Some outcome..

Hey all! I don't even know if anybody is continuing to look on this site. But here is somethin new.. finally!
The first thing:
On the cruise I prepared a poster. For those who are not into life-science habits:
Posters are one of at least three different way to publish results of the research you do. It is a very short and superficial way and it takes relativly long to make it. Posters are exposed on conferences and if you are lucky and included some eye-catching graphy or pictures, you can provoke diskussions and it is a productive thing in the name of science. This poster was prepared by me and some coworkers for an international meeting on Antarctic research with the german federal minister for education and research, Dr. Anette Schavan, on board FS “POLARSTERN” in Cape Town, South Africa. But it was also exposed on the SCAR/IASC IPY Open Science Conference in St. Petersburg, Russia. It is not the typical poster you can expect from a scientist, as it free of any text. Why? Yopu can see the poster and read the short introduction here.

And there is some more new stuff: I started a second blog. It has not much to do with Antarctica but with crustaceans and invertebrates in general. I'd like to encourage some people to chat and discuss about taxonomic and phylogenetic riddles and enigmas of today. So I started a blog telling about my adventures of reading a book called "Spezielle Zoologie". I don't know where it will end up.. but I hope to find some people that are not bored to death.
Cheers..

Back home

Hi!
I am back in Germany. And it is good to be back, though this cruise was a big adventure and I would go again, if I had the chance.
It is very nice, to see some friends again, to smell the humid soil, the trees, to listen to the first calling birds of the coming breeding season, to see the first flowers. My cockroaches have got offspring, my daphniids, copepods and isopods are still alive - thanks to my mother who took care of all that. I have already prepared some chilli and other seeds for my little hot and spicy garden. The next time i will spend sorting out my pictures, having a course at the university and arriving mentally.
Some more pictures of "Polarstern", the ocean and antarctic wildlife will be posted on my picasa webalbum. So have a look, if you like!
Cheers.. Torben

Heading towards Cape Town

The cruise ANTXXIV-2 is almost over. From January 27th to January 31st we were facing a quite strong low-pressure system and "Polarstern" fought against wind-speed peaks up to 10bft. Waves increased to a mean of 8m, meaning that every now and then it was quite rolling on board.

Unfortunately, this was the time for our last station work. On Sunday, 27th, we deployed the EBS for the last time on this cruise and we had to hurry. While we retrieved it, storm was increasing dramatically and the final heaving and bringing META on deck was dangerous and hard work for the deck crew. Unfortunately, samples contained almost nothing and we do not know if this reflects reality on the sea floor or if it was a consequence of the storm. Due to the storm all groups had to cut down their station plan to a minimum and we had no time left for deploying the trawl. This was done two days later, on the 29th. Again, it took some hours to deploy and retrieve the gear and when it came on deck – still in a quite stormy situation – the net was completely empty. There is a theory, that the fine meshed inner net was sucked out to the opening during the heaving th rough 4000m water column by the ship's up and down
movement. But nobody knows really. Everything was washed out. No single feather star or sponge was attached to the nets. Nothing! In the little "Rauschert Dredge", which was attached to the trawl, at least a spoon full of sediment with foraminiferans and some amphipods was found. It was frustrating.
At the same time we already had to begin packing our boxes and the container. Meta was dismantled immediately after the last station. Tools and screws had to be cleaned from salt water, laboratories and cooling containers had to be cleaned and also the public rooms, like "Zillertal", the gym and sauna and the computer room.

