approximately 470 COI and 16S barcodes from about 100 species. Beyond the immediate scope of the current project, the genomic resources will be leveraged by members of the polar biology and invertebrate zoology communities for diverse other uses ranging from PCR primer development to inference of ancestral population sizes. In addition, curated morphological reference collections will be deposited at the Smithsonian, Los Angeles County Natural History Museum, and in the New Zealand National Water and Atmospheric Research collection at Greta Point, to assist future researchers in identification of Antarctic cumaceans. | POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60)) | POINT(0 -89.999) | false | false | |||||||||
Collaborative Research: Coring Seymour Island (CSI) Antarctica: Evaluating Causes and Effects of the End Cretaceous Mass Extinction
|
2026648 2025724 2020728 |
2022-09-15 | Tobin, Thomas; Totten, Rebecca | No dataset link provided | Non-technical description: <br/>This 4-year project is evaluating evidence of extinction patterns and depositional conditions from a high southern latitude Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) outcrop section found on Seymore Island, in the Western Antarctic Peninsula. The team is using sediment samples collected below the weathering horizon to evaluate detailed sedimentary structures, geochemistry, and microfossils in targeted stratigraphic intervals. The study will help determine if the K-Pg mass extinction was a single or double phased event and whether Seymour Island region in the geological past was a restricted, suboxic marine environment or an open well-mixed shelf. The award includes an integrated plan for student training at all levels, enhanced by a highlighted partnership with a high school earth sciences teacher working in a school serving underrepresented students.<br/>Technical description:<br/> The proposed research is applying multiple techniques to address an overarching research question for which recent studies are in disagreement: Is the fossil evidence from a unique outcropping on Seymour Island, Antarctica consistent with a single or double phased extinction? In a two-phased model, the first extinction would affect primarily benthic organisms and would have occurred ~150 kiloyears prior to a separate extinction at the K-Pg boundary. However, this early extinction could plausibly be explained by an unrecognized facies control that is obscured by surficial weathering. This team is using microfossil evidence with detailed sedimentary petrology and geochemistry data to evaluate if the fossil evidence from Seymour Island is consistent with a single or double phased extinction process. The team is using detailed sedimentary petrology and geochemistry methods to test for facies changes across the K-PG interval that would explain the apparent early extinction. Samples of core sedimentary foraminifera, siliceous microfossils, and calcareous nannofossils are being evaluated to provide a high-resolution stratigraphic resolution and to evaluate whether evidence for an early extinction is present. Additionally, the team is using multiple geochemical methods to evaluate whether there is evidence for intermittent anoxia or euxinia and/or physical restriction of the Seymore region basin. Data from this analysis will indicate if this region was a restricted, suboxic marine environment or an open well-mixed shelf. | POLYGON((-56.93 -64.2,-56.894 -64.2,-56.858 -64.2,-56.822 -64.2,-56.786 -64.2,-56.75 -64.2,-56.714 -64.2,-56.678 -64.2,-56.642 -64.2,-56.606 -64.2,-56.57 -64.2,-56.57 -64.214,-56.57 -64.22800000000001,-56.57 -64.242,-56.57 -64.256,-56.57 -64.27000000000001,-56.57 -64.284,-56.57 -64.298,-56.57 -64.312,-56.57 -64.32600000000001,-56.57 -64.34,-56.606 -64.34,-56.642 -64.34,-56.678 -64.34,-56.714 -64.34,-56.75 -64.34,-56.786 -64.34,-56.822 -64.34,-56.858 -64.34,-56.894 -64.34,-56.93 -64.34,-56.93 -64.32600000000001,-56.93 -64.312,-56.93 -64.298,-56.93 -64.284,-56.93 -64.27000000000001,-56.93 -64.256,-56.93 -64.242,-56.93 -64.22800000000001,-56.93 -64.214,-56.93 -64.2)) | POINT(-56.75 -64.27000000000001) | false | false | |||||||||
Collaborative Research: ANT LIA: Connecting Metagenome Potential to Microbial Function: Investigating Microbial Degradation of Complex Organic Matter Antarctic Benthic Sediments
|
2147045 |
2022-08-30 | Learman, Deric | No dataset link provided | Microbes in Antarctic surface marine sediments have an important role in degrading organic matter and releasing nutrients to the ocean. Organic matter degradation is at the center of the carbon cycle in the ocean, providing valuable information on nutrient recycling, food availability to animals and carbon dioxide release to the atmosphere. The functionality of these microbes has been inferred by their genomics, however these methods only address the possible function, not their actual rates. In this project the PIs plan to combine genomics methods with cellular estimates of enzyme abundance and activity as a way to determine the rates of carbon degradation. This project aims to sample in several regions of Antarctica to provide a large-scale picture of the processes under study and understand the importance of microbial community composition and environmental factors, such as primary productivity, have on microbial activity. The proposed work will combine research tools such as metagenomics, meta-transcriptomics, and metabolomics coupled with chemical data and enzyme assays to establish degradation of organic matter in Antarctic sediments. This project benefits NSFs goals of understanding the adaptation of Antarctic organisms to the cold and isolated environment, critical to predict effects of climate change to polar organisms, as well as contribute to our knowledge of how Antarctic organisms have adapted to this environment. Society will benefit from this project by education of 2 graduate students, undergraduates and K-12 students as well as increase public literacy through short videos production shared in YouTube. The PIs propose to advance understanding of polar microbial community function, by measuring enzyme and gene function of complex organic matter degradation in several ocean regions, providing a circum-Antarctic description of sediment processes. Two hypotheses are proposed. The first hypothesis states that many genes for the degradation of complex organic matter will be shared in sediments throughout a sampling transect and that where variations in gene content occur, it will reflect differences in the quantity and quality of organic matter, not regional variability. The second hypothesis states that a fraction of gene transcripts for organic matter degradation will not result in measurable enzyme activity due to post-translational modification or rapid degradation of the enzymes. The PIs will analyze sediment cores already collected in a 2020 cruise to the western Antarctic Peninsula with the additional request of participating in a cruise in 2023 to East Antarctica. The PIs will analyze sediments for metagenomics, meta-transcriptomics, and metabolomics coupled with geochemical data and enzyme assays to establish microbial degradation of complex organic matter in Antarctic sediments. Organic carbon concentrations and content in sediments will be measured with δ13C, δ15N, TOC porewater fluorescence in bulk organic carbon. Combined with determination of geographical variability as well as dependence on carbon sources, results from this study could provide the basis for new hypotheses on how climate variability, with increased water temperature, affects geochemistry in the Southern Ocean. | POLYGON((-180 -60,-168 -60,-156 -60,-144 -60,-132 -60,-120 -60,-108 -60,-96 -60,-84 -60,-72 -60,-60 -60,-60 -62,-60 -64,-60 -66,-60 -68,-60 -70,-60 -72,-60 -74,-60 -76,-60 -78,-60 -80,-72 -80,-84 -80,-96 -80,-108 -80,-120 -80,-132 -80,-144 -80,-156 -80,-168 -80,180 -80,171 -80,162 -80,153 -80,144 -80,135 -80,126 -80,117 -80,108 -80,99 -80,90 -80,90 -78,90 -76,90 -74,90 -72,90 -70,90 -68,90 -66,90 -64,90 -62,90 -60,99 -60,108 -60,117 -60,126 -60,135 -60,144 -60,153 -60,162 -60,171 -60,-180 -60)) | POINT(-165 -70) | false | false | |||||||||
ANT LIA: Do Molecular Data Support High Endemism and Divergent Evolution of Antarctic Marine Nematodes and their Host-associated Microbiomes?
|
2132641 |
2022-08-30 | Bik, Holly | No dataset link provided | Nematode worms are abundant and ubiquitous in marine sediment habitats worldwide, performing key functions such as nutrient cycling and sediment stability. However, study of this phylum suffers from a perpetual and severe taxonomic deficit, with less than 5,000 formally described marine species. Fauna from the Southern Ocean are especially poorly studied due to limited sampling and the general inaccessibility of the Antarctic benthos. This study is providing the first large-scale molecular-based investigation from marine nematodes in the Eastern Antarctic continental shelf, providing an important comparative dataset for the existing body of historical (morphological) taxonomic studies. This project uses a combination of classical taxonomy (microscopy) and modern -omics tools to achieve three overarching aims: 1) determine if molecular data supports high biodiversity and endemism of benthic meiofauna in Antarctic benthic ecosystems; 2) determine the proportion of marine nematode species that have a deep-sea versus shallow-water evolutionary origin on the Antarctic shelf, and assess patterns of cryptic speciation in the Southern Ocean; and 3) determine the most important drivers of the host-associated microbiome in Antarctic marine nematodes. This project is designed to rapidly advance knowledge of the evolutionary origins of Antarctic meiofauna, provide insight on population-level patterns within key indicator genera, and elucidate the potential ecological and environmental factors which may influence microbiome patterns. Broader Impacts activities include an intensive cruise- and land-based outreach program focusing on social media engagement and digital outreach products, raising awareness of Antarctic marine ecosystems and understudied microbial-animal relationships. The diverse research team includes female scientists, first-generation college students, and Latinx trainees. | POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -62,180 -64,180 -66,180 -68,180 -70,180 -72,180 -74,180 -76,180 -78,180 -80,144 -80,108 -80,72 -80,36 -80,0 -80,-36 -80,-72 -80,-108 -80,-144 -80,-180 -80,-180 -78,-180 -76,-180 -74,-180 -72,-180 -70,-180 -68,-180 -66,-180 -64,-180 -62,-180 -60)) | POINT(0 -89.999) | false | false | |||||||||
OPP-PRF: Benthic Iron Fluxes and Cycling in the Amundsen Sea
|
2212904 |
2022-08-07 | Herbert, Lisa | No dataset link provided | The Amundsen Sea, near the fastest melting Antarctic glaciers, hosts one of the most productive polar ecosystems in the world. Phytoplankton serve as the base of the food chain, and their growth also removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Phytoplankton growth is fertilized in this area by nutrient iron (Fe), which is only present at low concentrations in seawater. Prior studies have shown the seabed sediments may provide Fe to the Amundsen Sea ecosystem. However, sediment sources of Fe have never been studied here directly. This project fills this gap by analyzing sediments from the Amundsen Sea and investigating whether sediment Fe fertilizes plankton growth. The results will help scientists understand the basic ecosystem drivers and predict the effects of climate change on this vibrant, vulnerable region. This project also emphasizes inclusivity and openness to the public. The researchers will establish a mentoring network for diverse polar scientists through the Polar Impact Network and communicate their results to the public through CryoConnect.org. This project leverages samples already collected from the Amundsen Sea (NBP22-02) to investigate sediment Fe cycling and fluxes. The broad questions driving this research are 1) does benthic Fe fertilize Antarctic coastal primary productivity, and 2) what are the feedbacks between benthic Fe release and carbon cycling in the coastal Antarctic? To answer these questions, the researchers will analyze pore water Fe content and speciation and calculate fluxes of Fe across the sediment-water interface. These results will be compared to sediment characteristics (e.g., organic carbon content, reactive Fe content, proximity to glacial sources) to identify controls on benthic Fe release. This research dovetails with and expands on the science goals of the “Accelerating Thwaites Ecosystem Impacts for the Southern Ocean” (ARTEMIS) project through which the field samples were collected. In turn, the findings of ARTEMIS regarding modeled and observed trace metal dynamics, surface water productivity, and carbon cycling will inform the conclusions of this project, allowing insight into the impact of benthic Fe in the whole system. This project represents a unique opportunity for combined study of the water column and sediment biogeochemistry which will be of great value to the marine biogeochemistry community and will inform future sediment-ocean studies in polar oceanography and beyond. | POLYGON((-120 -71,-118 -71,-116 -71,-114 -71,-112 -71,-110 -71,-108 -71,-106 -71,-104 -71,-102 -71,-100 -71,-100 -71.4,-100 -71.8,-100 -72.2,-100 -72.6,-100 -73,-100 -73.4,-100 -73.8,-100 -74.2,-100 -74.6,-100 -75,-102 -75,-104 -75,-106 -75,-108 -75,-110 -75,-112 -75,-114 -75,-116 -75,-118 -75,-120 -75,-120 -74.6,-120 -74.2,-120 -73.8,-120 -73.4,-120 -73,-120 -72.6,-120 -72.2,-120 -71.8,-120 -71.4,-120 -71)) | POINT(-110 -73) | false | false | |||||||||
RAPID: Monographing the Antarctic and Subantarctic Cumacea
|
2032029 |
2022-06-13 | Gerken, Sarah |
|
Ocean communities play an important role in determining the natural and human impacts of global change. The most conspicuous members of those communities are generally large vertebrates such as marine mammals and sea birds. But smaller animals often determine how the changes impact those charismatic animals. In the Antarctic, where some of the most dramatic physical changes are taking place, we do not know much about what small animals exist. This project will sample the sub-Antarctic and three different Antarctic seas with a hope of identifying, quantifying and discovering the variation in species of a group of small invertebrates. Comma shrimp, also called cumaceans, are rarely seen elsewhere but may be common and important in the communities of these locations. Antarctic sampling traditionally used gear that was not very effective at catching cumaceans so we do not know what species exist there and how common they are. This study will utilize modern sampling methods that will allow comma shrimp to be sampled. This will lead to discoveries about the diversity and abundance of comma shrimp, as well as their relationship to other invertebrate species. Major impacts of this work will be an enhancement of museum collections, the development of description of all the comma shrimp of Antarctica including new and unnamed species. Those contributions may be especially important as we strive to understand what drives the dynamics of charismatic vertebrates and fisheries that are tied to Antarctic food webs. <br/><br/>This project will collect cumaceans from benthic samples from the Antarctic peninsula, Bransfield Strait, and the Weddell Sea using benthic sleds, boxcores and megacores. Specimens will be fixed in 95% ethanol, preserved in 95% ethanol and 5% glycerin to preserve both morphology and DNA, and some specimens will be partially or wholly preserved in RNALater to preserve RNA and DNA. The specimens will form the basis for a monograph synthesizing current knowledge on the Subantarctic and Antarctic Cumacea, including diagnoses of all species, descriptions of new species, additional description for currently unknown life stages of known species, and vouchered gene sequences for all species collected. The monograph will include keys to all families, genera and species known from the region. Monographic revisions that include identification resources are typically useful for decades to a broad spectrum of other scientists.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria. | POLYGON((-70 -62,-68.5 -62,-67 -62,-65.5 -62,-64 -62,-62.5 -62,-61 -62,-59.5 -62,-58 -62,-56.5 -62,-55 -62,-55 -62.8,-55 -63.6,-55 -64.4,-55 -65.2,-55 -66,-55 -66.8,-55 -67.6,-55 -68.4,-55 -69.2,-55 -70,-56.5 -70,-58 -70,-59.5 -70,-61 -70,-62.5 -70,-64 -70,-65.5 -70,-67 -70,-68.5 -70,-70 -70,-70 -69.2,-70 -68.4,-70 -67.6,-70 -66.8,-70 -66,-70 -65.2,-70 -64.4,-70 -63.6,-70 -62.8,-70 -62)) | POINT(-62.5 -66) | false | false | |||||||||
Investigating the influence of ocean temperature on Antarctic Ice Sheet evolution during the early to middle Pleistocene
|
2139051 |
2021-11-05 | Michelle, Guitard | No dataset link provided | The Mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT; ~1.25–0.7 Ma) marks the shift from glacial-interglacial cycles paced by obliquity (~41 kyr cycles) to those paced by eccentricity (~100-kyr cycles). This transition occurred despite little variation in Earth’s orbital parameters, suggesting a role for internal climate feedbacks. The MPT was accompanied by decreasing atmospheric pCO2, increasing deep ocean carbon storage, and changes in deep water formation and distribution, all of which are linked to Antarctic margin atmosphere-ice-ocean interactions. However, Pleistocene records that document such interactions are rarely preserved on the shelf due to repeated Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) advance; instead, they are preserved in deep Southern Ocean basins. This project takes advantage of the excellent preservation and recovery of continuous Pleistocene sediment sequences collected from the Scotia Sea during International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 382 to test the following hypotheses: 1) Southern Ocean upper ocean temperatures vary on orbital timescales during the early to middle Pleistocene (2.6–0.7 Ma), and 2) Southern Ocean temperatures co-vary with AIS advance/retreat cycles. Paleotemperatures will be reconstructed using the TetraEther indeX of tetraethers containing 86 carbons (TEX86), a proxy that utilizes marine archaeal biomarkers. The Scotia Sea TEX86-based paleotemperature record will be compared to records of AIS variability, including ice rafted debris. Expedition 382 records will be compared to orbitally paced climatic time series and the benthic oxygen isotope record of global ice volume and bottom water temperature to determine if a correlation exists between upper ocean temperature, AIS retreat/advance, and orbital climate forcing. | POLYGON((-45 -57,-44.3 -57,-43.6 -57,-42.9 -57,-42.2 -57,-41.5 -57,-40.8 -57,-40.1 -57,-39.4 -57,-38.7 -57,-38 -57,-38 -57.5,-38 -58,-38 -58.5,-38 -59,-38 -59.5,-38 -60,-38 -60.5,-38 -61,-38 -61.5,-38 -62,-38.7 -62,-39.4 -62,-40.1 -62,-40.8 -62,-41.5 -62,-42.2 -62,-42.9 -62,-43.6 -62,-44.3 -62,-45 -62,-45 -61.5,-45 -61,-45 -60.5,-45 -60,-45 -59.5,-45 -59,-45 -58.5,-45 -58,-45 -57.5,-45 -57)) | POINT(-41.5 -59.5) | false | false | |||||||||
Collaborative Research: Have transantarctic dispersal corridors impacted Antarctic marine biodiversity?
