Interview with Dr.
Dennis Hansell
TRACERS Chief
Scientist and Professor at the University of Miami
Dennis on the bridge
of the RVIB Nathaniel B. Palmer during
the TRACERS Cruise. Photo credit: R. Stevens.
Q: Why
did you decided to pursue a career studying the ocean?
A: I was living and working in
a college town in Alaska and wished to return to school for graduate
studies. My wife had a good job in
town, so I went to the local university and inquired as to what they were “good
at” for doctoral preparation.
Oceanography was one of their strengths, so I applied to the program. I
had some previous experience with marine sciences as an undergraduate, so I saw
myself fitting there.
Q:
Where did you get your degrees and what were they in?
A: Humboldt State University
in Biology (BA); Auburn University in Fisheries Science (MS); University of
Alaska Fairbanks in Oceanography (PhD).
Q:
What is your primary focus when studying the ocean, and why is it important?
A: I am an ocean biogeochemist
who studies cycling of the major elements. Carbon is one such element. The carbon cycle is intimately
involved in Earth’s climate.
Understanding the cycle will, we hope, help us understand controls on
climate.
Q:
Have you been to Antarctica before, and what were you working on?
A: I was in the Southern Ocean
(as far south as 72°S) in 1994, working on a research cruise that was headed
north to Easter Island (27°S). I
was measuring carbon in the water column in support of the World Ocean
Circulation Experiment (WOCE). In
1997 I joined a cruise in the Ross Sea that was part of the United States Joint
Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS).
Again, I measured carbon in support of the program. Both projects were important in
furthering my understanding of the ocean carbon cycle.
Q:
What were the objectives of our work in the Ross Sea, and do you feel that we
accomplished them?
A: Our central objective was
to determine how the waters of the Southern Ocean are biogeochemically modified
as they move onto the Ross Sea continental shelf. One well known physical modification of particular
importance is that those waters can be made very dense, eventually flowing off
the shelf to make global ocean bottom waters that can be found as far north as
the equator. TRACERS seeks to know
how those globally important waters are modified in terms of their
biogeochemical character. We have to conduct a great deal of analytical work on
the water collected during the cruise, followed by a great deal of data
interpretation, before we will know the answers to the questions.
Q:
What has been the most enjoyable part of the cruise so far?
A: My responsibility as Chief
Scientist is to do what I can to ensure the success of all participating
science parties. Supporting those
diverse science objectives and seeing those successes is rewarding and
enjoyable. Seeing the friendships develop amongst many of us who had never
previously met was a joy as well.
Dennis (left)
ensuring the success of Jerry and his team (from left to right: Geoff, Jerry,
Gitte) while they tag an emperor penguin. Photo credit: A. Margolin.
Q:
When was your last cruise, and where was it?
A: My last cruise was a
quickie; it was a one day cruise out of Miami into the Florida Strait just a
month before we left for the Ross Sea.
It was just a bit warmer there than in the Southern Ocean. I was able to wear shorts and a light
shirt, unlike any of my days in Antarctica.
University of Miami’s
RV F.G. Walton Smith. Photo
credit D. Reynolds, courtesy of the University of Miami.
Q:
What other projects are you working on, and how are they interrelated?
A: Other than the Ross Sea
work: i) I participate as a principal investigator in the U.S. Repeat
Hydrograpy Program, an activity within the international CLIVAR project. My lab measures carbon on sections that
cross entire ocean basins. Our
goal is to map the distribution of carbon in the global ocean and, from that,
infer the processes responsible for observed variations. ii) I have a project
in the Gulf of Alaska (with a 3 week cruise coming in late May, 2013) to look
at the removal of organic carbon in the deep ocean. This removal process should balance carbon additions that
may be taking place in the Ross Sea. iii) My laboratory is responsible for
distributing sea water to the international group of marine analytical
laboratories measuring “dissolved organic carbon”. We distribute this water to provide those labs with a point
of reference against which they can test their own analytical results. iv) I have other small projects going
regularly. For example, we will be
collecting water samples in the Black Sea for carbon analysis in a few
weeks. The Black Sea has elevated
concentrations of carbon at depth; the source of that material is
uncertain. I am collaborating with
Italian and Greek scientists in this work. All of these projects have carbon
biogeochemistry at their core.
Map of the U.S.
Repeat Hydrography Program Sections. Discrete seawater samples are typically
collected at 24 depths, with a horizontal spacing of ~0.5 degrees or 30 miles. Image
courtesy of the U.S. Repeat Hydrography Program.
Dennis and his lab
showing off the “U” for the University of Miami in the wind while passing an
iceberg. From left to right: Sarah, Dennis, Meredith, Andrew. Photo credit:
S. Paoni.
Q: How
was your work on TRACERS overlapped with your previous work in the Ross Sea?
A: We conducted the same
measurements, but as the first project was in 1997 our analytical skill has
greatly improved, as was necessary for the success of our TRACERS objectives.
Q:
What other regions of the world ocean have you worked in?
A: I have conducted research
in all of the major ocean basins, from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the
Southern Ocean in the south. I
have not yet personnally had a cruise in the South Atlantic but that basin has
been included in my research. I’ve worked on research vessels in the other
ocean basins.
Q:
What do you do for fun? What are your hobbies?
