Paul*John*Stacy* Bob* DJ * Kevin* David* Paul M. *Jennifer *Julie* Tina* Dustin* Justin* Kamille*

Paul K. Dayton:

Principal Investigator - Scripps Institute of Oceanography

I went to college 1959, the beginning of the International Geophysical Year (IGY) era. I also worked in archaeology in Alaska at that time, so I had a good understanding of polar affairs.  The IGY was a unique event because it included Soviets and was purely scientific with no military interests allowed.  You might read up on the origin of the Antarctic Treaty in the 1950s.  Basically it was put together by geophysical scientists and really is a unique document.  In 1963 I applied for graduate schools and was accepted at Stanford to participate in an Antarctic biology program run by Donald E. Wohlslag (nicknamed Curly, as he was bald).  I was a technician and I broke my butt to do my part just as well as I could, but there were not many good papers (if any) from the stuff I did. But, and this is a huge but, the real reason Curly was there was, 1) to set up and run the Biolab and 2 to get good students involved.  The first batch of students included John Dearborn, John Pearse, Jack Littlepage, and a fish guy, Hugh somebody; the next included Jerry Kooyman, Art DeVries, me, and John McDonald.  All of us have had significant Antarctic careers and spawned lots more quality Antarctic scientists.  I later learned what really was going on; there was a program manager named George Llano who realized that the future was not to be found in all the money sucking twits that were coming to him for easy money to do mediocre science in a cool place, but with really good students and then mentor and support them over the years.  I think he is the single most important person in history so far as using his job to actually get quality science rather than playing out personal vendettas and butt covering as many of the subsequent science managers have done (this does NOT refer to the current program manager who is responsible for getting me back for the first time in so long!)

So, I wintered over in 1963 and when I went to graduate school I wrote Llano a carefully hand typed formal letter telling him that I knew I could do diving research there because Vern Peckham, another one of Wohlslag’s guys had made a bunch of dives and I knew I could do it.  Llano phoned me (this was the day of using long distant operators and bad connections) and told me to write a proposal.  I sent George a draft of my dreams and he edited all the technical details, sent it out for reviews, and it was funded.  It was cutting edge for the time with clean hypotheses and cage based experiments (none of which worked, of course).  It was a two year project with only me and Gordy Robilliard, a dive partner.  We went to Harvey’s, as wet suit technology was just getting underway and they are the best in the Puget Sound area and gave them instructions on making us wet suits.  Our design was very functional with the exception of the gloves.  We wore through our only gloves very soon and were functionally diving with bare hands (once I really did to work the ancient Nikonos 1 camera better). One problem with wet suits is that the depths we worked at popped the little bubbles in the neoprene so the suit looked fine but had no insulation and we were making two long dives a day every single day, so we did get some core temperature drops that we dealt with by sitting in hot water after a dive.  That was a problem as McMurdo did not have any water to speak of (snow melters were the only source) and we had to steal our water from various places.

I have to get back to my lecture so others will have to fill you in on the science that came from this ice age history.  Yikes, this is only two paragraphs and it took me almost 2 hours to write it.  I am getting really senile.

Editors notes: The water temperature is negative 1.8 degrees C (29 degrees F), we now have a desalinization plant that supplies water, and Paul is not totally senile (yet) but he uses his age as an excuse for everything he can.

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John Oliver: Principal Investigator- Moss Landing Marine Laboratories

I love water, and would have done a thesis in limnology, studying lakes and rivers, but I discovered the Moss Landing Marine Labs (MLML). Here, a student can control their own education, and I loved school for the first time. I met Roy Gordon, who taught an amazing field course on the natural history of the Monterey Bay area, where he showed us how extensively and intensively people had changed the landscape and native ecosystems. He was the first to teach me about the critical importance of history. I fell in love with invertebrates and marine ecology.

My first professional partner was Pete Slattery. We are still working together, 40 years later. We are benthic ecologists exploring the communities of marine invertebrates living in muds and sands, the soft bottoms on the sea floor. In order to study these communities, we needed to identify as many of the species as we could. In 1970, the marine lab was full of students doing invertebrate taxonomy and ecology, and we all learned from each other. I worked on the taoxonomy of polychaete worms with the most successful polychaete taxonomist who ever lived, Olga Hartman.

