GOLF 4-3-9 Antarctica Expedition 2008
Exploring the Rock Bottom of the Food Chain in McMurdo's Extreme Environments

Two Scientists from Scripps Institution of Oceanography (La Jolla, California) and the School of Marine Sciences at the University of Maine (Orono, Maine) are traveling to Antarctica to study how microbes interact with rocks in the harsh environments of Antarctica. The project G-439 (spelled “golf-4-3-9”) of the US Antarctic Program will begin on 27 October 2008 with a flight from Christchurch/New Zealand to McMurdo, Antarctica and it may last until Mid-December 2008. On this page, you will find regular updates of the 2008 expedition, exciting information about life in Antarctica, and reports on their adventures (and their work). Read more ...
The Sun is Always Up!
Here in the McMurdo area of Antarctica the sun stays up 24 hours a day this time of year. Laurie took photos of the Mountains across McMurdo Station four times throughout the day so you can see that it is always daylight. The amount of solar energy that falls on a specific location can help us determine what sort of microbial community might be active there. Read story by Laurie Connell ...

Resupplying McMurdo Station
Re-supply at McMurdo is not as easy as going to the corner grocery store. Here in Antarctica much of the cargo comes by ship and the ships come in only one time per year! It is less expensive to have cargo travel by ship then by air. Read more ...

The Wind is Everything!
Temperature seems to be the most worrisome aspect of Antarctic weather. Wrong! The wind is the most important factor. It can be quite pleasant to be in sunny calm weather at -40° (the same in degrees °F or °C). Barely freezing conditions, however, can be hell when the wind is blowing hard. Read more ...

What is coming up?
Hubert and Laurie give you a quick heads-up on their upcoming adventure and when you can expect postings from them over the next two months or so. They describe the ordeal of flying in from the continental USA and layout their research plan and tentative scheduling. Read more here ...

USAP Shorthand and Lingo
Before you ever dream about going to do research in Antarctica, you better know your abbreviations. Get yourself a handle here on your USAP shorthand and lingo, because these abbreviations and terminology might be used liberally on this website. Read this story by Hubert Staudigel ...

Last Day – 07 December 2008 – Discovery Hut
After completing our mission on Mt Erebus, we finally flew back to McMurdo and began to prepare for departure from Antarctica. The weather is warming and we have a bit more available time. It was a beautiful day for a walk, even though the sea ice edge is still miles away and it feels almost "spring-like", for the Antarctic anyway. There are several historic huts still remaining in the area, but the only one within walking distance of McMurdo station is the Discovery Hut. Read more  |  See pictures


Day 38 – 03 December 2008 – Exploring Ice Caves
The last and a most exciting task of our field season was to explore some ice caves for our exposure experiments. Ice caves form when steam or other hydrothermal gases rise from within Erebus volcano and melt the ice or snow that lies on top. As they these warm gases "drill" through the ice cover they take up moisture that immediately freezes out when it reaches the cold surface temperatures of the ice which makes them form spectacular chimney structures that often prominently vent steam. When getting close to them, it is important to watch for collapse structures, where the melting of the snow or ice has caused some of the ice- or snow roofs to collapse. Read more  |  See pictures


Day 37 – 02 December 2008 – Tramway Ridge Warm Soil ASPA
One set of our exposure experiments was to be deployed in the Tramway Ridge hydrothermal area. This region is an "Antarctic Specially Protected Area" (ASPA # 150), specially protected for the mosses and lichens that grow there. The regulations require entry only in special aseptic coveralls, sterile gloves and hats. Such protective clothing may help prevent contamination of the ASPA site through the introduction of strange microbes, but they are not designed for Antarctic temperatures. This was a pretty chilling event. Read more  |  See pictures


Day 35 – 30 November 2008 – Warming Up LEH
We finally made it to Lower Erebus Hut (LEH). We were the first group to use LEH this season. That means we have about a day’s worth of shoveling/sweeping snow outside and inside the hut, chiseling ice away from doors, floors etc.. Once we were sure that there was no more snow on the shelving or any other place in the hut we started heating it and began melting a huge amount of snow for drinking water. This allowed us to cook our first real meal since a week before when we left for Fang Glacier Camp and we really enjoyed it. Read more  |  See pictures


