Weddell Seal Science

2011 Field Team Heads to the Ice!

The 2011 Weddell seal research field team is now heading to the Ice! 

Research field team members were issued their Extreme Cold Weather (ECW) clothing by the U.S. Antarctic Program, New Zealand at the Clothing Distribution Center (CDC) yesterday in beautiful Christchurch, New Zealand. This was in preparation for their flight to McMurdo Station today. 

This morning, Weddell seal team member Jesse DeVoe reports a "rainy day in Christchurch today as the crew awaits our 10am departure to the ice! Spirits are high! Hopefully the severe blizzards in McMurdo have cleared for our arrival!" 

A check of the McMurdo Station web cam shows the skies clearing for landing by the U.S. Air Force operated C-17 military transport on the Pegasus Ice Runway outside McMurdo.

You can keep up with the team via our Facebook and Twitter posts!

Below is a great satellite imaging flyover of the McMurdo Sound area where we're heading.  This satellite flyover also exlpores the Dry Valleys and glaciers beyond McMurdo Sound.

This beautiful satellite imaging flyover was created by NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio; LIMA Data provided by: Patricia Vornberger (SAIC); LIMA data produced by U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and NASA.

- Mary Lynn Price

 

2011 Antarctica Field Season Getting Underway!

Here we go with the 2011 Antarctica Weddell seal field season video blog!  Field research team members for the Montana State University based  Weddell seal ecology research project are now beginning their travel to Christchurch, New Zealand, and then on to the main U.S. Antarctic base, McMurdo Station. 

On station at McMurdo, the team will receive further training for working in the challenging Antarctic conditions, and prepare for the remote field camp to be put in place on the sea ice.

Click on the map of Antarctica for a larger version, and check out the NASA/LIMA page for the complete map with key (courtesy NASA/LIMA and the British Antarctic Survey) and some great information on Antarctica!

I'll be traveling a few days behind the main field team, will be joining up with the rest of the team at McMurdo next week, and will be updating this blog with short videos as I can, as well as posting on our new Weddell Seal Science Facebook page and Twitter with help from other members of the field team this season.  Also this season we have our new Weddell Seal Science web portal up and running where you can keep up with developments as our field season progresses, and learn more about the Weddell seal ecology project, science, and project history.

Looking forward to a great 2011 Antarctica field season!

- Mary Lynn Price

Working in Antarctica Weather

Antarctica weather can change quickly. Weddell seal field researchers work in all kinds of weather conditions--sometimes mild and beautiful, sometimes windy and challenging.

It's all in a good day's field work for the Montana State University Weddell seal research team studying Weddell seal population dynamics in the Erebus Bay area of Antarctica's Ross Sea.

Here's a brief video look at Weddell seal research field team members working in all kinds of Antarctica weather.

- Mary Lynn Price

MSU Students Working in Antarctica

Montana State University students are an essential part of the Weddell seal research field study team working here in Antarctica. 

This field season there are two MSU Ecology Department PhD students on the research team, Glenn Stauffer and Thierry Chambert, and one MSU Ecology Department graduate, Jesse DeVoe.

Numerous MSU women have had a substantial role in the MSU Ecology Department Weddell seal research project over the years, including MSU PhD recipients Drs. Gillian Hadley and Kelly Proffitt, and MSU graduate student Jen Mannas who is currently working on her master's thesis.

Here's a brief video showing some of this season's MSU students working in Antarctica as part of the Weddell seal research field team, as well as footage of some of the previous MSU students who've been such a fundamental part of the ongoing Weddell seal research project.

- Mary Lynn Price

Weddell Seal Video Released as Featured iTunes Podcast!

A short HD video podcast on the Weddell seals studied by the Montana State University research team here in Antarctica has just been released as a Featured Podcast at iTunes! As the latest episode of the iTunes "Staff Favorites" and Featured HD Podcast DiveFilm HD Video, this new short film will reach an extremely wide audience interested in nature and science videos.

You can download the HD video podcast for free from iTunes for your iPod, iPhone, iPad, or HDTV using Apple TV. Or you can watch it right here through our Weddell Seal Science YouTube Channel!

- Mary Lynn Price

Brief Video Introduction to the Weddell Seal Population Study

As the Weddell seal field study season progresses here in Antarctica, we'll be posting videos about various aspects of both the science, and the field work and camp life of the research team on the ice.

To get started with our videos about the Weddell seal science work of the research team, here's a brief video introduction to the Erebus Bay Weddell seal population study, its long history, and the value of this research work taking place in the pristine marine environment of Antarctica's Ross Sea. This video features an interview with one of our lead researchers and principal investigators, Montana State University population ecologist Jay Rotella.

- Mary Lynn Price

A Brief Video Introduction to Weddell Seals

The Weddell seal pupping season is starting to kick into high gear. And the field team is putting in some long, productive days.

As of today, the Weddell seal research team has tagged 116 new pups in the Erebus Bay study area. And a total of 35 seal pups born to moms of known age have been weighed.

Also, 46 pups so far have received temperature tags. Temperature tags are deployed on the pups born to mothers of known age. These tags measure the temperature surrounding the tag, and indicate when seal pups go into the water to begin swimming. Because the temperature of the water here under the ice is a nearly constant 28-29°F, but the air temperature varies considerably, it is straightforward to determine when the pups are in the water swimming.

Here's a brief video introduction to Weddell seals with one of our lead researchers and principal investigators, Montana State University population ecologist Jay Rotella.

- Mary Lynn Price

Weddell Seal Study Field Season Underway!

The research team has been extremely busy for the past several days as the 2010 Weddell seal population field study season gets underway.  And there's much to do! Here's a brief video of some of the recent activities:

The field team travels daily by snowmobile to various destinations in the Weddell seal field study area here in the Erebus Bay region of Antarctica's McMurdo Sound. So flagging the safe routes across the sea ice is an essential part of the field team's work. 

Seals in the study area need to be surveyed, weighed, and tagged, and all that information carefully entered into a database. These data can then be used in a variety of ongoing ecological studies.

Today is a pup survey day. The field team will travel to all the seal pupping areas in the study area on snowmobile to count and record all the new pups of the season.

- Mary Lynn Price

Video of IT Comm Team at Big Razorback Field Camp

Yesterday, a U.S. Antarctic Program IT Comms team traveled out to Big Razorback Island to set up wireless internet and telephone system for our remote field camp.

This wireless satellite communications capability allows the Weddell seal research team to access communications technology while living and working at the remote field camp on the sea ice.

Here's a brief video on the IT Comm team working at our remote field camp to install our wireless internet and telephone communications.

- Mary Lynn Price

Internet & Erebus!

Tonight we have wireless internet and telephone connection at our remote field camp!

Thanks to the great work of radio communications technician Michael Patterson and attenna riggers Erin Heard and Dan Mahon of USAP's IT Comms we're now connected wirelessly to the outside world.

Also tonight the top of Mt. Erebus, the active volcano near our camp, became beautifully visible as the clouds obscuring the crater cleared.

Here's a photo by bio tech and photographer Jessica Farrer of Mt. Erebus as it looks tonight from our remote field camp on the sea ice at Big Razorback Island.

- Mary Lynn Price