tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37060072011-04-21T15:54:26.714-07:00Life on the iceI'm in Antarctica for a third season of Weddell seal research - check here for photos and sporadic updates!Gillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11092198570111639169noreply@blogger.comBlogger301100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706007.post-1101802711792203842004-11-27T23:54:00.000-08:002004-11-30T00:18:31.796-08:00Pup tally = 168 (155 still alive, 13 dead)
We've just returned to field camp after a day or R&R in McMurdo. We were challenged to a bowling tournament by one of the other science groups down here, so we headed in Friday night and enjoyed an evening of bowling at McMurdo Lanes - 2 lanes with hand set pins. Unfortunately, we were beaten, but only by 20 points or so. Considering that our opponents Gillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11092198570111639169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706007.post-1100823959395090632004-11-18T16:08:00.000-08:002004-11-18T16:25:59.396-08:00Pup tally = 165 (153 still alive, 12 dead)
We completed our 3rd population survey today and saw 344 seals - not much different than the 1st 2 surveys we had done. Many more pups are now left alone while the moms are diving. Often we see the pups lying next to the holes, with mom surfacing occasionally to check on them. A few of the pups have totally molted and appear more or less independent. Gillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11092198570111639169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706007.post-1100259716837491532004-11-12T04:18:00.000-08:002004-11-12T03:41:56.836-08:00Pup tally = 152 (143 stil alive, 9 dead)
We have now tagged the majority of new pups for the season - only a few more will be born between now and when we leave in mid-December. We have also begun our series of population surveys for the season. On Wedensday, 4 of us went out on snowmobiles and covered the entire Erebus Bay study area, recording every single seal that we saw. Jay and Jim checkedGillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11092198570111639169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706007.post-1099633752935164992004-11-04T21:41:00.000-08:002004-11-04T21:49:12.936-08:00Pup tally = 97 (90 still alive, 7 dead)
The first week in November is historically when the most seal pups are born, so based on our current numbers, we expect that we will end up with less than 150 pups for the season. Our first population survey for the entire study area will be on Sunday and it will be interesting to know the total number of seals on the study area. With many fewer seals thanGillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11092198570111639169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706007.post-1099223872747294632004-10-27T05:54:00.000-07:002004-10-31T03:57:52.746-08:00Pup tally 47 (43 live, 4 dead)
The number of pups is slowly climbing, but overall it will likely be a low year for seal reproduction. This time last year, there were over 30 new pups at the Big Razorback colony alone. This year, we have only 2 so far, born just yesterday. In fact, we hadn't seen a single seal here until 2 days ago. Maybe they were just waiting for one motivated individual to Gillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11092198570111639169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706007.post-1098525444629082242004-10-23T02:41:00.000-07:002004-10-23T02:57:24.630-07:00Pup tally = 16 (13 live, 3 dead)
Pups are popping out a little more frequently at this point. 3 of our crew even saw a seal give birth near where they were working today. Here is one new pup nursing at the Hutton Cliffs colony:
This photo shows me standing in front of a big melt pool at Hutton Cliffs - it will likely be a popular seal hangout as the temperatures rise in the coming weeks. It Gillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11092198570111639169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706007.post-1098076640036557312004-10-17T21:55:00.000-07:002004-10-17T22:17:20.036-07:00Pup tally = 6 (3 live, 3 dead)
Yesterday we snowmobiled down to Hutton Cliffs - the biggest colony in the southern part of our study area. Kelly and Terra had tagged one new pup there on Saturday night, and yesterday we found 1 more. This seal mom is 12 years old, and has had a pup each year since she was 7. Every year she's been at the same colony, and every year she is there with her pup Gillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11092198570111639169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706007.post-1097917082302870062004-10-16T01:35:00.000-07:002004-10-16T01:58:02.303-07:00We ended up getting camp set up pretty quickly, and have been out here now for 3 days. We even beat the seals - we've only seen a handful so far, and just 4 new pups. We spent Thursday evening at the Turk's Head colony (east of our camp on the coast of Ross Island) and tagged 3 pups. This image shows the northern half of our study area; our camp is located just NW of Big Razorback Island:
On Gillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11092198570111639169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706007.post-1097474135695269752004-10-10T22:42:00.000-07:002004-10-10T22:55:35.696-07:00We have all landed safely at McMurdo after only minor delays in Christchurch. After our requisite day trying on all of our cold weather clothes, we had one extra day to hang around Christchurch when flights to Antarctica were cancelled. So, we rented a car and took a day trip up to Arthur's Pass - pretty much in the middle of the South Island. Here are my compadres for the 2004 field season- Gillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11092198570111639169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706007.post-1096649514343533152004-10-01T09:46:00.000-07:002004-10-01T09:51:54.343-07:00I'm getting ready to take off for the 3rd and final trip to Antarctica. I'm trying to figure out the new way to upload photos, so here's one of the Centennial Valley (what I have to come home to back in Montana!). Hopefully, updates from McMurdo will soon follow.
Gillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11092198570111639169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706007.post-1070149609317149602003-11-29T15:46:00.000-08:002003-11-29T16:39:27.543-08:00Fieldwork is winding down already - we've completed 6 of the 8 surveys of the seal population here. We are seeing between 900 and 1100 animals on each survey which is definitely more than last year. The edge of the sea ice is much closer this year, and hence there is less fast ice north of Erebus Bay on which the seals can haul out. It's possible that the young, non-breeding seals that were Gillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11092198570111639169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706007.post-1068436488117794042003-11-09T19:54:00.000-08:002003-11-09T19:54:45.310-08:00Most of the Weddell seals that will have pups this season have done so by now - there will be a few more born over the next few weeks but for the most part they are all here. Now that we have the majority of these newcomers tagged, we begin our population censuses that will continue for the next few weeks. Our first census was on Saturday and 978 seals were counted in the area of the coast whichGillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11092198570111639169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706007.post-1067722373499892542003-11-01T13:32:00.000-08:002003-11-01T13:32:52.090-08:00Peak of pupping has arrived and we tagged nearly 40 pups on Friday. This year it appears there will be fewer pups than last year - the
number of pups tagged per day is tracking the progress from 2001, when a total of 350 pups were born on the study area. Last year there
was a total of 400 pups born. And, in years prior to 2001, there were typically 500 or more pups tagged each year. We're Gillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11092198570111639169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706007.post-1067049633985265802003-10-24T19:40:00.000-07:002003-10-24T19:40:33.593-07:00Seal tagging is starting to pick up, but we still haven't hit the "peak pupping" part of the season. We have tagged 37 pups so far, 5 of which were dead. The weather in general has been less pleasant than what I remember last season, with pretty fierce winds at least every couple days. In addition to newborn pups, we have been tagging alot of adult males who aren't tagged, or whose tags are Gillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11092198570111639169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706007.post-1066167728429858362003-10-14T14:42:00.000-07:002003-10-14T14:43:00.780-07:00Greetings! We are still stuck at McMurdo, but did manage to get a helicopter flight over our study area yesterday during a lull in the weather. After spending last season down here, I was accustomed to seeing sea- ice as far as the eye could see - open water was about 50 miles from where we set up camp a year ago. This year, storms have blown out a good deal of the sea ice and open water is justGillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11092198570111639169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706007.post-1066010159157747242003-10-12T18:55:00.000-07:002003-10-12T18:55:59.333-07:00We are off to a slow start so far. Some exciting weather rolled into McMurdo today - strong winds, blowing snow and very low visibility. From the lab window, I can only intermittently see the building about 15 yards away. Needless to say, our camp did not get set up today as planned. In the meantime, here are 2 photos of our crew - one shows Susy, Mark, Darren and Kelly on a hike near Gillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11092198570111639169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706007.post-1065823819444424362003-10-10T15:10:00.000-07:002003-10-10T15:10:19.450-07:00Greetings from McMurdo Station!
We finally made it down here on Tuesday October 7th, after a few more days of delay in Christchurch. We have a crew of 6 this year, half of which are currently experiencing "happy camper school" - the survival training required for all new folks before they go out to live at a field camp. The past few days, and the next few days have been and will be taken up Gillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11092198570111639169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706007.post-1065135804071847592003-10-02T16:03:00.000-07:002003-10-02T16:03:24.186-07:00Another season on the ice is beginning...We have made it as far as Christchurch, NZ and have spent the morning trying on all the cold weather gear we'll take down with us. We will allegedly fly out to McMurdo tomorrow morning. The flight that was supposed to go down this morning was cancelled due to weather so hopefully things clear up by tomorrow. In the meantime, Christchurch is not a bad placeGillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11092198570111639169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706007.post-852747262002-11-29T16:55:00.000-08:002002-11-29T16:55:49.323-08:00It has been another exciting week in Antarctica, starting with a trip to Cape Royds which is just north of our study area, and is home to a large Adelie penguin rookery. We tagged a few pups that were with females who had previously been seen on the study area. Here is a photo of our crew in front of Erebus, the ever-present backdrop:
As we were checking tags on seals, this little delegationGillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11092198570111639169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706007.post-849080762002-11-21T20:58:00.000-08:002002-11-21T20:58:42.993-08:00Our time left in Erebus Bay is beginning to wane, but the pups are waxing fatter by the day. Here are two photos that show pups nursing, and demonstrate how large they have become relative to mom:
