Breaking The Ice

As promised- at last a science based blog and I apologies for the delay! I can only say that coming back for a second winter in Rothera has made me feel even more disconnected from the 'real' world.  As touched on in a previous  post , I am continuing to pursue a research goal centered around understanding the role of marine plants in Antarctic ecosystems. Globally marine plants play an incredibly important role in aquatic ecosystems such as supporting food webs and providing shelter for an array of organisms. When marine plants erode and senesce, some of their carbon is transferred through the ecosystem in the form of detritus. The rest of the plant material remains in situ where the carbon is remineralised (broken down) by invertebrate grazers and bacteria. Plant material can be exported from shallow, coastal habitats into deeper sediments (known as carbon sinks) where it is buried. This process if known as carbon sequestration.  Our dive team has been sampling accumula...

  View from a Twin Otter aircraft flying south of Rothera It’s about time to touch base! It's been seven months and I would like to start with an apology for my total lack of news. I’ll start with my return to Rothera way back in January. The station was bustling with 170 people, the busiest I’ve ever seen it. It felt quite like an airport with multiple planes taking off when weather allowed to support science projects in the deep field. Projects are varied and come in many forms, below is a map of field sites which are supported with input and logistics from Rothera. A map denoting field sites across supported by Rothera, each project is attributed a letter of the phonetic alphabet  Map produced by the Mapping and Geographic Information Centre, British Antarctic Survey. © UKRI To name a few projects: Eight Automatic Weather Stations, distributed across the peninsula and in the Halley region (Weddell Sea), are serviced annually. These weather stations contribute to climate s...