The National Science Foundation has funded RUCOOL to update their Palmer Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Website. The Palmer LTER study area is located to the west of the Antarctic Peninsula extending South and North of the Palmer Basin from onshore to several hundred kilometers off shore. Palmer Station is one of the three United States research stations located in Antarctica. It is on Anvers Island midway down the Antarctic Peninsula at latitude 64.7 South, longitude 64.0 West. The Palmer LTER studies a polar marine biome with research focused on the Antarctic pelagic marine ecosystem, including sea ice habitats, regional oceanography and terrestrial nesting sites of seabird predators. The Palmer LTER is one of more than 26 LTER research sites located throughout the United States, Puerto Rico and Tahiti; each focused on a specific ecosystem, that together constitute the LTER Network. We have added a lot of new features to help all researchers help us study the West Antarctic Peninsula, one of the most rapidly warming locations on Earth.  The warming is resulting in declining sea ice which is now rippling through the food web. We see this new website as an evolving project. Please reach out and provide us input on suggestions, questions, and thoughts.

Rutgers has been participating in the National Science Foundation’s Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) project at Palmer Station Antarctica for over 30 years. During the fall of 2021, graduate students Quintin Diou-Cass and Joe Gradone joined UConn Postdoc Jessie Turner on the R/V Nathaniel Palmer to head to the West Antarctic Peninsula. Over the next few weeks, we are going to write up accounts of their experiences during their research way, way down under. Here is account of some glider recovery fun. Two gliders were deployed to study both the zooplankton distribution on the West Antarctic Peninsula as well as a hydrographic fronts in the South Bransfield Strait. These autonomous underwater vehicles make researchers’ lives easier at times by collecting data in harsh conditions where ships cannot travel. As anyone who has worked with a glider for just a few days can tell you, however, these cool instruments can be very fussy too. My job (Joe) on the cruise was to keep the two gliders we deployed as happy as possible while also continuing my work helping the Schofield phytoplankton lab. The cherry on top of an already eventful glider deployment was trying to recover both gliders in what was forecasted to be 50 knot winds and 10-20 foot seas. While a large research vessel would be able to sustain these conditions without issue, we needed to put zodiac’s in the water to recover these gliders. So, when we saw the forecast, we devised a plan to fly the gliders into the very northern edge of a channel in an attempt to essentially hide behind an island and seek shelter from the winds so that we could put a small boat in the water. Miraculously, this plan worked! The seas were significantly better behind the island and we were actually able to swim the glider almost right up to the ship. Definitely a memorable recovery.

Congratulations to Dr. Schuyler Nardelli on defending her PhD thesis entitled “Seasonal dynamics of plankton ecology in coastal Antarctica.” Schuyler will be moving on to a Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship at NOAA IOOS focused on marine policy. Through the fellowship, Schuyler hopes to step outside her comfort zone. “I am looking forward to learning how scientific research is used to create policy, working with diverse stakeholders, and stepping outside my comfort zone,” she said.

Travis Miles (lead author) and Scott Glenn partnered with dozens of other scientist on this paper that provides a broad overview of the ongoing US hurricane glider project and details of a new effort with the Saildrone USV during the 2021 hurricane season. While this article focuses on the US East Coast, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean Sea, similar efforts are underway in Korea, the Philippines, Japan, and China, among other countries. The full article is available at: https://tos.org/oceanography/article/uncrewed-ocean-gliders-and-saildrones-support-hurricane-forecasting-and-research

SRI has extended its existing High Frequency Radar (HFR) scatter model for bistatic operation and is working on the initial steps in validation of that model with real data. The general operation utilizes available ocean wave spectra to estimate the doppler spectrum based on a HFR scattering model. The monostatic modelling has been done using wave spectra output from the SWAN model, and has shown good comparison to existing HFR doppler spectra. In order to access the accuracy of the new bistatic model, initial steps have been taken to setup and run a SWAN model domain off the coast of Long Island, NY to utilize the multi-static observations from HFR sites in this region collected by Rutgers University.

Congratulations to Dr. Liza Wright-Fairbanks @lizawf for successfully defending her dissertation, “Observing seasonal cycles, drivers, and potential biological impacts of ocean acidification in the Mid-Atlantic Bight”!! She also presented in a hybrid format to a 25-person audience in the Alampi Room and to over 60 people on Zoom! Dr. Wright-Fairbanks will be headed to a Knauss Fellowship position next year in Washington D.C. We are so proud of you Liza, and can’t wait to “sea” (scallop!) all the wonderful things you do!

Join Rutgers oceanographer Oscar Schofield as he chats with researchers aboard the Nathaniel B. Palmer as they study the marine ecosystems of the West Antarctic Peninsula. Learn how the West Antarctic Peninsula has changed over the past several decades and how these changes affect life at every level of the food web, from tiny crustaceans to penguins, seals and whales. As part of the National Science Foundation’s Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program, the Palmer Station LTER catalogs the effects of climate change on the environment around the Antarctic Peninsula, one of the fastest-warming regions on Earth.   Register now for this live Zoom event, sponsored by the National Science Foundation.* When: Thursday, December 16, 2021, 7 pm EST Register here: https://nsf.zoomgov.com/webinar/register/WN_h5TX11w8TIiZ4wwW_GNTTQ   *The webinar will be recorded and available for viewing for those unable to attend the live event.