|
2225144 1916665 1916661 |
2021-09-22 | Halanych, Kenneth; Mahon, Andrew | No dataset link provided | Overview: The ice cover of Antarctica is changing rapidly, and some reports already suggest we are at, or possibly beyond, the tipping point for the Western Antarctic Ice Sheet collapse. Loss of this ice sheet will have profound effects on marine fauna, including dramatically changing habitat availability for benthic marine species in the Southern Ocean. Formation and collapse of the Western Antarctic Ice Sheet is a cyclical process suggesting that we can learn how fauna respond to ice loss by examining historical climate conditions. Evidence from sediment cores suggests a near complete collapse occurred ~1.1 MYA and modeling suggests a collapse as recent at 125 KYA. During such periods, transantarctic seaways connected the Ross and Weddell Seas. Interestingly, most theories regarding marine invertebrate distributions around the Antarctic focus on dispersal by the Antarctic Circumpolar Current or population bottlenecks and expansions generated by repeated cycles of glaciation and fail to account for transcontinental seaways. Although the impact of previous seaways on genetic structure of present-day populations has been largely ignored, a growing body of data reveal historical connections between Ross and Weddell invertebrate communities, suggesting historical dispersal between these present-day disconnected and distant basins. Future ice shelf collapses will likely reestablish such connections causing redistribution of marine taxa. By exploring alternative hypotheses about the factors that may have shaped patterns of biodiversity in the last couple of million years, our proposed work will aid prediction of possible changes that may, or may not, occur as the Antarctic ice sheets continue to deteriorate. Intellectual Merit: The overarching goal of this research is to understand environmental factors that have shaped patterns of present-day diversity in Antarctic benthic marine invertebrates. Building on our previous work examining circumpolar distributions of multiple marine benthic invertebrate, we are particularly interested in assessing if transantarctic waterways may help explain observed similarities between the Ross and Weddell Seas better than other possible explanations (e.g., dispersal by the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, or expansion from common glacial refugia). To this end, we will employ population genomic approaches using Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) markers that sample thousands of loci across the genome. Building on our previous phylogeographic studies, we will target 7 Antarctic benthic invertebrate taxa to test alternative hypothesis accounting for population genetic structure. Additionally, the current paradigm is that divergence between closely related, often cryptic, species is the result of genetic drift due to population bottlenecks caused by glaciation. We will directly test this assumption by mapping SNP data on to draft genomes of three of our target taxa to assess the degree of genetic divergence and look for signs of selection. If linkage groups under selection are found, we will examine cellular mechanisms under selection. Thus, our research directly addresses NSF programmatic goals to understand how Antarctic biota evolve and adapt. Broader Impacts: Our approach will test several hypotheses that dominate the current understanding of marine biodiversity patterns in the Antarctic providing relevance to several fields of Antarctic science. Also, there are implications for understanding and predicting effects of future ice shelf collapse. The PIs are committed to developing the next generation of researchers and actively engage underrepresented groups at all career stages. We expect to train a minimum of 4 graduate students, a postdoc and several undergraduates on this project. This work will include several specific outreach activities including continuation of our past social media efforts with cruise blogs which were accessed by several thousand unique IP addresses and presentations in K-8 classrooms that reach about 300+ children a year. We also propose to develop 15-20 short YouTube videos on Antarctic genomics as outreach products, we will conduct a photo exhibition, and we will develop two 3-day workshops aimed at students to introduce them to bioinformatics approaches. These works will have formal assessment. This proposal requires fieldwork in the Antarctic. | POLYGON((-72 -61,-69.8 -61,-67.6 -61,-65.4 -61,-63.2 -61,-61 -61,-58.8 -61,-56.6 -61,-54.4 -61,-52.2 -61,-50 -61,-50 -61.8,-50 -62.6,-50 -63.4,-50 -64.2,-50 -65,-50 -65.8,-50 -66.6,-50 -67.4,-50 -68.2,-50 -69,-52.2 -69,-54.4 -69,-56.6 -69,-58.8 -69,-61 -69,-63.2 -69,-65.4 -69,-67.6 -69,-69.8 -69,-72 -69,-72 -68.2,-72 -67.4,-72 -66.6,-72 -65.8,-72 -65,-72 -64.2,-72 -63.4,-72 -62.6,-72 -61.8,-72 -61)) | POINT(-61 -65) | false | false | |||||||||
CAREER: Ecosystem Impacts of Microbial Succession and Production at Antarctic Methane Seeps
|
2046800 |
2021-08-21 | Thurber, Andrew | No dataset link provided | Due to persistent cold temperatures, geographical isolation, and resulting evolutionary distinctness of Southern Ocean fauna, the study of Antarctic reducing habitats has the potential to fundamentally alter our understanding of the biologic processes that inhibit greenhouse gas emissions from our oceans. Marine methane, a greenhouse gas 25x as potent as carbon dioxide for warming our atmosphere, is currently a minor component of atmospheric forcing due to the microbial oxidation of methane within the oceans. Based on studies of persistent deep-sea seeps at mid- and northern latitudes we have learned that bacteria and archaea create a ‘sediment filter’ that oxidizes methane prior to its release. As increasing global temperatures have and will continue to alter the rate and variance of methane release, the ability of the microbial filter to respond to fluctuations in methane cycles is a critical yet unexplored avenue of research. Antarctica contains vast reservoirs of methane, equivalent to all of the permafrost in the Arctic, and yet we know almost nothing about the fauna that may mitigate its release, as until recently, we had not discovered an active methane seep. In 2012, a methane seep was discovered in the Ross Sea, Antarctica that formed in 2011 providing the first opportunity to study an active Antarctic methane-fueled habitat and simultaneously the impact of microbial succession on the oxidation of methane, a critical ecosystem service. Previous work has shown that after 5 years of seepage, the community was at an early stage of succession and unable to mitigate the release of methane from the seafloor. In addition, additional areas of seepage had begun nearby. This research aims to quantify the community trajectory of these seeps in relation to their role in the Antarctic Ecosystem, from greenhouse gas mitigation through supporting the food web. Through the application of genomic and transcriptomic approaches, taxa involved in methane cycling and genes activated by the addition of methane will be identified and contrasted with those from other geographical locations. These comparisons will elucidate how taxa have evolved and adapted to the polar environment. This research uses a ‘genome to ecosystem’ approach to advance our understanding of organismal and systems ecology in Antarctica. By quantifying the trajectory of community succession following the onset of methane emission, the research will decipher temporal shifts in biodiversity/ecosystem function relationships. Phylogenomic approaches focusing on taxa involved in methane cycling will advance the burgeoning field of microbial biogeography on a continent where earth’s history may have had a profound yet unquantified impact on microbial evolution. Further, the research will empirically quantify the role of chemosynthesis as a form of export production from seeps and in non-seep habitats in the nearshore Ross Sea benthos, informing our understanding of Antarctic carbon cycling. | POLYGON((162 -77,162.6 -77,163.2 -77,163.8 -77,164.4 -77,165 -77,165.6 -77,166.2 -77,166.8 -77,167.4 -77,168 -77,168 -77.1,168 -77.2,168 -77.3,168 -77.4,168 -77.5,168 -77.6,168 -77.7,168 -77.8,168 -77.9,168 -78,167.4 -78,166.8 -78,166.2 -78,165.6 -78,165 -78,164.4 -78,163.8 -78,163.2 -78,162.6 -78,162 -78,162 -77.9,162 -77.8,162 -77.7,162 -77.6,162 -77.5,162 -77.4,162 -77.3,162 -77.2,162 -77.1,162 -77)) | POINT(165 -77.5) | false | false | |||||||||
NSFGEO-NERC: Collaborative Research: Accelerating Thwaites Ecosystem Impacts for the Southern Ocean (ARTEMIS)
|
1941304 1941483 1941327 1941292 1941308 |
2021-08-20 | Yager, Patricia; Medeiros, Patricia; Sherrell, Robert; St-Laurent, Pierre; Fitzsimmons, Jessica; Stammerjohn, Sharon | The Amundsen Sea hosts the most productive polynya in all of Antarctica, with its vibrant green waters visible from space, and an atmospheric CO2 uptake density 10x higher than the Southern Ocean average. The region is vulnerable to climate change, experiencing rapid losses in sea ice, a changing icescape, and some of the fastest melting glaciers flowing from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS). ARTEMIS aims to characterize the climate-sensitive nature of glacial meltwater-driven micronutrient (iron, Fe) contributions driving ecosystem productivity and CO2 uptake in the coastal Antarctic. We propose to integrate observations and ocean modeling of these processes to enhance predictive capabilities. Currently, basal melt resulting from warm deep waters penetrating ice shelf cavities dominates mass losses of WAIS, contributing to sea level rise. These physical melting processes are being studied by the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration (ITGC). The impact of melting on the marine ecosystem has also been explored, and we know that productivity is due in part to Fe-rich, glacial meltwater-driven outflow. The biogeochemical composition of the outflow from the glaciers surrounding the Amundsen Sea is largely unstudied, however. Improved knowledge would provide keys to understanding meltwater's future impact on the ecosystem. An ongoing field program (TARSAN, part of the ITGC) offers the ideal physical oceanographic framework for our biogeochemical effort. We propose here to collaborate with TARSAN-supported UK scientists, providing value added to both team efforts. ARTEMIS will add shipboard measurements (trace metals, carbonate system, nutrients, organic matter, microorganisms) and biogeochemical sensors on autonomous vehicles to gather critical knowledge needed to understand the impact of the melting WAIS on both the coastal ecosystem and the regional carbon (C) cycle. Driving questions include: 1) what are the fluxes and chemical forms of Fe, C, and microorganisms in the ice shelf outflow? 2) what are the relative contributions to the ouflow from deep water, benthic, and glacial melt sources, and how do these inputs combine to affect the bioavailability of Fe? 3) How are Fe and C compounds modified as the outflow advects along the coastal current and mixes into the bloom region? and 4) what will be the effect of increased glacial melting, changes in the coastal icescape, and declining sea ice on theecosystem of the Amundsen Sea? Such questions fall outside the focus of the ITGC, but are of keen interest to Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems and Antarctic Integrated System Science programs. | POLYGON((-120 -71,-118 -71,-116 -71,-114 -71,-112 -71,-110 -71,-108 -71,-106 -71,-104 -71,-102 -71,-100 -71,-100 -71.4,-100 -71.8,-100 -72.2,-100 -72.6,-100 -73,-100 -73.4,-100 -73.8,-100 -74.2,-100 -74.6,-100 -75,-102 -75,-104 -75,-106 -75,-108 -75,-110 -75,-112 -75,-114 -75,-116 -75,-118 -75,-120 -75,-120 -74.6,-120 -74.2,-120 -73.8,-120 -73.4,-120 -73,-120 -72.6,-120 -72.2,-120 -71.8,-120 -71.4,-120 -71)) | POINT(-110 -73) | false | false | ||||||||||
Collaborative research: The Antarctic Scallop as Key to Paleoenvironments and Sea Ice Conditions: Understanding the Modern to Predict the Past
|
1745064 1745080 1745057 |
2021-08-06 | Walker, Sally; Gillikin, David; Perez-Huerta, Alberto; Andrus, Fred | The goal of this project is to discover whether the Antarctic scallop, Adamussium colbecki, provides a guide to sea-ice conditions in nearshore Antarctica today and in the past. Scallops may grow slower and live longer in habitats where sea ice persists for many years, limited by food, compared to habitats where sea ice melts out annually. Also, the chemicals retained in the shell during growth may provide crucial habitat information related to not only changing sea-ice conditions but also the type of food, whether it is recycled from the seafloor or produced by algae blooming when sea ice has melted. Unlocking the ecological imprint captured within the shell of the Antarctic Scallop will increase our understanding of changing sea-ice conditions in Antarctica. Further, because the Antarctic scallop had relatives living at the time when the Antarctic ice sheet first appeared, the scallop shell record may contain information on the stability of the ice sheet and the history of Antarctic shallow seas. Funding will also be integral for training a new generation of geoscientists in fossil and chemical forensics related to shallow sea habitats in Antarctica. Scallops are worldwide in distribution, are integral for structuring marine communities have an extensive fossil record dating to the late Devonian, and are increasingly recognized as important paleoenvironmental proxies because they are generally well preserved in the sediment and rock record. The primary goal of this project is to assess the differences in growth, lifespan, and chemistry (stable isotopes, trace elements) archived in the shell of the Antarctic scallop that may be indicative of two ice states: persistent (multiannual) sea ice at Explorers Cove (EC) and annual sea ice (that melts out every year) at Bay of Sails (BOS), western McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. This project will investigate growth and lifespan proxies (physical and geochemical) and will use high-resolution records of stable oxygen isotopes to determine if a melt-water signal is archived in A. colbecki shells and whether that signal captures the differing ice behavior at two sites (EC versus BOS). Stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen in association with trace elements will be used to examine subannual productivity spikes indicative of phytoplankton blooms, which are predicted to be more pronounced during open ocean conditions. Small growth increments in the outer calcite layer will be assessed to determine if they represent fortnightly growth, if so, they could provide a high-resolution proxy for monthly environmental processes. Unlocking the environmental archive preserved in A. colbecki shells may prove to be an important proxy for understanding changing sea-ice conditions in Antarctica's past. Funding will support a Ph.D. student and undergraduates from multiple institutions working on independent research projects. Web content focused on Antarctic marine communities will be designed for museum outreach, reaching thousands of middle-school children each year. | POLYGON((-180 -60,-144 -60,-108 -60,-72 -60,-36 -60,0 -60,36 -60,72 -60,108 -60,144 -60,180 -60,180 -63,180 -66,180 -69,180 -72,180 -75,180 -78,180 -81,180 -84,180 -87,180 -90,144 -90,108 -90,72 -90,36 -90,0 -90,-36 -90,-72 -90,-108 -90,-144 -90,-180 -90,-180 -87,-180 -84,-180 -81,-180 -78,-180 -75,-180 -72,-180 -69,-180 -66,-180 -63,-180 -60)) | POINT(0 -89.999) | false | false | ||||||||||
RAPID: Meta-genomic and Transcriptomic Investigation of Complex Organic Matter Degradation in Antarctic Benthic Sediments
|
2031442 |
2021-07-28 | Learman, Deric |
|
This proposal will provide genetic and enzymatic insight into how microbial communities in benthic sediments on the coastal shelf of Antarctica degrade complex organic matter. The current understanding of how benthic microbial communities respond and also degrade complex organic matter in Antarctica is fragmented. Recent work suggests benthic microbial communities are shaped by organic matter availability (encompassing both quantity and quality), however, these studies were observational and did not directly examine community function (e.g. enzyme activity and/or gene expression). Preliminary metagenomic data, collected from western Antarctica marine sediments, document gene potential for organic matter degradation throughout the entire sample set (spanning the Amundsen Sea, Bellingshausen Sea, and Ross Sea), but functional data was not collected. To date, studies have examined either enzyme activity or metagenomic potential but few have been able to directly connect the two. To address these gaps in knowledge, this proposal will utilize powerful tools such as metagenomics and metatranscriptomics, coupled with microcosm experiments, enzyme assays, and geochemical data. This hypothesis driven proposal will examine microbial communities from the continental shelf of Antarctica from two different regions (Bransfield Strait and Weddell Sea) to document the communities’ enzymatic activity and genes used to degrade complex organic matter. These data will expand our current knowledge of genetic potential towards a more direct understanding of enzyme function as it relates to degradation of complex organic matter in marine sediments from Antarctica. | POLYGON((-180 -60,-167.5 -60,-155 -60,-142.5 -60,-130 -60,-117.5 -60,-105 -60,-92.5 -60,-80 -60,-67.5 -60,-55 -60,-55 -62,-55 -64,-55 -66,-55 -68,-55 -70,-55 -72,-55 -74,-55 -76,-55 -78,-55 -80,-67.5 -80,-80 -80,-92.5 -80,-105 -80,-117.5 -80,-130 -80,-142.5 -80,-155 -80,-167.5 -80,180 -80,178 -80,176 -80,174 -80,172 -80,170 -80,168 -80,166 -80,164 -80,162 -80,160 -80,160 -78,160 -76,160 -74,160 -72,160 -70,160 -68,160 -66,160 -64,160 -62,160 -60,162 -60,164 -60,166 -60,168 -60,170 -60,172 -60,174 -60,176 -60,178 -60,-180 -60)) | POINT(-127.5 -70) | false | false | |||||||||
EAGER: Origin and Physiological Consequences of a Neoplasm Outbreak in Antarctic Fish
|
1947040 |
2021-07-01 | Postlethwait, John; Varsani, Arvind; Desvignes, Thomas | Overview: Antarctic biota face increasing stressors from warming oceans. A key question is: What will be the effect of warming waters on Antarctic biota? A gap in our knowledge is the identify of early harbingers of new stressors. In our recent field season, we unexpectedly discovered pink, wart-like neoplasms in Antarctic notothenioid fish, including Trematomus scotti (crowned notothen) and Nototheniops larseni (painted notothen). Neoplasms affected about 30% of T. scotti collected in Andvord Bay on the West Antarctic Peninsula and covered 10 to 30% of the bodies of affected individuals, usually in one contiguous patch. We collected samples from affected and apparently unaffected controls. We could not find evidence of any similar outbreak. Our overall goal is to learn the biological origins of this neoplasm and how it affects cellular function and organismal physiology. Intellectual Merit: Aim 1: Pathogenic agents. Aim 1a: To test the hypothesis that a virus causes the neoplasm. Methods involve isolating and sequencing viral nucleic acids from neoplasms and from unaffected skin and comparing sequences to known viruses. Aim 1b: To test the hypothesis that neoplasms are hosts to parasites not present in healthy skin. Methods include tissue sections and DNA sequencing to find evidence of parasitic organisms. Significance: achieving Aim 1 will narrow down possible etiological agents. An untested possibility is that environmental contaminants cause the condition; exploring that hypothesis would require further sampling outside the limits of an EAGER proposal. Aim 2: Cell-level pathology. Aim 2a: To test the hypothesis that the histopathology of the neoplasms is similar to other known skin neoplasias; alternatively, it might be a previously unknown type of neoplasia. Methods involve the examination of histological sections to identify pathology-specific characters. Aim 2b: To find effects of neoplasms on cell function. Methods involve performing whole-genome transcriptomics of affected and normal skin by RNA-seq and aligning reads to a T. scotti reference genome. Significance: achieving Aim 2 will define the cell biology and gene-expression phenotypes of the neoplasia, thus suggesting mechanisms that cause it. [Note: NSF deleted funds specifically to achieve the Aim 3, which nevertheless appears here to represent the original proposal.] Aim 3: Organismal pathology. Aim 3a: To test the hypothesis that the neoplasm has adverse effects on growth and physiology. Methods are to perform morphometrics in fish with neoplasms compared to age-matched controls from otolith studies. Aim 3b: To test the hypothesis that the neoplasia affects reproductive traits. Methods compare reproductive effort in affected and unaffected individuals. Significance: if the neoplasia has little consequences on growth and reproduction, our worry about its spread will be lessened, but if it is harmful, then Antarctic ecology, which largely depends on notothenioid fish, might be in danger. Achieving Aims 1-3 will advance knowledge by identifying the causes of a neoplasia outbreak in Antarctic fish. Work is potentially transformative because it might represent an early sign of Antarctic fish responses to the stress of global climate change. Proposed work would be the first to investigate a neoplasia outbreak in Antarctic fish. We will assess the project’s success by whether we identify a causative agent and its effects on physiology. Broader Impacts: Aim 4: Publicizing the neoplasia. We aim to raise awareness of the outbreak and publicize its distinct diagnostic features, including assays to detect it, by contributing to groups that track Antarctic ecosystems. Aim 5: Inclusion. We will involve underrepresented groups in scientific research with authentic research experiences. Achieving Aims 4 and 5 will benefit society because they will disseminate to scientific and lay communities a potential early-warning system for the effects of an apparently new neoplasia affecting, at least locally, a large proportion of a fish population. Dissemination will stir research to determine whether this neoplasia outbreak is an isolated event or is becoming a general phenomenon, and thus a concern for Antarctic ecosystems. Proposed research will enhance research infrastructure by providing tools to identify the neoplasia. Finally, the project will broaden access to research careers by exposing underserved high school students and undergraduates to an exciting live research project. | POLYGON((-65.3 -63.3,-65 -63.3,-64.7 -63.3,-64.4 -63.3,-64.1 -63.3,-63.8 -63.3,-63.5 -63.3,-63.2 -63.3,-62.9 -63.3,-62.6 -63.3,-62.3 -63.3,-62.3 -63.47,-62.3 -63.64,-62.3 -63.81,-62.3 -63.98,-62.3 -64.15,-62.3 -64.32,-62.3 -64.49,-62.3 -64.66,-62.3 -64.83,-62.3 -65,-62.6 -65,-62.9 -65,-63.2 -65,-63.5 -65,-63.8 -65,-64.1 -65,-64.4 -65,-64.7 -65,-65 -65,-65.3 -65,-65.3 -64.83,-65.3 -64.66,-65.3 -64.49,-65.3 -64.32,-65.3 -64.15,-65.3 -63.98,-65.3 -63.81,-65.3 -63.64,-65.3 -63.47,-65.3 -63.3)) | POINT(-63.8 -64.15) | false | false | ||||||||||
