Next Up: Antarctica!

The Antarctic Dry Valleys, via Google Earth

It's time for more fieldwork, although this time I'm a bit farther from my comfort zone.  Two days after Christmas, I'll be flying to New Zealand, and then off to the Antarctic Dry Valleys, where I will be part of a team taking data on the role of algae in the regional ecology.

The dry valleys are the largest region of Antarctica that are free of ice year round.  Although they're right on the coast of the continent, they are an extreme desert.  They get occasional snow squalls, but rather than melting, the snow sublimates directly to vapor.  The only water sources are ephemeral streams, which begin to flow during the summer when glaciers are melting.

We will camp out in the valleys for about 2 week, sampling Nostoc commune, a hardy algae that thrives on the meager nutrients from the streams.  I will update this site when I can for the next couple of months, to share my experiences (and photos!) in Antarctica.

-Andrew