Due to the immense ice cover of the Weddell Sea and especially the Atka Bay this summer and the logistics support for the German polar research stations, a lot of time got lost for science on board. Therefore the scientific value of this cruise is not as high as hoped for some groups.
But nevertheless, we got data to work with and some results. For me and most others it was amazing! I learned a lot due to practical work, the daily seminar and lots of fruitful discussions. The ship is a "hotspot" of knowledge about the marine environment and it is very valuable to know some new people, everyone an expert in his science.
This cruise also was "over the top" regarding to tourist attractions. I am referring to the time spent for supplying "Neumayer II" and the icebreaking for "Neumayer III" and "Naja Arctica" on the one hand, but also icebergs, storms and some numbers of whales we saw during the cruise.
Now we left the Greenwich Meridian and head to the north-east, back to Cape Town. Air and water temperature is above +16°C and like summer in Germany. We will reach South Africa the day after tomorrow and I will spend only one additional night there. As apples are the only fresh fruit and cabbage is the only fresh vegetable left on board I am really looking forward to green salad and such things.
We are writing cruise reports, create data backup. The last days we were also busy preparing scientific presentations and posters comprising results of our science and this particular cruise. The day when I am flying back to Frankfurt, there will be a big event on the ship with a
reception for the German minister for science and education A. Schavan. This is due to the 25th anniversary of "Polarstern". Tonight there will be a farewell barbecue on the working deck with
scientists, officers and crew. Wind speed and wave height have decreased. Perfect weather for some recreation! I am really looking forward to see you all again! Soon!
Yours, Torben

Auf Wiedersehen "Neumayer II"!

Mittwoch, 16. Januar
Auf Wiedersehen, "Neumayer II"!
Seit ca. zwei Wochen war die "Polarstern" dabei, gegen eine unnahbare Festung aus Eis zu kämpfen, und wenig Fortschritt zeigte sich Tag für Tag. Die Wissenschaftler an Bord dieses Forschungseisbrechers entwickelten langsam Unmut. Einige Stationen waren sowieso schon verloren gegangen, als wir zum zweiten Mal in die Atka-Bucht gerufen wurden. Nun schien es noch am Montagnachmittag, als ob das Ziel in weiter Ferne läge. Mitten in der Nacht zum Dienstag, gegen 02:00 Uhr näherte sich die Geburtstagsfeier zweier Mitglieder der Wissenschaft und eines Helikoptertechnikers langsam dem Ende. Unverhofft wurde auf einmal die erfreuliche Nachricht in das „Zillertal", die Bord-Bar der "Polarstern" getragen, die Polarstern habe die Schelfeiskante erreicht. Ich konnte es nicht glauben! Nach einigem Zögern bin ich in meinen Polaranzug geschlüpft und an Deck gegangen.
Tatsächlich, wir hatten es geschafft. Ein Anleger war geschaffen, so groß, dass, unserem Kapitän Uwe Pahl nach, die "Queen Mary" dort anlegen könnte. Mir, wie vielen anderen an Bord, fiel an diesem Sonntag ein riesiger Stein vom Herzen. Nicht nur das Millionenprojekt "Neumayer III", sondern auch unsere Forschung ist, zumindest zum Teil, gerettet.
Mir blieben nur wenige Stunden Schlaf, bis mich der Fahrtleiter Uli Bathmann per Telefon auf das Helikopterdeck bat. Der Helikopter war bereits in der Luft, als ich auf dem Landedeck eintraf. An Bord: unser Kapitän und der Kapitän der "Naja Arctica". Sie waren unterwegs, um die Eignung der Eiskante zum Entladen der neuen Forschungsstation von dem dänischen Frachtschiff zu überprüfen.
Zum zweiten Mal durfte ich Uli bei der fotografischen Dokumentation der Situation vom Helikopter aus unterstützen. Beim ersten Mal vor zwei Wochen ging es darum, die besonders schwere Eissituation vor Beginn der ganzen Aktion zu erkunden und festzuhalten. Dieses Mal ging es darum, den Erfolg der mühsamen und akribisch geplanten Operation zu dokumentieren. Die Polarstern hat einen 3,6 km langen und mehrere 100 m breiten Kanal in die Atka-Bucht gerammt, genug Platz für die „Naja Arctica" zum Manövrieren.
Gegen Mittag haben wir Abschied genommen. Ein bisschen Wehmut ist schon dabei – wer weiß, ob ich diesen Ort jemals wieder sehen kann? Aber allgemein herrscht Aufbruchstimmung. Der letzte Abschnitt der Reise beginnt und wir wollen alles rausholen, was uns die kommenden Stationen bieten.
Der Torben

We did it! Good bye "Neumayer"!

