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- Written by: Jim McClintock
When I arrived at Palmer Station this past February, I set about what has become a routine whenever I am fortunate enough to visit and live at the station: an assessment of how climate change has altered the region since my last visit.
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- Written by: CJ Brothers
As someone who has chronically inhabited graduate student apartments, I have never lived in a house with a backyard. To my delight, Palmer Station has a “backyard” to beat all backyards, complete with seals and skiing!
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- Written by: Maggie Amsler
Question: Is this an antarctic chicken doing yoga on a rooftop?
Answer: No, it is Snow White…..
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- Written by: Chuck Amsler
I gave the weekly science talk on Tuesday night, giving the staff and other scientists on station background about what everyone on our project is doing and why. In my introduction I used one of my favorite but always true set of lines: “Don’t let anyone tell you that there are no forests in Antarctica. There are! They are forests of macroalgae (seaweeds) beneath the sea right outside our station.”
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- Written by: Sabrina Heiser
If you are out at remote field station and you need something specific or something breaks, you are either lucky and have spare parts around or you need to be inventive and build it yourself.
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- Written by: Michelle Curtis
Antarctica seems like such an exotic place. But just how different is daily life at a remote field station from life back at home?
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- Written by: Jim McClintock
Without revealing my age, I confess that my first expedition to a polar region of the planet (the sub-Antarctic island of Kerguelen in the Southern Indian Ocean) provided a glimpse of truly historic ‘comms’ (communications). Here in 1982, at the Port-aux-Français research station, communicating with family and friends was accomplished by sending a telegram.
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- Written by: CJ Brothers
Taking organic chemistry as an undergraduate almost finished my career in biology before it ever started. So, it’s ironic that I am now part of a project that involves both biology and chemistry. Fortunately, I have discovered that the “hands-on” chemistry in this project is remarkably like doing your laundry!
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- Written by: Maggie Amsler
It has been said of Palmer weather “if you don’t like it, wait a few minutes”. This was obvious the other day as not only Station’s weather changed, but so too its climate! David Bowie sang: “Ch-Ch-ch-changes …. time can change me, but I can’t trace time”. Nonetheless, I will try to trace some rather dramatic recent changes in the following paragraphs.
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- Written by: Sabrina Heiser
A picture is worth a thousand words – whenever I try to paint an image with words describing the beauty of the underwater world in Antarctica, I like to pull out my pictures and videos because
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- Written by: Michelle Curtis
What do tropical storm-force winds, ten aquaria, and lots of snails have in common? They are all key components to the excitement that has comprised our past week!
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- Written by: Jim McClintock
Lots of people like to fish; the communion with nature, the smells of salt water, and the tap-pity-tap tug on the line. And then there’s Palmer Station’s hazardous waste expert, Rob Bergeron.
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- Written by: Chuck Amsler
Tuesday was a very special day here at Palmer Station and we threw a party – a birthday party. Tuesday, 20 March 2018, was the 50th anniversary of the dedication of the current station.
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- Written by: CJ Brothers
The rumors about the food at Palmer Station reach across oceans and continents.
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- Written by: Maggie Amsler
Life at a snail’s pace is anything but slow or boring. My focus since arriving at Palmer Station has been chasing after small to wee tiny snails that live on a very large brown alga easily collected in the subtidal.
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- Written by: Chuck Amsler
We’ve written a bit in past posts and will a lot more in future ones about the cool things we see when we dive into the very cold water here. Doing those dives includes a well-practiced, tried-and-true set of procedures for getting in and out of the water from/into our inflatable Zodiac boat.
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- Written by: Sabrina Heiser
What use do PVC pipe, window screening and cable ties have in Antarctica: We are soon to open our suite of amphipod hotels to their first inhabitants. I am not talking about an adventure for human tourists in Antarctica but rather an experimental set up which includes fun and colorful units which we like to call amphipod hotels.
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- Written by: Michelle Curtis
Do you love touch tanks? Have you ever wondered what kinds of fascinating creatures are found on the seafloor in Antarctica? Well, let me give you a sneak peek by sharing one of my favorite parts of Antarctica with you… our sorting table.
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- Written by: Jim McClintock
You could hear the joy in the voice of doctoral student Michelle Curtis upon learning that the tan hand-sized sea star (Neosmilaster georgianus) in the sorting table, was in fact roosting on about 100 large, orange yolky eggs.
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- Written by: CJ Brothers
What do bubble-watching, lots of fleece layers, and ski masks have in common?