Aquarium senior educator Jo Blasi has recently returned from an expedition to Antarctica where she helped scientists based out of the Palmer Long Term Ecological Research station. They are examining changes in the marine ecosystem and climate change. Jo also took excursions to see native wildlife. Here are some of her pictures and video.

Read all her posts to learn about her expedition, research and marine life encountered during the trip.

Gorgeous views! (Photo: Jo Blasi | New England Aquarium/Palmer LTER)

It was hard to believe, but it was finally time to head home. After working hard for several weeks, the LMG and her crew headed back north. As we spent our last few days in Antarctic waters, we were fortunate to have fantastic weather and to see some spectacular views of the Western Antarctic Peninsula! Everyone was out taking pictures of the amazing ice covered peaks, icebergs and wildlife.

Ice everywhere (Photo: Jo Blasi | New England Aquarium/Palmer LTER)

The time for fun was short-lived, however. Within the week, the LMG returned to Palmer Station, transferred personnel and gear, crossed the Drake Passage and was back in Punta Arenas. And just like that, my time in Antarctica was over.

L. M. Gould (Photo: Jo Blasi | New England Aquarium/Palmer LTER)

Enjoying the nice weather (Photo: Jo Blasi | New England Aquarium/Palmer LTER)

Back at home, I’m beginning to process all that I’ve seen and done…and sorting through close to 6,000 photographs. Looking through my photos I find images of blue icebergs, towering glaciers, penguins with their chicks, phytoplankton underneath the microscope, sunsets on mountain peaks. I also see pictures of people working hard to collect scientific information on this environment, an environment that is changing rapidly as temperatures rise due to climate change.

Algae and diatoms underneath the microscope (Credit: Grace Saba | Rutgers University)

Gentoo parent and chicks (Photo: Jo Blasi | New England Aquarium/Palmer LTER)

Ecosystems run on a delicate balance. Everything relies on something else. Here, microbes help transform nutrients, phytoplankton feeds krill, krill feeds penguins and whales, seals eat penguins. As temperatures rise rapidly over the western side of the peninsula, changes are occurring and the important connections between organisms are being altered. LTER scientists are trying to determine the connections are and this year’s data adds one more piece to the puzzle.

Krill...part of the puzzle (Photo: Jo Blasi | New England Aquarium/Palmer LTER)

Gentoo penguins at Neko Harbor (Photo: Jo Blasi | New England Aquarium/Palmer LTER)

So what did we find? Some answers will have to wait until samples can be analyzed back in the lab. Other observations are more immediately answered. Adélie penguin colonies changed in size. A species of algae was observed in an area it is usually not found. Higher primary productivity levels were seen as we travelled south. Crabeater seals were abundant in areas of high crystal krill (Euphausia crystallorophias) concentrations. All of the research done gives scientists a clearer picture of what’s happening in the Western Antarctic Peninsula puzzle this year.

Leopard seal on the ice (Photo: Jo Blasi | New England Aquarium/Palmer LTER)

But what does this mean for the bigger picture? Changes are happening. What the ultimate result will be is a bit harder to determine. I can’t help but wonder if this polar environment will be here for future generations. I hope so. I’m thankful to have seen it and to have worked alongside the dedicated LTER researchers who study this amazing area. It’s now time for me to help in my own way, telling others about this stunning environment. Humans have become part of Antarctica’s, and the ocean’s, delicate balance. Hopefully we can make positive changes that lead to healthy ecosystems and a healthy ocean for our future.

Humpback whale cruising by (Photo: Jo Blasi | New England Aquarium/Palmer LTER)

Photo: Jo Blasi | New England Aquarium/Palmer LTER

Many of Jo's entries are cross posted on the Palmer Long Term Ecological Research Station site here. Learn more about the Palmer Long Term Ecological Research Station and meet some researchers and explore the station with our archived Google+ Hangout with Palmer!

Aquarium senior educator Jo Blasi is on expedition to Antarctica to help study the impact of climate change in these areas and changes in the marine ecosystem. She will be live blogging frequently about the expedition, research technologies and marine life encountered during the trip.

First, a quick update: After 29 straight days of calm weather, we ran into a nice 50-60 knot gale yesterday, just in time to pick up the NSF representatives at Rothera and start the mooring deployments. It has calmed down some, so we managed the first deployment at 200.140, and are moving on to the 300 line for the pair of moorings and the recovery of the two gliders.  (You can follow us by tracking the ship.)

Typical types of phytoplankton along the Western Antarctic peninsula.

While I wait for the seas to calm, I wanted to explain in a little more detail what I'm doing with all those CTD water samples. My team studies phytoplankton (algae), the tiny plants in the seawater that use sunlight as energy to make food and oxygen. While plants on land can be very large (for example, trees), the plants in the ocean for the most part are small with an average size being only around 50 microns in length.