Seasonal Primary Productivity and Nitrogen Cycling in Photosynthetic Mats, Lake Fryxell, McMurdo Dry Valleys
|
1937748 |
2021-06-30 | Sumner, Dawn; Mackey, Tyler |
|
This project focuses on understanding annual changes in microbial life that grows on the bottom of Lake Fryxell, Antarctica. Because of its polar latitude, photosynthesis can only occur during the summer. During summer, photosynthetic bacteria supply communities with energy and oxygen. However, it is unknown how the microbes behave in the dark winter, when observations are not possible. This project will perform laboratory experiments with a cyanobacterial mat grown from Lake Fryxell samples. Once fieldwork is allowed, we will install environmental monitors and light-blocking shades over small parts of the communities in Lake Fryxell. The shades will extend winter conditions into the spring to allow researchers to characterize the winter behavior of the microbial communities. Researchers will measure changes in the water chemistry due to their activities when they first receive light as the shades are removed. Results are expected to provide insights into how organisms interact with and change their environments. The project extends these scientific results to building a better-prepared, more diverse workforce to perform scientific fieldwork. Fieldwork, including diving, will be performed in part by graduate students under the mentorship of world experts in Antarctic field science. In addition, the project will help students and early career scientists learn field skills by building an online “Guide to Thrive.” This web site will compile field tips ranging from basic gear use to advanced environmental protection techniques. Group leaders ranging from undergraduate teaching assistants to Antarctic expedition leaders will be able to choose appropriate components to build tailored guides for their participants to help them thrive in difficult field conditions. The researchers will measure laboratory-based and field-based seasonal metabolic and biogeochemical changes in benthic mats using differential gene expression and geochemical gradients. They will identify seasonal phenotypic differences and ecosystem effects induced by spring oxygen production. To do so, researchers will install environmental sensors and opaque shades over mats at three depths in the lake. The following spring, they will sample shaded and unshaded mats, remove the shades, track changes in pore water O2, H2S, pH, and redox with microelectrodes, and sample mats for transcriptomic analyses at intervals guided by geochemical changes. Pore water will be sampled for nutrient analyses. Field research will be supplemented with: laboratory experiments to refine field techniques (expanded effort due to COVID field restrictions); gene expression data analysis; and integration of results into a seasonal model of productivity and nitrogen cycling in Lake Fryxell. Results will provide insights into several key priorities for NSF, including how biotic, abiotic and environmental components of the benthic mats interact to affect the regional ecosystem. | POINT(163.183333 -77.616667) | POINT(163.183333 -77.616667) | false | false | |||||||||
Assemblage-wide effects of ocean acidification and ocean warming on ecologically important macroalgal-associated crustaceans in Antarctica
|
1848887 |
2021-06-21 | Amsler, Charles; McClintock, James | Undersea forests of seaweeds dominate the shallow waters of the central and northern coast of the western Antarctic Peninsula and provide critical structural habitat and carbon resources (food) for a host of marine organisms. Most of the seaweeds are chemically defended against herbivores yet support very high densities of herbivorous shrimp-like grazers (crustaceans, primarily amphipods) which greatly benefit their hosts by consuming filamentous and microscopic algae that otherwise overgrow the seaweeds. The amphipods benefit from the association with the chemically defended seaweeds by gaining an associational refuge from fish predation. The project builds on recent work that has demonstrated that several species of amphipods that are key members of crustacean assemblages associated with the seaweeds suffer significant mortality when chronically exposed to increased seawater acidity (reduced pH) and elevated temperatures representative of near-future oceans. By simulating these environmental conditions in the laboratory at Palmer Station, Antarctica, the investigators will test the overall hypothesis that ocean acidification will play a significant role in structuring crustacean assemblages associated with seaweeds. Broader impacts include expanding fundamental knowledge of the impacts of global climate change by focusing on a geographic region of the earth uniquely susceptible to climate change. This project will also further the NSF goals of training new generations of scientists and of making scientific discoveries available to the general public. This includes training graduate students and early career scientists with an emphasis on diversity, presentations to K-12 groups and the general public, and a variety of social media-based outreach programs. The project will compare population and assemblage-wide impacts of natural (ambient) and carbon dioxide enriched seawater on assemblages of seaweed-associated crustacean grazers. Based on prior results, it is likely that some species will be relative "winners" and some will be relative "losers" under the changed conditions. The project will then aim to carry out measurements of growth, calcification, mineralogy, the incidence of molts, and biochemical and energetic body composition for two key amphipod "winners" and two key amphipod "losers". These measurements will allow an assessment of what factors drive species-specific enhanced or diminished performance under conditions of ocean acidification and sea surface warming. The project will expand on what little is known about prospective impacts of changing conditions on benthic marine Crustacea, in Antarctica, a taxonomic group that faces the additional physiological stressor of molting. The project is likely to provide additional insight on the indirect regulation of the seaweeds that comprise Antarctic undersea forests that provide key architectural components of the coastal marine ecosystem. | POINT(-64.0527 -64.77423) | POINT(-64.0527 -64.77423) | false | false | ||||||||||
Collaborative Research: RAPID/Workshop - Antarctic Ecosystem Research following Ice Shelf Collapse and Iceberg Calving Events
|
1750630 1750903 1750888 |
2021-06-21 | Ingels, Jeroen; Aronson, Richard; Smith, Craig | No dataset link provided | Worldwide publicity surrounding the calving of an iceberg the size of Delaware in July 2017 from the Larsen C Ice Shelf on the eastern side of the Antarctic Peninsula presents a unique and time-sensitive opportunity for research and education on polar ecosystems in a changing climate. The goal of this project was to convene a workshop, drawing from the large fund of intellectual capital in the US and international Antarctic research communities. The two-day workshop was designed to bring scientists with expertise in Antarctic biological, ecological, and ecosystem sciences to Florida State University to share knowledge, identify important research knowledge gaps, and outline strategic plans for research. Major outcomes from the project were as follows. The international workshop to share and review knowledge concerning the response of Antarctic ecosystems to ice-shelf collapse was held at the Florida State University Coastal and Marine Laboratory (FSUCML) on 18-19 November 2017. Thirty-eight U.S. and international scientists attended the workshop, providing expertise in biological, ecological, geological, biogeographical, and glaciological sciences. Twenty-six additional scientists were either not able to attend or were declined because of having reached maximum capacity of the venue or for not responding to our invitation before the registration deadline. The latest results of ice-shelf research were presented, providing an overview of the current scientific knowledge and understanding of the biological, ecological, geological and cryospheric processes associated with ice-shelf collapse and its ecosystem-level consequences. In addition, several presentations focused on future plans to investigate the impacts of the recent Larsen C collapse. The following presentations were given at the meeting: 1) Cryospheric dynamics and ice-shelf collapse – past and future (M. Truffer, University of Alaska, Fairbanks) 2) The geological history and geological impacts of ice-shelf collapse on the Antarctic Peninsula (Scottt Ishman, Amy Leventer) 3) Pelagic ecosystem responses to ice-shelf collapse (Mattias Cape, Amy Leventer) 4) Benthic ecosystem response to ice-shelf collapse (Craig Smith, Pavica Sršen, Ann Vanreusel) 5) Larsen C and biotic homogenization of the benthos (Richard Aronson, James McClintock, Kathryn Smith, Brittany Steffel) 6) British Antarctic Survey: plans for Larsen C investigations early 2018 and in the future (Huw Griffiths) 7) Feedback on the workshop “Climate change impacts on marine ecosystems: implications for management of living resources and conservation” held 19-22 September 2017, Cambridge, UK (Alex Rogers) 8) Past research activities and plans for Larsen field work by the Alfred Wegener Institute, Germany (Charlotte Havermans, Dieter Piepenburg. One of the salient points emerging from the presentations and ensuing discussions was that, given our poor abilities to predict ecological outcomes of ice-shelf collapses, major cross-disciplinary efforts are needed on a variety of spatial and temporal scales to achieve a broader, predictive understanding of ecosystem consequences of climatic warming and ice-shelf failure. As part of the workshop, the FSUCML Polar Academy Team—Dr. Emily Dolan, Dr. Heidi Geisz, Barbara Shoplock, and Dr. Jeroen Ingels—initiated AntICE: "Antarctic Influences of Climate Change on Ecosystems" (AntICE). They reached out to various groups of school children in the local area (and continue to do so). The AntICE Team have been interacting with these children at Wakulla High School and Wakulla Elementary in Crawfordville; children from the Cornerstone Learning Community, Maclay Middle School, Gilchrist Elementary, and the School of Arts and Sciences in Tallahassee; and the Tallahassee-area homeschooling community to educate them about Antarctic ecosystems and ongoing climate change. The underlying idea was to make the children aware of climatic changes in the Antarctic and their effect on ecosystems so they, in turn, can spread this knowledge to their communities, family and friends – acting as ‘Polar Ambassadors’. We collaborated with the Polar-ICE project, an NSF-funded educational project that established the Polar Literacy Initiative. This program developed the Polar Literacy Principles, which outline essential concepts to improve public understanding of Antarctic and Arctic ecosystems. In the Polar Academy work, we used the Polar Literacy principles, the Polar Academy Team’s own Antarctic scientific efforts, and the experience of the FSU outreach and education program to engage with the children. We focused on the importance of Antarctic organisms and ecosystems, the uniqueness of its biota and the significance of its food webs, as well as how all these are changing and will change further with climate change. Using general presentations, case studies, scientific methodology, individual experiences, interactive discussions and Q&A sessions, the children were guided through the many issues Antarctic ecosystems are facing. Over 300 ''Polar ambassadors'' attended the interactive lectures and afterwards took their creativity to high latitudes by creating welcome letters, displays, dioramas, sculptures, videos and online media to present at the scientific workshop. Over 50 projects were created by the children (Please see supporting files for images). We were also joined by a photographer, Ryan David Reines, to document the event. More information, media and links to online outreach products are available at https://marinelab.fsu.edu/labs/ingels/outreach/polar-academy/ Further concrete products of the workshop: 1) a position-paper focusing on ideas, hypotheses and priorities for investigating the ecological impacts of ice-shelf collapse along the Antarctic Peninsula (Ingels et al., 2018; “The scientific response to Antarctic ice-shelf loss; Nature Climate Change 8, 848-851), and 2) a publication reviewing what is known and unknown about ecological responses to ice-shelf melt and collapse, outlining expected ecological outcomes of ice-shelf disintegration along the Antarctic Peninsula (Ingels et al., 2020; “Antarctic ecosystem responses following ice‐shelf collapse and iceberg calving: Science review and future research”, WIREs Climate Change, e682). The second publication was covered in the The Scientist and by a press-release in Germany, see https://www.altmetric.com/details/91826381. Other products included a poster presentation at the MEASO2018 conference in Hobart, Australia in 2018, and the above-mentioned visits to schools and institutes to talk about the research in invited seminars. We also conducted and active online outreach campaign, with dissemination of our work in various news outlets, blogs, and social media (e.g. reaching >750k total followers on twitter with the publications alone).' | POLYGON((-64 -66,-63.3 -66,-62.6 -66,-61.9 -66,-61.2 -66,-60.5 -66,-59.8 -66,-59.1 -66,-58.4 -66,-57.7 -66,-57 -66,-57 -66.3,-57 -66.6,-57 -66.9,-57 -67.2,-57 -67.5,-57 -67.8,-57 -68.1,-57 -68.4,-57 -68.7,-57 -69,-57.7 -69,-58.4 -69,-59.1 -69,-59.8 -69,-60.5 -69,-61.2 -69,-61.9 -69,-62.6 -69,-63.3 -69,-64 -69,-64 -68.7,-64 -68.4,-64 -68.1,-64 -67.8,-64 -67.5,-64 -67.2,-64 -66.9,-64 -66.6,-64 -66.3,-64 -66)) | POINT(-60.5 -67.5) | false | false | |||||||||
Thermal Sensitivity of Antarctic Embryos and Larvae: Effects of Temperature on Metabolism, Developmental Rate, and the Metabolic Cost of Development
|
1745130 |
2021-06-09 | Moran, Amy |
|
Antarctic marine ectotherms exhibit universally slow growth, low metabolic rates, and extended development, yet many of their rate processes related to physiology and metabolism are highly thermally sensitive. This suggests that small changes in temperature may result in dramatic changes to energy metabolism, growth, and the rate and duration of development. This project will measure the effects of temperature on metabolism, developmental rate, and the energetic cost of development of four common and ecologically important species of benthic Antarctic marine invertebrates. These effects will be measured over the functional ranges of the organisms and in the context of environmentally relevant seasonal shifts in temperature around McMurdo Sound. Recent data show that seasonal warming of ~1°C near McMurdo Station is accompanied by long-lasting hyperoxic events that impact the benthos in the nearshore boundary layer. This research will provide a more comprehensive understanding of both annual variation in environmental oxygen and temperature across the Sound, and whether this variation drives changes in developmental rate and energetics that are consistent with physiological acclimatization. These data will provide key information about potential impacts of warming Antarctic ectotherms. In addition, this project will support undergraduate and graduate research and partner with large-enrollment undergraduate courses and REU programs at an ANNH and AANAPISI Title III minority-serving institution. We have completed one of our two scheduled field and data-collecting seasons, but our research was put on hold by COVID and by equipment and sea ice conditions at McMurdo. We have established baseline information on energy utilization by embryos of several species under ambient conditions and early data suggest that metabolism is highly affected by temperature in the range of -2.0 C to 1 C, and less so thereafter. | POLYGON((163 -76,163.3 -76,163.6 -76,163.9 -76,164.2 -76,164.5 -76,164.8 -76,165.1 -76,165.4 -76,165.7 -76,166 -76,166 -76.2,166 -76.4,166 -76.6,166 -76.8,166 -77,166 -77.2,166 -77.4,166 -77.6,166 -77.8,166 -78,165.7 -78,165.4 -78,165.1 -78,164.8 -78,164.5 -78,164.2 -78,163.9 -78,163.6 -78,163.3 -78,163 -78,163 -77.8,163 -77.6,163 -77.4,163 -77.2,163 -77,163 -76.8,163 -76.6,163 -76.4,163 -76.2,163 -76)) | POINT(164.5 -77) | false | false | |||||||||
Habitat Severity and Internal Ice in Antarctic Notothenioid Fishes
|
1644196 |
2020-12-15 | Cziko, Paul; DeVries, Arthur | Notothenioid fishes live in the world's coldest marine waters surrounding Antarctica and have evolved strategies to avoid freezing. Past studies have shown that most Antarctic notothenioids produce special antifreeze proteins that prevent the growth of ice crystals that enter the body. While these proteins help prevent individuals from being killed by growing ice crystals, it is unclear how these fish avoid the accumulation of these small ice crystals inside their tissues over time. This project will observe how ice crystal accumulation relates to the harshness of a fish's environment within different habitats of McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. The researchers collected fishes and ocean observations at different field sites that cover a range of habitat severity in terms of temperature and iciness. The researchers installed an underwater ocean observatory near McMurdo Station (The McMurdo Oceanographic Observatory, MOO; Nov. 2017 - Nov. 2019) which included a conductivity-temperature-depth sensor (CTD), a high-definition video/still image camera and a research quality hydrophone. The observatory produced oceanographic data, time-lapse images of the immediate environs, and a high-resolution hydroacoustic dataset from the entire deployment. Seawater temperature data loggers were also deployed at other shallow, nearshore sites around McMurdo Sound to provide context and assessment of environmental conditions experienced by the fishes. | POLYGON((163.47 -77.14,163.803 -77.14,164.136 -77.14,164.469 -77.14,164.802 -77.14,165.135 -77.14,165.468 -77.14,165.801 -77.14,166.134 -77.14,166.467 -77.14,166.8 -77.14,166.8 -77.216,166.8 -77.292,166.8 -77.368,166.8 -77.444,166.8 -77.52,166.8 -77.596,166.8 -77.672,166.8 -77.748,166.8 -77.824,166.8 -77.9,166.467 -77.9,166.134 -77.9,165.801 -77.9,165.468 -77.9,165.135 -77.9,164.802 -77.9,164.469 -77.9,164.136 -77.9,163.803 -77.9,163.47 -77.9,163.47 -77.824,163.47 -77.748,163.47 -77.672,163.47 -77.596,163.47 -77.52,163.47 -77.444,163.47 -77.368,163.47 -77.292,163.47 -77.216,163.47 -77.14)) | POINT(165.135 -77.52) | false | false | ||||||||||
Collaborative Research in IPY: Abrupt Environmental Change in the Larsen Ice Shelf System, a Multidisciplinary Approach - Marine Ecosystems.