Ramming towards the shelf ice

This night to Sunday, the two Belgian participants of the cruise, Katja and Henri, organised the "Belgian Night 2008" and had brought a whole box of different types of Belgian Beer to taste. They also served French fries of fresh potatoes. This was a very nice event and the bar was crowded. On Sunday, 13th of January we were caught between the fast ice and heavy pack ice and the storm was up to 9 bft. We had no chance except from drifting westward. This day was the first day for me to recognise that I was counting the coming days on "Polarstern" backwards. We did not have stations to do for many days, some scientists on board became afraid of loosing all planned stations and this also was topic in most of the chatting going on.
For getting some alternatives in the daily program, I decided to organise a small and private "The Blues Brothers" night. The plan was, to sit on the cosy sofas in the Blue Salon ant watch the movie on the laptop. Dress code: Sunglasses! But soon, a lot more friends were aware of that and I decided to relocate that event to the seminar room. The scenery of men with sunglasses, with faces like stone, sitting together in a dark room was very funny. Somehow the word was spread all over the ship and some people just went by and heard the movie and suddenly the room was full.
And most of the people realised quickly, what was going on and went out again to fetch their sunglasses. This was a nice evening. Until Tuesday, 15th of January, I could not believe that we would have another scientific station. Daily progress seemed so small. And the storm had filled up the canal with pack ice again. But after the storm last weekend a huge ice flow was broken off the canal's eastern side.
"Polarstern" broke that flow to pieces and pushed them out of the canal carefully. Once this was accomplished, the icebreaker could turn easily within the double sized canal. The strategy of ramming was changed by captain Pahl: From now on, ice was scraped off the fast ice edge by 45°
ramming, interrupted by straight ramming every now and then. As three people had birthday this and the coming day, some celebration took place and almost no one noticed that within some hours we reached the shelf ice edge and even a large landing site was prepared. Only some hours of sleep remained, until chief scientist Uli woke me up by phone call: "I'd like you to be on the heli deck in 30 to 45 minutes. Better 30!" "Ok!" The message was clear. I got my equipment together, erased data from my camera's memory, changes batteries and was ready for take off. I was and still am overwhelmed by this opportunity Uli gave me again and I am very thankful for that. This time we used the helicopter to show the success of this two-week operation. Big relief could be felt on board as most scientists could hope for stations. And the AWI also is very happy now, as the unloading of "Naja Arctica" and the construction of "Neumayer III" can finally start now. A lot of pressure fell off the shoulders of the captain and Uli, I think. `"Polarstern" in the canal, close to the "Nordanler" ice edge´. That was the message, our pictures were supposed to give to the AWI and to the press. Around midday we left Atka Bay and headed for the first station of the final transect of this cruise. Saying goodbye to "Neumayer", Atka Bay and the shelf ice made me feel a little bit sad. Who knows if I will ever see this panorama again? But looking forward, there is hopefully another deep-sea station. And last but not least, I am getting excited coming home again.
Today is Friday, 18th. We are in Minke Whale country. Angelika was lucky to help with the helicopter counting today as we passed an ice free area with many Minke Whales. We passed that area before and Bram and Victoria saw those whales jumping and playing. I still got lots of work to do. Many samples wait to be sorted and many isopod legs wait to be dissected. Hopefully see you soon!
Yours, Torben

Another trawl

On Saturday, 12th of January "Polarstern" had to abort the operation for a while as a storm with winds from the east and northeast was approaching. The risk of getting caught in the canal by heavy pack ice was too high. While waiting for the storm, we got the chance to deploy another bottom trawl in 600m depth. The catches were very rich and impressing. There was "Icefish", giant isopods, millions of crinoids and much more. There was no chance to get lunch or coffee break that day as we had to process and fix most of the samples immediately. Other animals, especially isopods and amphipods could be kept alive in sea water aquaria in cooling containers.
I had the chance to intensively use my mini aquaria to take pictures of a lot of crustaceans. This day Saskia and me had to present a talk about isopod phylogeny. Saskia did the main part and I presented some thoughts about my upcoming diploma thesis. Indeed, compared to both previous talks on board I felt very uncomfortable before and during this talk. On the one hand I was exhausted due to the all day's hard work, on the other hand there are a lot of uncertainties concerning my thesis. Well, there is still some time to think about all that.

