Latitude: 52.2 N
Longitude: 0.12 W
Jose Xavier (with Ricardo Matias)

This week flown fast. A week ago we were arriving at the Falkland Islands, after a few weeks of hard work. During the expedition we collected > 1000 fish from 30 fish species, and 50 individuals of 5 squid. How do we work during an Antarctic expedition onboard of the RRS James Clark Ross? Well, we have work shifts. Here´s a common day in the ship: wake up around 2pm (yes, two in the afternoon!!!). A scientific meeting with all team members at 3pm to discuss the work plan for the next 24h. At that time the nets MOCNESS and Neuston are already in the water, catching zooplankton in the water column and nearly the surface, respectively. When these nets are recovered, the RMT25 (rectangular Midwater Trawl) is launched. This operation is carried out around 5-6pm around sunset, as this time is when fish and squid start moving towards less deeper waters and are easier to catch. The RMT25 will go up to 1000 m deep and take ~ 3 horas to return to the surface. Each RMT25 has, in reality, 2 nets: one that will remotely open between 1000 and 750 m deep and another from 750 m and 500 m deep. This is to understand how fish, squid and zooplankton are distributed according to depth. When the nets are recovered, the total weight of the catch is recorded, as well as, and individuals from each species. For the fish and squid, each individual is identified, measured and weighed, and if possible, its sex and maturity stage. Then, each individual is packed for more analyses in Cambridge, at the British Antarctic Survey. The RMT25 returns to the water, but now to operate between 5000 m and 250 m and between 250 m and the surface. Normally the work ends around 3-4-5am (with some days, later)...by now, you are starting to understand why we wake up at 2pm…in practice, if we are not awake, we are doing something related to the science work we have to do…for one of our research projects, we collected samples from squid for genetic studies, where we wish to understand how they might adapt to climate change: do they possess genes that allows them to produce genes that makes them survive in warmer waters? To find out, samples of tissues of skin, muscle, tentacle and buccal mass were collected. This is because different tissues may express different proteins. Everything very interesting!!! After Christmas, spent between the Falkland Islands and Punta Arenas (Chile), we arrived in Punta Arenas on the 26th December. On the following day, we were already on our way to the airport….saying goodbye to the RSS James Clark Ross was emotional, around 10.45am. > 24h we were back to Cambridge, at 21.30 local time (more than 24h in planes: Punta Arenas- Santiago de Chile- Madrid – London, and bus to Cambridge). After a brief walk in town city center, where we witness beautiful Winter Cambridge sun, we are about to return home!!! See you soon!! To follow more of our research in the future  in the Antarctic go to facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jose.c.xavier
 
All the best

Latitude: 53.18 S
Longitude: 52.11 W
Jose Xavier (with Ricardo Matias)

Why is relevant the science that is being conducted in the Antarctic? We do know that the Antarctic and the Southern Ocean have an important in our planet, with issues such as climate change, sea level rise, Southern Ocean carbon sink, Ocean acidification, Thermohaline world currents, animal adaptation… in a context that it is known that this region will have an increasing important role in these big issues, we have a group of teams that are addressing important questions about the Southern Ocean. Here´s some of the scientists:
 
- Julie Meilland
Julie is a postdoctoral researcher from MARUM, a research institute located in Bremen, Germany. Julie have been invited to join this cruise by Clara Manno with whom she collaborates. “I aim here is to study the potential of a group of zooplankton to adapt to climate change and ocean acidification. The name of these “climate fighters”? Planktonic foraminifera! Foraminifera are present everywhere in the ocean and each one of them is about the size of a grain of sand. They are made of a single cell, able to build a shell and once they die, they sink to the ocean floor where they fossilise. Through this process of sedimentation and fossilisation, planktonic foraminifera stock Carbon (indirectly captured from the atmosphere) on long time scales and are therefore crucial components to our Earth system. Understanding how their metabolism can cope with a rise in temperature is a major question! Onboard the JCR we had and still have the chance to collect them using a bongo net. The bongo net is a plankton net with a very small mesh size (100 µm) that allows the collection of small marine organisms and their good preservation. We sampled the plankton from 100 m depth to the surface and immediately after collection I selected living specimens of planktonic foraminifera and placed them in culture under 2 different temperatures, mimicking a potential temperature increase of the ocean. I fed the individuals daily and kept them under their temperature treatment for 11 days. Most of them survived, suggesting a good adaptation to the temperature rise they faced. Back to my laboratory in Bremen I will study the collected specimens a bit more in detail to understand how their metabolism did adapt. This cruise is full of surprises and to my greatest pleasure, we obtained planktonic foraminifera offspring – an extremely rare event that makes the whole experience even more special! I couldn’t be more thankful for this amazing opportunity!”
 
