Allison Lee, who traveled to Antarctica this spring aboard a research cruise on an icebreaker in the Ross Sea, just received an Antarctic Service Medal for her participation. The medal was created by Congress and presented by the National Science Foundation to those who serve on a U.S. expedition to Antarctica. Allison is a member of the Nitin Baliga Lab and has been working closely with senior research scientist Mónica Orellana,…
By Allison Lee, ISB Research Associate Just how much water is there to be had in the Ross Sea? There are approximately 265,000,000,000,000,000 liters*. Did that number go in one eye and out the other? It did for me. Let’s just say that’s a lot of water and scientists want to know about all of it—where it came from, where it’s going, the chemistry, the biology, temperature, salinity, floating particles,…
By Allison Lee PENGUINS! At 5 a.m., the lone Emperor was spotted. The penguin team quickly assembled and set off in the Zodiak. They were able to tag their first Emperor penguin of the cruise. The transmitter is attached to the feathers on the wing and sends a signal every 40 seconds. If a satellite picks up the signal, the penguin’s location and diving behavior (depth, speed, duration, etc.) is…
There have been many stories in the news about research projects in Antarctica. Most projects are related to the climate and environment, or to how organisms survive in such extreme conditions. On Feb. 6, for example, the New York Times published a report about the Wissard (Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling) project, which involves looking for a microbial community in the lake located half a mile under the…