My marine science perspective exploded at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, where I met my greatest mentor, Paul Dayton. Paul is a player coach, always at the edge of new paradigms, but without leaving behind the important natural history, like taxonomy. I learned by example and he took us outdoors – all the way to the South Pole.

I continued to work on MLML projects when I was at Scripps, and returned to Moss Landing in 1979, and never left. John Martin was now the MLML director: the best leader I’ve ever known. He helped create the Benthic Lab, and I made the best decision of my career. I was going to stay a graduate student in spirit and action, making my own job along the way. We explored the marine benthos throughout Alaska, from the Beaufort Sea to the inland waterways of the southeast, discovering how gray whales, walruses, and sea otters use and impact the sea floor. We continued to work in Antarctica, and explored every tropical island we could get to, finally settling down on the big island of Hawaii. John helped us move into the watershed and restore natural water systems from wet forests to creeks, ponds, lakes, and marshes and we established our Habitat Restoration Group. Today, two major goals of the Benthic Lab are to make the best quantitative descriptions of benthic communities along the continental margin of the CA upwelling system; and to restore natural watershed systems in the Monterey Bay area. Most of the benthic community descriptions are the first, and therefore provide the first baselines from which to assess future changes.

I have done nothing without the help of my colleagues in the Benthic Lab. The list starts with Jim Oakden and is full of smart, innovative, hard working, fun folk.

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Stacy Kim: Project Manger (and Lead Oxette)- Moss Landing Marine Laboratories

I am a research professor and benthic ecologist, impossible perfectionist, mama to two extremely spoiled and ancient dogs, and the Antarctic is my ecosystem of choice. In 1988 John Oliver (who was my MS thesis advisor, and has hero status in my eyes) asked if I wanted to go Antarctica.  He had barely finished the question before I said YES.  My thesis was on the feeding ecology of a polychaete worm in Monterey Bay, but I had been on several research trips to the Arctic (that’s the other end of the planet, not a typo) with John, and on one, I met his PhD thesis advisor and another of my heroes, Paul Dayton.  Despite my schoolgirl awe of this mental giant who established the initial paradigms of Antarctic marine ecology, he turned out to be someone you could talk and laugh with, and learn from.

That first time in Antarctica I learned important things about the United States Antarctic Program in 1988, such as that single women should never go anywhere without the buffer of their entire team surrounding them, and that one should carefully examine the issued diving gear for valves installed backwards.  In 2009, my most recent season on “the ice,” this has all changed.  The support is now wonderful.

After I finished my own PhD (on larval ecology at hydrothermal vents), I took up the questions that that initial Antarctic trip had started in my brain.  After 4 years, I was finally successful at getting funding to examine human impacts in Antarctica, specifically, the effects of sewage around McMurdo Station.  While the organic component of sewage drastically changes the dominant species, the community recovers quickly, as long as anoxic bacteria do not take over.  Also during that research, I met a couple of amazing engineers, DJ Osborne and Bob Zook.  One is my best friend and the other one I married.  Bob conceptualized what was needed to take Antarctic marine research deeper and further, and then led a team of engineers including DJ to build SCINI, the underwater robot we will be using on the ICE AGED project to recover experiments that are deeper than current safe-diving depths.

I’ll never give up diving under the ice, the vision and sense that it conveys – of space, of seascapes, of how a community is woven together into one functioning and balanced ecosystem – is too precious to me personally.  But I’m totally excited to also have a tool that lets me go where divers can’t, and to be working on this project that uses both.  AND, I get to work with two of my heroes, in my favorite place in the world, next to my hubby and my best friend, doing research I think is important to understanding our planet and our place in a global system.  What more could a girl want?

Well, it would be nice if I could take my dogs with me…

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Bob Zook:  Engineer – Moss Landing Marine Laboratories

Spring came and so did a science group that was driving bulldozers across the west Antarctic ice sheet drilling ice cores. They had lost one of their electronic engineers. They asked for help, I said yes. Two and one half months of living in an 8’x8’x12’ room on skis with 11 other scientists later and it was time for me to end my 16 month stint on the ice. Several more normal seasons on the ice were separated only by around-the-world trips.