From the helicopter recon flights we've done, we've found a few more seal hideouts at one of the colonies (North Base). Going in later and finding them from the ground is the tricky part. Here's aGillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11092198570111639169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706007.post-844368172002-11-12T13:49:00.000-08:002002-11-12T13:49:27.610-08:00Greetings everyone - we came into town last night to restock our groceries and now have a short lull as we wait for the winds to let up enough to get back out to camp. Life out on the sea ice is great - we have had a few beautiful days (30F, 0 wind) interspersed with a fairly impressive windstorm (or 'herbie' as its known here, for hurricane + blizzard). We've completed our second census of the Gillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11092198570111639169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706007.post-839404062002-11-02T18:20:00.000-08:002002-11-02T18:20:42.260-08:00Finally a day off, and so I have time to crank out an update. All is going well. Bob, Jay and Mike have departed leaving the four of us to finish out the season. We are tagging seal pups every day. In the past, the first week of November has been "peak of pupping", when the most pups are born in the colonies, so this could be a busy week. We have a recon flight over the colonies tomorrow to Gillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11092198570111639169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706007.post-833390062002-10-21T23:04:00.000-07:002002-10-21T23:09:59.000-07:00Greetings all! Postings here may be sparse now that fieldwork has begun - our phone connection is spotty and we are very busy tagging seal pups! That is, except for today when we happen to be snowed in at camp. Just a brief update as one phone line has to provide internet fix for 7 people. Here are some photos of life in camp:
We took a helicopter flight out to Beaufort Island (N. of Ross Gillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11092198570111639169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706007.post-830067712002-10-15T02:28:00.000-07:002002-10-15T13:22:29.000-07:00We had our first day outside of McMurdo today (aside from training). We snowmobiled out to the site of our field camp near Big Razorback Island to make sure all our huts made it to the right location. Here I am on my new ride after arriving at camp:
We drilled a REALLY big hole in the ice to check its thickness and to create a site for the underwater videocamera (which feeds to a TV in our Gillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11092198570111639169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706007.post-829131772002-10-13T00:04:00.000-07:002002-10-13T00:04:50.210-07:00Wow- it worked! Ok - here's a bunch more:
Here we are at happy camper school, building our first windbreak
This is Mt. Discovery at dusk, looking from McMurdo
Here are Jeff, Darren, Bob, and Jay due a brief fit of warmth (note absence of red parkas) following building the snow cave
McMurdo Station
The Royal Society Range - Mountain range on the Antarctic continent, viewed from Ross Island (Gillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11092198570111639169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706007.post-829130312002-10-12T23:57:00.000-07:002002-10-12T23:57:50.013-07:00I'm still getting the photo posting figured out. Here's one of me in front of Mt. Erebus, the world's southernmost active volcano. Its peak is about 12,500 feet above sea level.
Gillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11092198570111639169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706007.post-829007612002-10-12T16:54:00.000-07:002003-03-23T10:16:03.000-08:00Its been almost a week since arriving here - feels like much longer! We are still at McMurdo - won't be able to get our camp set up until Tuesday for a variety of reasons. On Wednesday we will take our first reconnaissance helo flight over the Weddell seal breeding colonies to see where they are all hanging out so we don't miss any when we start tagging. We are also making a stop at Beaufort Gillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11092198570111639169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706007.post-826275942002-10-07T00:44:00.000-07:002002-10-07T01:00:48.000-07:00Hello all - I've arrived at McMurdo Station, Antarctica! Very exciting! THis will be short due to the fact that I'd rather wander around right now than sit in front of a computer (although we do have a phenomenal view of Mt. Discovery from our lab window). We arrived around 230 pm today after a wonderfully uneventful flight (had a bonus day in Chirstchurch yesterday as the weather was still too Gillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11092198570111639169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706007.post-825422892002-10-04T19:31:00.000-07:002002-10-04T19:31:27.420-07:00Okay- first posting to this site since the whirlwind journey began. After 4 flights which all went smoothly, my coworkers and i finally reached Christchurch, New Zealand the morning of Oct. 2. Both of my PhD advisors (Bob and Jay), two other students from Montana State (Jeff and Darren), one Nat'l Marine Mammal Lab researcher from Seattle (Mike), one PhD student from Minnesota (Christine), and Gillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11092198570111639169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3706007.post-802866322002-08-15T12:01:00.000-07:002002-08-15T12:02:56.000-07:00greetings and thanks for stopping in...
i'm seeing what this blogger thing is all about. i will use it to keep everyone abreast of my capers on The Ice this fall.
gillian hadleyGillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11092198570111639169noreply@blogger.com