A: My homelife and family are
my fun and my hobby.
A: Personal: I observed a
person survive a shark attack during one of my cruises; we all could have done
without that. Scientific: my first
oceanographic cruises in the Bering and Chukchi Sea of the western Arctic were
important for my foundational training.
Collaborative: My involvement in the Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study
(BATS) project sealed lifelong collaborations and friendships.
A group of walruses
in the Bering Sea during Dennis’ first oceanographic cruise. Photo courtesy
of D. Hansell.
View of the dock from
Dennis’ cottage when he worked at BATS in Bermuda. Photo credit: D. Hansell.
Ale and Dany. Photo of Ale courtesy of J.
Race, photo of Dany taken by G. Paglia.
Interview with Alejandra ‘Ale’ Monje Miranda
and Dany Thibault
Head Cooks on the RVIB Nathaniel B.
Palmer
Q: How long have you been working on the Palmer?
A: I have worked on the NBP for 11 years.
D: 6 months.
Q: Why did you decide to work on a ship?
A: I wanted to try something different. It's hard in
Chile to find work at all times, and so I wanted to try working on the ship.
D: I was retired five years ago, I stayed at home for
one year and my wife told me “Go out and get working!” because I was just doing
nothing. I was bored at home and I decided to start with maritime business. Now
I have worked on the seas for 4 years.
Q: How many months do you work each year?
A: Normally I work for 4 months, then I have 1 or 2
months off, and then again 1 or 2 months on the ship, so in average 6 months
per year.
D: Usually I'm in the Gulf of Mexico. I work 28 days
and I have 14 days off, so I work roughly 8 months per year. But this year,
I'll work for 6 months and have 3 months off.
Q: Do you miss home when you travel?
A: Sometimes. It's nice here; you see different
things, different people, so you can't be bored.
D: Absolutely. Especially this year: I missed
Christmas, New Year's Eve,.. It was hard for me this year.
Q: What's your favorite food?
A: I don't know... I like all the food, I eat
everything. But now I'd love to eat a big fresh salad.
D: All of them; but the chicken is the main dish for
everybody. You always get tired of meat like beef or pork, but you're never get
tired of chicken; so yes, I love chicken, I will eat chicken every day.
Q: What's the food you like to cook most?
A: Chicken.
D: I'm going to go first with the chicken, but here
we're lacking some seafood, that's for sure. I'd love to have some shrimp,
grouper, snapper, trout… Also it would be nice to have some veal, I'd love
that.
Q: Where are you from?
A: Chile. I was born in Puerto Montt but I grew up in
Punta Arenas.
D: I'm from Canada, Quebec, but I left it 30 years
ago. The last 18 years I lived in the USA, and that's my home now.
Q: How much is your kitchen influenced by your origins?
A: A little bit. For example with the seasonings: I
use a lot of black pepper, I like it, I grew up with black pepper.
D: You know, on the ships you have to improvise
yourself; you just go with whatever you get, and that's what I like. I love to
walk in the kitchen, open the fridge, look at what we have and I make something
from it. We don't have a lot of choices. My background is catering, and in this
kind of business you have to be versatile and I was lucky to travel all around
the world with clients and I had a lot of people working for me, and at the
same time they taught me a lot of their recipes from different countries, so
I'm very lucky.
Q: What are the main differences between working at a restaurant and
working on a ship?
A: First difference is the income: working in a
restaurant, you get more money, a lot more. The next difference is the stress,
here on the ship you are not stressed, you don't work with menus; everybody
eats the same, so we cook the same thing for everyone, except for the
vegetarians.
D: At a restaurant you can get the ingredients every
day, you go to the grocery store at the corner and you get it. Here, when we
leave the dock we leave it for the following three months, four months, six
months,... so you really want to be sure that you have your ingredients handy
before you leave. For example vegetables after two or three weeks can't be used
anymore, so you go back to the canned or the frozen ones. You have to do the
best you can.
The stockpile of canned goods that Ale and Dany
have to work with on the Palmer. Photo credit: A. Lee.
One of the special dishes for the vegetarians
cooked by Dany. Photo credit: A. Lee.
Q: Are you a “salty” or a “sweet” person?
A: Sweet.
D: I generally eat pretty healthy. I don't do desserts
myself, sometimes I eat cookies; at night before to go to the bed I have a
fruit salad, I have a yogurt and that's it.
One of Dany’s sweets: the chocolate peanut
butter cupcake. Photo credit: A. Lee.
Q: Do you like desserts? What's your favorite one?
A: Yes, of course. My favorite is chocolate chip
cookies.
D: No, I mean, I just try to keep it away. It's not
true that I don't like it, but I have to be careful with it. For a really
special occasion, I love flan, flan is great.
Q: What's your secret meal? What's the recipe?
A: Empanadas, it's a chilean food with meat inside of
a fried pastry. That's my secret one.
D: I love risotto, my risotto I'd say, I hope, it's
one of the best. Here you can't do it, but when I worked in my restaurant, I
made it with champagne, that's the key! It makes the risotto like velvet. So
much flavor to it. Just grab all the flavors from all the vegetables and
seafood and whatever else you put in.
Q: What other ship duties do you have?
A: Right now I just finished cleaning the kitchen, I
also tour the ship to help with the safety.
