USAP PROJECT B-195-M

PAUL A. CZIKO is an evolutionary biologist, tinkerer, scientific diver and was the Principal Investigator of the project B-195-M at McMurdo Station, Antarctica. Though he has varied interests, Paul primarily studies the physiology and ecology of Antarctic fishes, including the evolution of their freezing avoidance strategies. He led the development and deployment of the McMurdo Oceanographic Observatory primarily in order to better understand the environmental context in which these fishes evolved. He has completed eight seasons in Antarctica and nearly 200 dives under the ice in Antarctica. Paul led this project as a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Oregon, Eugene, USA. ➤

ARTHUR L. DEVRIES was the Co-Principal Investigator of the project and one of the most deployed Antarctic scientists ever. He began his Antarctic career in 1961 and has travelled to Antarctica more than 50 times for scientific research. With his discovery of antifreeze proteins in Antarctic fishes in the 1970s, he opened an entirely new field of research into the physiology of cold adaptation and freezing avoidance. He has published extensively on polar fish freezing avoidance strategies over the last 50 years. He is Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA. ➤

LISA MUNGER is a marine biologist and bio-acoustician, with many years of experience conducting acoustic monitoring of whales and other marine sound sources. In addition to her role as a field technician and diver in the second year of the project, Lisa undertook analyses of MOO’s unparalleled underwater Antarctic audio record. Though she has travelled widely for her work, 2018-2019 was Lisa’s first year on (and under) the Antarctic ice! Lisa is an instructor at the University of Oregon and at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. ➤

NICK SANTOS is a data integration and IT specialist, hacker, programmer, and GIS researcher. Nick was the primary software architect for the MOO. Following Nick's first season on the ice (2017-2018), he continues to support our technology needs. Nick's work ensures that critical data is archived and that interesting and exciting data is made available to the broader public. ➤

HENRY KAISER is a scientific SCUBA diver, musician, videographer and Antarctic field technician. Henry fills a number of important roles that every science group needs-but rarely has. Henry consulted on many aspects of the project and supported all of our underwater work. In twelve deployments to McMurdo Station and nearby field camps (plus some 300 dives under the ice), Henry has supported numerous and varied science projects, both above and below the ice. ➤

KONRAD MEISTER is a protein biophysicist, antifreeze protein expert, field technician and Antarctic fisherman. When he isn't using state-of-the-art technology to better understand the interactions between antifreeze proteins and ice surfaces, he's organizing field trips to our local fishing holes and doing much of the heavy lifting necessary for our field operations. Konrad is an Assistant Professor at the University of Alaska, Southeast and holds an appointment at the Environmentally Relevant Interfaces at the Max-Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz, Germany. ➤

WESTON TURNER is a software engineer with a background in artificial intelligence, machine learning, embedded systems, and robotics. He has worked previously on 3D modeling/scanning systems for object tracking and classification as well as machine vision systems which perform visual pattern recognition. In the second year of our project, Weston will be got his hands dirty as a field technician, as well as in working to analyze our growing datasets, developing embedded software for our scientific apparatus, and helping to maintain the MOO’s software infrastructure.

MATTHEW HOLMES is a biologist involved in MOO data curation and analysis. One of his main projects has been the curation of MOO’s image collections, including writing code to align the thousands of images from MOO’s camera taken during the project. This will allow the creation of an unprecedented time-lapse series of the Antarctic under-ice environment.

Extended Team

Acknowledgements

We wholeheartedly thank some of the many people that made this project possible: 

FAMILY, FRIENDS and NEIGHBORS

Too many to list
Thank you!