KenMankoff

Plants

There isn't much large green floral life down here… There is a lot of life in general, just like everywhere else on this planet, but a lot of it is hard to see. It is under the sea ice in 28 F water, or microscopic hidden among the rocks and the snow.

But there is a greenhouse both here and at the South Pole, which provides a wonderful respite from the white and gray and black. There are two hammocks and it is a nice place to take a nap. It is also the most humid place on base by far.

From Antarctica

To make up for the lack of green elsewhere on base, I ordered a Flip Flap to keep me company. It would run 24/7 due to all the sunlight. But apparently the Kiwi Hercules is not operational, which means we are running about a 20 ton/day deficit. Or at least ton/landing, which is a function of weather. I think the order of shipment priorities is something along the lines of: science equipment, operational equipment, fresh fruit and veggies, and then personal packages. I have a feeling it'll arrive after I depart.

Tags: ANDRILL, Antarctica, flora

Diatoms

Last week was the first time I'd ever looked through a microscope, (which I prefer to think of as a 1/telescope), and so I don't know much about diatoms, but I do know they are beautiful.

Diatoms are single celled phytoplankton (very small floating plants). There are lots of different species of them, and they exist both in the water today and have in the past. When they die, they sink to the bottom and become part of the geologic record as they get covered, and preserved, by new layers.

They are useful in two primary ways. First, certain types and species existed at different points in the past, so they can be used to age-date the geologic record. In addition, diatom growth is a function of the climate at the time they were alive. So we can look at the diatoms in the core and based on the number of frustules we can infer the amount of sunlight they received. (Think of tree rings, only really really small.) The amount of sunlight can be used to infer whether there was an ice sheet over the water where the diatoms, and that part of the core, existed.

So far, in the top twenty or so meters of core, we have seen very few diatoms. Here are two images, one of a partial diatom and one complete.

From Antarctica

Tags: ANDRILL, Antarctica, fauna, flora