D: Be sure that the galley is absolutely clean and the
inventory. I make sure the walk-in cooler is clean and tag the food “first in,
first out”, depending on the shipping time. Make your dish looks good, because
you eat food with your eyes, so I try to obtain beautiful bright colors, a
different one for every pan.
Dany doing his inventory halfway through the
cruise. Photo credit: A. Lee.
One of Dany’s colorful and delicious Thai meals
served during TRACERS, which was a favorite. Photo credit: A. Lee.
Q: What do you do during your free time?
A: Watch movies, I spend time in my room, I sometimes
go to the gym or to the sauna, talk with people...
D: Talking to you. That's it. No, you know, we don't have
a lot of free time. I'm always busy, I'm always doing something during my shift
like preparing special dishes.
Q: In this moment we are again in open waters, with a lot of seasick
people...
So what the best food to eat when you are seasick?
A: Pasta and rice. That works for me and is good for
your stomach, you put these heavy things in and nothing can move.
D: Ginger, fresh ginger. And another thing is vinegar;
drink vinegar. everything that's acid is the best for your stomach. Get a
pickle. Same thing it’s got lots of vinegar. Just chew on it and you're just
going to be fine. And if you want to eat something more just have some rice,
don't go too crazy on the bread, but stay away from chocolate and butter,
everything fat will turn upside down.
Q: Where was your best cruise? What's your favorite ship to work on?
A: It was here in Antarctica, between December 1999
and January 2000. We had New Years on the ship and we had a big party for the
new millennium. It was a very nice party.
D: All the vessels are similar and good. You make
yourself happy working wherever you are. I'm just happy to do what I do, I love
what I do. I am by myself in the galley, I am my own boss, and I make my
environment the nicest one. When I do the job, everybody is nice to you. I miss
a couple of guys and the captain from another vessel, but we keep in touch at
least once a month. In the ship business you make friends wherever you go, and
if you do well in the galley you get a lot of respect from your crew and that
makes your life much easier.
Q: How important is good food in the ship?
A: It's very important.
D: It's one of the main points. There is an
expression: “Happy meal, happy crew!” and that's the key.
Allison happily grabs some food from the salad
bar while we still have “freshies”. Photo credit: A. Margolin.
Jack grabbing a slice of Hawaiian on pizza
night. Photo credit: A. Lee.
Q: What do you think about Dany/Ale?
A: Dany's a good cook. Sometimes he has some crazy
French ideas, but that's good.
D: She's great, she has another background then mine.
She has been in the business almost ten years on this ship, she knows it much
better than me. Let's say, she's more a “vessel” person, I'm more a
restaurant/consultant one, so two different games. I'm learning from her, she's
learning from me, and I think we are a very good team. It wasn't easy at the
beginning, it was my first time working with Ale and you don't know how the
other person works, but now I'm discovering how amazing and good she is.
Q: How do you decide the menu?
A: We go day by day so if he does chicken, I do pork,
if he does pork, I do beef...
D: When I start at around 12.30 PM, we talk and I ask
what she did for lunch and what she would like to do the day after, then I
decide what I want to do for dinner. I tell her in general what kind of meal
I'd like to prepare, and not a specific dish, because I frequently change my
mind. We are very versatile, and the crew and you guys are really easy going,
so we don't need to plan more than one day in advance. It's also fun to do last
minute things.
Q: Are you going to work together again?
A: I don't know. It's hard to say. I would love to
work with him again.
D: That's the problem with my company: I'm based in
the USA, Galliano, LA. Most of time they send me everywhere, where they need me
to improve, or help other vessels in case they have special clients. Where they
are going to send me next? No idea. Some captains try to keep me on their boat,
but it's the office that decides.
Dany and Ale in front of the Palmer during our stop at Cape Colbeck. Photo
credit: J. Delacruz.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Interview with Dr. Jerry Kooyman
Chief Scientist
and Professor Emeritus at Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Q: When was your first Antarctic
expedition, where were you stationed and what were you studying?
A: 1961; McMurdo Station, cold adaptation in Antarctic
fish with Art DeVries and Donald Wohlschlag was the principal investigator.
Q: How many Antarctic expeditions
have you been on, and roughly how much time have you spent in the Antarctic in
total?
A: About 50. Don’t know but it must be about three years.
Jerry feeding some
emperors at the penguin ranch, where he studied their diving physiology. Photo
taken in 1992, courtesy of G. Kooyman.
Q: How has McMurdo and the USAP
changed since you began studying the Antarctic?
A: Technically and environmentally greatly. In the early
years we used Knodwells (that had rubberized tracks), power wagons, snowcats,
weasels, and snowmobiles. Transport was with Navy prop planes where smoking was
allowed, which was true of all the buildings on the base. Later came the commercial
flights from the US that connected to Navy aircraft at Christchurch. Coastguard
icebreakers were the sea transport until the RV Palmer was built. In the peninsula the Hero was the first purpose built support ship followed
later by the Gould.
Until the Crary there was a small biolab prefab building like the bars are made
of at McMurdo Station. I could go on and on about the technical changes. The
same is true of the enviroment but suffice to say that there were no
environmental regulation or recycling in the beginning and now McMurdo Station
has one of the most extensive recycling programs that exceeds most american
towns.
