Walking in a winter wonderland ... to the extreme!

RELEASE: Dec. 26, 2008 – Volume XL, No. 52

This time each year, we New Jerseyans often take our first winter walk in the snow. But if you’re impatient and want even more, join one Rutgers University graduate student and his girlfriend, who are in Antarctica doing research. Through the miracle of the internet, you can experience Antarctica, too!

Alex Kahl, a postdoctoral research associate at Rutgers, and his girlfriend, Elizabeth Leonardis, a registered nurse, joined the Palmer, Antarctica, Long-Term Ecological Research project. They will spend the nearly endless daylight of the Antarctic summer studying phytoplankton - microscopic aquatic plants. They’ll examine the Western Antarctic Peninsula for changes in the atmosphere and ice, adding to data on long-term climate change.

During their six months in Antarctica, Alex and Elizabeth (nicknamed “Zibba”) are blogging about their experiences so folks back home – including students - can live and learn vicariously through their adventures. Their “Antarctic Summer” website is located at http://rucool.marine.rutgers.edu/antarctica/. Teachers can even bring Antarctic science into their classrooms by having students ask questions of Alex and Zibba through an online forum.

Alex’s Ph.D. thesis at Rutgers, and his blog, focuses on the links between phytoplankton physiology and oceanic carbon sequestration. He notes that the Western Antarctic Peninsula is warming up faster than anyplace else on Earth, which has impacts on the local food chain that begins with phytoplankton and ends with whales, penguins and seals.

Elizabeth’s blog focuses on wildlife encounters, everyday life at the station and more. In response to questions from a group of seventh graders at the Jersey shore, she explained that the summer weather there is similar to New Jersey’s in winter – temperatures around the freezing mark most days, but subject to wild fluctuations.

“One of the traditions here at Palmer Station is to do the polar plunge. This means some of us that are crazy enough, jump into the freezing water,” she wrote in one post. “Alex and I both jumped and quickly got ourselves out of the water and into the hot tub. There is no way I would have jumped without the hot tub.”

Palmer Station is located on Anvers Island, next to the Antarctic Peninsula. The facility includes sleeping and living quarters, a gym, lounge, as well as scientific laboratories and monitoring equipment. Up to 46 people can stay there at one time.

The station is serviced by the Antarctic Research & Supply Vessel L.M. Gould. The ship shuttles personnel, equipment and supplies back and forth between the station and Punta Arenas, Chile. It will also be the team’s “home away from home” for a month-long research cruise, scheduled for January.

One mission of the RU COOL (Rutgers University Coastal Ocean Observation Lab) team is introducing an autonomous underwater vehicles program. They’re deploying undersea “gliders,” which can be controlled through a satellite network by RU COOL staff and students here in New Jersey. The gliders help scientists collect data about salinity, temperature and surface currents near an underwater canyon where nutrient-rich water wells up. This water contributes to phytoplankton blooms that are the foundation of the local food chain. How cool is that!

Alex and Zibba’s twin blogs, with their accompanying photos of Antarctic wildlife and scenery, are a fascinating opportunity for anyone interested in Antarctic exploration and discovery. So as the snow falls this season, take a little time to curl in front of the fire with up with a good laptop and enjoy Antarctic Summer!

And I hope you will visit New Jersey Conservation Foundation’s website at www.njconservation.org or contact me at info@njconservation.org, if you would like more information about conserving New Jersey’s precious land and natural resources.

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