Helicopter ice dokumentation

Hello again!

As I did not write anything for a while, I will summarize, what has happened during the last two weeks. And a lot of things have happened. On Sunday, 06th of January the second transect of scientific stations has been interrupted. It had been decided that "Polarstern" had to steam back
to Atka Bay to break the ice for the Danish freighter "Naja Arctica". This ship had arrived at the same position in the fast ice of Atka Bay at which we had accomplished the unloading of supply for "Neumayer II" around 17th of December. Since then it was waiting.
"Naja Arctica" carried all the parts, equipment and cranes for the construction of the new German Antarctic research station "Neumayer III" and time was running due to the upcoming winter.
On our way to the southwest, at 7th of January, 25 members of the construction team for "Neumayer III" were brought to "Polarstern" by helicopter. They had come through a lot of trouble as originally it was planned to bring them directly to their camp at "Neumayer". But until then their camp was still on "Naja Arctica" and unloading was impossible for most parts, as those were too heavy. They were brought to the Russian station "Novo" then to the South African station "Sanae IV". There they had a good time until the supply vessel "SA Agulhas" reached the station with supply and lots of researchers. Construction team was exchanged for researchers as space was scarce and from then on until we took them, they stayed at the South African ship. For one day they lived in the equipment room and the Blue Salon of "Polarstern" and then were brought to "Neumayer".
At this day Bram made an announcement to all via intercom. "There are Killerwhales in front of the ship. Orcas!" 30 seconds later about 50 people were standing on the upper decks of "Polarstern" and a huge family of about 30 orcas passed by.
In the morning of Wednesday, 9th of January we reached "Naja Arctica" to supply them with fresh water. At this day the scientific leader of this cruise, Uli Bathmann, asked me to help with photographic documentation of the ice situation. I felt very honoured. Equipped with two dSLR cameras with different lenses I entered the helicopter and an impressive flight began at the early afternoon. Aim was, to get overview images from Atka Bay, from the ice cover at the "Nordanleger" and to take pictures of the construction site and the camp of the construction camp. Before that, the "Nordanleger", a shelf ice area on the western flank of Atka Bay had been
chosen as the best opportunity to reach the shelf ice edge. This was a very nice opportunity for me and I could feel a big pressure to produce good pictures. As Uli did not comment that much about the quality later on, I suppose I did my job ok.
The same day, "Polarstern" started to penetrate the ice. Direction: "Nordanleger". And it was a very hard work. Ice cover was variable and also the snow cover on top. Mean ice cover was maybe 40cm at the beginning and increased towards the shelf ice to 1.9m. But at ridges the thickness was up to several meters. At these rough structures and also towards the shelf ice, snow cover got more and more and reached a mean of 75cm. Snow was sticking to the ship's hull and was like a strong break. It consumed a lot of the speed and power while ramming.
The plan was, to ram two discrete canals more than 100m apart from each other. The ice in between was supposed to break away in big flows. At the end the canal should have been as big as to allow the ice be driven out by winds and to allow the "Naja Arctica" to manoeuvre. This plan worked well at the beginning. But as we penetrated the fast ice more and more, all the
ice and snow made up a dense stew and acceleration to necessary ramming speed got impossible. We could have used winds from the south but except from some help from the tide, nature did not give any help. At some days we did not make more than 90m progress and the distance was about two miles at the beginning.

Frohes Neues Jahr!