- Emily Rowlands and Clara Manno
Plastic science aboard JCR
Emily´s research aboard JCR focuses on determining the impact of nanoplastic in Antarctic waters. “So what is ‘nanoplastic’? It’s the smallest size of plastic, unseen by the human eye and less than 0.001 mm in size. That’s at least 2000 times smaller than a grain of sand! Because of their extremely small size, nanoplastics interact differently with the water particles in the sea and within the bodies of animals that eat them, compared to how bigger plastics behave.  We don’t yet know how much nanoplastic there is in Antarctic waters and we know little of how they impact important zooplankton such as Krill which are hugely important for the Antarctic marine food web.
To address these questions there are many hurdles to overcome. To look at plastic in the water column we use a floating sediment trap. The trap gets left at sea for 24 hours capturing particles in the water column at different depths before we go back and collect it. There are many factors to consider at we have to plan carefully to ensure a successful deployment including looking at the currents, predicted travel paths and water depths. This makes recovering the sediment trap a nervous but exciting operation which starts with first locating the flashing beacon amongst the Southern Ocean waves and icebergs.  Here’s a picture of the first recovery aboard.
The next hurdle was catching krill, and not just any krill but gravid females that will produce eggs, so that I can look at how nanoplastics impact their development. After catching krill and setting up the treatments, working on the krill maternity ward is no easy job and I check every four hours to see if they have released eggs. After the eggs are released we do further experiments to see how plastic impacts the development from the embryonic stages through to the krill eggs hatching. Here’s a picture of how a newly hatched krill looks!
Because the plastic is soo incredibly small, there’s only a certain amount of analysis we can do on-board. All of the samples will be taken back to the UK for further analysis to help us understand the effects of nanoplastic.”
 
- Anna Belcher
Anna is a marine biologist studying Antarctic krill Euphausia superba. She tell us a story, to explain what she studies: “A day in the life of Larry the krill – aboard the RRS James Clark Ros.” Larry, the krill, began his days living in the Southern Ocean, happily munching on marine plants and trying to avoid being eaten by whales. But Larry was a curious krill and had noticed a large red ship called the RRS James Clark Ross hanging around. He wasn’t sure what they were up to, but was keen to get a closer look. As luck would have it, Larry the krill managed to hitch a ride onto the ship in a big net that was being towed through the water. Once aboard, Larry found himself in a big white bucket with some other krill friends. He could see lots of faces above looking into the bucket looking amazed and excited. Larry swam to the surface of the bucket to get a closer look, and was scooped out by what appeared to be a large ladle with holes in it. Unsure where he was going, but excited for the next adventure Larry found himself in a new bucket, with a few other friends and was taken away to a new room. This one was interesting, as all the lights had been covered up with black cloth, and there was some kind of sensor pointing into yet another bucket. Larry sat happily in his nice bucket of cold water, watching a scientist dash around adjusting this sensor. Larry wondered what might be in this new bucket, and before long he was able to find out, as he got once again scooped with the ladle, and carefully plopped in. As he swam around checking out his new bucket, the scientist lowered the sensor down into the bucket, and began adding more krill. Larry wasn’t sure exactly what was going on, but he heard the scientist chatting about trying to measure krill from space! From space! That would be cool, thought Larry, then he might find out just how many krill friends there might be in the Southern Ocean. The scientist was trying to measure how Larry and his new krill friends reflected light in the hope to be able to use this information to help decipher the images that the satellites are recording. Larry swam around as nicely as he could to help the scientists.
After about half an hour, Larry had met a lot more krill friends in his bucket and thought that he had done a good job at reflecting his red/pinkish colour. It seemed like it was time to return to his original bucket as the ladle came in once more and Larry and his pals were scooped up. Larry wasn’t sure where the scientist was taking him, but soon found out, as splosh…Larry was back in the ocean, and what a story to tell!! A great adventure!!”
 
