Dryver 2016

This year was the first real year of our DryVER project (Dry Valleys Environmental Research/Resilience, I always forget which). Its a pretty big deal, not only as its a massive project with some pretty ambitious goals, but also keeps me in cat food and vintage skateboards for the next year.

So before talking about what we did this season (i.e. the next post), I thought it was time to talk about what we are trying to do and why.

The McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDVs) are a pretty unique place (Read the wikipedia article for the sales pitch) and when Scott and his team found them in 1907 he said:

“It is worthy to record, too, that we have seen no living thing, not even a moss or a lichen; all that we did find, far inland amongst the moraine heaps, was the skeleton of a Weddell seal, and how that came there is beyond guessing. It is certainly a valley of the dead; even the great glacier which once pushed through it has withered away”

ASMA/ASPA map (Map from  PGC)

Scott was right in some respects, but so wrong in others. In the 100+ years since he made this statement, we have greatly increased our understanding about the valleys, their biodiversity and climatic history. In fact they are considered an analogue to the Martian environment (apart from the obvious running water and air!).

In environmental management speak 15000 square kilometres of the valleys have been protected as an Antarctic Speciality Managed Area (ASMA) since 1999. Within the ASMA, access is unrestricted as long as certain environmental protocols are followed. Secondary to this are ASPAs (Antarctic Specially Protected Areas) in which access permits must be applied for. On top of this there is also a limited number of designated tourists zones.

The concept of DryVER is to re-evaluate what human and climatic impacts are affecting the MDV now and in the future. Our aim is to "rewrite the book" on how we view significance and robustness at both the landscape and biological scale.

Its a big ask and so our team comes from a range of disciplines, institutions and countries. To tackle this we are broken up into four themes:

• Aquatic. Lead by Ian Hawes (UC). Studying the hydrological cycle within the valleys and the flora and fauna of the lakes and ponds.
• Climate. Lead by Peyman Zawar-Reza (UC),  aims to produce wind models that will examine how material travels in, out and between the valleys.
• Terrestial Biology. Lead by Dr Lee, PhD (UoW). Looking at the modelled diversity of the biota in the valleys. This follows on the NZTABS project which we have been running in the valleys for the last few years.
• Impact. Lead by Prof Craig Cary (UoW). This is the team I am involved with. We are trying to understanding how camps and human movements in the field impact a range of surface (dunes, old lake beds, glacial sediments etc) and their rate of natural recovery.

The plan is that each theme will produce data that will go into a GIS model that can predict the effect that visitation will have on sensitive sites, the landscape and its biodiversity. It will also be able to predict the effects of climate change and susceptibility to invasive species.

Back in the USSR/NZ!

Got back late last night with the final of the K020 team members. A real interesting trip full of all the typical Antarctic-ness you would expect..including

• Cargo not turning up
• Crap weather
• Helicopters not flying
• Helicopters not being able to carry enough weight
• Being asked not to talk to a NZ MP about climate change.
• A potential job offer
• Cutting our field season down by a third.

But in the end, we hit most of our science targets and found some interesting stuff. Next week I'll write more about what we found and the trials and tribulations we suffered.

Out of interest, the Curiosity rover Mars is currently doing sediment and grain size analysis on the Namib dune field it is skirting around.

Sol 1297 on Mars. Curiousity playing in the sand box (NASA/JPL-Caltech )

Compare it to some of the areas in the Victoria Valley we were working this season.

Sandy....

Ben, our trusty Nat Geo producer/cameraman. Dont go anywhere without one!

And we are off.... Possibly

Currently checked in and waiting at the USAP departure lounge.

And the game begins!

Weather...the one thing you can guarantee is that the weather in Antarctica will fuck up your plans, once again I wish I could put money on this, but unfortunately the odds would be crap.

First rule of Antarctic research..It will happen when it happens..

Second rule of Antarctic research..It will happen when it happens.

McMurdo weather has been a pain in the ass over the last few days with the first group of DryVER personnel (Charlie, Ian, Georgia, Alejjandro, Fraser & Pierre) being bumped from flights, cancelled flights and boomerangs (Fly halfway there and then turn around and come home). Today the second team (Craig, Jayne, Ian, Paul, Marwan, Gemma, myself and Ben (our Natgeo producer/camera guy)) were put on hold for 4 hours and then the flight cancelled.

Which is a pain as the weather actually looks okay. As I write this, its  is a balmy -7 deg C with 11 kt NNE winds. For those who are interested, check out the Scott base weather station.

As of 1pm today from the Scott Base webcams

Ah the games we play.

Oh well gives me time to sort out a few camera based disasters I had yesterday and to finish a few blog posts!

It's alive!

Finally the frankendrone is working and painted up ready to fly in Antarctica next week. Had a world of issues with magnetic interference warnings and failed compass calibrations. In the end setting the pix Hawk parameter SYSID_SW_MREV to 0 and redoing all the calibrations solved my problems! Got the qx100 all going and will test mapping today. 

Might also think (if I have time) about putting the RP lidar module on it and see if I can do some later scanning this year. 

Working

Working pretty much non-stop on getting stuff ready for the season. Will be definately writing two big posts on both the Dry Valleys and the DryVER project over the next few days.

Heres what I was working on yesterday for the UC climate team. A single tripod mount holding a five band Micasense Rededge multispectral camera and an Optix thermal imaging camera. This system will capture through the visible spectrum into near infra red and then into far infra red.

Surprisingly, given my tiny monkey like hands, and terrible engineering skills it actually came out allright!

Dry valley wildlife