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Sea Lab Marine Scientists Share Antarctic Adventures
January 3, 2005 |
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Contact: Lisa Young 251/861-7509 Aboard the Nathaniel B. Palmer, currently in the Ross Sea near Antarctica, Sea Lab Senior Marine Scientist Ron Kiene and Marine Technician Laura Linn are collecting data on the process of how sulfur gas is released into the atmosphere. The specific compound they are studying is dimethylsulfoniopropionate. But that’s not what the fifth-graders at O’Rourke Elementary are interested in: they want to know whether Dr. Kiene will be bringing home any penguins (“[P]enguins from Antarctica are adapted to the environment where they live. They are used to it being cold and their food supply (krill) is plentiful here. They wouldn't like it in the hot climate of Mobile,” replies Dr. Kiene) or what the chances are they’ll run into an iceberg (“There is always someone on the bridge of the ship looking out for what is ahead. The NB Palmer is an ice breaker, so it can go through sea ice, but it could be damaged if we rammed into a large iceberg,” he writes back). Dr. Kiene is keeping up a steady correspondence via e-mail with the elementary school children, while Ms. Linn maintains communications with her “Penguin Pen Pals” at the Pelican’s Nest at the Fairhope K-1 Center. “Laura came to visit the children prior to leaving for her trip, to explain what she’d be doing,” said Ms. Charlene Dindo, Director of the Pelican’s Nest. “They are absolutely fascinated with her trip, and are learning all about the animals and habitats of Antarctica through her correspondence. The personal contact with a working scientist is so conducive to making science come alive for them.” Ms. Linn intends to visit the Pelicans’ Nest upon her return to debrief the young scientists on her trip and to present images from her research trip. Dr. Kiene and Ms. Linn are scheduled to return from their trip in early February. But for now, they continue to share their exploits of dodging seals (“We were heading right for it, but the ship moved slightly to the side so we wouldn’t hit it. The seal must have been wondering where in the world this big orange and tan thing came from that was bearing down on it…”) and donning sunglasses at midnight (“[L]ast night I woke at 1:30 am to see the sun was still up! I heard that it got close to the horizon around midnight, but it didn’t set. At 1:30 it was as bright as noon practically.”) |
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