- Natalie Ensor
Natalie is one of the ships laboratory managers that works for the British Antarctic Survey: “the role of the lab manager is to run the laboratories on the ships, ensure all lab equipment is working properly and to generally help the scientists when needed; whilst they work aboard the RRS James Clark Ross. 
Another role of the lab manager is health and safety.  In order to fulfil this role, we require knowledge and understanding of each experiment that is being carried out and the hazards that are associated with it.  Once we know this, we can ensure that everyone is carrying out their science safely to prevent any accidents from happening, this is important as they can effect both people and experiments.  This often involves ensuring PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) is worn, ensuring lab rules are followed and that protective equipment is both running and used properly e.g. fume hoods. Whilst working on the ship, many scientists required hazardous chemicals to complete their work.  The lab manager is in charge of making sure these chemicals are stored and used safely as well as ensuring that everyone, both scientists and crew, are aware of the dangers they pose.  Some of the chemicals used most often are Ethanol, Formaldehyde and Hydrochloric Acid. It is a very interesting and varied job.  Working with numerous scientists, all with different specialities from atmospherics to oceanographers; lots of different work is carried out aboard the research vessel.  In order to complete this important science, the RRS James Clarke Ross has visited some fantastic and beautiful places.  I have been very fortunate to visit the Antarctic as well as the Arctic, seeing the wonder and wildlife that they have to offer.”
 
- Petra ten Hoopen
Petra ten Hoopen is a scientific data manager at the UK Polar Data Centre publishing data from marine science expeditions. She wondered: “Do you wonder what happens to data collected in a marine science expedition? Marine scientific expeditions collect a lot! of data from ship-mounted instruments and from instruments deployed with help of ship cranes and winches and with assistance of the ship crew. All data from our expedition will be transferred to and safely archived at the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge, UK. Scientists who collected the data will have exclusive access to the data for the period of minimum two years and will use the data for their research. The data will then be gradually published, either as part of scientific publications or made available via a data catalogues of the UK Polar Data Centre (https://www.bas.ac.uk/data/our-data/). This catalogue also links to data portals that allow you to browse and download information you are interested in. The good news is that, ultimately, data collected by our expedition can be explored by anyone!”
 
- Iliana Bista
Iliana Bista is a molecular ecologist based at Sanger Institute, Cambridge: “I work on genomic analysis of fish species and I am particularly interested in Antarctic Notothenioids, the dominant group of Antarctic fish. On the RRS James Clark Ross I worked on collection of water samples for environmental DNA analysis. Environmental DNA (eDNA) is free DNA that is left behind in the water by the organisms living there, through their skin cells, urine etc. By filtering water we can collect and analyse the DNA of these organisms and detect their presence and population structure. I also work on sequencing the complete genomes of these and other fish species. For this, I collected tissue samples from a variety of fish species. Using new sequencing technologies we can read the entire genomes of organisms to high accuracy, and study their ecology and evolution.
 
- José Xavier and Ricardo Matias (with Gabriele Stowasser, Martin Collins, Ryan Saunders and Clara Manno)
As scientists of ECOTOP – MARE of the University of Coimbra (Portugal, our work in this expedition focus in studying the different environmental pressures that Antarctic are facing today in this region of the Antarctic, following our recent work (Rintoul et al. Nature 2018, Seco et al. Envirn. Poll. 2019, Bessa et al. Sci. Rep. 2019). We are specifically talking about climate change and pollution. We have collected samples for 3 research projects: 1- Assessing if marine animals have the capacity to adapt to warming (we are collecting pelagic squid, as biological samplers of the pelagic areas, to study their genomics and transcriptomics, in order to know which genes they possess to cope with environmental change (work with Cecília Roque, Margarida Dias and colleagues), 2- If microplastics are present in Antarctic fish, with  the plastic origin and (work with Clara Manno, Ryan Saunders, Martin Collins, Gabi Stowasser, Claire Waluda and colleagues) and 3 – Processes of removal of mercury in Antarctic krill (work lead by José Seco and colleagues). We already have 95% of the samples…nearly there!!!
 
Some of these research groups will lead to implications in policies to be implemented in the Antarctic. Antarctica is a continent under the Antarctic Treaty, that focuses on three pilars: science, international cooperation and environmental protection. All the information relevant to policy and decision makers will be surely very welcomed...that surely will improve knowledge of the region and promote cooperation between countries…good, altruistic values for one of the nicest times of the year!!!
 
Merry Christmas!!!!