|
0732917 0732983 0732711 0732450 |
2020-10-09 | McCormick, Michael; Vernet, Maria; Van Dover, Cindy; Smith, Craig | A profound transformation in ecosystem structure and function is occurring in coastal waters of the western Weddell Sea, with the collapse of the Larsen B ice shelf. This transformation appears to be yielding a redistribution of energy flow between chemoautotrophic and photosynthetic production, and to be causing the rapid demise of the extraordinary seep ecosystem discovered beneath the ice shelf. This event provides an ideal opportunity to examine fundamental aspects of ecosystem transition associated with climate change. We propose to test the following hypotheses to elucidate the transformations occurring in marine ecosystems as a consequence of the Larsen B collapse: (1) The biogeographic isolation and sub-ice shelf setting of the Larsen B seep has led to novel habitat characteristics, chemoautotrophically dependent taxa and functional adaptations. (2) Benthic communities beneath the former Larsen B ice shelf are fundamentally different from assemblages at similar depths in the Weddell sea-ice zone, and resemble oligotrophic deep-sea communities. Larsen B assemblages are undergoing rapid change. (3) The previously dark, oligotrophic waters of the Larsen B embayment now support a thriving phototrophic community, with production rates and phytoplankton composition similar to other productive areas of the Weddell Sea. To document rapid changes occurring in the Larsen B ecosystem, we will use a remotely operated vehicle, shipboard samplers, and moored sediment traps. We will characterize microbial, macrofaunal and megafaunal components of the seep community; evaluate patterns of surface productivity, export flux, and benthic faunal composition in areas previously covered by the ice shelf, and compare these areas to the open sea-ice zone. These changes will be placed within the geological, glaciological and climatological context that led to ice-shelf retreat, through companion research projects funded in concert with this effort. Together these projects will help predict the likely consequences of ice-shelf collapse to marine ecosystems in other regions of Antarctica vulnerable to climate change. The research features international collaborators from Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom. The broader impacts include participation of a science writer; broadcast of science segments by members of the Jim Lehrer News Hour (Public Broadcasting System); material for summer courses in environmental change; mentoring of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows; and showcasing scientific activities and findings to students and public through podcasts. | POLYGON((-60.5 -63.1,-59.99 -63.1,-59.48 -63.1,-58.97 -63.1,-58.46 -63.1,-57.95 -63.1,-57.44 -63.1,-56.93 -63.1,-56.42 -63.1,-55.91 -63.1,-55.4 -63.1,-55.4 -63.29,-55.4 -63.48,-55.4 -63.67,-55.4 -63.86,-55.4 -64.05,-55.4 -64.24,-55.4 -64.43,-55.4 -64.62,-55.4 -64.81,-55.4 -65,-55.91 -65,-56.42 -65,-56.93 -65,-57.44 -65,-57.95 -65,-58.46 -65,-58.97 -65,-59.48 -65,-59.99 -65,-60.5 -65,-60.5 -64.81,-60.5 -64.62,-60.5 -64.43,-60.5 -64.24,-60.5 -64.05,-60.5 -63.86,-60.5 -63.67,-60.5 -63.48,-60.5 -63.29,-60.5 -63.1)) | POINT(-57.95 -64.05) | false | false | ||||||||||
Water Mass Structure and Bottom Water Formation in the Ice-age Southern Ocean
|
1542962 |
2020-09-25 | Anderson, Robert; Fleisher, Martin; Pavia, Frank | General: Scientists established more than 30 years ago that the climate-related variability of carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere over Earth’s ice-age cycles was regulated by the ocean. Hypotheses to explain how the ocean that regulates atmospheric carbon dioxide have long been debated, but they have proven to be difficult to test. This project was designed test one leading hypothesis, specifically that the ocean experienced greater density stratification during the ice ages. That is, with greater stratification during the ice ages and the slower replacement of deep water by cold dense water formed near the poles, the deep ocean would have held more carbon dioxide, which is produced by biological respiration of the organic carbon that constantly rains to the abyss in the form of dead organisms and organic debris that sink from the sunlit surface ocean. To test this hypothesis, the degree of ocean stratification during the last ice age and the rate of deep-water replacement was to be constrained by comparing the radiocarbon ages of organisms that grew in the surface ocean and at the sea floor within a critical region around Antarctica, where most of the replacement of deep waters occurs. Completing this work was expected to contribute toward improved models of future climate change. Climate scientists rely on models to estimate the amount of fossil fuel carbon dioxide that will be absorbed by the ocean in the future. Currently the ocean absorbs about 25% of the carbon dioxide produced by burning fossil fuels. Most of this carbon is absorbed in the Southern Ocean (the region around Antarctica). How this will change in the future is poorly known. Models have difficulty representing physical conditions in the Southern Ocean accurately, thereby adding substantial uncertainty to projections of future ocean uptake of carbon dioxide. Results of the proposed study will provide a benchmark to test the ability of models to simulate ocean processes under climate conditions distinctly different from those that occur today, ultimately leading to improvement of the models and to more reliable projections of future absorption of carbon dioxide by the ocean. Technical: The project added a research component to an existing scientific expedition to the Southern Ocean, in the region between the Ross Sea and New Zealand, that collected sediment cores at locations down the northern flank of the Pacific-Antarctic Ridge at approximately 170°W. The goal was to collect sediments at each location deposited since early in the peak of the last ice age. This region is unusual in the Southern Ocean in that sediments deposited during the last ice age contain foraminifera, tiny organisms with calcium carbonate shells, in much greater abundance than in other regions of the Southern Ocean. Foraminifera are widely used as an archive of several geochemical tracers of past ocean conditions. We proposed to compare the radiocarbon age of foraminifera that inhabited the surface ocean with the age of contemporary specimens that grew on the seabed. The difference in age between surface and deep-swelling organisms would have been used to discriminate between two proposed mechanisms of deep water renewal during the ice age: formation in coastal polynyas around the edge of Antarctica, much as occurs today, versus formation by open-ocean convection in deep-water regions far from the continent. If the latter mechanism prevails, then it was expected that surface and deep-dwelling foraminifera would exhibit similar radiocarbon ages. In the case of dominance of deep-water formation in coastal polynyas, one expects to find very different radiocarbon ages in the two populations of foraminifera. In the extreme case of greater ocean stratification during the last ice age, one even expects the surface dwellers to appear to be older than contemporary bottom dwellers because the targeted core sites lie directly under the region where the oldest deep waters outcrop at the surface following their long circuitous transit through the deep ocean. The primary objective of the proposed work was to reconstruct the water mass age structure of the Southern Ocean during the last ice age, which, in turn, is a primary factor that controls the amount of carbon dioxide stored in the deep sea. In addition, the presence of foraminifera in the cores to be recovered provides a valuable resource for many other paleoceanographic applications, such as: 1) the application of nitrogen isotopes to constrain the level of nutrient utilization in the Southern Ocean and, thus, the efficiency of the ocean’s biological pump, 2) the application of neodymium isotopes to constrain the transport history of deep water masses, 3) the application of boron isotopes and boron/calcium ratios to constrain the pH and inorganic carbon system parameters of ice-age seawater, and 4) the exploitation of metal/calcium ratios in foraminifera to reconstruct the temperature (Mg/Ca) and nutrient content (Cd/Ca) of deep waters during the last ice age at a location near their source near Antarctica. Unfortunately, the cores were shipped to the core repository in a horizontal orientation and there was sufficient distortion of the sediment that the radiocarbon ages of benthic foraminifera were uninterpretable. Therefore, we report only the radiocarbon dates for planktonic foraminifera as well as the total counts of elemental relative abundance from X-ray Fluorescence analysis of the cores. In addition, we used the expedition as an opportunity to collect water samples from which dissolved concentrations of long-lived isotope of thorium and protactinium were determined. Results from those analyses showed that lateral transport by isopycnal mixing dominates the supply of Pa to the Southern Ocean. We have also developed a new algorithm to correct for supply of Th by isopycnal mixing and thereby derive estimates of dust flux to the Southern Ocean. | POLYGON((-171 -57,-170.8 -57,-170.6 -57,-170.4 -57,-170.2 -57,-170 -57,-169.8 -57,-169.6 -57,-169.4 -57,-169.2 -57,-169 -57,-169 -57.72,-169 -58.44,-169 -59.16,-169 -59.88,-169 -60.6,-169 -61.32,-169 -62.04,-169 -62.76,-169 -63.48,-169 -64.2,-169.2 -64.2,-169.4 -64.2,-169.6 -64.2,-169.8 -64.2,-170 -64.2,-170.2 -64.2,-170.4 -64.2,-170.6 -64.2,-170.8 -64.2,-171 -64.2,-171 -63.48,-171 -62.76,-171 -62.04,-171 -61.32,-171 -60.6,-171 -59.88,-171 -59.16,-171 -58.44,-171 -57.72,-171 -57)) | POINT(-170 -60.6) | false | false | ||||||||||
Collaborative Research: Sea ice as a driver of Antarctic benthic macroalgal community composition and nearshore trophic connectivity
|
1744602 1744584 1744550 1744570 |
2020-06-04 | Amsler, Charles; McClintock, James; Iken, Katrin; Galloway, Aaron; Klein, Andrew | The western Antarctic Peninsula has become a model for understanding cold water communities and how they may be changing in Antarctica and elsewhere. Brown macroalgae (seaweeds) form extensive undersea forests in the northern portion of this region where they play a key role in providing both physical structure and a food (carbon) source for shallow water communities. Yet between Anvers Island (64 degrees S latitude) and Adelaide Island (67 S latitude) these macroalgae become markedly less abundant and diverse. This is probably because the habitat to the south is covered by more sea ice for a longer period, and the sea ice reduces the amount of light that reaches the algae. The reduced macroalgal cover undoubtedly impacts other organisms in the food web, but the ways in which it alters sea-floor community processes and organization is unknown. This project will quantitatively document the macroalgal communities at multiple sites between Anvers and Adelaide Islands using a combination of SCUBA diving, video surveys, and algal collections. Sea ice cover, light levels, and other environmental parameters on community structure will be modelled to determine which factors have the largest influence. Impacts on community structure, food webs, and carbon flow will be assessed through a mixture of SCUBA diving and video surveys. Broader impacts include the training of graduate students and a postdoctoral researcher, as well as numerous informal public education activities including lectures, presentations to K-12 groups, and a variety of social media-based outreach.<br/><br/>Macroalgal communities are more abundance and diverse to the north along the Western Antarctic Peninsula, perhaps due to the greater light availability that is associated with shorter period of sea-ice cover. This project will determine the causes and community level consequence of this variation in algal community structure. First, satellite data on sea ice extent and water turbidity will be used to select study sites between 64 S and 69 S where the extent of annual sea ice cover is the primary factor influencing subsurface light levels. Then, variations in macroalgal cover across these study sites will be determined by video line-transect surveys conducted by SCUBA divers. The health, growth, and physiological status of species found at the different sites will be determined by quadrat sampling. The relative importance of macroalgal-derived carbon to the common invertebrate consumers in the foodweb will be assessed with stable isotope and fatty acid biomarker techniques. This will reveal how variation in macroalgal abundance and species composition across the sea ice cover gradient impacts sea floor community composition and carbon flow throughout the food web. In combination, this work will facilitate predictions of how the ongoing reductions in extent and duration of sea ice cover that is occurring in the region as a result of global climate change will impact the structure of nearshore benthic communities.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria. | POLYGON((-70 -61,-69 -61,-68 -61,-67 -61,-66 -61,-65 -61,-64 -61,-63 -61,-62 -61,-61 -61,-60 -61,-60 -61.772,-60 -62.544,-60 -63.316,-60 -64.088,-60 -64.86,-60 -65.632,-60 -66.404,-60 -67.176,-60 -67.948,-60 -68.72,-61 -68.72,-62 -68.72,-63 -68.72,-64 -68.72,-65 -68.72,-66 -68.72,-67 -68.72,-68 -68.72,-69 -68.72,-70 -68.72,-70 -67.948,-70 -67.176,-70 -66.404,-70 -65.632,-70 -64.86,-70 -64.088,-70 -63.316,-70 -62.544,-70 -61.772,-70 -61)) | POINT(-65 -64.86) | false | false | ||||||||||
Antarctic Notothenioid Fish Freeze Avoidance and Genome-wide Evolution for Life in the Cold
|
0231006 1142158 |
2020-04-08 | Cheng, Chi-Hing; Devries, Arthur | Antarctic notothenioid fishes exhibit two adaptive traits to survive in frigid temperatures. The first of these is the production of anti-freeze proteins in their blood and tissues. The second is a system-wide ability to perform cellular and physiological functions at extremely cold temperatures.The proposal goals are to show how Antarctic fishes use these characteristics to avoid freezing, and which additional genes are turned on, or suppressed in order for these fishes to maintain normal physiological function in extreme cold temperatures. Progressively colder habitats are encountered in the high latitude McMurdo Sound and Ross Shelf region, along with somewhat milder near?shore water environments in the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP). By quantifying the extent of ice crystals invading and lodging in the spleen, the percentage of McMurdo Sound fish during austral summer (Oct-Feb) will be compared to the WAP intertidal fish during austral winter (Jul-Sep) to demonstrate their capability and extent of freeze avoidance. Resistance to ice entry in surface epithelia (e.g. skin, gill and intestinal lining) is another expression of the adaptation of these fish to otherwise lethally freezing conditions.<br/><br/>The adaptive nature of a uniquely characteristic polar genome will be explored by the study of the transcriptome (the set of expressed RNA transcripts that constitutes the precursor to set of proteins expressed by an entire genome). Three notothenioid species (E.maclovinus, D. Mawsoni and C. aceratus) will be analysed to document evolutionary genetic changes (both gain and loss) shaped by life under extreme chronic cold. A differential gene expression (DGE) study will be carried out on these different species to evaluate evolutionary modification of tissue-wide response to heat challenges. The transcriptomes and other sequencing libraries will contribute to de novo ice-fish genome sequencing efforts. | POLYGON((163 -76.5,163.5 -76.5,164 -76.5,164.5 -76.5,165 -76.5,165.5 -76.5,166 -76.5,166.5 -76.5,167 -76.5,167.5 -76.5,168 -76.5,168 -76.63,168 -76.76,168 -76.89,168 -77.02,168 -77.15,168 -77.28,168 -77.41,168 -77.54,168 -77.67,168 -77.8,167.5 -77.8,167 -77.8,166.5 -77.8,166 -77.8,165.5 -77.8,165 -77.8,164.5 -77.8,164 -77.8,163.5 -77.8,163 -77.8,163 -77.67,163 -77.54,163 -77.41,163 -77.28,163 -77.15,163 -77.02,163 -76.89,163 -76.76,163 -76.63,163 -76.5)) | POINT(165.5 -77.15) | false | false | ||||||||||
Collaborative Research: Pathways of Circumpolar Deep Water to West Antarctica from Profiling Float and Satellite Measurements
|
1341496 |
2019-12-10 | Girton, James; Rynearson, Tatiana |
|
Current oceanographic interest in the interaction of relatively warm water of the Southern Ocean Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) as it moves southward to the frigid waters of the Antarctic continental shelves is based on the potential importance of heat transport from the global ocean to the base of continental ice shelves. This is needed to understand the longer term mass balance of the continent, the stability of the vast Antarctic ice sheets and the rate at which sea-level will rise in a warming world. Improved observational knowledge of the mechanisms of how warming CDW moves across the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) is needed. Understanding this dynamical transport, believed to take place through the eddy flux of time-varying mesoscale circulation features, will improve coupled ocean-atmospheric climate models. The development of the next generation of coupled ocean-ice-climate models help us understand future changes in atmospheric heat fluxes, glacial and sea-ice balance, and changes in the Antarctic ecosystems. A recurring obstacle to our understanding is the lack of data in this distant region. In this project, a total of 10 subsurface profiling EM-APEX floats adapted to operate under sea ice were launched in 12 missions (and 2 recoveries) from 4 cruises of opportunity to the Amundsen Sea sector of the Antarctic continental margin during Austral summer. The floats were launched south of the Polar Front and measured shear, turbulence, temperature, and salinity to 2000m depth for 1-2 year missions while drifting with the CDW layer between profiles. | POLYGON((-142 -66,-135.3 -66,-128.6 -66,-121.9 -66,-115.2 -66,-108.5 -66,-101.8 -66,-95.1 -66,-88.4 -66,-81.7 -66,-75 -66,-75 -66.8,-75 -67.6,-75 -68.4,-75 -69.2,-75 -70,-75 -70.8,-75 -71.6,-75 -72.4,-75 -73.2,-75 -74,-81.7 -74,-88.4 -74,-95.1 -74,-101.8 -74,-108.5 -74,-115.2 -74,-121.9 -74,-128.6 -74,-135.3 -74,-142 -74,-142 -73.2,-142 -72.4,-142 -71.6,-142 -70.8,-142 -70,-142 -69.2,-142 -68.4,-142 -67.6,-142 -66.8,-142 -66)) | POINT(-108.5 -70) | false | false | |||||||||
High-resolution, Assemblage-specific Records of Diatom-bound N Isotopes from the Indian Sector of the Antarctic Ocean
|
1401489 |
2019-08-08 | Sigman, Daniel | ABSTRACT<br/>Intellectual Merit:<br/>The high concentration of the major nutrients nitrate and phosphate is a fundamental characteristic of the Antarctic Zone in the Southern Ocean and is central to its role in global ocean fertility and the global carbon cycle. The isotopic composition of diatom-bound organic nitrogen is one of the best hopes for reconstructing the nutrient status of polar surface waters over glacial cycles, which in turn may hold the explanation for the decline in atmospheric carbon dioxide during ice ages. The PIs propose to generate detailed diatom-bound nitrogen isotope (δ15Ndb) records from high sedimentation rate cores from the Kerguelen Plateau. Because the cores were collected at relatively shallow seafloor depths, they have adequate planktonic and benthic foraminifera to develop accurate age models. The resulting data could be compared with climate records from Antarctic ice cores and other archives to investigate climate-related changes, including the major steps into and out of ice ages and the millennial-scale events that occur during ice ages and at their ends. The records generated in this project will provide a critical test of hypotheses for the cause of lower ice age CO2.<br/><br/>Broader impacts:<br/>This study will contribute to the goal of understanding ice ages and past CO2 changes, which both have broad implications for future climate. Undergraduates will undertake summer internships, with the possibility of extending their work into junior year projects and senior theses. In addition, the PI will lead modules for two Princeton programs for middle school teachers and will host a teacher for a six-week summer research project. | POLYGON((-180 -45,-144 -45,-108 -45,-72 -45,-36 -45,0 -45,36 -45,72 -45,108 -45,144 -45,180 -45,180 -47.5,180 -50,180 -52.5,180 -55,180 -57.5,180 -60,180 -62.5,180 -65,180 -67.5,180 -70,144 -70,108 -70,72 -70,36 -70,0 -70,-36 -70,-72 -70,-108 -70,-144 -70,-180 -70,-180 -67.5,-180 -65,-180 -62.5,-180 -60,-180 -57.5,-180 -55,-180 -52.5,-180 -50,-180 -47.5,-180 -45)) | POINT(0 -89.999) | false | false | ||||||||||
Diatom and Oxygen Isotope Evidence of Pliocene Antarctic Ice Sheet Dynamics and Ross Sea Paleoceanography
|
1443420 |
2019-08-06 | Dodd, Justin; Scherer, Reed Paul; Warnock, Jonathan |
|
Abstract<br/>During the Early Pliocene, 4.8 to 3.4 million years ago, warmer-than-present global temperatures resulted in a retreat of the Ross Ice Shelf and West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Understanding changes in ocean dynamics during times of reduced ice volume and increased temperatures in the geologic past will improve the predictive models for these conditions. The primary goal of the proposed research is to develop a new oxygen isotope record of Pliocene oceanographic conditions near the Antarctic continent. Oxygen isotope values from the carbonate tests of benthic foraminifera have become the global standard for paleo-oceanographic studies, but foraminifera are sparse in high-latitude sediment cores. This research will instead make use of oxygen isotope measurements from diatom silica preserved in a marine sediment core from the Ross Sea. The project is the first attempt at using this method and will advance understanding of global ocean dynamics and ice sheet-ocean interactions during the Pliocene. The project will foster the professional development of two early-career scientists and serve as training for graduate and undergraduate student researchers. The PIs will use this project to introduce High School students to polar/oceanographic research, as well as stable isotope geochemistry. Collaboration with teachers via NSTA and Polar Educators International will ensure the implementation of excellent STEM learning activities and curricula for younger students. <br/><br/>Technical Description<br/>This project will produce a high-resolution oxygen isotope record from well-dated diatom rich sediments that have been cross-correlated with global benthic foraminifera oxygen isotope records. Diatom silica frustules deposited during the Early Pliocene and recovered by the ANDRILL Project (AND-1B) provide ideal material for this objective. Diatomite unites in the AND-1B core are nearly pure, with little evidence of opal formation. A diatom oxygen isotope record from this core offers the potential to constrain lingering uncertainties about Ross Sea and Southern Ocean paleoceanography and Antarctic Ice Sheet history during a time of high atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. Specifically, oxygen isotope variations will be used to constrain changes in the water temperature and/or freshwater flux in the Pliocene Ross Sea. Diatom species data from the AND-1B core have been used to infer variations in the extent and duration of seasonal sea ice coverage, sea surface temperatures, and mid-water advection onto the continental shelf. However, the diatom oxygen isotope record will provide the first direct measure of water/oxygen isotope values at the Antarctic continental margin during the Pliocene. | POLYGON((167.07 -77.87,167.073 -77.87,167.076 -77.87,167.079 -77.87,167.082 -77.87,167.085 -77.87,167.088 -77.87,167.091 -77.87,167.094 -77.87,167.097 -77.87,167.1 -77.87,167.1 -77.873,167.1 -77.876,167.1 -77.879,167.1 -77.882,167.1 -77.885,167.1 -77.888,167.1 -77.891,167.1 -77.894,167.1 -77.897,167.1 -77.9,167.097 -77.9,167.094 -77.9,167.091 -77.9,167.088 -77.9,167.085 -77.9,167.082 -77.9,167.079 -77.9,167.076 -77.9,167.073 -77.9,167.07 -77.9,167.07 -77.897,167.07 -77.894,167.07 -77.891,167.07 -77.888,167.07 -77.885,167.07 -77.882,167.07 -77.879,167.07 -77.876,167.07 -77.873,167.07 -77.87)) | POINT(167.085 -77.885) | false | false | |||||||||
Timing and Duration of the LGM and Post-LGM Grounding Events in Whales Deep Paleo Ice Stream, Eastern Ross Sea Middle Continental Shelf
|
1246357 |
2019-06-03 | Bart, Philip; Steinberg, Deborah |
|
Intellectual Merit: Evidence from the eastern Ross Sea continental shelf indicates that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet advanced and retreated during the last glacial cycle, but it is unclear whether the ice sheet advanced to the shelf edge or just to the middle shelf. These two end-member scenarios offer different interpretations as to why, how, and when the West Antarctic Ice Sheet oscillated. The PI proposes to acquire seismic, multibeam, and core data from Whales Deep, to evaluate the timing and duration of two advances of grounded ice to the outer and middle shelf of the Whales Deep Basin, a West Antarctic Ice Sheet paleo ice stream trough in eastern Ross Sea. Grounding events are represented by seismically resolvable Grounding Zone Wedges. The PI will collect radiocarbon dates on in situ benthic foraminifera from the grounding zone diamict as well as ramped pyrolysis radiocarbon dates on acid insoluble organics from open-marine mud overlying the grounding zone diamict. Using these data the PI will calculate the duration of the two grounding events. Furthermore, the PI will test a numerical model prediction that West Antarctic Ice Sheet retreat must have involved melting at the marine terminus of the ice sheet. Pore-water from the grounding zone diamict will be extracted from piston cores to determine salinity and δ18O values that should indicate if significant melting occurred at the grounding line. Broader impacts: The data collected will provide constraints on the timing and pattern of Last Glacial Maximum advance and retreat that can be incorporated into interpretations of ice-surface elevation changes. The proposed activities will provide valuable field and research training to undergraduate/graduate students and a Louisiana high-school science teacher. The research will be interactively shared with middle- and high-school science students and with visitors to the LSU Museum of Natural Science Weekend-Science Program. | None | None | false | false | |||||||||
EAGER: Elucidating the Antarctic Methane Cycle at the Cinder Cones Reducing Habitat.
