Table of Contents

• Coverage
• Dataset Description
  • Methods & Sampling
  • Data Processing Description
  • BCO-DMO Processing Description
  • Problem Description
• Related Publications
• Parameters
• Instruments
• Deployments
• Project Information
• Funding

Gliders were deployed from the fast ice near Cape Crozier (Ross Island) on 29 November and 4 December, 2022. Recovery of gliders were from the RVIB Nathaniel B. Palmer Cruise NBP23-02 on January 18, 2023

Two profiling ocean gliders (Seagliders SG613 and SG676) were deployed from the fast ice adjacent to the Ross ice shelf near Cape Crozier. SG613 and SG676 collected 774 and 688 profiles, respectively, where each profile (taking typically 1.5 hours) is either an ascent or descent, with its mean time assigned. Temperature, salinity (Seabird CT sail), dissolved oxygen (Aanderaa 4330 optode), Chl‐a fluorescence (a proxy for phytoplankton biomass), and optical backscatter (OBS) at 470 and 700 nanometers (nm) (Seabird Scientific Wetlabs Triplet ECOpuck) were measured. SG613 also carried a photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) sensor. Glider sensors were factory‐calibrated before the deployment. Data were processed using the UEA Seaglider Toolbox (https://bitbucket.org/bastienqueste/uea-seaglider-toolbox/src/toolbox/, Queste et al. (2014)), optimizing the hydrodynamic flight model (Frajka‐Williams et al., 2011) and correcting conductivity for thermal hysteresis (Garau et al., 2011). The accuracy of glider fluorescence was ensured via cross‐calibration of fluorescence measurements from both gliders and the CTD rosette at the recovery stations. Discrete chlorophyll samples were collected via the CTD rosette on glass fiber filters upon glider recovery and analyzed fluorometrically (Knap et al., 1996) aboard the Palmer. Glider fluorescence was converted to Chl‐a via a linear regression. Discrete
particulate organic carbon (POC) samples were likewise collected from the recovery CTD cast, filtered through combusted glass fiber filters and analyzed in the laboratory by pyrolysis (Gardner et al., 2000).

Data were processed using the UEA Seaglider Toolbox (https://bitbucket.org/bastienqueste/uea-seaglider-toolbox/src/toolbox/, Queste et al. (2014)), optimizing the hydrodynamic flight model (Frajka‐Williams et al., 2011) and correcting conductivity for thermal hysteresis (Garau et al., 2011). All data were binned and averaged over 3-meter intervals.

- Imported original CSV files named "P2P_sg676_BCODMO(Sheet1).csv" and "P2P_sg613_BCODMO(Sheet1).csv" into the BCO-DMO system.
- Treated NaN as a missing data value (missing data are empty/blank in the final CSV data file).
- Renamed fields/columns to comply with BCO-DMO naming conventions.
- Concatenated the two data files into a single file, adding a column for the Seaglider ID number.
- Converted Matlab_Time (Matlab serial number) to ISO_DateTime_UTC datetime field formatted as %Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ.
- Saved the final file as "996532_v1_ross_sea_gliders.csv".

NSF Award Abstract:

NSFGEO-NERC Collaborative Research: P2P: Predators to Plankton – Biophysical controls in Antarctic polynyas

Part I: Non-technical description:
The Ross Sea, a globally important ecological hotspot, hosts 25% to 45% of the world populations of Adélie and Emperor penguins, South Polar skuas, Antarctic petrels, and Weddell seals. It is also one of the few marine protected areas within the Southern Ocean, designed to protect the workings of its ecosystem. To achieve conservation requires participation in an international research and monitoring program, and more importantly integration of what is known about penguin as predators and the biological oceanography of their habitat. The project will acquire data on these species’ role within the local food web through assessing of Adélie penguin feeding grounds and food choices, while multi-sensor ocean gliders autonomously quantify prey abundance and distribution as well as ocean properties, including phytoplankton, at the base of the food web. Additionally, satellite imagery will quantify sea ice and whales, known penguin competitors, within the penguins’ foraging area. Experienced and young researchers will be involved in this project, as will a public outreach program that reaches more than 200 school groups per field season, and with an excess of one million visits to a website on penguin ecology. Lessons about ecosystem change, and how it is measured, i.e. the STEM fields, will be emphasized. Results will be distributed to the world scientific and management communities.

Part II: Technical description:
This project, in collaboration with the United Kingdom (UK) National Environmental Research Council (NERC), assesses food web structure in the southwestern Ross Sea, a major portion of the recently established Ross Sea Region Marine Protected Area that has been designed to protect the region’s food web structure, dynamics and function. The in-depth, integrated ecological information collected in this study will contribute to the management of this system. The southwestern Ross Sea, especially the marginal ice zone of the Ross Sea Polynya (RSP), supports global populations of iconic and indicator species: 25% of Emperor penguins, 30% of Adélie penguins, 50% of South Polar skuas, and 45% of Weddell seals. However, while individually well researched, the role of these members as predators has been poorly integrated into understanding of Ross Sea food web dynamics and biogeochemistry. Information from multi-sensor ocean gliders, high-resolution satellite imagery, diet analysis and biologging of penguins, when integrated, will facilitate understanding of the ‘preyscape’ within the intensively investigated biogeochemistry of the RSP. UK collaborators will provide state-of-the-art glider technology, glider programming, ballasting, and operation and expertise to evaluate the oceanographic conditions of the study area. Several young scientists will be involved, as well as an existing outreach program already developed that reaches annually more than 200 K-12 school groups and has more than one million website visits per month.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.