Sign in front of the
Crary Science and Engineering Center at McMurdo Station. Photo credit: A.
Lee.
Q: Have you only studied
penguins over the course of your career? What other animals have you studied?
A: I did my thesis on Weddell seals and worked with them
for 20 years before switching to emperor penguins full time. I have worked on a
variety of marine birds and mammals in various parts of the world, as well as
leatherback sea turtles.
A Weddell sea pup and
its mother. Photo credit: P. Costa, courtesy of K. Goetz.
Jerry (far right)
conducting a fur seal study at South Georgia. Photo taken in 1976, courtesy
of G. Kooyman.
Q: What was your objective on
this cruise, and did you accomplish it?
A: To
determine the post-molt foraging behavior and do a detailed survey along our
course track. Both have been very successful so far, and the emperor penguin
study should go on for several more months.
Q: What will be learned from the
tags that you attached to the birds?
A: The tags will tell us the movements of the adults
during the pre-breeding period, and later where their breeding colonies are
located. They may also give us details about breeding patterns and foraging of
the southern emperor penguins, especially if most of the birds we tag are
associated with Cape Colbeck.
A group of emperor
penguins at the Sulzberger Ice Shelf at Cape Colbeck. Photo credit: R.
Dunbar.
Q: Do the tags harm the animals,
or affect their behavior in any way?
A: There is a risk anytime an animal is manipulated, but
I think it is low in the case of the emperor penguins. However, with an animal
so exquisitely designed for low body drag the tag is an encumbrance. We tried
to reduce the effect to some degree by adding a tapered nose to the tag to
reduce drag. We also had them painted flat black so they blend with the back an
are not a visual marker on the bird.
An emperor penguin
wearing the tag that was just attached. Photo credit: A. Margolin.
Q: Why is it important that we
learn about the dive and migration patterns of emperor penguins in the Ross
Sea?
A: There are numerous reasons depending upon the
orientation of who wants to know. As a conservtionist the more we know the more
able we are able to help protect them, and the more inclined we are to do so.
The migration patterns to the breeding colonies and their arrival times help us
to appreciate their degree of ice dependence. They are also an environmental
signal in regard to environmental quality changes, in this case in the Ross
Sea.
An emperor penguin
swimming off the stern of the Palmer. Photo
credit: R. Dunbar.
Q: Would you have preferred to
tag birds at a variety of locations, as opposed to tagging the majority of them
on the Sulzberger Ice Shelf? How do you think that will affect the data you
take in, if at all?
A: My original plan was to tag across a broad area of the
eastern Ross Sea ice pack, but as you know sea ice conditions did not allow
that. Concentrating so greatly on the Cape Colbeck colony was not the original
plan, for one reason I did not think it was possible at this time of year. This
serendipitous opportunity may turn out to be an exceptionally good thing. We know
little about the southern colonies and Cape Colbeck is the fourth most
southerly colony known and at the present time seems to be growing rapidly. All
that begs for a study and we have launched one.
(From left to right)
Julia, Jamee, Dennis, Kim, Gitte, Geoff and Jerry approach the first penguin
tagged during TRACERS near Terra Nova Bay. This is the first of three penguins
that were not tagged at the Cape Colbeck colony. Photo credit: A. Margolin.
(From left to right)
Kim, Geoff, Jerry and Gitte taking advantage of the curious penguins at Cape
Colbeck, where they tagged 18 penguins over the course of two and a half days. Photo
credit: A. Margolin.
Q: For the emperor penguins
tagged during this study, what stages of their development did you target and
why?
A: We wanted mature adults that will breed this year, and
that is our hope of what we got. The most information will come from their
foraging and breeding habits, because they will remain far south during the
Antarctic winter.
Q: Why is it that you collected
a feather from each penguin that was tagged?
A: Feathers will be used to determine the sex of each
penguin that was tagged.
Two penguins exploring
their curiousity by approaching us. Photo credit: A. Margolin.
Q: How does it feel to have an
Antarctic peak named after you (Kooyman Peak, 82°43’S 162°49’E at 1630 m high)?
Were you surprised when you found out that it was named in your honor?
A: I was surprised at the time and I was too young to
appreciate how novel it was and how it impresses so many. It is in a very
beautiful area by the way even for Antarctica.
Q: What are your hobbies? What
do you do for fun?
A: Surf,
bike and fly.
Jerry (left) with
friend and colleague, Paul Ponganis, taking a break from surfing in Hawaii and
their work studying dolphins. Photo taken in the early
1990’s, courtesy of G. Kooyman.
Q: What has been your most
memorable field expedition for 1) personal, 2) scientific and 3) geographical
reasons?
A: There are many in all categories, but for the purpose
of this interview: 1) 1989 and 1992 when I had my oldest son with me in 1989,
and 1992 when I had both sons with me at Cape Washington. 2) 1964 determining
the diving characteristics of the Weddell seal, the first for any marine
mammal; 1977 physiological studies of the Weddell seal and determining its
aerobic diving limit; 1986 the first land visit and true discovery Cape Washington
and its many attributes for scientific study and our conduct of field studies
on emperor penguins there. 3) the personal visit to all seven Ross Sea emperor
penguin colonies in a single season. To my knowledge it is the first ever done
by anyone.