Then came the McMurdo Station Halloween party of 2002 when I met Stacy. We traveled the world together as our first date. She asked me to come to the ice with her as a diver and I said yes. The stage was set for me to scribble “Will you marry me?” on a small white slate that was mounted on my pressure gauge. At 20 feet under the ice after one of the most beautiful dives of my life, Stacy Kim giggled “yes” through her regulator, and I was the happiest diver that ever dove the southern ocean.

Not having any science training made it more difficult to say yes to studying the sea but I said yes and conjured up a tool that would improve our access to the liquid ocean under the ice. The SCINI concept was born and a pre-prototype was tested during the next few trips to the ice.  And then the National Science Foundation said yes to our proposal to build and develop SCINI as a tool that would allow others to say yes to exploring the ice-covered oceans of the world!

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DJ Osborne:  Engineer - Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute

DJ pauses in the middle of a bike ride

As a kid I loved to explore my environment and I was especially curious about how everything worked.   Coming from a family of engineers it was no surprise that I would chose the same career path.  I took apart everything I could just to try and figure out how things worked.   Growing up, many times it seemed more natural to me to build myself the things I wanted and needed rather than try to buy them.   Once when I couldn’t find the kind of scooter that I wanted, I built one myself, to my specifications.   Many years of engineering study left me with an array of tools that I wanted to use for the betterment of society.  I now get to explore the ocean with scientists and there is no greater thrill than helping make something possible that was only recently never before accomplished.

I pilot ROVs for the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI).   I am taking time away in support of the SCINI ICE AGED mission.  My tasks on ice will include all the SCINI engineering and operations  work we will be carrying out to support Dr. Dayton, Dr. Oliver and Dr. Kim.  Or better known to me as Paul, Oliver and Stacy.  My job lets me mix my love of engineering and exploration.    I am extremely lucky to have transformed myself around many amazing people: Paul, Oliver, Stacy, Bob, Tina and the other team members..  I look forward to a successful season of returning to the deep experiments put out so many years ago by Dr Dayton.  I find it fascinating that we may be looking at animals that were surveyed there over four decades ago.

People ask me about some of my favorite or strangest animals that I have seen in the ocean.  Many times my answer is this strange fish called Barrel Eye that we observed at MBARI.  We were in the process of recovering the submarine at the end of a dive and, after spotting something odd in the distance, my couriosity got the best of me and I just had to see what was lurking just outside our view.  What I found was an incredible creature that became a number one You Tube hit.  You can see this transparent-headed fish here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RM9o4VnfHJU.

I have approximately 21 previous months ‘On Ice’ where I have provided both marine and terrestrial science support for the Antarctic Research program in McMurdo, Dry Valleys, South Pole, and aboard the Research Vessel Ice Breaker Nathaniel B. Palmer. I last went down two years ago to help out with the SCINI project and I am excited to go down again this year with this wonderful group of people.

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Kevin O’Connor: Research Technician

I completed my M.S. in biology at San Diego State University in 2007, investigating the effects of kelp forest disturbance on kelp associated fishes on Santa Catalina Island. From a young age I have been interested in the ocean, spending lots of time surfing, fishing and diving. I currently am a project manager at Moss Landing Marine Labs. Some of the projects include wetland and upland restoration in the Moro Cojo Slough, participation in the development of an Integrated Regional Water Management Plan for Monterey County, and the development of a rapid assessment method (CRAM) for seasonally tidal estuaries, freshwater depressions, and arid streams. I am also working on the continued development of the Central Coast Wetlands Group, a partnership of agencies, scientists, non-governmental and private organizations set up to coordinate the advancement of wetland science and management on the Central Coast of California.