|
1642570 |
2019-05-24 | Thurber, Andrew |
|
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that is naturally emitted into the oceans by geologic seeps and microbial production. Based on studies of persistent deep-sea seeps at mid- and northern latitudes, researchers have learned that bacteria and archaea can create a "sediment filter" that oxidizes methane prior to its release. Antarctica is thought to contain large reservoirs of organic carbon buried beneath its ice which could a quantity of methane equivalent to all of the permafrost in the Arctic and yet we know almost nothing about the methane oxidizing microbes in this region. How these microbial communities develop and potentially respond to fluctuations in methane levels is an under-explored avenue of research. A bacterial mat was recently discovered at 78 degrees south, suggesting the possible presence of a methane seep, and associated microbial communities. This project will explore this environment in detail to assess the levels and origin of methane, and the nature of the microbial ecosystem present. <br/> <br/>An expansive bacterial mat appeared and/or was discovered at 78 degrees south in 2011. This site, near McMurdo Station Antarctica, has been visited since the mid-1960s, but this mat was not observed until 2011. The finding of this site provides an unusual opportunity to study an Antarctic marine benthic habitat with active methane cycling and to examine the dynamics of recruitment and community succession of seep fauna including bacteria, archaea, protists and metazoans. This project will collect the necessary baseline data to facilitate further studies of Antarctic methane cycling. The concentration and source of methane will be determined at this site and at potentially analogous sites in McMurdo Sound. In addition to biogeochemical characterization of the sites, molecular analysis of the microbial community will quantify the time scales on which bacteria and archaea respond to methane input and provide information on rates of community development and succession in the Southern Ocean. Project activities will facilitate the training of at least one graduate student and results will be shared at both local and international levels. A female graduate student will be mentored as part of this project and data collected will form part of her dissertation. Lectures will be given in K-12 classrooms in Oregon to excite students about polar science. National and international audiences will be reached through blogs and presentations at a scientific conference. The PI's previous blogs have been used by K-12 classrooms as part of their lesson plans and followed in over 65 countries.<br/> | POINT(166.666 -77.8) | POINT(166.666 -77.8) | false | false | |||||||||
RAPID: Collaborative Research: Marine Ecosystem Response to the Larsen C Ice-Shelf Breakout: "Time zero"
|
1822289 1822256 |
2019-05-15 | Vernet, Maria; Smith, Craig |
|
Marine ecosystems under large ice shelves are thought to contain sparse, low-diversity plankton and seafloor communities due the low supply of food from productive sunlight waters. Past studies have shown sub-ice shelf ecosystems to change in response to altered oceanographic processes resulting from ice-shelve retreat. However, information on community changes and ecosystem structure under ice shelves are limited because sub-ice-shelf ecosystems have either been sampled many years after ice-shelf breakout, or have been sampled through small boreholes, yielding extremely limited spatial information. The recent breakout of the A-68 iceberg from the Larsen C ice shelf in the western Weddell Sea provides an opportunity to use a ship-based study to evaluate benthic communities and water column characteristics in an area recently vacated by a large overlying ice shelf. The opportunity will allow spatial assessments at the time of transition from an under ice-shelf environment to one initially exposed to conditions more typical of a coastal Antarctic marine setting. \r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nThis RAPID project will help determine the state of a coastal Antarctic ecosystem newly exposed from ice-shelf cover and will aid in understanding of rates of community change during transition. The project will conduct a 10-day field program, allowing contrasts to be made of phytoplankton and seafloor megafaunal communities in areas recently exposed by ice-shelf loss to areas exposed for many decades. The project will be undertaken in a collaborative manner with the South Korean Antarctic Agency, KOPRI, by participating in a cruise in March/May 2018. Combining new information in the area of Larsen C with existing observations after the Larsen A and B ice shelf breakups further to the north, the project is expected to generate a dataset that can elucidate fundamental processes of planktonic and benthic community development in transition from food-poor to food-rich ecosystems. The project will provide field experience to two graduate students, a post-doctoral associate and an undergraduate student. Material from the project will be incorporated into graduate courses and the project will communicate daily work and unfolding events through social media and blogs while they explore this area of the world that is largely underexplored. | POLYGON((-59.5 -62,-59.05 -62,-58.6 -62,-58.15 -62,-57.7 -62,-57.25 -62,-56.8 -62,-56.35 -62,-55.9 -62,-55.45 -62,-55 -62,-55 -62.27,-55 -62.54,-55 -62.81,-55 -63.08,-55 -63.35,-55 -63.62,-55 -63.89,-55 -64.16,-55 -64.43,-55 -64.7,-55.45 -64.7,-55.9 -64.7,-56.35 -64.7,-56.8 -64.7,-57.25 -64.7,-57.7 -64.7,-58.15 -64.7,-58.6 -64.7,-59.05 -64.7,-59.5 -64.7,-59.5 -64.43,-59.5 -64.16,-59.5 -63.89,-59.5 -63.62,-59.5 -63.35,-59.5 -63.08,-59.5 -62.81,-59.5 -62.54,-59.5 -62.27,-59.5 -62)) | POINT(-57.25 -63.35) | false | false | |||||||||
Cold Corals in Hot Water - Investigating the Physiological Responses of Antarctic Coral Larvae to Climate change Stress
|
1245766 |
2019-03-07 | Waller, Rhian; Jay, Lunden |
|
The Western Antarctic Peninsula is experiencing climate change at one of the fastest rates of anywhere around the globe. Accelerated climate change is likely to affect the many benthic marine invertebrates that live within narrow temperature windows along the Antarctic Continental Shelf in presently unidentified ways. At present however, there are few data on the physiological consequences of climate change on the sensitive larval stages of cold-water corals, and none on species living in thermal extremes such as polar waters. This project will collect the larvae of the non-seasonal, brooding scleractinian Flabellum impensum to be used in a month-long climate change experiment at Palmer Station. Multidisciplinary techniques will be used to examine larval development and cellular stress using a combination of electron microscopy, flow cytometry, and Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectometry. Data from this project will form the first systematic study of the larval stages of polar cold-water corals, and how these stages are affected by temperature stress at the cellular and developmental level. <br/><br/>Cold-water corals have been shown to be important ecosystem engineers, providing habitat for thousands of associated species, including many that are of commercial importance. Understanding how the larvae of these corals react to warming trends seen today in our oceans will allow researchers to predict future changes in important benthic communities around the globe. Associated education and outreach include: 1) Increasing student participation in polar research by involving postdoctoral and undergraduate students in the field and research program; ii) promotion of K-12 teaching and learning programs by providing information via a research website, Twitter, and in-school talks in the local area; iii) making the data collected available to the wider research community via peer reviewed published literature and iv) reaching a larger public audience through such venues as interviews in the popular media, You Tube and other popular media outlets, and local talks to the general public. | POINT(-63.0796667 -61.5157) | POINT(-63.0796667 -61.5157) | false | false | |||||||||
Collaborative Research: The Chemical Ecology of Shallow-water Marine Macroalgae and Invertebrates on the Antarctic Peninsula - continuing
|
1341333 1341339 |
2019-03-05 | Amsler, Charles; Baker, Bill; McClintock, James | The coastal environments of the western Antarctic Peninsula harbor rich assemblages of marine animals and algae. The importance of the interactions between these groups of organisms in the ecology of coastal Antarctica are well known and often mediated by chemical defenses in the tissues of the algae. These chemicals are meant to deter feeding by snails and other marine animals making the Antarctic Peninsula an excellent place to ask important questions about the functional and evolutionary significance of chemical compound diversity for marine communities. This project will focus on three main objectives: the first objective is to expand the current understanding of the relationship between algae and their associated marine animals. The second objective focuses on the diversity of chemical compounds used to defend algae from being consumed. The third objective seeks to understand how marine animals can benefit from these compounds by consuming the algae that contain them, and then using those compounds to chemically deter predators. The field components of this research will be performed during three expeditions to the US Palmer Station, Antarctica. During these expeditions, a variety of laboratory feeding bioassays, manipulative field and laboratory experiments, and on-site chemical analyses will be performed. The investigators will also foster opportunities to integrate their NSF research with a variety of educational activities. As in the past they will support undergraduate research, both through NSF programs as well as home, university-based, programs, and they will also continue to support and foster graduate education. Through their highly successful University of Alabama in Antarctica interactive web program (two time recipient of awards of excellence from the US Council for Advancement and Support of Education), they will continue to involve large numbers of teachers, K-12 students, and other members of the community at large in their scientific endeavors in Antarctica. In addition, the investigators have hosted K-12 teachers on their Antarctic field teams through the former NSF Teachers Experiencing Antarctica and the Arctic program and will pursue participation in PolarTREC, the successor to this valuable program. Moreover, they will actively participate in outreach efforts by presenting numerous talks on their research to local school and community groups. <br/><br/>The near shore environments of the western Antarctic Peninsula harbor rich assemblages of macroalgae and macroinvertebrates. The importance of predator-prey interactions and chemical defenses in mediating community-wide trophic interactions makes the western Antarctic Peninsula an excellent place to ask important questions about the functional and evolutionary significance of defensive compound diversity for marine communities. This project will focus on three main objectives which are a direct outcome of the past studies of the chemical ecology of shallow-water marine macroalgae and invertebrates on the Antarctic Peninsula by this group of investigators. The first objective is to expand the current understanding of a community-wide mutualism between macroalgae and their associated amphipods to include gastropods, which are also abundant on many macroalgae. The second objective focuses on the diversity of chemical compounds used to defend macroalgae from being consumed, particularly in the common red alga Plocamium cartilagineum. The third objective seeks to understand the relationship between P. cartilagineum and the amphipod Paradexamine fissicauda, including the ecological benefits and costs to P. fissicauda resulting from the ability to consume P. cartilagineum and other chemically defended red algae. The investigators will focus on the costs and benefits related to the ability of P. fissicauda to sequester defensive compounds from the alga P. cartilagineum and use those chemicals to defend itself from predation. The field components of this research will be performed during three expeditions to Palmer Station, Antarctica. During these expeditions, a variety of laboratory feeding bioassays, manipulative field and laboratory experiments, and on-site chemical analyses will be performed. Phylogenetic analyses, detailed secondary metabolite chemical analyses and purifications, and other data analyses will also be performed at the investigators' home institutions between and after their field seasons. | POLYGON((-65 -65,-64.8 -65,-64.6 -65,-64.4 -65,-64.2 -65,-64 -65,-63.8 -65,-63.6 -65,-63.4 -65,-63.2 -65,-63 -65,-63 -64.9,-63 -64.8,-63 -64.7,-63 -64.6,-63 -64.5,-63 -64.4,-63 -64.3,-63 -64.2,-63 -64.1,-63 -64,-63.2 -64,-63.4 -64,-63.6 -64,-63.8 -64,-64 -64,-64.2 -64,-64.4 -64,-64.6 -64,-64.8 -64,-65 -64,-65 -64.1,-65 -64.2,-65 -64.3,-65 -64.4,-65 -64.5,-65 -64.6,-65 -64.7,-65 -64.8,-65 -64.9,-65 -65)) | POINT(-64 -64.5) | false | false | ||||||||||
Collaborative Research: RAPID/Workshop- Antarctic Ecosystem Research following Ice Shelf Collapse and Iceberg Calving Events
|
1750630 |
2019-02-15 | Smith, Craig | No dataset link provided | Worldwide publicity surrounding the calving of an iceberg the size of Delaware in July 2017 from the Larsen C Ice Shelf on the eastern side of the Antarctic Peninsula presents a unique and time-sensitive opportunity for research and education on polar ecosystems in a changing climate. The goal of this project was to convene a workshop, drawing from the large fund of intellectual capital in the US and international Antarctic research communities. The two-day workshop was designed to bring scientists with expertise in Antarctic biological, ecological, and ecosystem sciences to Florida State University to share knowledge, identify important research knowledge gaps, and outline strategic plans for research. Major outcomes from the project were as follows. The international workshop to share and review knowledge concerning the response of Antarctic ecosystems to ice-shelf collapse was held at the Florida State University Coastal and Marine Laboratory (FSUCML) on 18-19 November 2017. Thirty-eight U.S. and international scientists attended the workshop, providing expertise in biological, ecological, geological, biogeographical, and glaciological sciences. Twenty-six additional scientists were either not able to attend or were declined because of having reached maximum capacity of the venue or for not responding to our invitation before the registration deadline. The latest results of ice-shelf research were presented, providing an overview of the current scientific knowledge and understanding of the biological, ecological, geological and cryospheric processes associated with ice-shelf collapse and its ecosystem-level consequences. In addition, several presentations focused on future plans to investigate the impacts of the recent Larsen C collapse. The following presentations were given at the meeting: 1) Cryospheric dynamics and ice-shelf collapse – past and future (M. Truffer, University of Alaska, Fairbanks) 2) The geological history and geological impacts of ice-shelf collapse on the Antarctic Peninsula (Scottt Ishman, Amy Leventer) 3) Pelagic ecosystem responses to ice-shelf collapse (Mattias Cape, Amy Leventer) 4) Benthic ecosystem response to ice-shelf collapse (Craig Smith, Pavica Sršen, Ann Vanreusel) 5) Larsen C and biotic homogenization of the benthos (Richard Aronson, James McClintock, Kathryn Smith, Brittany Steffel) 6) British Antarctic Survey: plans for Larsen C investigations early 2018 and in the future (Huw Griffiths) 7) Feedback on the workshop “Climate change impacts on marine ecosystems: implications for management of living resources and conservation” held 19-22 September 2017, Cambridge, UK (Alex Rogers) 8) Past research activities and plans for Larsen field work by the Alfred Wegener Institute, Germany (Charlotte Havermans, Dieter Piepenburg. One of the salient points emerging from the presentations and ensuing discussions was that, given our poor abilities to predict ecological outcomes of ice-shelf collapses, major cross-disciplinary efforts are needed on a variety of spatial and temporal scales to achieve a broader, predictive understanding of ecosystem consequences of climatic warming and ice-shelf failure. As part of the workshop, the FSUCML Polar Academy Team—Dr. Emily Dolan, Dr. Heidi Geisz, Barbara Shoplock, and Dr. Jeroen Ingels—initiated AntICE: "Antarctic Influences of Climate Change on Ecosystems" (AntICE). They reached out to various groups of school children in the local area (and continue to do so). The AntICE Team have been interacting with these children at Wakulla High School and Wakulla Elementary in Crawfordville; children from the Cornerstone Learning Community, Maclay Middle School, Gilchrist Elementary, and the School of Arts and Sciences in Tallahassee; and the Tallahassee-area homeschooling community to educate them about Antarctic ecosystems and ongoing climate change. The underlying idea was to make the children aware of climatic changes in the Antarctic and their effect on ecosystems so they, in turn, can spread this knowledge to their communities, family and friends – acting as ‘Polar Ambassadors’. We collaborated with the Polar-ICE project, an NSF-funded educational project that established the Polar Literacy Initiative. This program developed the Polar Literacy Principles, which outline essential concepts to improve public understanding of Antarctic and Arctic ecosystems. In the Polar Academy work, we used the Polar Literacy principles, the Polar Academy Team’s own Antarctic scientific efforts, and the experience of the FSU outreach and education program to engage with the children. We focused on the importance of Antarctic organisms and ecosystems, the uniqueness of its biota and the significance of its food webs, as well as how all these are changing and will change further with climate change. Using general presentations, case studies, scientific methodology, individual experiences, interactive discussions and Q&A sessions, the children were guided through the many issues Antarctic ecosystems are facing. Over 300 'Polar ambassadors' attended the interactive lectures and afterwards took their creativity to high latitudes by creating welcome letters, displays, dioramas, sculptures, videos and online media to present at the scientific workshop. Over 50 projects were created by the children (Please see supporting files for images). We were also joined by a photographer, Ryan David Reines, to document the event. More information, media and links to online outreach products are available at https://marinelab.fsu.edu/labs/ingels/outreach/polar-academy/ | POLYGON((-64 -66,-63.3 -66,-62.6 -66,-61.9 -66,-61.2 -66,-60.5 -66,-59.8 -66,-59.1 -66,-58.4 -66,-57.7 -66,-57 -66,-57 -66.3,-57 -66.6,-57 -66.9,-57 -67.2,-57 -67.5,-57 -67.8,-57 -68.1,-57 -68.4,-57 -68.7,-57 -69,-57.7 -69,-58.4 -69,-59.1 -69,-59.8 -69,-60.5 -69,-61.2 -69,-61.9 -69,-62.6 -69,-63.3 -69,-64 -69,-64 -68.7,-64 -68.4,-64 -68.1,-64 -67.8,-64 -67.5,-64 -67.2,-64 -66.9,-64 -66.6,-64 -66.3,-64 -66)) | POINT(-60.5 -67.5) | false | false | |||||||||
Collaborative Research: Fjord Ecosystem Structure and Function on the West Antarctic Peninsula - Hotspots of Productivity and Biodiversity? (FjordEco)
|
1443705 1443680 1443733 |
