Weekly Report 1: LMG02-03 Southern Ocean GLOBEC

Cruise days 07 April to 13 April inclusive

I. LMG 02-03

a. Mission statement: Overall goal is to elucidate shelf circulation processes and their effect on sea ice formation and Antarctic krill distribution, and to examine the factors that govern krill survivorship and availability to higher trophic levels, including seals, penguins, and whales.

b. Projects represented on the process cruise

BG-232-0 Dan Costa and Jennifer Burns - seal ecology

BG-234-0 Bill Fraser - seabird ecology

BG-236-0 Kendra Daly - Krill ecology and physiology

BG-237-0 Rodger Harvey - Krill biochemistry

OG-238-0 Laurie Padman - mesoscale circulation and hydrography

OG-240-0 Eileen Hofmann - circulation, hydrography, modeling

BG-239-0 Hildebrand-Cetacean biology

BG-245-0 Jose Torres - Krill and fish ecology, krill physiology

BG-248-0 Meng Zhou - Krill ecology, behavior, and modeling

c. Cruise overview to date

07 APR 02 LMG departed Punta Arenas (PA), Chile

12 APR 02 LMG arrived Palmer Station

13 APR 02 LMG departed Palmer Station for first study site, process station 7, Crystal Sound and Hanusse Bay on the western Antarctic Peninsula Shelf.

d. Synopsis

The first week of the cruise was entirely taken up with transit from Punta Arenas to Palmer, offloading of cargo, and shore-based cruise preparation. Prior to departure from Punta Arenas, 34,000 pounds of excess cargo had to be offloaded because the LMG was sitting too low in the water. This was successfully accomplished causing only a slight delay in our ETD and we were on our way at 1530. Our transit across the Drake was blustery with winds varying from 25-45 knots out of the west and southwest, and seas from 14-20 feet.

Activities at Palmer station included cargo offloading, instrument calibration, and a checkout dive for our process cruise dive team. In addition, we took advantage of our stay to finish assembling the MOC 10 and MOC1 nets. Deck space was at a premium during the transit due to the large amounts of cargo going south , which precluded us finishing the net assembly prior to departure.

Overall, our ship’s crew and our RPSC support have been outstanding. Our scientific gear was waiting for us on the LMG when we arrived so unpacking and setting up the labs went quickly and smoothly. Moreover, the large amounts of materiel we needed to bring south required juggling scientific and cargo shuttle demands. It was a difficult balance and it was handled well. Our scientific party is enthusiastic and morale across the board is high.