Jerry and his two
sons, Tory and Carsten, at Cape Washington. Photo taken in 1992, courtesy of
G. Kooyman.
Interview with Dr. Mónica Orellana
Co-Chief
Scientist of the TRACERS Cruise and Scientist at Institute for Systems Biology
Mónica
in the lab at the Institute for Systems Biology. Photo courtesy of M.
Orellana.
Q:
Have you been to Antarctica, or done polar fieldwork before?
A: No I have never been to Antarctica, I would really like to
be there with all of you as you know, but it is not possible at this time!
Q:
What will your role in TRACERS bring to the Institute for Systems Biology?
A: One
of the ISB’s goals is to increase environmental sustainability. ISB has been using systems science to
improve the understanding of interactions of microbes and ecosystems. Through
TRACERS, we are learning many aspects of the Ross Sea ecosystem by applying sophisticated technologies, perturbation
experiments and high-resolution measurements to understand the role of Phaeocystis and other microbes in carbon export. Thus, Phaeocystis now becomes a new model cell system for
ISB, and the Ross Sea a new working ecosystem.
A
model of systems science that ISB utilizes to further understand new concepts
in the field of biology. Image courtesy of ISB.
Q:
How does your work on TRACERS (or more broadly, at ISB) contribute to the field
of marine science?
A: We are using immune-probes coupled
with microgel measurements in the water column to improve our understanding of
the exported carbon by Phaeocystis in colloidal and dissolved polymeric material forms.
These tools have broad applicability to other ocean systems but are not widely
used. Immunoprobes will allow in situ tracking of Phaeocystis polymers and proteins, their
transformation and degradation in the water column. Our contribution to
TRACERS, oceanography and marine sciences will be to provide information on the
cycling of Phaeocystis
polymers and proteins such as RuBisCO as actual biopolymers in the DOC pool.
This creates a link between the biology at the ocean’s surface, and the
transformation of the exported particulate matter in water column.
Allison
on the helo deck on a sunny day in Terra Nova Bay, displaying one of the
incubators that she has used for multiple incubation experiments during TRACERS.
Photo credit: A. Margolin.
Allison
in the hydro lab, prepared to head out to the incubators on a cold day, typical
of the Ross Sea. Photo credit: A. Margolin.
Q:
Why is what we are doing in the Ross Sea important?
A: Understanding particulate matter
transformations in the Ross Sea will help us to explain the role of particulate matter transformations in carbon and nitrogen export in larger contexts across
global ocean.
Q:
What do you hope to learn from the samples collected and analyzed during the
course of the TRACERS Cruise?
A: The
samples collected will help us understand the transformation and solubilization
rates of the particulate production in the water column. The coupling of
antibody probes with measurements of gels will enable us learn about the
specific transformations. Gels can
reach high percentage of the dissolved organic carbon pool (10-30%), however
their dynamics in the field are not well known. Only recently, we learned that
gels have important roles including transferring proteins into the deep sea and
have an important role as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) in the Arctic and
possibly all across the world oceans. By high-resolution sampling we will have
a very good quantitative understanding of the gel’s role in transferring
material to the deep ocean.
Image
of a microgel under the microscope. They can be thought of as mucus produced by
algae. Photo credit: A. Lee.
Q:
What are the challenges as a chief scientist, of participating in the TRACERS
Cruise from Seattle as opposed to on board the Palmer?
A:
Communication, always being behind by a day!
Working
in the Ross Sea put us on the New Zealand time zone (M – light blue), while Mónica
in Seattle (U – purple) was 20 hours behind us. However, now that we have
crossed the dateline and have been moving east, we are just about in the same
time zone. Image from www.nist.time.gov.
Q:
How were you introduced to the other chief scientists and their work?
A: I have
known Dennis Hansell since he was a postdoc at the University of Washington School of Oceanography,
but only in the last 5-6 years have we collaborated scientifically. I have also known Jack DiTullio, but we had never collaborated before; I have known of R. Dunbar and A. Bochdansky’s work, but I haven’t met them in person.
Q:
What other projects are you working on, and how are they interrelated?
A: I work on
various aspects of phytoplankton. I have a project using a multiscale systems approach to understand the
physiological, cellular and molecular responses of diatoms to climate change
and ocean acidification. Another project is to use phytoplankton proteins as
tracers in the water column. We are also working on archaea/chlorophyte
interactions and the role of gels and their physico-chemical characteristics in
the water column and as CCN. These different approaches allow us to understand
the mechanisms of gel production and their roles in carbon cycling.
Q:
Where did you get your degrees and what were they in?
A: BA Biology
from Universidad de Universidad de Concepción (Chile)
MS Zoology from University of Concepción (Chile)
MS Biological Oceanography, University of Washington,
(USA)
Ph.D. Biological Oceanography, University of
Washington (USA)
Q:
Have you always been interested in marine biology, or are there other avenues
that you have explored and/or plan to explore in your future?
A: Yes, I
have been interested in biology since I was 9 years old, when I told my parents
that I would be a scientist! The sea and its immensity, its motion and its flora and
fauna have always fascinated me. I grew up in Chile, a long narrow country on
the Pacific and the ocean has touched its people from giants like the Nobel
laureate Pablo Neruda (“Ode to the Tuna at the Market”), to (at that time)
students like myself pondering the complex and mysterious beauty of the marine
microscopic world.