2019-02-13 | Winsor, Peter; Truffer, Martin; Smith, Craig; Powell, Brian; Merrifield, Mark; Vernet, Maria; Kohut, Josh | Marine communities along the western Antarctic Peninsula are highly productive ecosystems which support a diverse assemblage of charismatic animals such as penguins, seals, and whales as well as commercial fisheries such as that on Antarctic krill. Fjords (long, narrow, deep inlets of the sea between high cliffs) along the central coast of the Peninsula appear to be intense, potentially climate sensitive, hotspots of biological production and biodiversity, yet the structure and dynamics of these fjord ecosystems are very poorly understood. Because of this intense biological activity and the charismatic fauna it supports, these fjords are also major destinations for a large Antarctic tourism industry. This project is an integrated field and modeling program to evaluate physical oceanographic processes, glacial inputs, water column community dynamics, and seafloor bottom community structure and function in these important yet little understood fjord systems. These Antarctic fjords have characteristics that are substantially different from well-studied Arctic fjords, likely yielding much different responses to climate warming. This project will provide major new insights into the dynamics and climate sensitivity of Antarctic fjord ecosystems, highlighting contrasts with Arctic sub-polar fjords, and potentially transforming our understanding of the ecological role of fjords in the rapidly warming west Antarctic coastal marine landscape. The project will also further the NSF goal of training new generations of scientists, providing scientific training for undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral students. This includes the unique educational opportunity for undergraduates to participate in research cruises in Antarctica and the development of a novel summer graduate course on fjord ecosystems. Internet based outreach activities will be enhanced and extended by the participation of a professional photographer who will produce magazine articles, websites, radio broadcasts, and other forms of public outreach on the fascinating Antarctic ecosystem. <br/><br/>This project will involve a 15-month field program to test mechanistic hypotheses concerning oceanographic and glaciological forcing, and phytoplankton and benthic community response in the Antarctic fjords. Those efforts will be followed by a coupled physical/biological modeling effort to evaluate the drivers of biogeochemical cycles in the fjords and to explore their potential sensitivity to enhanced meltwater and sediment inputs. Fieldwork over two oceanographic cruises will utilize moorings, weather stations, and glacial, sea-ice and seafloor time-lapse cameras to obtain an integrated view of fjord ecosystem processes. The field team will also make multiple shipboard measurements and will use towed and autonomous underwater vehicles to intensively evaluate fjord ecosystem structure and function during spring/summer and autumn seasons. These integrated field and modeling studies are expected to elucidate fundamental properties of water column and sea bottom ecosystem structure and function in the fjords, and to identify key physical-chemical-glaciological forcing in these rapidly warming ecosystems. | POLYGON((-66 -64,-65.6 -64,-65.2 -64,-64.8 -64,-64.4 -64,-64 -64,-63.6 -64,-63.2 -64,-62.8 -64,-62.4 -64,-62 -64,-62 -64.1,-62 -64.2,-62 -64.3,-62 -64.4,-62 -64.5,-62 -64.6,-62 -64.7,-62 -64.8,-62 -64.9,-62 -65,-62.4 -65,-62.8 -65,-63.2 -65,-63.6 -65,-64 -65,-64.4 -65,-64.8 -65,-65.2 -65,-65.6 -65,-66 -65,-66 -64.9,-66 -64.8,-66 -64.7,-66 -64.6,-66 -64.5,-66 -64.4,-66 -64.3,-66 -64.2,-66 -64.1,-66 -64)) | POINT(-64 -64.5) | false | false | ||||||||||
Using Radiochemical Data from Collapsed Ice Shelf Sediments to Understand the Nature and Timing of the Benthic Response to High-Latitude Climate Change
|
1341669 |
2018-02-03 | DeMaster, David; Smith, Craig | The PI requests support to analyze sediments from multi-cores and mega-cores previously collected from beneath the former Larsen B and Larsen A ice shelves. These unique cores will allow the PI to develop a time-integrated understanding of the benthic response to ice shelf collapse off the East Antarctic Peninsula over time periods as short as 5 years following ice shelf collapse up to >170 years after collapse. High latitudes are responding to climate change more rapidly than the rest of the planet and the disappearance of ice shelves are a key manifestation of climate warming. The PI will investigate the newly created benthic environments and associated ecosystems that have resulted from the re-initiation of fresh planktonic material to the sediment-water interface. This proposal will use a new geochemical technique, based on naturally occurring 14C that can be used to assess the distribution and inventory of recently produced organic carbon accumulating in the sediments beneath the former Larsen A and B ice shelves. The PI will couple 14C measurements with 210Pb analyses to assess turnover times for sedimentary labile organic matter. By comparing the distributions and inventories of labile organic matter as well as the bioturbation intensities among different locations as a function of time following ice shelf collapse/retreat, the nature and timing of the benthic response to ice shelf collapse can be assessed. | POLYGON((-70 -62,-68.8 -62,-67.6 -62,-66.4 -62,-65.2 -62,-64 -62,-62.8 -62,-61.6 -62,-60.4 -62,-59.2 -62,-58 -62,-58 -62.6,-58 -63.2,-58 -63.8,-58 -64.4,-58 -65,-58 -65.6,-58 -66.2,-58 -66.8,-58 -67.4,-58 -68,-59.2 -68,-60.4 -68,-61.6 -68,-62.8 -68,-64 -68,-65.2 -68,-66.4 -68,-67.6 -68,-68.8 -68,-70 -68,-70 -67.4,-70 -66.8,-70 -66.2,-70 -65.6,-70 -65,-70 -64.4,-70 -63.8,-70 -63.2,-70 -62.6,-70 -62)) | POINT(-64 -65) | false | false | ||||||||||
Collaborative Research: Totten Glacier System and the Marine Record of Cryosphere - Ocean Dynamics
|
1143834 1430550 1143833 1143836 |
2018-01-26 | Orsi, Alejandro; Huber, Bruce; Leventer, Amy; Domack, Eugene Walter | This project will investigate the marine component of the Totten Glacier and Moscow University Ice Shelf, East Antarctica. This system is of critical importance because it drains one-eighth of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet and contains a volume equivalent to nearly 7 meters of potential sea level rise, greater than the entire West Antarctic Ice Sheet. This nearly completely unexplored region is the single largest and least understood marine glacial system that is potentially unstable. Despite intense scrutiny of marine based systems in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, little is known about the Totten Glacier system. This study will add substantially to the meager oceanographic and marine geology and geophysics data available in this region, and will significantly advance understanding of this poorly understood glacial system and its potentially sensitive response to environmental change.<br/><br/>Independent, space-based platforms indicate accelerating mass loss of the Totten system. Recent aerogeophysical surveys of the Aurora Subglacial Basin, which contains the deepest ice in Antarctica and drains into the Totten system, have provided the subglacial context for measured surface changes and show that the Totten Glacier has been the most significant drainage pathway for at least two previous ice flow regimes. However, the offshore context is far less understood. Limited physical oceanographic data from the nearby shelf/slope break indicate the presence of Modified Circumpolar Deep Water within a thick bottom layer at the mouth of a trough with apparent access to Totten Glacier, suggesting the possibility of sub-glacial bottom inflow of relatively warm water, a process considered to be responsible for West Antarctic Ice Sheet grounding line retreat. This project will conduct a ship-based marine geologic and geophysical survey of the region, combined with a physical oceanographic study, in order to evaluate both the recent and longer-term behavior of the glacial system and its relationship to the adjacent oceanographic system. This endeavor will complement studies of other Antarctic ice shelves, oceanographic studies near the Antarctic Peninsula, and ongoing development of ice sheet and other ocean models. | POLYGON((116 -65.2,116.5 -65.2,117 -65.2,117.5 -65.2,118 -65.2,118.5 -65.2,119 -65.2,119.5 -65.2,120 -65.2,120.5 -65.2,121 -65.2,121 -65.38,121 -65.56,121 -65.74,121 -65.92,121 -66.1,121 -66.28,121 -66.46,121 -66.64,121 -66.82,121 -67,120.5 -67,120 -67,119.5 -67,119 -67,118.5 -67,118 -67,117.5 -67,117 -67,116.5 -67,116 -67,116 -66.82,116 -66.64,116 -66.46,116 -66.28,116 -66.1,116 -65.92,116 -65.74,116 -65.56,116 -65.38,116 -65.2)) | POINT(118.5 -66.1) | false | false | ||||||||||
Continuation of the LARISSA Continuous GPS Network in View of Observed Dynamic Response to Antarctic Peninsula Ice Mass Balance and Required Geologic Constraints
|
1143981 |
2017-12-29 | Kohut, Josh; Domack, Eugene Walter |
|
This project aims to identify which portions of the glacial cover in the Antarctic Peninsula are losing mass to the ocean. This is an important issue to resolve because the Antarctic Peninsula is warming at a faster rate than any other region across the earth. Even though glaciers across the Antarctic Peninsula are small, compared to the continental ice sheet, defining how rapidly they respond to both ocean and atmospheric temperature rise is critical. It is critical because it informs us about the exact mechanisms which regulate ice flow and melting into the ocean. For instance, after the break- up of the Larsen Ice Shelf in 2002 many glaciers began to flow rapidly into the sea. Measuring how much ice was involved is difficult and depends upon accurate estimates of volume and area. One way to increase the accuracy of our estimates is to measure how fast the Earth's crust is rebounding or bouncing back, after the ice has been removed. This rebound effect can be measured with very precise techniques using instruments locked into ice free bedrock surrounding the area of interest. These instruments are monitored by a set of positioning satellites (the Global Positioning System or GPS) in a continuous fashion. Of course the movement of the Earth's bedrock relates not only to the immediate response but also the longer term rate that reflects the long vanished ice masses that once covered the entire Antarctic Peninsula?at the time of the last glaciation. These rebound measurements can, therefore, also tell us about the amount of ice which covered the Antarctic Peninsula thousands of years ago. Glacial isostatic rebound is one of the complicating factors in allowing us to understand how much the larger ice sheets are losing today, something that can be estimated by satellite techniques but only within large errors when the isostatic (rebound) correction is unknown.<br/><br/>The research proposed consists of maintaining a set of six rebound stations until the year 2016, allowing for a longer time series and thus more accurate estimates of immediate elastic and longer term rebound effects. It also involves the establishment of two additional GPS stations that will focus on constraining the "bull's eye" of rebound suggested by measurements over the past two years. In addition, several more geologic data points will be collected that will help to reconstruct the position of the ice sheet margin during its recession from the full ice sheet of the last glacial maximum. These will be based upon the coring of marine sediment sequences now recognized to have been deposited along the margins of retreating ice sheets and outlets. Precise dating of the ice margin along with the new and improved rebound data will help to constrain past ice sheet configurations and refine geophysical models related to the nature of post glacial rebound. Data management will be under the auspices of the UNAVCO polar geophysical network or POLENET and will be publically available at the time of station installation. This project is a small scale extension of the ongoing LARsen Ice Shelf, Antarctica Project (LARISSA), an IPY (International Polar Year)-funded interdisciplinary study aimed at understanding earth system connections related to the Larsen Ice Shelf and the northern Antarctic Peninsula. | POLYGON((-69.9517 -52.7581,-69.02971 -52.7581,-68.10772 -52.7581,-67.18573 -52.7581,-66.26374 -52.7581,-65.34175 -52.7581,-64.41976 -52.7581,-63.49777 -52.7581,-62.57578 -52.7581,-61.65379 -52.7581,-60.7318 -52.7581,-60.7318 -54.31551,-60.7318 -55.87292,-60.7318 -57.43033,-60.7318 -58.98774,-60.7318 -60.54515,-60.7318 -62.10256,-60.7318 -63.65997,-60.7318 -65.21738,-60.7318 -66.77479,-60.7318 -68.3322,-61.65379 -68.3322,-62.57578 -68.3322,-63.49777 -68.3322,-64.41976 -68.3322,-65.34175 -68.3322,-66.26374 -68.3322,-67.18573 -68.3322,-68.10772 -68.3322,-69.02971 -68.3322,-69.9517 -68.3322,-69.9517 -66.77479,-69.9517 -65.21738,-69.9517 -63.65997,-69.9517 -62.10256,-69.9517 -60.54515,-69.9517 -58.98774,-69.9517 -57.43033,-69.9517 -55.87292,-69.9517 -54.31551,-69.9517 -52.7581)) | POINT(-65.34175 -60.54515) | false | false | |||||||||
Collaborative Research: Climate Change and Predatory Invasion of the Antarctic Benthos
|
1141877 |
2016-09-14 | Aronson, Richard | Elevated temperatures and ocean acidification are both threatening the Southern Ocean. The effects of these environmental changes are poorly understood, but preliminary data suggest that they are driving a biological invasion. Specifically, large populations of skeleton-crushing king crabs, Paralomis birsteini, have been detected off Marguerite Bay on the West Antarctic Peninsula. These crabs appear to be invading the continental shelf region where benthic communities have evolved in the absence of such top-predators. Thus, this invasion could result in a wholesale restructuring of the Antarctic benthic ecosystem. The proposed work seeks to document this invasion and better understand the effects of the introduction of P. birsteini on the ecology of this region. A towed underwater vehicle will be used to photographically image communities, and communities with and without P. birsteini will be compared quantitatively. Additionally, crabs will trapped and various aspects of their morphology and physiology will be assessed. This research is unique in that it will document a biological invasion in real-time and it will therefore enhance our general understandings of the drivers of invasion and resilience in biological communities. Results will be widely disseminated through publications as well as through presentations at national and international meetings. In addition, raw data will be made available through open-access databases. This project will support the research and training of undergraduate and graduate students and will foster an international collaboration with British scientists. Researchers on this project will participate in outreach thorough the development of K-12 curricular materials. | POLYGON((-111.18 -49.98,-105.429 -49.98,-99.678 -49.98,-93.927 -49.98,-88.176 -49.98,-82.425 -49.98,-76.674 -49.98,-70.923 -49.98,-65.172 -49.98,-59.421 -49.98,-53.67 -49.98,-53.67 -52.826,-53.67 -55.672,-53.67 -58.518,-53.67 -61.364,-53.67 -64.21,-53.67 -67.056,-53.67 -69.902,-53.67 -72.748,-53.67 -75.594,-53.67 -78.44,-59.421 -78.44,-65.172 -78.44,-70.923 -78.44,-76.674 -78.44,-82.425 -78.44,-88.176 -78.44,-93.927 -78.44,-99.678 -78.44,-105.429 -78.44,-111.18 -78.44,-111.18 -75.594,-111.18 -72.748,-111.18 -69.902,-111.18 -67.056,-111.18 -64.21,-111.18 -61.364,-111.18 -58.518,-111.18 -55.672,-111.18 -52.826,-111.18 -49.98)) | POINT(-82.425 -64.21) | false | false | ||||||||||
EAGER: A Multi-decadal Record of Antarctic Benthos: Image Analysis to Maximize Data Utilization
|
1355533 |
2016-05-31 | Dayton, Paul |
|
Antarctic benthic communities are characterized by many species of sponges (Phylum Porifera), long thought to exhibit extremely slow demographic patterns of settlement, growth and reproduction. This project will analyze many hundreds of diver and remotely operated underwater vehicle photographs documenting a unique, episodic settlement event that occurred between 2000 and 2010 in McMurdo Sound that challenges this paradigm of slow growth. Artificial structures were placed on the seafloor between 1967 and 1974 at several sites, but no sponges were observed to settle on these structures until 2004. By 2010 some 40 species of sponges had settled and grown to be surprisingly large. Given the paradigm of slow settlement and growth supported by the long observation period (37 years, 1967-2004), this extraordinary large-scale settlement and rapid growth over just a 6-year time span is astonishing. This project utilizes image processing software (ImageJ) to obtain metrics (linear dimensions to estimate size, frequency, percent cover) for sponges and other fauna visible in the photographs. It uses R to conduct multidimensional scaling to ordinate community data and ANOSIM to test for differences of community data among sites and times and structures. It will also use SIMPER and ranked species abundances to discriminate species responsible for any differences. <br/><br/>This work focuses on Antarctic sponges, but the observations of massive episodic recruitment and growth are important to understanding seafloor communities worldwide. Ecosystems are composed of populations, and populations are ecologically described by their distribution and abundance. A little appreciated fact is that sponges often dominate marine communities, but because sponges are so hard to study, most workers focus on other groups such as corals, kelps, or bivalves. Because most sponges settle and grow slowly their life history is virtually unstudied. The assumption of relative stasis of the Antarctic seafloor community is common, and this project will shatter this paradigm by documenting a dramatic episodic event. Finally, the project takes advantage of old transects from the 1960s and 1970s and compares them with extensive 2010 surveys of the same habitats and sometimes the same intact transect lines, offering a long-term perspective of community change. The investigators will publish these results in peer-reviewed journals, give presentations to the general public and will involve students from local outreach programs, high schools, and undergraduates at UCSD to help with the analysis. | POLYGON((163 -78,163.4 -78,163.8 -78,164.2 -78,164.6 -78,165 -78,165.4 -78,165.8 -78,166.2 -78,166.6 -78,167 -78,167 -78.05,167 -78.1,167 -78.15,167 -78.2,167 -78.25,167 -78.3,167 -78.35,167 -78.4,167 -78.45,167 -78.5,166.6 -78.5,166.2 -78.5,165.8 -78.5,165.4 -78.5,165 -78.5,164.6 -78.5,164.2 -78.5,163.8 -78.5,163.4 -78.5,163 -78.5,163 -78.45,163 -78.4,163 -78.35,163 -78.3,163 -78.25,163 -78.2,163 -78.15,163 -78.1,163 -78.05,163 -78)) | POINT(165 -78.25) | false | false | |||||||||
The effects of ocean acidification and rising sea surface temperatures on shallow-water benthic organisms in Antarctica
|
1041022 |
2015-05-22 | Angus, Robert; Amsler, Charles; McClintock, James | The research will investigate the individual and combined effects of rising ocean acidification and sea surface temperatures on shallow-water calcified benthic organisms in western Antarctic Peninsular (WAP) marine communities. The Southern Ocean is predicted to become undersaturated in terms of both aragonite and calcite within 50 and 100 years, respectively, challenging calcification processes. Adding to the problem, antarctic calcified benthic marine organisms are more vulnerable to ocean acidification than temperate and tropical species because they are generally weakly calcified. Many antarctic organisms are essentially stenothermal, and those in the West Antarctic Peninsula are being subjected to rising seawater temperatures. The project employs both single-species and multi-species level approaches to evaluating the impacts of rising ocean acidification and seawater temperature on representative calcified and non-calcified macroalgae, on calcified and non-calcified mesograzers, and on a calcified macro-grazer, all of which are important ecological players in the rich benthic communities. Multi-species analysis will focus on the diverse assemblage of amphipods and mesogastropods that are associated with dominant macroalgae that collectively play a key role in community dynamics along the WAP. The project will support undergraduate research, both through NSF programs, as well as home university-based programs, some designed to enhance the representation of minorities in the sciences. The principal investigators also will support and foster graduate education through mentoring of graduate students. Through their highly successful UAB IN ANTARCTICA interactive web program, they will continue to involve large numbers of teachers, K-12 students, and other members of the community at large in their scientific endeavors in Antarctica. | POLYGON((-79 -60,-76.4 -60,-73.8 -60,-71.2 -60,-68.6 -60,-66 -60,-63.4 -60,-60.8 -60,-58.2 -60,-55.6 -60,-53 -60,-53 -61,-53 -62,-53 -63,-53 -64,-53 -65,-53 -66,-53 -67,-53 -68,-53 -69,-53 -70,-55.6 -70,-58.2 -70,-60.8 -70,-63.4 -70,-66 -70,-68.6 -70,-71.2 -70,-73.8 -70,-76.4 -70,-79 -70,-79 -69,-79 -68,-79 -67,-79 -66,-79 -65,-79 -64,-79 -63,-79 -62,-79 -61,-79 -60)) | POINT(-66 -65) | false | false | ||||||||||
Collaborative Research: Seasonal Trophic Roles of Euphausia Superba (STRES)
|
1142107 |
2014-02-07 | Durbin, Edward |
|
Krill, Euphausia superba, is a keystone species in the Antarctic ecosystem and provides the trophic link between microscopic plankton and charismatic megafauna such as penguins and whales. Recent evidence suggests krill may not be exclusively planktonivorous, which introduces the potential of new pathways of carbon flux through krill based ecosystems. A change in our view of krill from one of being herbivores to omnivores opens up several questions.<br/><br/>Climate induced change in the extent, thickness and duration of overlying sea ice coverage is expected to change the prey fields available to krill, and to have subsequent effects on the suite of predators supported by krill. The nature of this benthic prey?krill link, which may be crucial in those parts of the seasonal cycle other than the well studied spring bloom, is yet to be determined. DNA techniques will be used to identify and quantify the prey organisms. <br/><br/>This project will measure the in situ feeding ecology and behavior of krill and, ultimately, the success of this key species. An overall goal is<br/>to investigate seasonal changes in Euphausia superba in-situ feeding and swimming behavior in the Wilhelmina Bay region of the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) area, known to be a region of changing climate. Understanding the biological impacts of climate change is important to societal and economic goals. The project scientists will additionally team with a marine and environmental reporting group to design presentations for an annual journalist meeting. | None | None | false | false | |||||||||
