Directory

Start date:
Winfly
End date:
Early November
Locations:
McMurdo Station Sea Ice, Taylor Glacier
Principle Investigator:
Dr Jody Deming
Organisation:
University of Washington
Field season overview:
Due to the cold temperatures needed for frost flower formation, participants will sample in the area around McMurdo before moving on to Taylor Glacier. Young ice around such floes, disconnected from the pressure associated with shorefast ice, is the best place to find the quantities of frost flowers needed. Alternate locations include open leads within shorefast ice, and flooded portions of shorefast ice. The researchers will sample the young ice and seawater at the same time as frost flowers. First year ice will be sampled from an appropriate location nearby or from within the shorefast ice. Pristine snow will be sampled from a location between McMurdo Station and Taylor Glacier. Firn, snow, and blue ice will be sampled from the surface of Taylor Glacier.
B 395 M: High resolution genomic and proteomic analyses of a microbial transport mechanism from Antarctic marine waters to permanent snowpack
Participants will collect large volumes of seawater, first year sea ice, young sea ice, and frost flowers from an area offshore of McMurdo Station. Additionally, participants will collect pristine snow from a site between McMurdo and Taylor Glacier, and firn and glacial ice from the surface of Taylor Glacier. At McMurdo Station, frozen samples will be melted and filtered for later molecular analysis, with the goal of illustrating a transport path for bacteria and biogenic material from the sea ice surface to the glacial ice surface.