Pablo
Neruda was born in Parral, Chile in 1904. He began his writing career at the
early age of thirteen. Pablo Neruda received the Nobel Prize in Literature in
1971 for his works as a poet. For more information on Pablo Neruda and his
career as a writer and political activist, you can learn more by clicking here.
Q:
What are some of the challenges you have faced and overcome as a Chilean and as
a woman in the field of marine science?
A: I don’t
feel that I have had a challenge as a Chilean woman “per se”, but my most
difficult challenge has been to be at the interface
of scientific disciplines. I did a postdoc in bioengineering, which allowed me
to visit the boundaries between disciplines, observe new practices,
methodologies, and perspectives. These perspectives have enhanced my career and
the manner in which we do research. Working in an interdisciplinary environment
has been rewarding, but not an easy road to travel. It has required additional
training to understand fundamental differences in the thought processes and
languages of different disciplines. This path has also involved some inherent
risk, one of which is the slow pace of recognition for the applicability of new
concepts in oceanography, and being outside the normal oceanographic
environment. The risk has been balanced by the gratification springing from
innovation and new understanding of old ideas and producing new paradigms.
Q:
What advice do you have for young women, and/or those foreign to the US,
interested in pursuing careers in science?
A: Anybody in science should have a joy for learning, a great
level of curiosity, and be ready for a great adventure! And, of course be hard
working!
Photo and quote courtesy of ISB.
Q:
Who has been an inspiration to you in your career, and how do you see yourself
as a reflection of them?
A: I have been influenced and supported in my career by
great mentors, fellow students and past and current colleagues. I am especially grateful for my thesis
adviser, Mary Jane Perry then at the University of Washington (University of Maine now).
Her intellectual vision, energy, and enthusiasm has remained a lasting
influence. Science is the result of a process of creating relationships and
meaningful collaborations and interactions, I have been fortunate in this
regard.
Q:
What are your hobbies? What do you do for fun?
A: I love
gardening and creating floral arrangements, especially wedding bouquets for my
friends and friends of my friends. Also, I love doing yoga and dancing zumba,
although they are at the opposite ends of the exercise spectrum. I do a fair
amount of biking and hiking in summer and skiing in winter! I cannot be without
good and interesting books! Finally, I love learning languages.
Q:
What’s your most memorable cruise for 1) social, 2) scientific and 3)
collaborative reasons?
A: My most
fascinating cruise from every point of view until now has been my cruise to the
Arctic (87°N) in 2008 for many reasons; first it was incredibly
beautiful, second it broke my heart to see global change in action, but the
most compelling reason was the discovery of microgels in the clouds. When I saw
gels from the clouds in the microscope and that they resembled those that we
were finding in the subsurface seawater and surface microlayer it was an
extraordinary moment and unforgettable feeling! I was thrilled and
simultaneously in disbelief! The collaborations from that cruise have been very
rewarding!
A
rainbow in the Arctic along the 87°N cruise that Mónica participated in back in
2008. Photo credit: M. Tjernström.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Interview with
Christopher Peterson
Second Mate of the
RVIB Nathaniel B. Palmer
Q: How
long have you been working for USAP?
A: I have been with USAP since
September 2010.
Q: What
is the longest cruise that you have been on (through the USAP or other
program)?
A: My first time working on
the ship was roughly eight months long. I was scheduled to be down here for the
port call, which was only six weeks but ended up staying on board and sailing
for about eight months, five of which in Antarctica. Out of all my cruises, the
last one on that eight-month hitch was the longest at 64 days. We worked all
over Antarctica starting from the Ross Sea and heading east until we ended up
around Marguerite Bay.
Q: Where
were you trained? The Navy?
A: I went to the Massachusetts Maritime Academy for four years. The academy is located in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts right
along the Cape Cod Canal. I graduated in 2008 with a Bachelor of Science degree
in Marine Transportation and a 3rd Mate Unlimited Tonnage, Upon Oceans license.
Q: What
drew you to this position?
A: Ever since I was a little
tike, I was fascinated with boats, ships, and everything with the ocean.
Growing up, my family did quite a bit of activities that included being on the
water. We went on a lot of whale watches, took ferry rides to nearby New
England islands such as Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, and Block Island. When I
was young, we owned a boat for quite a while too, which we unfortunately
decided to part ways with... I've still been trying to get one ever since. My
father worked as a detective in Fairfield, Connecticut and worked on the police
boats over the summers. I have great memories of being able to go out for a boat
ride and drive when I was a kid. On my father's side of the family, my
grandfather was the only other family member that went to sea as an engineer in
the Coast Guard and Navy in WWII. I always think some of my connection to the
ocean and working on ships has been passed down.
The full view from
the bridge on a clear day. Photo credit: R. Stevens.
Q: What
is your fondest memory while navigating the Palmer?
A: Navigating and
ship-handling through ice because it's so unique and different every single
time. The technique and thinking process for navigating through ice and
learning how to break it is so interesting to me. You really learn how to
handle a ship when in ice for many different reasons. It's an art that you are continuously learning, and the only
way to learn it is by doing it. At school, we talked very little about ice
navigation since it wasn't common for sailors to work in the polar regions. I
even thought I'd probably never see ice, well sometimes you just never know.
