Photo : Two of the benthic team on board Tangaroa holding specimens of giant Macroptychaster starfish (Photo: John Mitchell).Now that we have completed sampling the southern stations, the focus of the survey has moved north to the central area adjacent to Iselin Bank, which lies east of Cape Adare.

The original survey plan had an extensive sampling program in this area but this year’s ice conditions has resulted in the need to reassess and redistribute the sampling effort. This redesign is completed using all available satellite ice imagery we can access and interpretations we receive from a commercial company (Enfotec), who specialise in vessel navigation in the Arctic and Antarctic. Some of this data is readily available on the web and some has to be ordered in advance and are charged for. The higher the resolution required, then the higher the cost.

Figures are examples of information used to assess ice conditions, February 8th 2008.

1. SSMI chart from US National Weather Service showing percentage ice cover – it displays the sea ice concentration from a special sensor microwave/imager (SSMI) satellite. Each 25km by 25km pixel in this image shows a percentage of how much of the ocean is covered by ice. The pink is ice free, the black is land or permanent ice, and the other colours grade the ice cover from high density (blue) to low density (red).


2. QuikSCAT image from NASA Climate Record Pathfinder Program. This produces a blurry image of where the sea ice is in the Ross Sea. The ocean appears black and the sea ice and Antarctica white.


3. This shows a mosaic synthetic aperature radar image from EnviSAT satellite, produced with a powerful microwave instrument that ‘sees’ through cloud, allowing sea ice to be observed in all weather conditions. The darker the shade, the thinner the ice.


4. Part of an ‘egg chart’ showing areas with different sea ice characteristics – constructed from standardised information about different aspects of ice (age, density, percentage cover etc). Aptly named an egg chart, it is produced by the US National Ice Centre and a High resolution synthetic aperture radar image from Radarsat showing pack ice near the ice edge. Copyright Canadian Space Agency.


See the Science Report on CAML-Cousteau Expedition tracking page

From February until mid-March 2008, New Zealand scientists are embarking on an eight-week voyage to the Ross Sea to survey the marine environment and explore the variety of life forms (biodiversity) in the region. This is part of the Census of Antarctic Marine Life and scientists on board will also contribute to the NZ Science Learning Hub for teachers and students. Follow all CAML expeditions routes on the CAML-Cousteau Expedition tracking page.