The landscapes were just amazing in the Upper Wright Valley and sometimes we had time to just take some scenic images and close-ups of the rock formation.
Wind-eroded rocks and the Asgard Range in the background
Part of this year's objectives was to sample cryoconite holes on the Upper Wright Glacier. They are vertical water-filled holes in the gaciers that are up to ca. 1 m in diameter and up to ca. 60 cm deep. At the bottom of these holes there is always a layer of sediment or small rocks, and many of these cryoconite holes have an ice lid. These cryoconite holes are formed by wind-blown dust and small rocks that melt into the ice. Some of our aims are to characterise the microorganisms living in these ice-entombed habitats and evaluate the relationships to microbial communities in other aquatic ecosystems in Antarctica.
Upper Wright Glacier and the large ice fall that is coming down from the polar plateau
Stunning geological strata
Hunting for croconite holes on Upper Wright Glacier
Ian and Hannah are drilling into a cryoconite hole
Cyanobacterial mats in the Labyrinth, Wright Valley, Antarctica
Posted by Anne D Jungblut Feb 5, 2012Most of the cyanobacterial mats that we have found were orange pigmented and the macroscopic structure was flaky to cohesive. The orange colour is due to carotenoids which are an protection against UV and oxidative stress.
I had a small light micrscope with me in the field and the genus Leptolyngbya dominated the orange mats. Leptolyngbya are filamentous non-branching cyanobacteria belonging to the order Oscillatoriales. They are mostly between 0.5-3 micrometre thick. However, the lower side of the orange layers sometimes had green pigmentation, which besides the Leptolyngbya also had some Phormidium. The genus Phormidium also belong to the order Oscillatoriales, but they are thicker with a width of around 5 micrometres.
Flaky orange-pigmented cyanobacterial mats dominated by Leptolyngbya
Cohesive orange-pigmented cyanobacterial mats
green lower side of cyanobacterial mat with Phormidium
Interestingly, we also found some cyanobacterial mats which were dark purple to black. This colour is due to the UV-screening Scytonemin. We found the genus Schizothrix sp. (Oscillatoriales) in the mats which is known to produce Scytonemin. We also found several ponds with large accumulations of the genus Nostoc, which belongs to the order Nostocales and has specialist cells called heterocysts for nitrogen-fixation.
Cyanobacterial mats with the Scytonemin-producing genus Schizothrix
Nostoc accumulations in a meltwater pond
We also found a few ponds with green algae. Green algae biofilms are easy to distinguish from cyanobacteria as green algae are very bright green.
Green algae
The Wright Valley is one of the ice-free Dry Valleys. The Upper Wright valley is characterised by the so-called Labyrinth, which is an area of steep-sided canyons and channels. It is mainly dolerite and most rocks are bright red. Based on the literature it was formed by large 'floods during the mid-Miocene era'.
The Labyrinth
In the area you can find many strangely shaped rocks. They are called ventifacts, and are wind- and dirt-sculpted rocks.
Ventifacts in the Labyrinth
Wherever you look you only see rocks and it often reminded me of images showing how it may look on Mars.
Landscapes like on Mars
However, there is life. On one of our walks, we found these lichens. They were on the top of one of the ridges, where the overall humidity seems to be higher due to its location at a height of greater than 750 metres, and the greater influence of clouds and fog. Many of the lichens grow under or in cracks of the rocks, and this enhances the erosion of the rocks.
Lichens on rocks in the Labyrinth
AND, as soon as you get running water and temporary ponds you get thick accumulations of orange-pigmented mats. To date there have only been few morphological descriptions and there is no DNA-based data available at all.
Meltwater ponds covered by ice with bright orange mats
Orange cyanobacterial-based microbial mats
Close-up of microbial mat
(It has been two weeks since I last had internet access so this post is a bit of a catch up!)
After arriving at Scott Base and having a refresher AFT (Antarctic field training) course, we spent two days packing our field gear. We had a long list to get through ranging from equipment, radios, solar panels, tents, sleeping bags to food and toilet kit.
Cages with field equipment in Hillary Field Centre:
...and this is our final pile of everything that we would need for the next two weeks out in the Wright Valley:
As last year, we flew out by helicopter to our first site in the Wright Valley. We were very lucky to get out on the scheduled day as the weather and visibility are often too bad to fly.
Arrival at the helicopter pad:
We caught our last views of Scott Base while flying - last year the sea ice broke off at Scott Base and therefore the ice is still very thin and forms beautiful meltwater ponds.