View of the bow from
the bridge as Chris navigates into some sea ice while it’s snowing. Photo
credit: A. Lee.
Another view of the
bow from the bridge, as the Palmer
breaks its way through sea ice. Photo credit: D. Hansell.
Q: How
do you navigate when it's dark out? How do you adjust your eyes to the dark?
A: Under the Captain's
Standing Orders, we are directed to use spotlights under 60 degrees South in
the dark. We have four spotlights on the top of the bridge that are remotely
controlled in the bridge so we can use them when navigating in ice at night.
The ship's officers will also show up for watch 15 minutes before their watch
starts to adjust their eyes to the darkness.
Q: What
is your favorite part about steering the Palmer?
A: My favorite part about
steering the Palmer is the fact that she is such a pleasure to handle. She was
built extremely well for her purpose as a research icebreaker. She has two
large rudders or what we call "barn doors" that really make her fun
to maneuver. It's important that we have the capability to maneuver so well in
the ice because there are situations and ice conditions where fast maneuvering
is essential. Horsepower is the other key, we have four Caterpillar main
engines and two of the four online at all times. If we need the other two for
certain ice conditions, they are always available. She's been through all sorts
of ice and seas in her twenty-year career and is still going strong.
View of the path the Palmer has made through pancake ice, in a productive (brown
water) area of the Ross Sea. Photo credit: B. Huber.
Q: What
other regions of the world ocean have you worked in?
A: At Massachusetts Maritime
Academy, we had a training ship that we used every winter to go travel around
and apply our training. It was a great way to start gaining experience at sea
and learning what you were taught in class or in a simulator. Places that I
have traveled on that ship were: Tortola, Martinique, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica,
Aruba, Panama City, Panama Canal, Spain, and Italy. I worked on a cruise ship
during my junior year at school for my internship and we traveled in
one-week-long cruises to Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, Dominican Republic, Bahamas
and back to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. After I graduated, I worked on a research
vessel out of the University of Rhode Island (R/V Endeavor) and we did some research up in the Bay of Fundy, Canada
and off of Block Island. We did a cruise about 300 miles off the coast of
Delaware as well. After that, I worked in the Gulf of Mexico for about a year
and a half on offshore supply vessels and then started on board the Palmer.
Q: What
is a typical year like, with months on/months off?
A: I typically work three
months on and three months off give or take a week or so depending on the
science trips schedule.
Chris (left) and Brandon,
the chief mate, exchanging stories from their time at sea while Chris works his
morning shift on the bridge. Photo credit: A. Margolin.
Q: Have
you ever had to abandon ship (Palmer or other vessels)?
A: No I have not, hope I never
do.
Q: What ports
are you most frequently at?
A: The ship's home port is
Punta Arenas, Chile.
Q: What
do you do for fun? What are your hobbies?
A: Ever since I've started
working in Antarctica, I read a lot of early Antarctic exploration books. I'm
really into the history of how all of Antarctica was discovered and how
research/expeditions were done. Shackleton, Amundsen, Scott, Palmer, and Ross
are some of the many explorers that paved the way for everyone else to be down
here and continue with science and environmental studies. Anyone that has
worked at sea before will say they enjoy naps whenever the opportunity arises.
Q:
What's your most memorable cruise for 1) social, 2) scientific, 3) geographical
reasons?
A: 1. My most memorable cruise
was my first cruise to Antarctica on a 54-day trip down to the Amundsen Sea. It
was my most memorable not only for it being my first time in the ice but I also
met my girlfriend on that cruise. It was her first trip as well down to
Antarctica so it was great how it all worked out to share the same experience.
That cruise ended in McMurdo Station on Ross Island which
was neat because that is one of the three bases that the United States has in
Antarctica. 2. As for scientific studies, I'd also have to say that first
cruise just because everything was so new to me, and learning the science
behind it all was really interesting. The way I look at water since that trip
isn't the same anymore, there's a lot going on! 3. For geographical reasons, my
favorite trip was one we took to South Georgia, the South Sandwich Islands,
westerly to the South Orkneys, and continued to Elephant Island and the
Bransfield Strait. We covered a lot of ground on that trip but we all will remember
the time we spent in South Georgia and for me personally, when I got to see Ernest
Shackleton's grave site.
Chris at Shackleton’s
grave site on South Georgia Island. Photo courtesy of C. Peterson.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Interview with Jamee Johnson
Our Marine
Projects Coordinator and Emergency Medical Technician (EMT)
Q: How long have you been an EMT
with the USAP, and have you always worked on the Palmer?
A: I've been an EMT on the vessels (RVIBs Nathaniel B.
Palmer and Laurence M. Gould)
for 10 years.
Medevac operation
over sea ice on the Palmer at night. Photo courtesy of J. Johnson.
Q: Do you only work in Antarctica?
A: Yes, I only work in Antarctica, though I'm planning on
doing some medical work for a hospital in Haiti this year.
Q: What’s the longest you've been
deployed to Antarctica?
A: My first job in Antarctica was at the South Pole
Station. I was deployed for approximately 6 months there. My longest deployment
on the vessels has been about 3 months.
Q: What was your motivation for
becoming an EMT in Antarctica?
