Directory

Start date:
Late October
End date:
Early February
Locations:
McMurdo Dry Valleys
Principle Investigator:
Dr Andrew Fountain
Organisation:
Portland State University
State
Oregon
Field season overview:
Researchers will occupy the Lake Hoare camp from late November to the end of January, making day trips to the Commonwealth, Howard, Canada, and Taylor glaciers to conduct mass balance measurements and biological studies. Day trips will also be made to various meteorological stations in Taylor, Beacon, Wright, Victoria, and Garwood Valleys. Several sensors and dataloggers on the meteorological stations will be swapped out and sent back to the manufacturer for recalibration as in previous seasons. The replacement meteorological sensors and dataloggers will remain in the field for two to five years.
Theme or program:
Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Program
The McMurdo Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) projects will continue to investigate the McMurdo Dry Valleys as an end-member ecosystem and focus on the relative roles of legacy and extant processes on current biodiversity and ecosystem structure and function. This project measures Dry Valley meteorological parameters and the physical properties of Dry Valley glaciers, with special emphasis on LTER core research areas.