Latitude: 55.15 S
Longitude: 42.21 W
Jose Xavier (with Ricardo Matias)

Antarctica is that special, fascinating and incredible? Oh yes, it is. As well as the animals, there are various aspects of the Antarctic that fascinates me. Being here now, these aspects become more obvious. Firstly: Is a continent devoted for Science and Peace, under the Antarctic Treaty. More than 50 countries promoting international cooperation, recognizing the importance of science and the relevance of environmental protection. We notice these feelings everyday, in the way our colleagues work with us. Secondly: Antarctica is an important area of the planet to address key scientific questions related to issues such as climate change, sea level rise, animal adaption and resilience to different ecosystems, pollution effects on organisms in extreme environments,…and lots more.  Just look at the variety of the science being done by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR; https://www.scar.org/).  Thirdly, Antarctica is beautiful!!!! The gracefulness of the penguins, the elegance of the albatrosses, the blue of the icebergs, the extreme cold of everyday, …also, here we learn the better notion of altruism, as together we can survive against the elements. With all these things, doing research in the Antarctic becomes a privilege. In order to take the adventures of our work, it is essential a strong connection with society, in particular with the younger generations. Before this Antarctic expedition, we went to schools, under the educational activity POLAR WEEKS. This initiative, coordinated by the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS) Portugal and Polar Educators International (PEI) with the national endorsement of the Portuguese Polar Program (PROPOLAR), it aims to take polar scientists to the classroom to talk about the importance of the polar regions, the work that we are doing and inspire the young generations to be good citizens. In this expedition, we brought flags from schools of Azambuja, Barcouço and Coimbra (all from Portugal). Members of the expedition will sign the flags before we return them to the schools. To commemorate ANTARCTICA DAY (1 December), the scientist Emily Rowlands (of the Association  of Polar Early Career Scientists of the UK – UKPN) also brought printed images of the drawings of students around the world. Surely these initiatives will have a positive impact. Very cool!!!!

Latitude: 54.17 S
Longitude: 36.30 W
Jose Xavier (with Ricardo Matias), 5 Dezembro 2019

For me, Bird Island and South Georgia are a Paradise. I am not exaggerating. Proofs of it: does it have seals? Yes. Does it have penguins? Yes. And albatrosses? Yes too. Glaciers? Yes, you know the answer. It is very similar to being in the Zoo in which you are the star. The animals look at you with curiosity and are not afraid of us. There are differences between Bird Island and South Georgia. In this expedition, we went first to Bird Island (discovered by James Cook, in 1775) where the British scientific base is located… right on the beach. As we get closer, we start hearing some noises, that increased as we got closer, very similar when entering a football stadium full of people when the players come into the pitch. This is because, at this time of the year (early December), the Antarctic fur seals 'Arctocephalus gazelle' have their reproduction period… and they are in thousands. The males can reach > 130 Kg while fighting for a territory and they are ferocious: sharp teeth, big bodies, strong. We have to be pretty careful while wandering around. If we move away from the beach, up the hills, we stop seeing so many Antarctic fur seals. Albatross and petrel nests become the norm. Wandering albatross 'Diomedea exulans' nests are in more distributed in meadows whereas grey-headed albatrosses 'Thalassarche chrysostoma' and black-browed albatrosses 'Thalassarche melanophrys' are more close to cliffs. The gentoo penguins 'Pygoscelis papua' also like the beaches and divide some of them with Antarctic fur seals. The Macaroni penguins 'Eudyptes chrysolophus' like rocky mountains close to the sea…and guess what: it was possible to be with all of them!!!!

​At one distance of 6-8 hours by ship, we also went to the British scientific station King Edward Point (KEP), that is at South Georgia mainland. In the same bay, we also have Grytviken. KEP and Grytviken are quite different from Bird Island. Grytviken is an old whaling station that operated for 60 years, between 1904 until 1964. In Grytviken is buried the famous explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton and is thought that some Portuguese are buried there too (from the whaling periods). Walking around the village, where about 400 people lived, is like going back in time. The museum is fantastic, as it allows us to inform us about how it was to live then. In KEP and Grytviken, elephant seals 'Mirounga leonina' and king penguins 'Aptenodytes patagonicus', are more common, as well as some impressing glaciers, complementing what we witnessed at Bird Island. ​My heart is at Brid Island, due to spending there 3 Austral Winters and Summers. Being there again was truly special. Being with people and areas where I spent so much time was marvelous. In both Bird Island and South Georgia, all the people is amazing, 5 stars and super enthusiastic on everything they do. Great to see the shinning in their eyes!!!!

After sorting out the logistics of the first call to Bird Island and KEP, we are back to high seas doing science…but aware what is happening around the world. This week the COP 2019 in Madrid will continue to discuss the relevance of Climate Change, which political decisions should be made in the future and how to implement them. One thing is for sure: they have all the science available pointing in the direction of urgent political measures. Fingers crossed!