“So, not only looking at the oceanography, but also the high-resolution food distribution of krill, copepods, fish and the species that eat them, like penguins.” “We switched to shorter wavelength frequencies to look at smaller things,” said Moline. Image by Matthew Breece, Evan Quinter, the Moffat Lab and Natasia Van Gestel Harrington Professor of Marine Studies at UD and principal investigator on the project, and project co-PIs Kelly Benoit-Bird, senior scientist at Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and Megan Cimino, assistant researcher at the Institute of Marine Sciences and assistant adjunct professor of ocean sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz.Ī sea lion rests on a chunk of ice near the Palmer Station in Antarctica.Ĭredit: Matthew Breece, Evan Quinter, the Moffat Lab and Natasia Van Gestel. It was developed by Mark Moline, Maxwell P. The new echosounder gives researchers a birds-eye view of what’s for lunch in the water. The AUV, called a REMUS, is equipped with a high-resolution echosounder that uses sonar to collect data about food resources that are available to marine animals in Palmer Deep Canyon on the West Antarctic Peninsula.īesides hearing from Breece, students also saw dramatic photographs from Antarctica and scientific charts used in the research. Image by Matthew Breece, Evan Quinter, the Moffat Lab and Natasia Van Gestelīreece and his colleagues are examining the feeding habits and predator-prey interactions of Adélie and Gentoo penguins in the region using an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). Adélie penguins swim a little slower, about 10-12 miles per hour. Gentoo penguins can swim around 22 miles per hour, faster than some research boats. Gentoo penguins can swim 22 miles per hour, which is faster than the research boats can go, while Adélie penguins can only swim 10-12 mph. “Wildlife have the right of way here,” said Breece, explaining how researchers were scrambling over rocks to get to their research vessels earlier in the week, while a crab-eater seal sunned itself on the boat dock. “It’s fun, but also a lot of hard work,” said Breece, who guided the nearly 50 students through a virtual tour of Palmer Station, a United States research station situated on Anvers Island, Antarctica.īreece showed the students glaciers, laboratory experiments, research equipment and common areas, like the library, and shared stories and answered questions about living among wildlife including penguins, whales and seals. UD students participating in the work from the Moffat Lab include (from left to right) recent undergraduate student Michael Cappola, master's students Evan Quinter and Jake Gessay, and doctoral student and Unidel fellow Frederike (Rikki) Benz. UD coastal physical oceanographer Carlos Moffat (center) is working to understand the dynamics of melting glaciers and how that impacts the water circulation patterns and properties, such as salinity and temperature of the coastal oceans of Antarctica. Marine biology students at Caesar Rodney High School in Camden, Delaware, recently got a firsthand look at what it’s like to conduct field research on penguins in Antarctica during a live video call with Matthew Breece, a research scientist in marine science and policy at the University of Delaware. Weather can change rapidly, too, relegating researchers indoors when conditions are poor and making for very long days in the field when conditions are pristine.īut if you ask a scientist…or student…if the effort is worth it, the answer is a resounding YES! The temperatures are cool, averaging just above freezing at around 36 degrees Fahrenheit in the austral summer from October to February. There is the 10-day trek to get there from Delaware, which includes a sometimes stomach-revolting four-day sail through Drake Passage, heavy research equipment to manage, limits on what you can pack. Newswise - Fieldwork in Antarctica is tricky, just ask University of Delaware scientist Matthew Breece. Mountains in Antarctica are reflected off the ocean water.
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