Collaborative Research: Genetic connectivity and biogeographic patterns of Antarctic benthic invertebrates
|
1043745 |
2014-02-07 | Halanych, Kenneth |
|
The research will explore the genetics, diversity, and biogeography of Antarctic marine benthic invertebrates, seeking to overturn the widely accepted suggestion that benthic fauna do not constitute a large, panmictic population. The investigators will sample adults and larvae from undersampled regions of West Antarctica that, combined with existing samples, will provide significant coverage of the western hemisphere of the Southern Ocean. The objectives are: 1) To assess the degree of genetic connectivity (or isolation) of benthic invertebrate species in the Western Antarctic using high-resolution genetic markers. 2) To begin exploring planktonic larvae spatial and bathymetric distributions for benthic shelf invertebrates in the Bellinghausen, Amundsen and Ross Seas. 3) To continue to develop a Marine Antarctic Genetic Inventory (MAGI) that relates larval and adult forms via DNA barcoding. Broader impacts include traditional forms of training (postdocs, graduate studentships, undergraduate research experiences) and lectures to K-12 groups. | None | None | false | false | |||||||||
Using molecular data to test connectivity and the circumpolar paradigm for Antarctic marine invertebrates
|
1043749 |
2013-06-24 | Rouse, Gregory |
|
The west Antarctic Peninsula is warming rapidly, and continuing changes in the thermal regime will likely result in severe consequences for marine fauna, including potential extinction of strongly adapted stenotherms, and invasions from neighboring faunas. Initial impacts of climate change may result in changes in connectivity among populations of the same species. These changes may will be undetectable by direct observation, but may be assessed via genetic connectivity, i.e. differences in allele or haplotype frequencies among populations can be used to infer levels of gene flow. The proposed research will explore the role that the Scotia Arc plays in connecting populations from South America to Antarctica, a corridor identified as a likely entry route for invaders into Antarctica. It also will examine the way in which cryptic species may confound our knowledge of broad-scale distributions, and in doing so, make contributions towards understanding biodiversity and testing the paradigm of circumpolarity in Antarctica. The principal investigator will to collect multi-locus genetic data across 'species' from a broad suite of benthic marine invertebrate phyla, from multiple locations, in order to address hypotheses regarding speciation and connectivity, to estimate demographic population changes, and to identify the underlying processes that drive observed phylogeographic patterns. Comparative phylogeography is a particularly valuable approach because it enables the identification of long-term barriers and refugia common to groups of species and is consequently highly relevant to conservation planning. Moreover, this work will form a valuable baseline for detecting future changes in connectivity. The results of the research will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications and presentations at conferences. In addition, the project will support the interdisciplinary training of a female graduate student, two undergraduate students, and host additional summer students through the STARS program at SIO, which helps minority students prepare for graduate school. This project will integrate research and education through conducting an interdisciplinary workshop that brings together Earth Science and Biology high school teachers. This workshop aims to assist teachers derive their own curricula uniting plate tectonics, ocean history and evolution, supporting a new high school earth sciences program. Information generated by this project will also directly feed into international efforts to design a series of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in Antarctica. | None | None | false | false | |||||||||
Collaborative Research: Anslope, Cross-slope Exchanges at the Antarctic Slope Front
|
0125172 |
2012-01-17 | Gordon, Arnold; Cande, Steven; Visbeck, Martin; Jacobs, Stanley | This study will investigate how the Antarctic Slope Front and continental slope morphology determine the exchanges of mass, heat, and fresh water between the shelf and the deep ocean, in particular those leading to outflows of dense water into intermediate and deep layers of the adjacent basins and into the world ocean circulation <br/>While the importance to the global ocean circulation and climate of cold water masses originating in the Antarctic is unquestioned, the processes by which these water masses enter the deep ocean circulation are not. The primary goal of this work therefore is to identify the principal physical processes that govern the transfer of shelf-modified dense water into intermediate and deep layers of the adjacent deep ocean. At the same time, it seeks to understand the compensatory poleward flow of waters from the oceanic regime. The upper continental slope has been identified as the critical gateway for the exchange of shelf and deep ocean waters. Here the topography, velocity and density fields associated with the nearly ubiquitous front must strongly influence the advective and turbulent transfer of water properties between the shelf and oceanic regimes. The study has four specific objectives: [1] Determine the mean frontal structure and the principal scales of variability, and estimate the role of the front on cross-slope exchanges and mixing of adjacent water masses; [2] Determine the influence of slope topography and bathymetry on frontal location and outflow of dense Shelf Water; [3] Establish the role of frontal instabilities, benthic boundary layer transports, tides and other oscillatory processes on cross-slope advection and fluxes; and [4] Assess the effect of diapycnal mixing, lateral mixing identified through intrusions, and nonlinearities in the equation of state on the rate of descent and the fate of outflowing, near-freezing Shelf Water. | None | None | false | false | ||||||||||
Collaborative Research: The Chemical Ecology of Shallow-water Marine Macroalgae and Invertebrates on the Antarctic Peninsula
|
0442769 0838776 0442857 0838773 |
2010-11-07 | Baker, Bill; Amsler, Charles; McClintock, James | This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).<br/><br/>The near shore environments of the western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) harbor extremely high densities of mesograzers (small invertebrate predators approximately 1-25 mm in length) such as benthic amphipods, as well as rich assemblages of macroalgae, endophytes, and macroinvertebrates. Unlike temperate and tropical shallow marine environments, where fish and sea urchins are key grazers structuring the community, mesograzers appear to be much more important in the WAP. Accordingly, the proposed research has two main objectives: (1) To further investigate the interactions between the ecologically dominant large macrophytes, filamentous epi/endophytes, and mesograzers and (2) To determine the nature of interactions between mesograzers and sessile invertebrates. Specifically, the research will examine the following hypotheses: 1: The effects of endophytes on macrophytes are often negative, and consequently macrophytes defend against endophytic infection. 2: Mesoherbivores prevent filamentous algal species, common in the intertidal, from dominating subtidal assemblages. 3: Mesograzer predation pressure on sessile benthic macroinvertebrates, primarily sponges and tunicates, is greatest in shallow habitats dominated by macrophytes, and this impacts depth distributions of macroinvertebrate species. 4: Benthic macroinvertebrates may defend against mesograzers with secondary metabolites which effect molting and/or deter feeding.<br/><br/>Broader impacts include involvement of undergraduates, including minorities, in research; training of graduate students, and continuation of the highly successful UAB IN ANTARCTICA interactive web program (two time recipient of awards of excellence from the US Council for Advancement and Support of Education). The researchers also will share their scientific endeavors with teachers, K-12 students, and other members of the community at large while in residence in Antarctica. In addition, the investigators will request the participation of a PolarTREC teacher. | POLYGON((-65 -63,-64.8 -63,-64.6 -63,-64.4 -63,-64.2 -63,-64 -63,-63.8 -63,-63.6 -63,-63.4 -63,-63.2 -63,-63 -63,-63 -63.2,-63 -63.4,-63 -63.6,-63 -63.8,-63 -64,-63 -64.2,-63 -64.4,-63 -64.6,-63 -64.8,-63 -65,-63.2 -65,-63.4 -65,-63.6 -65,-63.8 -65,-64 -65,-64.2 -65,-64.4 -65,-64.6 -65,-64.8 -65,-65 -65,-65 -64.8,-65 -64.6,-65 -64.4,-65 -64.2,-65 -64,-65 -63.8,-65 -63.6,-65 -63.4,-65 -63.2,-65 -63)) | POINT(-64 -64) | false | false | ||||||||||
Collaborative Research: Bentho-Pelagic Coupling on the West Antarctic Peninsula Shelf: The Impact and Fate of Bloom Material at the Seafloor
|
9816049 |
2010-05-04 | DeMaster, David; Smith, Craig |
|
OPP98-15823 P.I. Craig Smith<br/>OPP98-16049 P.I. David DeMaster<br/><br/>Primary production in Antarctic coastal waters is highly seasonal, yielding an intense pulse of biogenic particles to the continental shelf floor. This seasonal pulse may have major ramifications for carbon cycling, benthic ecology and material burial on the west Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) shelf. Thus, we propose a multii-disciplinary program to evaluate the seafloor accumulation, fate and benthic community impacts of bloom material along a transect of three stations crossing the Antarctic shelf in the Palmer LTER study area. Using a seasonal series of five cruises to our transect, we will test the following hypostheses: (1) A substantial proportion of spring/summer export production is deposited ont eh WAP shelf as phytodetritus or fecal pellets. (2) The deposited bloom production is a source of labile particulate organic carbon for benthos for an extended period of time (months). (3) Large amounts of labile bloom POC are rapidly subducted into the sediment column by the deposit-feeding and caching activities of benthos. (4) Macrobenthic detritivores sustain a rapid increase in biomass and abundance following the spring/summer particulate organic carbon pulse. To test these hypotheses, we will evaluate seabed deposition and lability of particulate organic carbon, patterns of particulate organic carbon mixing into sediments, seasonal variations in macrofaunal and megafaunal abundance, biomass and reproductive condition, and rates of particulate organic carbon and silica mineralization and accumulation in the seabed. Fluxes of biogenic materials and radionuclides into midwater particle traps will be contrasted with seabed deposition and burial rates to establish water-column and seabed preservation efficiencies for these materials. The project will substantially improve our understanding of the spring/summer production pulse on the WAP shelf and its impacts on seafloor communities and carbon cycling in Antarctic coastal systems. | POLYGON((-70.90654 -52.35368,-70.220384 -52.35368,-69.534228 -52.35368,-68.848072 -52.35368,-68.161916 -52.35368,-67.47576 -52.35368,-66.789604 -52.35368,-66.103448 -52.35368,-65.417292 -52.35368,-64.731136 -52.35368,-64.04498 -52.35368,-64.04498 -53.639401,-64.04498 -54.925122,-64.04498 -56.210843,-64.04498 -57.496564,-64.04498 -58.782285,-64.04498 -60.068006,-64.04498 -61.353727,-64.04498 -62.639448,-64.04498 -63.925169,-64.04498 -65.21089,-64.731136 -65.21089,-65.417292 -65.21089,-66.103448 -65.21089,-66.789604 -65.21089,-67.47576 -65.21089,-68.161916 -65.21089,-68.848072 -65.21089,-69.534228 -65.21089,-70.220384 -65.21089,-70.90654 -65.21089,-70.90654 -63.925169,-70.90654 -62.639448,-70.90654 -61.353727,-70.90654 -60.068006,-70.90654 -58.782285,-70.90654 -57.496564,-70.90654 -56.210843,-70.90654 -54.925122,-70.90654 -53.639401,-70.90654 -52.35368)) | POINT(-67.47576 -58.782285) | false | false | |||||||||
Collaborative Research: Benthic Faunal Feeding Dynamics on the Antarctic Shelf and the Effects of Global Climate Change on Bentho-Pelagic Coupling
|
0636773 0636806 |
2010-05-04 | DeMaster, David; Smith, Craig | The Antarctic Peninsula region exhibits one of the largest warming trends in the world. Climate change in this region will reduce the duration of winter sea-ice cover, altering both the pelagic ecosystem and bentho-pelagic coupling. We postulate that shelf benthic ecosystems are highly suitable for tracking climate change because they act as "low-pass" filters, removing high-frequency seasonal noise and responding to longer-term trends in pelagic ecosystem structure and export production. We propose to conduct a 3-year study of bentho-pelagic coupling along a latitudinal climate gradient on the Antarctic Peninsula to explore the potential impacts of climate change (e.g., reduction in sea-ice duration) on Antarctic shelf ecosystems. We will conduct three cruises during summer and winter regimes along a 5- station transect from Smith Island to Marguerite Bay, evaluating a broad range of benthic ecological and biogeochemical processes. Specifically, we will examine the feeding strategies of benthic deposit feeders along this climatic gradient to elucidate the potential response of this major trophic group to climatic warming. In addition, we will (1) quantify carbon and nitrogen cycling and burial at the seafloor and (2) document changes in megafaunal, macrofaunal, and microbial community structure along this latitudinal gradient. We expect to develop predictive insights into the response of Antarctic shelf ecosystems to some of the effects of climate warming (e.g., a reduction in winter sea-ice duration). The proposed research will considerably broaden the ecological and carbon-flux measurements made as parts of the Palmer Station LTER and GLOBEC programs by providing a complementary benthic component. This project also will promote science education from the 9th grade to graduate-student levels. We will partner with the NSF-sponsored Southeastern Center for Ocean Science Education Excellence to reach students of all races in all areas of NC, SC and GA. The project will also benefit students at the post secondary level by supporting three graduate and two undergraduate students. During each of the three field excursions, NCSU and UH students will travel to Chile and Antarctica to participate in scientific research. Lastly, all three PIs will incorporate material from this project into their undergraduate and graduate courses. | POLYGON((-71.2358 -52.7603,-69.75336 -52.7603,-68.27092 -52.7603,-66.78848 -52.7603,-65.30604 -52.7603,-63.8236 -52.7603,-62.34116 -52.7603,-60.85872 -52.7603,-59.37628 -52.7603,-57.89384 -52.7603,-56.4114 -52.7603,-56.4114 -54.29969,-56.4114 -55.83908,-56.4114 -57.37847,-56.4114 -58.91786,-56.4114 -60.45725,-56.4114 -61.99664,-56.4114 -63.53603,-56.4114 -65.07542,-56.4114 -66.61481,-56.4114 -68.1542,-57.89384 -68.1542,-59.37628 -68.1542,-60.85872 -68.1542,-62.34116 -68.1542,-63.8236 -68.1542,-65.30604 -68.1542,-66.78848 -68.1542,-68.27092 -68.1542,-69.75336 -68.1542,-71.2358 -68.1542,-71.2358 -66.61481,-71.2358 -65.07542,-71.2358 -63.53603,-71.2358 -61.99664,-71.2358 -60.45725,-71.2358 -58.91786,-71.2358 -57.37847,-71.2358 -55.83908,-71.2358 -54.29969,-71.2358 -52.7603)) | POINT(-63.8236 -60.45725) | false | false | ||||||||||
Global Climate Change and the Evolutionary Ecology of Antarctic Mollusks in the Late Eocene
|
9908828 |
2010-05-04 | Aronson, Richard; Domack, Eugene Walter |
|
9908828<br/>Aronson<br/><br/>This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports a paleoecological and paleoenvironmental study of Seymour Island. Global climate change late in the Eocene epoch had an important influence in Antarctica. This was the beginning of the transition from a cool-temperate climate in Antarctica to the polar climate that exists there today. The cooling trend strongly influenced the structure of shallow-water, Antarctic marine communities, and these effects are still evident in the peculiar ecological relationships among species living in modern Antarctic communities. Cooling late in the Eocene reduced the abundance of fish and crabs, which in turn reduced skeleton-crushing predation on invertebrates. Reduced predation allowed dense populations of ophiuroids (brittlestars) and crinoids (sea lilies) to appear in shallow-water settings at the end of the Eocene. These low-predation communities appear as dense fossil echinoderm assemblages in the upper portion of the late Eocene La Meseta Formation on Seymour Island, off the Antarctic Peninsula. Today, dense ophiuroid and crinoid populations are common in shallow-water habitats in Antarctica but generally have been eliminated by predators from similar habitats at temperate and tropical latitudes; their persistence in Antarctica to this day is an important ecological legacy of climatic cooling in the Eocene. Although the influence of declining predation on Antarctic ophiuroids and crinoids is now well documented, the effects of cooling on the more abundant mollusks have not been investigated. This study will examine the evolutionary ecology of gastropods (snails) and bivalves (clams) in the late Eocene.<br/><br/>A series of hypotheses will be tested in the La Meseta Formation, based on the predicted responses of mollusks to declining temperature and changing levels of predation. The shapes of gastropod shells, the activities of gastropods that prey on other mollusks by drilling holes in their shells, and the effects of predation on the thickness of mollusk shells should have changed significantly through late Eocene time. First, defensive features of gastropod shells, such as spines and ribbing, should decline as temperature and, therefore, the activity of skeleton-crushing predators declined. Second, drilling of bivalve prey by predatory gastropods should increase with time since the drillers should themselves have been subject to lower predation pressure as temperature declined. Drilled shells, therefore, should become more common through time. Third, patterns in the thickness of shells through time will make it possible to separate the direct, physiological effects of declining temperature (shells are more difficult to produce at cooler temperatures, and so should be thinner) from the indirect effects of temperature on evolving biological interactions (increased drilling predation should result in thicker shells). <br/><br/>Seymour Island contains the only fossil outcrops readily accessible in Antarctica from this crucial period in Earth history. The La Meseta Formation on Seymour Island thus provides a unique opportunity to learn how climate change affected Antarctic marine communities. In practical terms, global climate change will probably increase upwelling over the next few decades to centuries in some temperate coastal regions. Recent ecological evidence suggests that the resultant lowering of sea temperatures could lower predation in those areas. Understanding the response of the La Meseta faunas to global cooling in the late Eocene will provide direct insight into the rapidly changing structure of modern benthic communities. | POLYGON((-70.906 -52.350166,-69.4494 -52.350166,-67.9928 -52.350166,-66.5362 -52.350166,-65.0796 -52.350166,-63.623 -52.350166,-62.1664 -52.350166,-60.7098 -52.350166,-59.2532 -52.350166,-57.7966 -52.350166,-56.34 -52.350166,-56.34 -53.6028324,-56.34 -54.8554988,-56.34 -56.1081652,-56.34 -57.3608316,-56.34 -58.613498,-56.34 -59.8661644,-56.34 -61.1188308,-56.34 -62.3714972,-56.34 -63.6241636,-56.34 -64.87683,-57.7966 -64.87683,-59.2532 -64.87683,-60.7098 -64.87683,-62.1664 -64.87683,-63.623 -64.87683,-65.0796 -64.87683,-66.5362 -64.87683,-67.9928 -64.87683,-69.4494 -64.87683,-70.906 -64.87683,-70.906 -63.6241636,-70.906 -62.3714972,-70.906 -61.1188308,-70.906 -59.8661644,-70.906 -58.613498,-70.906 -57.3608316,-70.906 -56.1081652,-70.906 -54.8554988,-70.906 -53.6028324,-70.906 -52.350166)) | POINT(-63.623 -58.613498) | false | false | |||||||||
Collaborative Research: Testing the Impact of Seasonality on Benthic Foraminifers as Paleoenvironmental Proxies.
