Directory

Start date:
Mid October
End date:
Early February
Locations:
Dry Valleys, Taylor Valley, Wright Valley, Miers Valley
Principle Investigator:
Dr. Peter Doran
Organisation:
Louisiana State University Baton Rouge
State
Louisiana
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 are studying ecological processes over long temporal and broad spatial scales. Researchers on this project will focus on the physical limnology of the McMurdo Dry Valleys' lakes. They will maintain long-term automated lake-monitoring equipment, monitor meteorological stations, and carry out manual measurements of lake properties. 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).
Meteorology
The research team will work out of Dry Valley camps at Lakes Fryxell, Bonney, and Hoare, with a stay at Lake Miers. They will also make day trips on foot and by helicopter to Wright and Victoria Valleys. Their field work will include maintaining long-term automated lake-monitoring equipment, monitoring meteorological stations, and conducting manual measurements of lake properties. They will also install cameras with wide-angle views of Taylor Valley for qualitative meteorological analysis and outreach and a GPS unit equipped with a time-lapse camera on the terminus of Taylor Glacier with a view of Blood Falls to monitor active brine outflow.