The 2nd wave of Weddell seal population study field team members, Co-crew leader Jesse DeVoe, Alissa Anderson, and Aubrey Power, have been waiting these past few days for the sea ice runway conditions to improve outside McMurdo Station before being flown from Christchurch, NZ to the Ice to re-unite with colleagues Kaitlin Macdonald, Shane Petch and Thomas Sutton already there.
So we are very excited to take this opportunity to introduce two wonderful field blogs being updated by a couple of our team members throughout the Weddell pupping season!
The first blog, the Aspiring Ecologist by Jesse DeVoe, is the longest running of the two:
Jesse DeVoe first deployed to Antarctica as part of the Weddell seal field team from 2010 through 2012. He did 3 pupping season deployments with the Weddell population study, maintaining his fantastic blog throughout. Jesse would go on to receive his MS from Montana State University-Bozeman. He returns to the Ice this season as a co-crew leader on the project. Jesse is a wonderful photographer, writer, videographer, viral video producer, and a great up-and-coming ecologist. This season he will be doing a lot of social media posting on the project, and working with some interesting immersive video approaches. All this in addition to his primary work of helping to carry out the scientific field goals of the Weddell population study this pupping season!
The second blog is brand new by 2017 Antarctica Field Team member Aubrey Power, and is named The Wandering Weddell. This is Aubrey's 1st deployment to Antarctica, and she will be sharing her experiences throughout the pupping season. More info on Aubrey is available on her very cool blog.
We will await word from the field team about the flight to Antarctica, and the 'camp pull' that is happening on the ice. The camp pull is when all the huts that make up the study's remote sea ice camp will be pulled by ice tractor to the location on the sea ice of this season's remote camp.
In the meantime, please enjoy these 2 wonderful field blogs to get a better sense of what field team members are doing and experiencing!
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