My expectations for diving in Antarctica are based on years of stories from John Oliver and all the amazing slides I grew up looking at.  Since I was just a little boy John has been telling me, often multiple times, stories of him, my father Ed O’Connor, and Paul Dayton exploring the benthic community under the ice back in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s.  Of course there were also stories of all the interesting people they met and situations they got into!  I am so grateful to be able to go on this trip to the Antarctic, and the fact that John and Paul will be there as well makes it all the more exciting.

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David Burnett: Electrical Engineer – Moss Landing Marine Laboratories

Soon David will be flying in helicopters to remote regions of Antarctica

A few years back I watched Werner Herzog’s “Encounters At the End of the World” and realized that Antarctica was not just an easily-ignored stripe at the bottom of the Mercator projection, but also a scientifically interesting location to which people traveled to discover significant things about earth systems, cosmic particles, and maintaining a healthy sleep schedule in perpetual sunlight.  It also turns out that many of the teams performing this interesting research need electrical engineers, a subject in which I have some experience.  Now I’m learning tons about fieldable instrument design and building underwater robots for ICEAGED, which is doubly relevant due to having learned to scuba dive around age 14 and wishing dearly for a way to combine that interest with my chosen vocation.  When not soldering impossibly small components together, I’m usually reading something by Dan Simmons or Neal Stephenson.

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Paul Mahacek:  Mechanical Engineer – Moss Landing Marine Laboratories

A young Paul studying old machines

Paul with his SCUBA attire in a place without ice

From an early age I was always drawn to both water and engineering.  It was when my dad brought home a build your own ROV kit, that I found out you could combine the two.  I was hooked.  When I went to Santa Clara to study mechanical engineer I focused on marine robotics, and then went on to get my M.S. in robotics and mechatronic systems.  Now I get to design, build and play with underwater robots.  I am very excited to be going to Antarctica for my first time.  When I get down onto the ice I will be providing engineering support and piloting for the scientists, and I can’t wait to see what fun this adventure will bring.
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Jennifer Fisher:  Research Technician

I am a larval ecologist interested in how the ocean currents and conditions affect the distribution and survival of larval crabs. I work for Oregon State University and am currently writing this while sampling zooplankton 50 miles out to sea somewhere off the coast of Northern California.

I grew up in and on the water. Even as a little girl I knew I wanted to become a marine biologist in the hopes of figuring out what all those slimy and alien things were that I kept pulling off the docks. I received my BS in 1996 from Humboldt State University and my MS in 2005 from Moss Landing Marine Labs where I met Stacy Kim who was my fearless thesis advisor. When Stacy asked me if I wanted to go to the Antarctic in 2003, my heart skipped a beat and I immediately said yes.

That first season diving beneath the ice was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. I saw, first hand, sea creatures such as giant sea spiders that I had only observed before encased in resin in a classroom. As my fingers and lips were going numb one day while collecting video footage of Paul Dayton’s experiments that he had placed on the seafloor decades ago, I recall thinking how crazy he must have been to be diving to these depths in freezing conditions in a wet suit. Since I had plowed through Paul’s old notebooks and papers to decipher what experiments were placed where and why, I knew that he was not only crazy, he was also filled with genuine curiosity, passion and knowledge that seemed unparallel to many. So, when Stacy asked if I wanted to return to one of the most beautiful places I have been, and that Paul Dayton would be attending, I knew once again that this was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.

During this trip, I will be helping out our team in whatever capacity is needed. I am sure there will be lots of drilling, shoveling, and melting of ice; much time spent carrying heavy gear over rough terrain and travelling in strange vehicles; and many hours spent underwater gawking at strange animals in one of the most beautiful, impressive and foreign seascapes I have witnessed.

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Julie Barber: Research Technician - Swinomish Indian Tribal Community

I will be one of the frozen divers on the dive team. I seem to have spent most of my adult life searching for various ways to freeze myself underwater while collecting data for the good of marine ecology. I was first certified to dive in New Hampshire and Maine, and continued chasing chilly waters as the Our World-Underwater Scholar in 1999. Since then, I have held a number of jobs involving underwater research in cold waters, including working for Glacier Bay National Park and the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries.  After almost nine years of working in cold waters, my husband Jay and I decided it was time for a good thaw; we chased summer around many parts of the world for 13 months. Upon our return, we moved to Anacortes, Washington, where I am currently working as a shellfish biologist for the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community.  I am excited to try out the coldest water a diver could imagine in Antarctica! I hope my neurons still transmit signals underwater so I can collect valuable data for this research project.

