Preparing to Go Again!

It's mid summer, and plans for our next season in Antarctica are in full gear.  Our core team this year consists of:
  • Dale Andersen - SETI Institute
  • Dawn Sumner - University California, Davis
  • Ian Hawes - Aquatic Research Solutions
  • Anne Jungblutt - Natural History Museum, London
  • Asim Bej - University Alabama, Birmingham
  • Tyler Mackey - University California, Davis

We'll also have guests from Chris McKay's Astrobiology Science and Technology Project who will help with our project:
  • Alfonso Davila - SETI Institute
  • Wayne Pollard - McGill University
  • Stephen Emmons 

My other team members have been "PQed", in other words, medically pre-qualified or approved to go.  My forms aren't in quite yet, but they are in the envelop ready to mail tomorrow.

I've been working on getting equipment together to ship before we go.  I am taking two of my own microscopes this time.  We are also looking for a LED UV light source for them.  UV light makes the cyanobacteria fluoresce (glow), so you can see them well through the microscope.  My light meter isn't talking to the computer, so we will work on that next.  We'll have another one, but mine doesn't have a cable which make it easier to manipulate under water.

Also, there are now really cool underwater laser scanners (see 2G Robotics).  We hope to be able to bring one in the field this year to map the morphology of the mats on the floor of the lake.  It should have a resolution of about a millimeter if you image 1 meter from the bottom.  This laser scanner would give us a great way to quantitatively compare mats at different depths.

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