Scott Base and meltwater ponds:
Flight into Taylor Valley
The flight to our first site took nearly one hour. We passed the ice shelf and flew into the Dry Valleys via Taylor Valley and then crossed over to the Wright Valley via the Asgard Range.
Crossing over the Asgard Range into Wright Valley:
Last view of the helicopter:
Our camp
We found a great camp spot on a large snowbank near the Wright glaciers. We had each a tent and a small kitchen tent. This will be our home for the next week.
Two-days ago we went for walk to the pressure ridges in the evening. The pressure ridges are forming where the ice shelf and sea ice are being pressed together at the shores of Ross Island. Last year the sea ice broke out and therefore the ice is still relatively thin and many large bright blue meltwater ponds have formed.
Meltwater pond in the pressure ridges
Mt. Erebus is an active volcano that is ca. 3,700 metres high and is about 64 km away from Scott Base. Usually you can see little bit of smoke appearing from the top of the crater.
Pressure ridges and Mount Erebus
Every year a few Adelie and Emperor penguins can been seen near Scott Base. At the moment, there is a lone Emperor penguin wandering through the pressure ridges. The penguins come from parts of Ross Island where the sea ice breaks out every summer. The Emperor colonies on Ross Island are quite far away and nobody really knows if these individual penguins will be able to get back to the colonies. Let's hope for the best!
Emperor penguin
After a one-day delay, we left for Antarctica. It was a beautiful hot summer day in Christchurch and it felt a little bit strange to change into our Extreme Weather survival gear. We had check-in at 6.30 pm. After check-in there is always a safety briefing before everybody is driven to the C17 airplane.
Check-in for Antarctica
The operations are shared between the New Zealand and US Antarctic Program.In the C17 there was a lot of cargo including some rather larger rotor blades. Most of the passengers usually sit a long the sides… which is actually quite comfortable. We even get a brown bag lunch with yummy sandwiches, crisps and chocolate.
On the way to the C17 aircraft
In front of the C17 at Christchurch airport
We left at 9 pm from Christchurch and got there just after 3 am in the night. It has been relatively warm on Ross Island lately with temperatures around 0 degree. Therefore, the flights are currently arriving during the hours of the day, when the temperatures are likely the lowest to prevent any damage on the ice runway.
Inside the C17
When we arrived it was cloudy but not very windy nor cold. ….. At the moment there is 24-hour sunlight in Antarctica. It took 1 hour to get from the landing strip to Scott Base. The landing strip is on the ice shelf.
Arrival in Antarctica
At arrival we had a short welcome briefing and went to bed.At Scott base usually 3-4 people share a room. The windows have wooden shutters to block out the sunlight at night. The rooms are really comfortable.
bed rooms in Scott Base
View from the bed room
I arrived on the 1st of January in Christchurch. The flight was pleasant and involved a lot of eating, sleeping and watching movies. When I arrived in Auckland it was raining but the sun was shining in Christchurch.
Auckland Airport
Flying of the Southern Alps and Canterbury Plains, South Island
It was nice to suddently be in the middle of summer. I went for a stroll and did some last shopping for the field trip including some extra chocolate, tea and coffee. People are really into gardening in Christchurch and everywhere you find beautiful gardens.
Summer in Christchurch
Unfortunately, I got little sleep in my first night in Christchurch because there were quite a few earthquakes overnight. The biggest one was at 5.45 am with a strength of 5.5. Luckily, I am staying with somebody from our team and her house did not have any damage throughtout the last year. This is reassuring and I am slowly getting used to the rumbling. I am staying in a part of Christchurch which had little damage of the last year in comparison to many other parts of town.
After having several days off over the Christmas days, it is now time to get organised. The list of things to pack is getting long and longer including equipment, clothing and paper work…
Here the beginning of a very long list:
Clothing:
thermal shirts
long johns
socks
long johns
thermal jumpers
fleeze jacket
goretex jacket
sorel boots
hiking boots
house shoes
running shoes
jeans
t-shirts
hats
gloves
neck gaiter
thin blue insulating gloves
sun glasses
sun lotion
woollen socks….. to be continued
... thick socks, thin socks, running socks and socks knitted by my aunty! ... followed by eather gloves, thick gloves, black gloves, thin gloves, blue thermal insulating gloves, waterproof gloves and leather gloves...