Willkommen in 2008!
Montag, 31.12.2007: Es war der letzte Tag des Jahres, in den wir uns hineingearbeitet haben. Wir befanden uns auf der ersten wirklich tiefen Station, auf der auch die Geräte eingesetzt wurden, die der Tiefsee wirklich bis auf den Grund gingen, um einen Einblick in die absolute
Dunkelheit zu ermöglichen. Zwischen dem Schiffsrumpf der "Polarstern" und dem Meeresboden lagen etwa 5300m!
Seit dem Vorabend war der Epibenthosschlitten "Meta" auf dem Weg nach ganz unten. Die Prozedur dauerte etwa acht Stunden. Bis er wieder an Deck kam, mussten die Proben des zuvor geschleppten Gerätes fixiert werden. Das Trawl brachte etwa zwei Tonnen Sediment, oder einfach gesagt Schlamm, an Bord. Dann hieß es warten. Die von den Zoologen eingesetzten Fanggeräte sind robust. Bei einigen anderen, wie etwa der Tiefseekamera oder sensiblen Messinstrumenten, haben die Wissenschaftler den Kampf gegen die über 500bar Überdruck verloren. Defekte Geräte und unvollständige Daten trübten die Stimmung.
Als "Meta" die Wasseroberfläche durchstieß wurde klar: Auch sie hat hauptsächlich Schlamm mit hoch gebracht. Bis der Fang gesiebt, das Deck geschrubbt war und die Proben sortiert und fixiert waren, dauerte es Stunden. Es schneite. Ein Bild von dieser Arbeit habe ich mitgeschickt.
Das Frühstück und ein Saunagang tauten die Körper wieder auf. Wir waren müde, doch zum Schlafen blieb wenig Zeit, schließlich wollte die Silvesterfeier vorbereitet sein. Ab 16Uhr war die Stationsarbeit abgeschlossen. Das Schiff machte sich auf den Weg zum Transekt auf 3°Ost, damit pünktlich Neujahr-Morgen die Arbeit auf der nächsten Station beginnen konnte.
Im festlich geschmückten Geräteraum wurde abends zum Spanferkel geladen. Auch "Dinner for One" fehlte im abendlichen Programm selbstverständlich nicht. Dieses Jahr fand die erste "Polarstern-Olympiade" statt. In 17 Teams traten 34 Wissenschaftler und Crewmitglieder, zufällig zusammengelost, gegeneinander in fünf lustigen Disziplinen an. Die Stimmung stieg schnell und die kurzen Nächte der letzten Tage waren bald vergessen. Zur Begrüßung des Jahres 2008 stießen wir alle auf der Brücke an. Ein imposanter Ausblick auf das Meer, vorbeiziehende Eisberge und das geblasene Horn entschädigten für das südlich von 60°S verbotene Feuerwerk. Bei Tanz und Musik im Geräteraum wurde das neue Jahr willkommen geheißen und 2007 verabschiedet. Soviel ersteinmal.
Bis bald.. der Torben

Happy New Year!!

