Antarctica 2015 – Fieldwork report

Arnout Roukaerts and Florian Deman

In the Austral spring of 2015 (Oct. 27th – Dec. 11th), two members of AMGC participated in a one month field campaign at the Australian Davis station, Antarctica. The focus was on the nitrogen and carbon cycle and the pivotal role of sea-ice algae. Samples of sea ice, snow and the underlying water column were taken and will be analysed for different parameters in the AMGC lab. A time series of experiments was conducted on site to measure uptake rates for carbon and nitrogen to measure the change in growth rates of the algae. We worked in close relation with colleagues from the Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) in Hobart Australia to link our findings with the availability of trace metals such as iron.   

During the seminar we will give a detailed overview of the work carried out and give an insight on the life and work at a station in Antarctica. A series of videos will be shown from the recent campaign to illustrate.