We are studying the phytoplankton in the Antarctic because they are the base of the food web and our data suggests that the number of phytoplankton is changing as the West Antarctic peninsula is warming over the last few decades. Phytoplankton are found in the upper ocean where there is sufficient light to promote photosynthesis. Check out this sample from our 200.0.40 line on our sampling grid. Can you recognize any diatoms?

Phytoplankton sample from the 200.-040 line (Photo credit: Beth Simmons PAL/LTER)

We recently left our most southern sampling station near Charcot Island.  Here is what a water sample from the canyon looked like.

Charcot Canyon phytoplankton magnified! (Photo credit: Beth Simmons)

If you would like to learn more about Antarctic phytoplankton check out this page. How can we catch such tiny things? We take a sample of water from the CTD and extract the plankton by passing the seawater through tiny filters! It starts with water from the CTD being poured into the top of a funnel.  Then, a vacuum pulls the water through a special filter. The water ends up in a flask but the filters capture the plankton. These filters are frozen and sent back to Rutgers University for further examination when the crew returns to the states. Examining how much phytoplankton is on each filter informs scientists about what concentrations of phytoplankton are in the water in the area, where the water sample was collected from and what depth the sample was taken.

It can take a long time to filter seawater and I do it several times a day so here's a quick view of what it's like!  Check it out...






All of Jo's entries are cross posted on the Palmer Long Term Ecological Research Station site here. Track her progress on the R/V Gould, and learn more about the Palmer Long Term Ecological Research Station.

Aquarium senior educator Jo Blasi is on expedition to Antarctica to help study the impact of climate change in these areas and changes in the marine ecosystem. She will be live blogging frequently about the expedition, research technologies and marine life encountered during the trip.

The LTER research area encompasses both shallow and coastal waters as well as deep, offshore canyons. Where the canyons meet the shelf break is of interest to the LTER scientists. This area tends to harbor warm, nutrient rich water that makes it’s way up from the deep. The warmer water (only several degrees warmer than freezing) hits the surface water and is cooled by the atmosphere. With longer daylight hours during the Antarctic summer season, these areas create “biological hotspots, which are characterized by rich phytoplankton blooms.  These blooms of phytoplankton fuel productivity throughout the Antarctic food web.




To help understand what’s happening through these areas, you need to study the water that comes from these different depths. How do you do that? With a CTD! The Conductivity, Temperature and Depth instrument is a cylindrical metal frame surrounding a group of sensors. The sensors measure three physical properties of seawater – salinity, temperature and depth.

CTD sensors (Photo credit: Jo Blasi/Palmer LTER)

Aboard the LMG, the CTD resides in a large room called the Baltic room.  Surrounding the outside frame of the CTD are 24 gray Niskin bottles that form a rosette.  The Niskin bottles are triggered to open and shut at various depths, capturing water samples within the bottle. Once the instrument is back at the surface, the researchers open the Nisken bottles and drain out specific amounts of the water to analyze the waters properties and run different experiments.

Niskin bottles, part of the CTD rosette (Photo credit: Jo Blasi/ Palmer LTER)

In order to deploy our CTD, the L.M. Gould has a massive two-story door that opens on the side of the ship. Using a huge winch, the CTD is moved out of the Baltic room until it is hovering over the water. The technicians lower the CTD using the winch until the instrument is at the appropriate depth in the water column.

Go back to the water depth graph that I sent you.  Can you tell me what depth this cast went to? Post your answer!



The sensors on the CTD are connected to a computer on board the ship.   As the CTD is sinking, the researchers can watch the computer monitor and determine what depths they need water samples.  The technicians then set the sensors on the CTD to stop at these specific depths while the CTD is being raised back up to the ship, triggering the bottles to capture the samples.

Computer read out of the CTD sensors. (Photo credit: Jo Blasi/Palmer LTER)

My team of researchers study phytoplankton and we spend a lot of time using the CTD. Many of our water samples come from shallow depths, allowing us to figure out what plankton grow near the surface.   Other groups, including those that work with bacteria or ocean chemistry and nutrients also rely on the CTD to bring up water samples. Often times there are quite a few people gathered in the Baltic room when the CTD comes back to the ship because everyone is siphoning off their samples all at once and then heading back to their respective laboratories to run experiments. Once my team collects the water, it’s off to start examining what phytoplankton lives in that water!

Jo Blasi (teacher at sea) filling a bottle at the CTD. (Photo credit: Palmer LTER)

All of Jo's entries are cross posted on the Palmer Long Term Ecological Research Station site here. Track her progress on the R/V Gould, and learn more about the Palmer Long Term Ecological Research Station.