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Tina Sander: PolarTREC teacher- Cabrillo College and Santa Cruz Adult School

I am an instructor of English Composition at Cabrillo College and a coordinator and ESL/Computer Instructor at the Santa Cruz Adult School. One experience that I had, which really made me “wake up”, was with an organization, Amigos de las Americas, which sent me to a remote village in the mountains of Ecuador.  Living with the indigenous people in a mud house with no electricity or running water, eating primarily potatoes and a guinea pig, and trying to teach methods of community sanitation as well as English, I realized how diverse the world is, how fortunate some people are, and how you can accomplish anything if you try, plan, and find creative ways.

As a first year Antarctic visitor (FNGY – Funny New GirlY) , I am excited to help my team in any way I can, even if that means lugging crates of stuff or spooling miles of cable or having to jump in the frigid waters. As a PolarTREC teacher, I am excited to teach my English 1A class online from Antarctica, to have my adult school students follow us while they improve their computer skills, and to get as many students, teachers, and people as I can to experience this fantastic expedition with us by reading our journals, checking out our pictures and videos, participating in the webinars, and sending us WATER DROPs.

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Dustin Carroll:  Chief Software Engineer (Andril Portion of SCINI)

Moss Landing Marine Laboratories

I spent most of my childhood in Carmel, CA which is right down the coast from our home base in Moss Landing. I have always been very close to the ocean and grew up surfing in the Monterey Bay and along the Central Coast of California. That is why I was drawn towards and love working in the field of Marine Science. I graduated from Westmont College in beautiful Santa Barbara with a B.S in Computer Science in 2004.

After working in the tech field, I wanted to get back into a career that was more in line with my love for the ocean so I decided to go to graduate school at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories. I graduated from MLML in 2009 with a M.S in Marine Science, focusing on physical oceanography. During my time there, I was able to study the oceanography and the effects of internal waves in Carmel Bay.

After I graduated, I was hired to work as the software engineer for the SCINI project. I deployed last season to Antarctica in August during WinFly, and it was one of the greatest experiences of my life. I worked on many aspects of the project: software design and coding, vehicle maintenance, piloting, navigation, man-hauling equipment, and drinking mango orange Raro with Stacy. We have a lot of improvements and new features planned for this season, and I am very excited to be working on SCINI again and going back to Antarctica.

When I’m not working on SCINI you can find me surfing, scuba diving, hiking and exploring beautiful California, playing guitar with my band at the local clubs, shaping surfboards, and brewing homemade beer.

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Justin Burnett:  Engineer (Graduate Student)

Moss Landing Marine Laboratories

I was born and raised in Spokane Washington, where I recently graduated from Gonzaga University with my B.S. in Mechanical Engineering.  Soon there after my brother David contacted me about a possible opening for an internship with the SCINI project.  Eager to get my hands dirty in some design work, and to work together with my brother,  I immediately moved to Moss Landing to help out.  Although I will not be deploying to Antarctica this year, I am over joyed to be a part of such an interesting science mission, and to be gaining so much valuable experience from the design team around me.

In the few free hours I don’t spend working on SCINI you can likely find me rock climbing, biking, hiking, writing, reading,  and plotting to take over the world.   My future plans include continuing to contribute to SCINI design improvements and ultimately attending graduate school for a MS or PhD in engineering.

Kamille Hammerstrom - Benthic Ecologist,
Moss Landing Marine Laboratories

Kamille diving in Moss Landing

Kamille standing in front of the Mississippi dreaming about the ocean

I was destined for a career in marine biology:  I could swim almost before I could walk, my favorite animals are crabs, and I always secretly wanted to be a mermaid.  After getting certified to SCUBA dive at 13, I spent my teens and twenties learning about and working in seagrass beds, kelp forests, estuarine tidal creeks, and coral reefs.  I worked in Texas, South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida, Washington, and California.

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