Life on the ice …
… on the sea bead …
- A colony of Hemichordates, the closest extant phylogenetic relative between the chordates and other invertebrates, in other words, very early relatives of ours – surprised?
… and on the ice again …
- Neumayer-Station, Germany’s Antarctic Station, Riisser Larsen Ice Shelf in the South Eastern Weddell Sea. On the left the entrance to the under-ice garage.
… and in the air …
“Petz” – a name for a bear in German – that is what Wolf Arntz, formerly Professor of Marine Biology at the AWI (Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven), now Professor emeritus, is affectionately called by his friends. Petz has been to the Antarctic many times before as “Fahrtleiter” i. e. leader of the expedition, and this time since he has been a professor emeritus, he was invited as a guest and took on the task of “Fahrtenschreiber”, i. e. “Rapporteur” – rapporting on the weeks proceedings, such as: “… On board are 52 persons considered ‘scientists’, which include 2 meteorologists and 4 helicopter crew. Seventeen are non-Germans representing 11 different nations. Together with 44 members of crew, there is a total of 96. The objective of the voyage is the investigation of potential effects of climate change on the biodiversity of biological communities and on ecosystem function in sub-Antarctic and high Antarctic areas…“ (Excerpt from rapport dd. 13 Feb 2011)
Petz has written extensively on marine ecology with emphasis on the benthic (sea floor) system and on the upwelling systems of the Baltic sea, the Magellan region and the Humboldt current.
Petz was very much looking forward to fresh vegetables after 10 weeks of mainly meat and sausages in the last few weeks – you can imagine Colleen having a field day in supplying just that.
Thanks, Petz, for letting us use your pics! We are looking forward to your forthcoming Antarctic-Book – make haste before it all will have melted away!
Much love
Colleen & Walter
Betty’s Bay, Easter Sunday 2011
Blogs from Betty's Bay 
Thank you! Wonderful photos.