Images of

ANTARCTICA

Hunting for Ice Algae

Photos © 2002 Seth White

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This is how I spent Christmas day 2002....out on the sea ice gathering ice algae samples. Michael Kuiper decided to head out that day and collect samples from various places near McMurdo. Luckily for me, everyone he asked to join him was either too busy or didn't want to go (!!!). On my way to brunch I walked by him and Susan Stalfort, the science support administrator, and they asked me if I wanted to come. So off we went. Here is Michael with the object of our search: an ice core containing brownish diatoms. These algae grow near the bottom of the sea ice, and a group is down here this year studying their antifreeze proteins. Due to the salinity, the water here is a couple degrees below 32F. So many sea creatures have developed these compounds that bind to the ice and keep themselves from freezing. These particular compounds are not fully understood, and are the subject of study for several science groups.
Tools of the trade: a Jiffy drill and a Sipre drill. The Jiffy drill is motorized and is used to rapidly cut through the first few feet of sea ice. The Sipre drill is a manual coring drill, and it is used to finish the cut down to the sea water and collect the cores.
A Mattrack. This is a Ford pickup with its wheels replaced by Mattrack treads. I was told the modifications cost about $40,000...more than the price of the truck itself.
Me, with another algae-containing core.
Big Razorback island, a few miles north of McMurdo. There are large tidal cracks in the sea ice near the island, which give the seals a nice place to enter the water. Earlier in the season, a seal camp was set up here. Samples of the ice algea were taken here to see if any variations could be identified in the algae due to the seal scat.
Another view of Big Razorback.
Seals sitting around resting near Big Razorback.
A fat Weddell seal lounging around.
An interesting fin-shaped rock formation sits atop the end of Big Razorback.
Another pic of the island edge.
The Erebus Ice Tongue from ground level. More pictures of this unique glacial feature are here and here.
Another pic of the Ice Tongue.
And another.
Me, at the Ice Tongue. This was definitely the most unusual Christmas day I have had....what a great way to spend a day off, driving around the sea ice taking ice cores and pictures.
Michael and SW operating the Jiffy drill.
The Jiffy drill is a great labor-saving device. It would take forever to drill through 8 feet of sea ice with the coring drill.
Susan and Michael drilling a core with the Sipre Drill. This core was taken near McMurdo, where the sea ice was two years old. The idea was to compare algae colonies in two-year ice with that from one-year ice, which exists farther north (where the sea ice flowed out last year).
A movie file taken while driving by the Ice Tongue in the Mattrack (.avi file)