A: Medicine is a personal interest of mine. I enjoy both
being able to help out in an emergency, and I find it interesting to try to
solve medical problems.
Jamee acting as a
dentist when there was no dentist.
Photo courtesy of J. Johnson.
Q: Where were you trained as an EMT?
A: We go through Wilderness Medical Training though a
variety of outdoor leadership schools.
I have been trained in Colorado, Alaska, Arizona, Wyoming, California
and Washington. I'm nationally registered as an EMT, and I've been registered
in Washington, Alaska and Colorado as well.
Q: Does being an EMT at sea require
additional training when compared to being an urban EMT ?
A: The courses we take are wilderness based, so there's
extra emphasis on stabilizing a patient for long term evacuation. In addition
to the national curriculum for EMTs, we are taught certain skills beyond the scope
of an urban EMT’s duties. We're taught to start IVs, catheterization,
intubation and suturing.
Q: What was your first medical
emergency on the Palmer that required a change in plans?
A: I can't remember what my first onboard emergency was,
but we end up doing several medevacs every year. Since the vessel is a movable platform, we can and do evacuate
personnel from other ships, stations—both US and foreign stations—or for
passengers or crew of our own vessel. The US Antarctic Program is great about
cooperating with other nations to carry out humanitarian missions like
medevacs. Certain times of year, there are few flights to the Antarctic. Since the research vessels are working
all year, it may be the only option for a winter medevac. The NSF makes the
final decision on which emergencies we will step in to help with.
Q: As an EMT at sea, do you have to
be resourceful when dealing with a medical emergency? Can you give an example?
A: I wasn't involved in this incident, but about a year
ago, the NBP assisted with a vessel that was on fire here in the Ross Sea. We had no idea how many
patients would have to be evacuated, what their injuries were, or which
languages they would speak. We ended up taking only the most severely burned or
injured patients; seven in all. The NBP passengers and crew united to meet the
needs of the passengers. People volunteered to translate into whatever
languages they spoke, a clothes drive was held to donate clothing to the
injured victims and those who were evacuated to other ships. Science personnel
volunteered to assist in the clinic and take watches over patients until we
could deliver the injured crewmen to McMurdo. A day and a half later,
helicopters from McMurdo and flight medics landed on the ice, and we
transferred our charges to them.
The vessel on fire in
the Ross Sea. Photo credit: M. Pedulli, courtesy of J. Race.
The vessel up close. Photo
credit: J. Pierce, courtesy of J. Race.
Everyone working
together to move the injured off the vessel, transported to the Palmer via
zodiac and sea ice. The Palmer and its gangway can be seen on the right.
Photo
credit: J. Eaton, courtesy of J. Race.
Q: What is the extent of the
procedures that you are capable of carrying out on the Palmer?
A: We are well equipped for a hospital our size, but we
are limited in training and equipment.
We don't carry EKGs, we can't do any surgeries, and we currently only
have the most basic telemedicine. Our medical director is working on upgrading
our capabilities on the ship. There are now telemedicine machines that will run
off the most basic iridium connection. They can transmit EKG data, vital signs
and images, and can assist in remote medicine. We're hoping we have the
bandwidth to upgrade to these capabilities soon.
Jamee carrying out
the complicated procedure of taking blood from a teddy bird-bear.
Photo
courtesy of J. Johnson.
Q: What steps do scientists working
in Antarctica have to take in order to minimized the risk of a medical
emergency?
A: Everyone who deploys down here goes through extensive
physicals before deploying. Our medical department monitors everyone's health
to make sure that candidates traveling to Antarctica are healthy enough to come
down. This helps to cut down on emergencies, but obviously some incidents are
unavoidable.
Q: What's your most memorable cruise
for 1) social, 2) scientific, and 3) medical reasons?
A: Ah, misty colored memories....
I really enjoy my job, and I've had the privilege of
taking part in a lot of great cruises. I've sailed with quite a few of the
chief scientists on this cruise before. The social climate of a cruise is what
you make of it. For instance, on this cruise we formed a "morale"
committee, open to anyone who wants to join. This group will try to engineer
little games and celebrations throughout the cruise to boost people's spirits. We’ve
already celebrated Valentine’s Day, and Mardi Gras, St Patrick’s Day and Easter
are later in this cruise. I hear the morale committee is organizing a scavenger
hunt as we speak.
Taking a break to
have some fun on Antarctica. Photo courtesy of J. Johnson.
Scientifically, I've been a part of some really amazing
projects. I know my part as a tech on the ship makes just a small contribution
to the bigger picture of science onboard, but I'm proud to contribute what I
can. There have been new species cataloged from the ship, discovered and mapped
new undersea features, tested new technologies for sampling and analysis, and
contributed to the long term data set of the areas surrounding Antarctica. Picking
just one project as a favorite would be impossible for me to do.
Medically, the most memorable cruises aren't often happy
ones. It's rare we're able to
overcome any significant medical problem on the ship. Most often if there's a significant medical incident, we
have to end a cruise early and transport a person back to definitive medical
care on land, whether that's in Antarctica, or one of the southern ports.
Q: What do you do for fun? What are
your hobbies?
A: I like to read, cook and travel. This job has afforded
me many opportunities in traveling and reading, but not so much in the cooking
area.
her in the background. Photo courtesy of J. Johnson.