Day 30 to 37 – 25 November until 02 December 2008 – An Extended High Altitude Acclimatization
We are finally ready to begin our work around the summit of Mount Erebus at elevations between 3200-3800 m. Field work at such elevations always starts, with a mandatory high altitude acclimatization stay of two night at the small camp on Fang Glacier. Everything started out according to plan, with a perfect flight on a sunny day, weather conditions that we have begun to take for granted over the last few weeks. Little did we know that the Antarctic weather was just about going to teach us a lesson about its unpredictability and harshness! Read more  |  See pictures


Day 27 – 22 November 2008 – Snowcraft II Training
We are now ready to prepare for our work on Mt. Erebus. This includes some additional training for crevasse climbing so we can get into and out of the ice caves in which we plan to deploy our microbe traps. Our FSTP mountaineer Nick Giguere has taken our small group under his wing for our training. He will be our guide when we work on Erebus so it is good to train with him as well. The group is Hubert and Laurie (Golf 439), Daria Zandmeneghi (Golf 081), and a photographer from the writers and artists program, Lisa Blatt (Whisky 437). Read more  |  See pictures


All Snapshots  |  All Daily Reports by Hubert Staudigel and Laurie Connell
Antarctica is a very harsh continent with very little life. Food webs have to be very “creative” to adjust to conditions that have been compared to life on other planets or during the early Earth. We are using these special conditions to explore which microbes are the most successful at using nutrients and energy from volcanic rocks.

Our aim is to improve our understanding of the Rock Bottom of the food chain. How can microbes make organic carbon by using inorganic components? And which microbes are the main players in utilizing chemical energy and nutrients from rocks and soils that are very poor in organic matter?

Our experiments will focus on the Extreme Environments of the McMurdo area around Ross Island, Antarctica. These will include some (ancient) lava flows and lakes in the Dry Valleys, the Royal Society Range, and on Mount Erebus.

This year much of GOLF-439 will be focused on exploration of ideal study sites and the deployment of our first experiments. Future returns in 2010 and 2012 will allow us to study the progress of our experiments after two and four years, respectively.

2008 Galleries
Day 42 -- Discovery Hut
After completing our mission on Mt Erebus, we finally flew back to McMurdo and began to prepare for departure from Antarctica. The weather is warming and we have a bit more available time. It was a beautiful day for a walk, even though the sea ice edge is still miles away and it feels almost “spring-like”, for the Antarctic anyway!

Day 38 -- Exploring Ice Caves
The last and a most exciting task of our field season was to explore some ice caves for our exposure experiments. Ice caves form when steam or other hydrothermal gases rise from within Erebus volcano and melt the ice or snow that lies on top. As they these warm gases “drill” through the ice cover they take up moisture that immediately freezes out when it reaches the cold surface temperatures of the ice which makes them form spectacular chimney structures that often prominently vent steam.

Day 37 -- Tramway Ridge Warm Soil ASPA
One set of our exposure experiments was to be deployed in the Tramway Ridge hydrothermal area. This region is an “Antarctic Specially Protected Area” (ASPA #150), specially protected for the mosses and lichens that grow there. The regulations require entry only in special aseptic coveralls, sterile gloves and hats. Such protective clothing may help prevent contamination of the ASPA site through the introduction of strange microbes. This was a pretty chilling event!

2004/2005  |  2006/2007  |  2008  |  2010  |  2012
We are two scientists from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the School of Marine Sciences at the University of Maine studying microbial life in extreme cold and dry environments. On this website we will provide you with regular updates of the GOLF439 expedition, but above all, you will be able to contact us via ISM/iChat using our handle golf182mcm to ask questions or get information. So, we are looking forward to share our adventures with you and to chat to you over the internet!

Hotel Sierra
Lima Charlie

 
~  Hubert Staudigel
~  Laurie Connell
 
We are the GOLF439 Home Team and will work on the microbial experiments and samples as they are retrieved from the extreme environment of Antarctica. We will provide you with reports from our lab results, while keeping an eye on Hotel Sierra and Lima Charlie as they are deploying experiments for this exciting geomicrobiological project!

Brad Tebo
Alexis Templeton
Craig Cary
Greg Wanger
Rick Davis
Anthony Koppers
Don Dingwell
Shawn Doan
Scott Craig
Oregon Health and Science University
University of Colorado
University of Delaware
Craig Ventner Institute at UCSD
Oregon Health and Science University
Oregon State University (EarthRef.org)
Ludwig Maximilians Universitaet Muenchen
Sehome High School, Bellingham, WA
US Fish and Wild Life Service, Orland, ME