If you read my previous blog entry on the Arctic, you’ll know that my research project is about how phytoplankton will respond to changes in the marine environment over the coming century. Phytoplankton might be some of the smallest organisms in the ocean, but they’re without a doubt the most important. They occupy the same role that our plants do on land, using sunlight to change carbon from its inorganic form as CO2 to organic compounds that can be digested by other living things. While they are important the world over, in the Antarctic, phytoplankton are particularly crucial to life even on land. On the Antarctic continent and surrounding islands, plant life is very sparse, so there is next to no terrestrial productivity. This means that even the land-based ecosystem relies much more heavily on marine productivity than most coastal regions of the world. Almost all the animals that live on land in the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic regions have to feed out in open waters, with only a handful of songbirds as an exception. The staggering biodiversity of the Southern Ocean is all thanks to my tiny, photosynthetic, single-celled friends!
What struck me most about the Antarctic sea ice was how very much on display this diversity was, especially compared to its northern counterpart. In the Arctic, there was very little life on the ice. Apart from a small flock of kittiwakes and gulls, we very rarely saw animals. Polar bears stalk the ice for prey, so most animals have evolved behaviours that involve spending most of their time hiding underwater. In the southern hemisphere, there are no land-based predators. In fact, the two biggest hunters are orca whales and leopard seals, so the safer place is actually on the ice surface. We only spent about 4 days in the sea ice, but every day we were treated to wildlife spectacles.
Flocks of cape and Antarctic petrels danced around our ship, and we were occasionally lucky enough to see a pure white snow petrel appear like a ghost between the floes. Chinstrap penguins entertained us by bouncing out of the water, then skittering back in again. We saw crabeater seals hauled out like giant furry slugs, and bulky male Antarctic fur seals fresh from mating at a nearby colony on Coronation Island. And there were whales everywhere. We saw several every day. It got to the point where I could look out the window in my cabin and could almost be certain that I’d see a whale surfacing in the distance.
Crabeater seals (Lobodon carcinophagus)
One morning, we were lucky enough to find ourselves in a middle of a minke whale feeding frenzy. About three of these small whales gathered around our ship while we were stopped for sampling. They fed in a typical fashion for baleen whales, surfacing on their sides with their enormous mounts gaping open for a huge gulp of water. The action attracted a huge group of penguins, and at one point there must have been over 50 chinstraps swimming around us. The whales stayed for a few hours, giving me plenty of time to run outside and get photos in between samples!
Our next leg after the sea ice was a south-north transect up towards the island of South Georgia. This journey was relatively uneventful in terms of wildlife, with just a few whale sightings and more albatrosses. The goal once we got to South Georgia was to get some samples from a large phytoplankton bloom that was happening just off the northern coast. Most of the Southern Ocean is deprived of iron, which is an important element for phytoplankton and means that they occur in very low concentration in most of the open waters. However, South Georgia is an area where what is called upwelling occurs. Nutrient-rich waters are brought up from the deeper ocean to the surface, and causes phytoplankton blooms to happen regularly around this island. As a result, South Georgia is one of the most ecologically diverse areas in the world, rivalling the Galapagos Islands.
This was also an exciting time on the ship. We had to swap our ship doctor with the doctor that had been stationed at the research centre at King Edward Point (KEP, the capital of South Georgia) for the last year. Because the ship would be docking, we were allowed to get off and explore South Georgia on foot. The closer we got, the more wildlife we saw. Black-browed albatrosses started appearing, and the day before we were due to land, several groups of porpoising fur seals passed the ship. The morning we were due to land, I woke up extremely excited about what kind of view would await me… but was disappointed to find a very grey and murky sea when I pulled up the blind in my cabin.
Snowy weather at South Georgia.
As it happened, it actually started snowing, and when we pulled into dock at KEP, everything had a very polar feel to it. Everyone came to watch outside as we came alongside. We could see seals lounging on the snow-covered beaches, and a group of king penguins huddled beside some buildings – and we hadn’t even set foot on land!
After several weeks of being confined to the ship, it was fantastic to be on land again. Perhaps it’s something hardwired into us as terrestrial animals, but it felt great to have the feeling of earth beneath my feet again. The first thing most of us did was to head towards the king penguins to get some photos. We were told to keep our distance from them since the ones still confined to land were fledglings moulting into their first adult coat, and as a result couldn’t go into the water to feed. This meant they were using up their fat reserves, and it could mean the difference between survival and death if we caused them to move without any real need. They were magnificent creatures, standing at nearly a meter tall.
King penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus)
A group of us decided to walk around the bay to Grytviken, an old whaling station that now sat in the middle of Cumberland Bay rusting into the ground. Our route there was guarded by Antarctic fur seals, which were definitely in charge at South Georgia. Mating season had already been and gone, which meant that the large males were already back at sea, but the beaches were dotted with seal pups and their protective mums, as well as adolescent males. It was these feisty males we were warned to look out for, because they could sometimes be aggressive enough to give chase, and a bite from one of them would result in a nasty condition known as “seal finger”, where the bacteria in their saliva causes an infection and terrible swelling. We had several occasions where we had to change our path to avoid some particularly mean seals! I kept reminding myself that if it came to running, I had the evolutionary advantage, but that didn’t make their teeth seem any less sharp…
Antarctic fur seal (Arctocephalus gazella)
After trudging through the wet snow and stopping to take many photos of baby seals, we made it to Grytviken. It was rather poignant to see the fur seal population, which had been brought to the brink of extinction in the 19th century, booming around the rusted remains of grisly instruments once used to kill them. After a quick stop in the museum, we carried on walking towards the whalers’ cemetery, where Ernest Shackleton himself is buried. We had to dodge many seals to get there, at point being almost completely blocked by a large female elephant seal (Mirounga leonina) taking a nap.