.... next are.... fleeze jacket, fleeze jumper, thermal shirts, long johns, balaclava, neck gaiter and hats
This is some of my equipment:
Sampling equipment K081 |
60 ml ; louer-lok syringes |
cryovials 5 ml |
50 ml falcon tubes |
15 ml falcon tubes |
cubitainers/carboy |
sterile filters 0.2 um pore size 47 mm , |
whirl packs |
zip locks |
spatula |
forceps, pointy |
Forceps blunt 145mm pom 1 * 5 item |
cable ties |
Duck tape |
Masking tape |
Pens |
Ruler |
Garbage bags |
Chopping board |
gloves medium |
gloves large |
aluminium foil |
Eppendorf tubes 2.0 ml |
Scissor |
note book |
sterivex, GV 0.22 um filter unit |
blue tips |
Parafilm |
GPS |
pH meter |
1000-Pipette |
100-Pipette |
kids microscope |
Lysis buffer |
RNAlater |
Alcohol wipes |
pH buffers |
Cameras |
Although it was very cloudy when we left the McMurdo Ice Shelf, there were great views over Antarctica on our flight back to Christchurch (New Zealand). We had chance to go up to the cockpit and meet the pilots with incredible views over Antarctica.
Hana and me in the cockpit
Flight path over Antarctica
Last views of Antarctica
After more than two month it is time to go back to the Natural History Museum, to study all of the amazing samples that we collected. The field work however would not be possible with the help of a lot of people and the logistic support: Thanks to the US Antarctic Program, Antarctic New Zealand Program, National Institute of Water and Aquatic Research, University of Canterbury, and everybody in the field teams G-441 and K081.
After three weeks of field work, it was time to pack and go back home. However, the last day there was enough time to do another walk out on the pressure ridges next to Scott Base. The pressure ridges where the sea ice and the ice shelf hit Ross Island .
Visit to the pressure ridges
In the last days it was relatively warm for Antarctic circumstances and the ice on the runway became to soft that could create problems with the aircrafts. Therefore our departure was set for 3 am. Although the sun does not set , it is still colder during the hours of the night.
It takes 40 minutes out to the runway which is on the McMurdo Ice Shelf. One the way to the runway we saw amazing cloud formations:
Clouds with ice crystals can be rainbow coloured
Arrival at Williams Field Runway
C-17 aircraft arriving
There are many small ponds and lakes at Cape Evans, similar to Cape Royds . After a quick survey of the ponds, we concentrated on five ponds for sampling. We sampled for morphological, DNA- and RNA-based analysis of the cyanobacterial diversity, as well as nutrient analysis of the water.
In one pond we found a pink coloured layer at the bottom of the mats, which is due to the presence of purple bacteria that are anoxygenic phototrophs.
Cyanobacterial mats in Skua Lake
Large cyanobacterial mat accumulations
Cyanobacterial mat with a pink layer of purpil bacteria at the bottom
Water sampling at a small pond at Cape Evans
Today, we went to Cape Evans, where the famous hut from the Terra Nova Expedition is located. The helicopter flight took 20 minutes and it was spectacular with great views over the the McMurdo Ice Shelf and sea ice. A group of conservators from the Antarctic Heritage Trust has been spending the whole summer here to work on the famous hut. They have a cosy camp with a communal kitchen and dining hut and several polar tents. Actually, these kind of tents were also used by Scott and their design has only little changed since then. They are can withstand stronger winds than mountain tents. From our lunch break we had a great view on Scott’s hut . After we were done with our sample collection the conservators from AHT showed us the hut.
Flight over the ice
Polar tents at Cape Evans
Scott's hut build during the Terra Nova Expedition
Conservation work at the hut by Antarctic Heritage Trust
Cyanobacteria on the McMurdo Ice Shelf (Bratina Island, Antarctica)
Posted by Anne D Jungblut Jan 16, 2011Yesterday we sampled cyanobacterial mats and water samples on the McMurdo Ice Shelf. We went for the day to an area near Bratina Island. In this area, the ice shelf is covered with a layer of sediment and hundreds of meltwater ponds can be found. During the summer they forms a large network of meltwater ponds and it has the most extensive microbial growth and largest non-marine biota in southern Victoria Land. It has been suggested that the area plays an important role as source for inocula through dispersal by winds into the more extreme regions such as the Dry Valleys.
Although some of the ponds are only several meters away from each other , they can have very different characteristics. A large range of salinities can be found in the area ranging from fresh to hypersaline.
McMurdo Ice Shelf and Bratina Island with Royal Society Range in the background
Temperature, conductivity and ph measurements at an hypersaline pond near Bratina Island. The pond is called Salt Pond and has thick white salt crust around the water edge.
Cyanobacterial mats with orange pigmented pinnacles
I'm Anne Jungblut from the Botany Department. Join me as I head to Antarctica to study cyanobacterial diversity in ice-covered lakes of the Dry Valleys and Ross Island where already scientists on Scott's and Shakleton's expeditions made many discoveries.
