Why this blog?

More official coverage of Antarctic oceanographic cruise ANT-XXIX/3 of the German icebreaker Polarstern can be found elsewhere on the web (see below), but we thought that it was interesting to present a real personal logbook or journal of that cruise, treating both scientific and practical aspects and everyday life, thus giving a real live feeling to the reader. 

During the ANT-XXIII/8 cruise (winter 2006-2007), I (Cédric) wrote a very succinct logbook just for myself. Most often it included just one or two sentences per day. This was important to me, in order to keep an idea of the running time during the expedition. Initially, I intended to write the same kind of short journal during the present cruise. A bit more than one year ago, I read the logbook of Emile Racovitza during the historical expedition of the Belgica to Antarctica. I found the journal of Racovitza truly amazing. Whilst I have not the literary talent of the Romanian biologist and whilst the present cruise will have nothing to do with the Antarctic expeditions of the heroic era, I was considering to write something in the same spirit, in order to crystallize my feelings at the moment I am living them. That's how the idea of writing an online logbook came to me.

This blog, which is sometimes written in a telegraphic style, comprises a succinct presentation of the objectives of the expedition, a description of the preparation of our expedition, and finally the most important part: our narrative of the cruise itself. No doubts that a complete reading of the preparation of the cruise will look repetitive and sometimes annoying to the reader. However a quick look at this first part would provide him/her with a real idea of the amount of work and the technical, administrative and professional difficulties scientists are facing.

External links

The official coverage of the cruise by the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences is given at: 

www.sciencesnaturelles.be/active/sciencenews/antarctica2013 (version FR)

www.natuurwetenschappen.be/active/sciencenews/antarctica2013 (version NL)
www.naturalsciences.be/active/sciencenews/antarctica2013 (version EN, page to be activated during the second half of January)

The  blog of the German television ZDF can be followed at:
http://blog.zdf.de/ice-blog/

The APECS blog can be followed at:
http://apecspolarstern2013.wordpress.com/

The course plot of the Polarstern can be followed at:

www.awi.de/en/infrastructure/ships/polarstern/where_is_polarstern/

The meteo conditions endured by the Polarstern can be followed at:

http://www.sailwx.info/shiptrack/shipposition.phtml?call=dblk

The official weekly AWI reports of the Polarstern can be followed at:

http://www.awi.de/en/infrastructure/ships/polarstern/weekly_reports/

The blog of a former expedition of direct colleagues and friends of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences can be accessed at:

http://www.naturalsciences.be/active/expeditions/antarctica2011

A blog (in Dutch) by colleagues of the Beheerseenheid van het Mathematisch Model van de Noordzee (BMM), on the Polarstern expedition occuring just before our own cruise can be accessed at:
http://www.natuurpuntbovenschelde.be/reisverslagen.aspx

The scientific profile of the first blogger is summarized at:

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Cedric_DUdekem_dAcoz/ 

  

Objectives of the cruise

The ANT-XXIX/3 cruise will explore the Western part of the Weddell Sea. The planned area of study is given on the map here below, but this plan and the planned stations could be drastically modified if an important ice coverage prevents the Polarstern to access to some areas.

Provisional plot of the planned stations, which should be sampled during ANT-XXIX/3, if the ice coverage allows it. The harbour of departure and return is Punta Arenas (Straits of Magellan, southern Chile).

The cruise will comprise two interdisciplinary projects: the LASSO project and the CCAMLR krill project.

The CCAMLR krill project only marginally concerns us, although it will probably give us access to some material of pelagic amphipod crustaceans (i.e. amphipod species living in the water column).

The LASSO project aims to study the biology of the Larsen area, where two iceshelves (the Larsens A and B) have collapsed some years ago as a consequence of the regional warming. This will give us access to a large amount of organisms relevant for our ongoing systematic studies. We will also contribute to the mapping of the fauna of this sensitive area and monitor its evolution after the collapsing of the iceshelves.

Our own subproject is focused on the biodiversity of amphipod crustaceans and is entitled 'Taxocoenoses of amphipod crustaceans in the Larsen area'. Our subproject has five official objectives:

(1) to document and compare the traits of Larsen amphipod taxocoenoses

(2) to contribute to the description of morphological and molecular biodiversity of Antarctic amphipods of 3 superfamilies (Eusiroidea, Liljeborgioidea, Lysianassoidea)

(3) to contribute to the description of morphological and molecular biodiversity of Antarctic isopod and mysid crustaceans and polynoid polychaetes [organisms to be studied by foreign colleagues who will not participate to the cruise]

(4) to carry out a faunistical inventory of the bryozoans of the Larsen areas [organisms to be studied by a Belgian colleague who will not take part to the cruise]

(5) to contribute to the SCAR-MarBIN database (www.scarmarbin.be/) in bringing a new dataset of distributional, ecological and photographic information on Antarctic amphipods.

Some more details can be obtained in clicking on the picture here below.

Official research project of Cédric d'Udekem d'Acoz and Marie Verheye

Videos and photographs

We will take several cameras on board to take photographs and videos. We especially intend to use a Nikon D5100 for pictures and videos of landscapes and everyday life. The same camera will also be used with a Sigma macro objective (when necessary combined with extension tubes and macro lenses) for taking pictures and perhaps videos of amphipods and other marine organisms. For macrophotographies, the D5100 will be mounted on a rail. Work on deck will be documented with a GOPRO Hero2 camera (mostly for videos) mounted on a helmet and by a Rollei Sportsline 99 camera (for photographs). These are much less performing cameras but they are much less expensive and can resist to seawater splash. An old Canon Powershot camera has also be put in our boxes, in case of problems with other cameras. During the cruise, only low resolution pictures will be uploaded on this blog because the transfer of pictures via internet from Antarctica is expensive. Pictures and videos at higher resolution should be made available after our return in Belgium.

Press agencies and television chains are welcome to contact us if they wish to use our photographs and videos after the cruise and present our expedition.