|
0636474 |
2010-05-04 | Ishman, Scott |
|
This project studies seasonal variation in the abundance and shell composition of foraminifera from the northern Gerlache-southern Bransfield Straits region of the Western Antarctic Peninsula. Its goal is to improve interpretation of microfaunal and geochemical proxies for reconstruction of ancient ocean currents, climate, and ecologies. Since seasonal variation may greatly affect interpretation, this project focuses on the Antarctic region, where intense seasonality should generate a more obvious signal than at the less extreme mid-latitudes. The results should allow a better understanding of the coupling to seasonal productivity, as well as improve regional reconstructions.<br/>The broader impacts are graduate, undergraduate, and postdoctoral student education; as well as outreach to both the English and Spanish-speaking public. The work will also improve society's understanding of past climate change as an analogue to the future. | POLYGON((-64.919 -60.1023,-63.70316 -60.1023,-62.48732 -60.1023,-61.27148 -60.1023,-60.05564 -60.1023,-58.8398 -60.1023,-57.62396 -60.1023,-56.40812 -60.1023,-55.19228 -60.1023,-53.97644 -60.1023,-52.7606 -60.1023,-52.7606 -60.89191,-52.7606 -61.68152,-52.7606 -62.47113,-52.7606 -63.26074,-52.7606 -64.05035,-52.7606 -64.83996,-52.7606 -65.62957,-52.7606 -66.41918,-52.7606 -67.20879,-52.7606 -67.9984,-53.97644 -67.9984,-55.19228 -67.9984,-56.40812 -67.9984,-57.62396 -67.9984,-58.8398 -67.9984,-60.05564 -67.9984,-61.27148 -67.9984,-62.48732 -67.9984,-63.70316 -67.9984,-64.919 -67.9984,-64.919 -67.20879,-64.919 -66.41918,-64.919 -65.62957,-64.919 -64.83996,-64.919 -64.05035,-64.919 -63.26074,-64.919 -62.47113,-64.919 -61.68152,-64.919 -60.89191,-64.919 -60.1023)) | POINT(-58.8398 -64.05035) | false | false | |||||||||
International Collaborative Expedition to Collect and Study Fish Indigenous to Sub-Antarctic Habitats
|
0132032 |
2010-05-04 | Detrich, H. William |
|
Notothenioid fish are a major group of fish in the Southern Ocean. The ancestral notothenioid fish stock of Antarctica probably arose as a sluggish, bottom-dwelling perciform species that evolved some 40-60 million years ago in the then temperate shelf waters of the Antarctic continent. The grounding of the ice sheet on the continental shelf and changing trophic conditions may have eliminated the taxonomically diverse late Eocene fauna and initiated the original diversification of notothenioids. On the High Antarctic shelf, notothenioids today dominate the ichthyofauna in terms of species diversity, abundance and biomass, the latter two at levels of 90-95%. Since the International Geophysical Year of 1957-58, fish biologists from the Antarctic Treaty nations have made impressive progress in understanding the notothenioid ichthyofauna of the cold Antarctic marine ecosystem. However, integration of this work into the broader marine context has been limited, largely due to lack of access to, and analysis of, specimens of Sub-Antarctic notothenioid fishes. Sub-Antarctic fishes of the notothenioid suborder are critical for a complete understanding of the evolution, population dynamics, eco-physiology, and eco-biochemistry of their Antarctic relatives. This project will support an international, collaborative research cruise to collect and study fish indigenous to sub-antarctic habitats. The topics included in the research plans of the international team of researchers includes Systematics and Evolutionary Studies; Life History Strategies and Population Dynamics; Physiological, Biochemical, and Molecular Biological Investigations of Major Organ and Tissue Systems; Genomic Resources for the Sub-Antarctic Notothenioids; and Ecological Studies of Transitional Benthic Invertebrates. In a world that is experiencing changes in global climate, the loss of biological diversity, and the depletion of marine fisheries, the Antarctic, Sub-Antarctic, and their biota offer compelling natural laboratories for understanding the evolutionary impacts of these processes. The proposed work will contribute to development of a baseline understanding of these sensitive ecosystems, one against which future changes in species distribution and survival may be evaluated judiciously. | POLYGON((-68.84315 -42.87167,-61.576321 -42.87167,-54.309492 -42.87167,-47.042663 -42.87167,-39.775834 -42.87167,-32.509005 -42.87167,-25.242176 -42.87167,-17.975347 -42.87167,-10.708518 -42.87167,-3.441689 -42.87167,3.82514 -42.87167,3.82514 -44.482708,3.82514 -46.093746,3.82514 -47.704784,3.82514 -49.315822,3.82514 -50.92686,3.82514 -52.537898,3.82514 -54.148936,3.82514 -55.759974,3.82514 -57.371012,3.82514 -58.98205,-3.441689 -58.98205,-10.708518 -58.98205,-17.975347 -58.98205,-25.242176 -58.98205,-32.509005 -58.98205,-39.775834 -58.98205,-47.042663 -58.98205,-54.309492 -58.98205,-61.576321 -58.98205,-68.84315 -58.98205,-68.84315 -57.371012,-68.84315 -55.759974,-68.84315 -54.148936,-68.84315 -52.537898,-68.84315 -50.92686,-68.84315 -49.315822,-68.84315 -47.704784,-68.84315 -46.093746,-68.84315 -44.482708,-68.84315 -42.87167)) | POINT(-32.509005 -50.92686) | false | false | |||||||||
Bentho-Pelagic Coupling on the West Antarctic Peninsula Shelf: The Impact and Fate of Bloom Material at the Seafloor
|
9815823 |
2010-05-04 | Smith, Craig |
|
OPP98-15823 P.I. Craig Smith<br/>OPP98-16049 P.I. David DeMaster<br/><br/>Primary production in Antarctic coastal waters is highly seasonal, yielding an intense pulse of biogenic particles to the continental shelf floor. This seasonal pulse may have major ramifications for carbon cycling, benthic ecology and material burial on the west Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) shelf. Thus, we propose a multii-disciplinary program to evaluate the seafloor accumulation, fate and benthic community impacts of bloom material along a transect of three stations crossing the Antarctic shelf in the Palmer LTER study area. Using a seasonal series of five cruises to our transect, we will test the following hypostheses: (1) A substantial proportion of spring/summer export production is deposited ont eh WAP shelf as phytodetritus or fecal pellets. (2) The deposited bloom production is a source of labile particulate organic carbon for benthos for an extended period of time (months). (3) Large amounts of labile bloom POC are rapidly subducted into the sediment column by the deposit-feeding and caching activities of benthos. (4) Macrobenthic detritivores sustain a rapid increase in biomass and abundance following the spring/summer particulate organic carbon pulse. To test these hypotheses, we will evaluate seabed deposition and lability of particulate organic carbon, patterns of particulate organic carbon mixing into sediments, seasonal variations in macrofaunal and megafaunal abundance, biomass and reproductive condition, and rates of particulate organic carbon and silica mineralization and accumulation in the seabed. Fluxes of biogenic materials and radionuclides into midwater particle traps will be contrasted with seabed deposition and burial rates to establish water-column and seabed preservation efficiencies for these materials. The project will substantially improve our understanding of the spring/summer production pulse on the WAP shelf and its impacts on seafloor communities and carbon cycling in Antarctic coastal systems. | POLYGON((-70.90683 -52.35533,-69.8661302 -52.35533,-68.8254304 -52.35533,-67.7847306 -52.35533,-66.7440308 -52.35533,-65.703331 -52.35533,-64.6626312 -52.35533,-63.6219314 -52.35533,-62.5812316 -52.35533,-61.5405318 -52.35533,-60.499832 -52.35533,-60.499832 -53.818664,-60.499832 -55.281998,-60.499832 -56.745332,-60.499832 -58.208666,-60.499832 -59.672,-60.499832 -61.135334,-60.499832 -62.598668,-60.499832 -64.062002,-60.499832 -65.525336,-60.499832 -66.98867,-61.5405318 -66.98867,-62.5812316 -66.98867,-63.6219314 -66.98867,-64.6626312 -66.98867,-65.703331 -66.98867,-66.7440308 -66.98867,-67.7847306 -66.98867,-68.8254304 -66.98867,-69.8661302 -66.98867,-70.90683 -66.98867,-70.90683 -65.525336,-70.90683 -64.062002,-70.90683 -62.598668,-70.90683 -61.135334,-70.90683 -59.672,-70.90683 -58.208666,-70.90683 -56.745332,-70.90683 -55.281998,-70.90683 -53.818664,-70.90683 -52.35533)) | POINT(-65.703331 -59.672) | false | false | |||||||||
SGER: Dispersal of Planktonic Invertebrate Larvae and the Biogeography of the Antarctic Benthos
|
9910164 |
2010-05-04 | Scheltema, Rudolf; Veit, Richard |
|
Because of the extreme isolation of Antarctica since the early Oligocene one can expect to encounter a unique invertebrate fauna with a high degree of endemism. Yet, some benthic taxa include from 20 to >50 percent non-endemic species. To account for such species it has been proposed that an intermittent reciprocal exchange must occur between the antiboreal populations of South America and the Antarctic continent. One possible means by which the geographical distribution can be maintained and genetic exchange may be accomplished is by the passive dispersal of planktonic larvae. To show that such dispersal is actually accomplished it must be demonstrated that (1) larvae of sublittoral species actually are found within the Drake passage and that such larvae belong to species that occur both in the antiboreal South American and Antarctic faunas and (2) that a hydrographic mechanism exists that can explain how the passive transport of larvae may occur between the two continents. The proposed research will address these two requirements by making transects of plankton samples across the Drake passage and by examining the possibility of cross frontal exchange of larvae at the subantarctic and polar fronts of the Antarctic circumpolar current as well as the possible transport of larvae in mesoscale rings. The outcome may suggest species that in the future may profitably be examined using molecular techniques, comparing individuals from bottom populations of South America and Antarctica. The study necessarily must be of a very preliminary nature since the occurrence of planktonic larvae of sublittoral benthic species in the Drake Passage has never before been examined. | POLYGON((-70.557 -52.351,-68.9316 -52.351,-67.3062 -52.351,-65.6808 -52.351,-64.0554 -52.351,-62.43 -52.351,-60.8046 -52.351,-59.1792 -52.351,-57.5538 -52.351,-55.9284 -52.351,-54.303 -52.351,-54.303 -53.60557,-54.303 -54.86014,-54.303 -56.11471,-54.303 -57.36928,-54.303 -58.62385,-54.303 -59.87842,-54.303 -61.13299,-54.303 -62.38756,-54.303 -63.64213,-54.303 -64.8967,-55.9284 -64.8967,-57.5538 -64.8967,-59.1792 -64.8967,-60.8046 -64.8967,-62.43 -64.8967,-64.0554 -64.8967,-65.6808 -64.8967,-67.3062 -64.8967,-68.9316 -64.8967,-70.557 -64.8967,-70.557 -63.64213,-70.557 -62.38756,-70.557 -61.13299,-70.557 -59.87842,-70.557 -58.62385,-70.557 -57.36928,-70.557 -56.11471,-70.557 -54.86014,-70.557 -53.60557,-70.557 -52.351)) | POINT(-62.43 -58.62385) | false | false | |||||||||
Global Climate Change and the Evolutionary Ecology of Antarctic Mollusks in the Late Eocene.
|
9908856 |
2010-05-04 | Blake, Daniel |
|
This award, provided by the Antarctic Geology and Geophysics Program of the Office of Polar Programs, supports a paleoecological and paleoenvironmental study of Seymour Island. Global climate change late in the Eocene epoch had an important influence in Antarctica. This was the beginning of the transition from a cool-temperate climate in Antarctica to the polar climate that exists there today. The cooling trend strongly influenced the structure of shallow-water, Antarctic marine communities, and these effects are still evident in the peculiar ecological relationships among species living in modern Antarctic communities. Cooling late in the Eocene reduced the abundance of fish and crabs, which in turn reduced skeleton-crushing predation on invertebrates. Reduced predation allowed dense populations of ophiuroids (brittlestars) and crinoids (sea lilies) to appear in shallow-water settings at the end of the Eocene. These low-predation communities appear as dense fossil echinoderm assemblages in the upper portion of the late Eocene La Meseta Formation on Seymour Island, off the Antarctic Peninsula. Today, dense ophiuroid and crinoid populations are common in shallow-water habitats in Antarctica but generally have been eliminated by predators from similar habitats at temperate and tropical latitudes; their persistence in Antarctica to this day is an important ecological legacy of climatic cooling in the Eocene. Although the influence of declining predation on Antarctic ophiuroids and crinoids is now well documented, the effects of cooling on the more abundant mollusks have not been investigated. This study will examine the evolutionary ecology of gastropods (snails) and bivalves (clams) in the late Eocene.<br/><br/>A series of hypotheses will be tested in the La Meseta Formation, based on the predicted responses of mollusks to declining temperature and changing levels of predation. The shapes of gastropod shells, the activities of gastropods that prey on other mollusks by drilling holes in their shells, and the effects of predation on the thickness of mollusk shells should have changed significantly through late Eocene time. First, defensive features of gastropod shells, such as spines and ribbing, should decline as temperature and, therefore, the activity of skeleton-crushing predators declined. Second, drilling of bivalve prey by predatory gastropods should increase with time since the drillers should themselves have been subject to lower predation pressure as temperature declined. Drilled shells, therefore, should become more common through time. Third, patterns in the thickness of shells through time will make it possible to separate the direct, physiological effects of declining temperature (shells are more difficult to produce at cooler temperatures, and so should be thinner) from the indirect effects of temperature on evolving biological interactions (increased drilling predation should result in thicker shells). <br/><br/>Seymour Island contains the only fossil outcrops readily accessible in Antarctica from this crucial period in Earth history. The La Meseta Formation on Seymour Island thus provides a unique opportunity to learn how climate change affected Antarctic marine communities. In practical terms, global climate change will probably increase upwelling over the next few decades to centuries in some temperate coastal regions. Recent ecological evidence suggests that the resultant lowering of sea temperatures could lower predation in those areas. Understanding the response of the La Meseta faunas to global cooling in the late Eocene will provide direct insight into the rapidly changing structure of modern benthic communities. | None | None | false | false | |||||||||
Collaborative Research: Testing the Impact of Seasonality on Benthic Foraminifers as Paleoenvironmental Proxies.
|
0635531 |
2010-05-04 | Ishman, Scott |
|
This project studies seasonal variation in the abundance and shell composition of foraminifera from the northern Gerlache-southern Bransfield Straits region of the Western Antarctic Peninsula. Its goal is to improve interpretation of microfaunal and geochemical proxies for reconstruction of ancient ocean currents, climate, and ecologies. Since seasonal variation may greatly affect interpretation, this project focuses on the Antarctic region, where intense seasonality should generate a more obvious signal than at the less extreme mid-latitudes. The results should allow a better understanding of the coupling to seasonal productivity, as well as improve regional reconstructions.<br/>The broader impacts are graduate, undergraduate, and postdoctoral student education; as well as outreach to both the English and Spanish-speaking public. The work will also improve society's understanding of past climate change as an analogue to the future. | None | None | false | false | |||||||||
Influence of Seasonal Ice Cover on Pelagic and Benthic Communities: Long Time-Series Studies
|
9727077 |
2010-05-04 | Smith, Kenneth |
|
9727077 SMITH The annual expansion and contraction of ice cover in the Southern Ocean is the largest seasonal process in the World Ocean. This seasonal variability in ice cover creates extensive fluctuations in primary production, which heavily impacts pelagic and benthic communities. This research will initiate a long time-series study of the water column and sea floor using long-term, autonomous monitoring and sampling systems developed for use in the Antarctic. The study will be located in Post Foster, Deception Island, which supports a pelagic and benthic fauna representative of the Antarctic coastal zone and experiences seasonal ice cover. A bottom-moored, upward-looking acoustic instrument will be deployed on the sea floor for a period of one year to monitor the vertical distribution, abundance and biomass of acoustically-detectable macrozooplankton and micronekton in the water column. Collections will be made over this period using a newly-developed vertically-profiling pump sampling. Simultaneously, a time-lapse camera system will be moored on the sea floor to monitor the spatial distribution, sizes and movements of the epibenthic megafauna component of the benthic community. The instrumentation development will allow the research project to focus on the effect of the seasonal sea ice cycle on the distribution, abundance and biomass of the macrozooplankton and micronekton in the water column. Similar questions on the distribution, abundance, size and movements of the epibenthic megafauna will be addressed. Results from this study will provide a valuable data base for the evaluation of the pelagic and benthic community responses to seasonal variability in the Southern Ocean. | POLYGON((-70.907166 -52.348,-69.6496994 -52.348,-68.3922328 -52.348,-67.1347662 -52.348,-65.8772996 -52.348,-64.619833 -52.348,-63.3623664 -52.348,-62.1048998 -52.348,-60.8474332 -52.348,-59.5899666 -52.348,-58.3325 -52.348,-58.3325 -53.600917,-58.3325 -54.853834,-58.3325 -56.106751,-58.3325 -57.359668,-58.3325 -58.612585,-58.3325 -59.865502,-58.3325 -61.118419,-58.3325 -62.371336,-58.3325 -63.624253,-58.3325 -64.87717,-59.5899666 -64.87717,-60.8474332 -64.87717,-62.1048998 -64.87717,-63.3623664 -64.87717,-64.619833 -64.87717,-65.8772996 -64.87717,-67.1347662 -64.87717,-68.3922328 -64.87717,-69.6496994 -64.87717,-70.907166 -64.87717,-70.907166 -63.624253,-70.907166 -62.371336,-70.907166 -61.118419,-70.907166 -59.865502,-70.907166 -58.612585,-70.907166 -57.359668,-70.907166 -56.106751,-70.907166 -54.853834,-70.907166 -53.600917,-70.907166 -52.348)) | POINT(-64.619833 -58.612585) | false | false | |||||||||
Collaborative Research: Linking Modern Benthic Communities and Taphonomic Processes to the Stratigraphic Record of Antarctic Cores
|
0739496 0739512 0739583 |
2009-07-15 | Walker, Sally; Bowser, Samuel; Miller, Molly; Furbish, David | This project answers a simple question: why are there so few fossils in sediment cores from Antarctica?s continental shelf? Antarctica?s benthos are as biologically rich as those of the tropics. Shell-secreting organisms should have left a trail throughout geologic time, but have not. This trail is particularly important because these organisms record regional climate in ways that are critical to interpreting the global climate record. This study uses field experiments and targeted observations of modern benthic systems to examine the biases inflicted by fossil preservation. By examining a spectrum of ice-affected habitats, this project provides paleoenvironmental insights into carbonate preservation, sedimentation rates, and burial processes; and will provide new approaches to reconstructing the Cenozoic history of Antarctica. Broader impacts include graduate and undergraduate research and education, development of undergraduate curricula to link art and science, K12 outreach, public outreach via the web, and societal relevance through improved understanding of records of global climate change. | POLYGON((163.41667 -77.33333,163.46667 -77.33333,163.51667 -77.33333,163.56667 -77.33333,163.61667 -77.33333,163.66667 -77.33333,163.71667 -77.33333,163.76667 -77.33333,163.81667 -77.33333,163.86667 -77.33333,163.91667 -77.33333,163.91667 -77.369997,163.91667 -77.406664,163.91667 -77.443331,163.91667 -77.479998,163.91667 -77.516665,163.91667 -77.553332,163.91667 -77.589999,163.91667 -77.626666,163.91667 -77.663333,163.91667 -77.7,163.86667 -77.7,163.81667 -77.7,163.76667 -77.7,163.71667 -77.7,163.66667 -77.7,163.61667 -77.7,163.56667 -77.7,163.51667 -77.7,163.46667 -77.7,163.41667 -77.7,163.41667 -77.663333,163.41667 -77.626666,163.41667 -77.589999,163.41667 -77.553332,163.41667 -77.516665,163.41667 -77.479998,163.41667 -77.443331,163.41667 -77.406664,163.41667 -77.369997,163.41667 -77.33333)) | POINT(163.66667 -77.516665) | false | false | ||||||||||
Collaborative Research: Relevance of Planktonic Larval Dispersal to Endemism and Biogeography of Antarctic Benthic Invertebrates
|
0338218 0338087 |
2008-06-18 | Scheltema, Rudolf; Halanych, Kenneth |
|
Because of extreme isolation of the Antarctic continent since the Early Oligocene, one expects a unique invertebrate benthic fauna with a high degree of endemism. Yet some invertebrate taxa that constitute important ecological components of sedimentary benthic communities include more than 40 percent non-endemic species (e.g., benthic polychaetes). To account for non-endemic species, intermittent genetic exchange must occur between Antarctic and other (e.g. South American) populations. The most likely mechanism for such gene flow, at least for in-faunal and mobile macrobenthos, is dispersal of planktonic larvae across the sub- Antarctic and Antarctic polar fronts. To test for larval dispersal as a mechanism of maintaining genetic continuity across polar fronts, the scientists propose to (1) take plankton samples along transects across Drake passage during both the austral summer and winter seasons while concurrently collecting the appropriate hydrographic data. Such data will help elucidate the hydrographic mechanisms that allow dispersal across Drake Passage. Using a molecular phylogenetic approach, they will (2) compare seemingly identical adult forms from Antarctic and South America continents to identify genetic breaks, historical gene flow, and control for the presence of cryptic species. (3) Similar molecular tools will be used to relate planktonic larvae to their adult forms. Through this procedure, they propose to link the larval forms respectively to their Antarctic or South America origins. The proposed work builds on previous research that provides the basis for this effort to develop a synthetic understanding of historical gene flow and present day dispersal mechanism in South American/Drake Passage/Antarctic Peninsular region. Furthermore, this work represents one of the first attempts to examine recent gene flow in Antarctic benthic invertebrates. Graduate students and a postdoctoral fellow will be trained during this research. | POLYGON((-70 -55,-68 -55,-66 -55,-64 -55,-62 -55,-60 -55,-58 -55,-56 -55,-54 -55,-52 -55,-50 -55,-50 -56,-50 -57,-50 -58,-50 -59,-50 -60,-50 -61,-50 -62,-50 -63,-50 -64,-50 -65,-52 -65,-54 -65,-56 -65,-58 -65,-60 -65,-62 -65,-64 -65,-66 -65,-68 -65,-70 -65,-70 -64,-70 -63,-70 -62,-70 -61,-70 -60,-70 -59,-70 -58,-70 -57,-70 -56,-70 -55)) | POINT(-60 -60) | false | false |