Happy new year to all of you! As I did not write anything since before Christmas, I will try to recall the most important things for me that happened on board RV "Polarstern" during the last week or so. Christmas Eve was a great day for me. I had the chance to assist the Dutch group of Top-Predator researchers with their helicopter counting. We started in the morning and the flight, which consisted of two transects, took about two hours. At this time huge and fast ice flows covered the sea, and a network of open water in between caused a lot of zigzagging for "Polarstern". But it is a very strong icebreaker and no ice flow was thick enough to withstand it. There was no more ramming at this time. This was not true for the RV "S.A. Agulhas", the South African research and supply vessel. During our flight we met them and they were stuck in the ice. We came quite close to the ship and waved to the people on board. We greeted them and flew on. They were also heading for "Neumayer II" where the unloading and logistics for the supply of the South African Station "Sanae IV" will be accomplished.
Just about 30 minutes later I became a very happy person, if I wasn't already because of the flight: we spotted the rarest seal species in Antarctic waters, the "Ross Seal"!!! We came very close and I could take some very nice pictures. Jan - head of the top-predator team- said, I was
a "very lucky bastard" as people like him spend many hours of counting and never see such a seal. One of the pictures shows this seal. At the end of the second transect "Polarstern" was deploying a net and because of the crane in the air, the helicopter was not allowed to land. The pilot used the time to fly around some Icebergs and to slowly fly around "Polarstern". As it took some more time, we landed on an ice flow close to the ship. On one of the pictures you can see "Polarstern" from above and the ice flow we landed on. What an adventure!
December 24th and the two following days of Christmas were celebrated in a very nice way, probably the nicest way possible, when you are separated from your families and beloved. On Monday at 4pm the crew stopped working and everything was prepared for Christmas celebration. There was a German standard Christmas dinner (potato salad and sausages) and afterwards an official celebration in the blue saloon, the library and reception room of the ship. Both, Captain and chief scientists spoke to all the crew and scientists, encouraged everybody and reminded of poor people living on earth under harsh conditions. A choir sang Christmas songs and the Christmas story was read. This celebration was very unusual for me. I felt impressed and for the first time I really missed being at home. Afterwards, we celebrated on through the night with self made theatre, singing, and music and dancing. On first day of Christmas, December 25th, work started early. Not only cleaning up but also science started again. No ship time was wasted and the sense of Christmas only remained in the special meals we had during
this day and the next. Goose, lobster and buffet are examples for the perfectly cooked and served lunches and dinners we had only for this days, even served with red and white wines or beer. The amount of data for my diploma thesis has immensely increased. After difficulties with the extraction of DNA at the beginning, we have now finished sorting the material from the first and second station and already got more than 100 successful extractions. I spend most time of the days since Christmas in the Lab, doing extractions, and I also had to prepare another talk. I hardly had the chance to go outside and have a look at the ocean. Even though, I finally managed to see my first "Minke Whales" on second day of Christmas. And just some minutes after the first whale there were three more! Again lucky! It was wonderful to see these them swimming gracefully through the ice covered ocean surfacing every now and then.
In the daily seminar almost every group has presented their topics and scientific interests. Therefore, now different topics, even non-marine talks can be presented. And finally, about nine months after my expedition to Borneo I managed to prepare a talk. I really enjoyed remembering all those impressions and adventures. I gave this talk on Saturday, 29th of
December, at the very beginning of the third big station.
During this last week we headed northward on 3°W. Every day the nights got darker (today we have about four dark hours per night), the ice cover declined to small thawed ice flows and even oceanic waves were back about December 29th. New Year 's Eve was approaching and we were at station. Since almost two days "Polarstern" stayed at special coordinates and about 50 scientists did not get much sleep. It was a deep-sea station we were at. Underneath the ship's hull more than 5000m of water separated us from the sea floor. For gear that had to work down there, like our "Epibenthic Sledge" (EBS), it took about eight hours, from the time of deployment until it was back on board. During the night to Monday 31st, we deployed a bottom-trawl and
the EBS. Both were completely filled with fine soft sediment: mud as non-scientists would call it. To find the animals in there, we had to sieve it all. It was, both gears together, at least two tonnes of sediment to sieve and it took many hours. It was fun and we felt like children
playing in the mud, but it was exhausting and cold. I sent a picture, shot by Brigitte Ebbe that shows us working with the mud from the trawl. I went to bed for three hours after breakfast of December 31st, but before that, I enjoyed revitalising my fingers and feet in the ship's sauna. I love this ship! Today I have pain in my hands from the million fold repetition of shaking the sieves against the floor and carrying the heavy buckets.
Hopefully we'll find a lot of animals in there! While the gear for catching animals is robust, other gear like the deep-sea camera and sensitive sensors did not make it. Yes, some scientists have lost the fight against more than 500bar pressure. Everybody tries to do his best, to repair instruments and get as much data as possible. We are lucky to be on "Polarstern", as we all can completely count on the crew and their professions. They are the best!In time for the celebration of New Year's Eve, work finished 4pm and we sailed to our next position at 3°E. Again we had lots of funny activities,

arranged mostly by the scientists. Especially the first "OlympiPolarstern Games" raised the mood. 34 crew members and scientists were assembled to 17 teams and competed in five funny disciplines. The crowd applauded laughing. After an official celebration of the beginning of 2008
on the bridge, we had a birthday party as one scientist and one helicopter pilot had birthday on January 1st. The view on the ocean and icebergs as well as the blowing horn of "Polarstern" made up for the missing fireworks, which is forbidden southern to 60°S for environmental reasons. During the rest of the night we danced 2007 away and welcomed 2008.