Directory

Start date:
Late October
End date:
Early February
Locations:
Dry Valleys, Taylor Valley, Lake Hoare, Commonwealth Glacier, Howard Glacier, Canada Glacier, Sollas Glacier, Taylor Glacier, Miers Valley, Adams Glacier
Principle Investigator:
Dr Michael N Gooseff
Organisation:
University of Colorado Boulder
State
Colorado
Initially funded in 1980, the U.S. Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) network is a collaborative effort of more than 1,800 scientists and students. The McMurdo LTER program is a multi-disciplinary aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems study in the McMurdo Dry Valleys. It is one of 26 LTER sites where researchers study ecological processes over long temporal and broad spatial scales. Glacier researchers will continue measurements of physical properties of Dry Valley glaciers and their response to meteorological conditions, with special emphasis on LTER core research areas. This six-year award cycle comprises seven collaborative projects: C-504-M (Gooseff), C-505-M (Priscu), C-506-M (Gooseff), C-507-M (Adams), C-508-M (Takacs-Vesbach), C-509-M (Gooseff), and C-511-M (Doran).
Three participants will deploy between 30 October and 15 February. They will primarily work out of Lake Hoare fixed camp, with two returns to McMurdo Station for a few days to process samples. From Lake Hoare, they will make day trips to Commonwealth, Howard, Canada, Sollas, and Taylor Glaciers in Taylor Valley, and to Adams Glacier in Miers Valley. The group will use helicopter support to access field sites and to fly the landscape albedo box. They will also access some field sites on foot (Canada Glacier), and will require a few days of Field Safety Coordinator assistance for working on and around the glaciers in November and January. Trips will also be made to active layer monitoring stations at Many Glaciers Pond, F6, Green Creek, east lobe of Lake Bonney, Canada Glacier ‘snout’, and Wormherder Creek.