The path continued onwards and upwards up the side of a small mountain, but only two of us were interested in continuing. It was tough going through the snow, but we finally reached the top. We were greeted with a small, still lake and a panoramic view of the entire bay and the icebergs spilling out into it, calving off a nearby glacier. It was completely silent. No distant rush of cars on a dual carriageway, no human voices, nothing except the sound of my own breathing. It was one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been.
After we’d spent some time soaking in the atmosphere, we headed back down the mountain and into Grytviken again, where we met up with friends and trekked back across the bay to the JCR. Along the way, we ran into a Gentoo penguin (Pygoscelis papua), who I am sure was completely lost. He posed a bit for us, before running off towards Grytviken. I returned to the ship completely exhausted and ready for dinner.
That evening, we left South Georgia and made our way south again, following the South Sandwich Islands with the aim of reaching the sea ice again.
Nothing much happened on our week long journey down, we didn’t sail close enough to any of the islands to see them, and most of this leg was stormy and grey. We saw many albatrosses and quite a lot of seals in the water, and there were a lot of interestingly shaped icebergs that passed us by. Unfortunately, the sea ice had receded much further than usual, and as we had to return to South Georgia by a set date to pick up personnel to take back to the Falklands with us, we never saw the sea ice again. The 3rd February saw our furthest point south at 62 degrees. At this point, we had to turn around and steam back towards South Georgia, otherwise we’d be late for the pick-up.
On our way back north, we had an incredible wildlife encounter. The day started out as an unlikely candidate for anything exciting to happen, since it was particularly stormy. There was debate about whether or not we’d be able to sample, but we stopped in case the weather cleared up. When the water is too rough, it becomes far too dangerous to put any of our equipment into the water. This was supposed to be our final station, though, so I suppose we wanted to make sure it happened. While we were waiting, many of us decided to pass the time by going outside with cameras.
Very early on, a pod of long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas) was spotted circling the ship, as well as a few fur seals. The pilot whales came in extremely close, even spy-hopping. Out of the blue, a pod of hourglass dolphins appeared alongside them. These were very striking marine mammals, but the combination of their blistering speed and their tendency to not jump very far out of the water made it impossible for anyone to get a photo of them (very frustrating!). Sadly, they also didn’t hang around for very long. However, we were soon greeted by some much larger and easier to photograph friends… four humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) came by to presumably feed on whatever had attracted everything else! They were so curious and friendly, coming so near to us that I could see every barnacle on their heads. The whales stayed for hours, surfacing over and over again as we rushed from one side of the back deck to the other taking as many photos as humanly possible.
Eventually, the weather died down enough that we could start sampling, which meant getting back to work, but the whales stuck around to keep us company while we did so. Probably one of the more fun ways to spend a Wednesday morning!
Once the last science day was over, we were finally able to relax a little more. There was still plenty to do, as everyone had to write a report of their scientific activity on the ship, and we all had data analysis and packing up of equipment to get round to, but I no longer had to get up at 2am, which was a small victory for me! Returning to South Georgia kept spirits very high, though we weren’t going to leave the ship this time. Oddly, all the snow had melted by the time we arrived again, only a week and a half later. It was a completely different place.
From there, it was only a 2 day steam to Stanley, where our epic journey finally finished. We had to wait a few days before we could leave, as the flights out of the Falkland Islands are not very regular, so we had a full three days before we could fly back home.
The first thing I did when we got into port was to go for a run with two friends. It felt great! Thanks to a combined effort of everyone on board, it only took us a day and a half to get everything packed up and onto a container to get shipped back to the UK. We made sure that in the evenings, we had some exploration time. We hiked Wireless Ridge, a beautiful geological feature that was also the site of a rather infamous battle during the Falkland Islands War. Pits in the earth made by shell explosions were now filled with water and had become small ponds. I was once again struck by a sense of irony that something which had resulted in the loss of life now supported all manner it.
Our last full day in the Falkland Islands was Valentine’s Day. A small group of us decided to go on a little morning adventure to find a Gentoo penguin colony we’d been told about in Yorke Bay. Our walk there yielded many wonderful sightings, including a Commerson’s dolphin and calf, turkey vultures and rufous-chested dotterels. Once we’d navigated our way through a wall of sand dunes, we finally came to a beautiful white beach, with a huge penguin colony sitting by the crystal waters. The rest of the morning was spent picking over dunes and enjoying the sun (at last, it had been none stop rain for 2 days), while revelling in the novelty of lounging on the same beach as a bunch of penguins.
The next day saw us up before the sun and bundling our bags into a coach to get back to the airbase at Mount Pleasant. It was a long and drawn out process, getting to the airport and boarding the plane, but once we were finally in the air, I was able to wave goodbye to the Falkland Islands, unsure if I’d ever return to the polar regions again. I certainly hope I do. As our plane started flying out over the waters of the southern Atlantic, I felt very fortunate to have had the opportunity to explore this beautiful, mysterious and utterly magical part of our world. I just hope that my research can help to ensure that it will still be there in the decades to come.
Laura’s Antarctic adventures - Part 1
You can read about Laura’s earlier adventures in the Arctic here -