Ice Coring Survey For Main Biological Site, cruise 2007/08 V1 (SIPEX)

Ice samples were collected by means of ice coring with 9 and 13 cm diameter ice corers on a total of 15 stations in the 115-130 degrees E sector off East Antarctica in September and early October 2007 during the Sea Ice Physics and Ecosystem eXperiment (SIPEX).

Ice temperature profiles were recorded for one core at each station. Ice cores were cut into 10 cm sections and analysed for ice texture, delta 18O composition, inorganic nutrients (phosphate, silicate, nitrate, nitrite, ammonium), dissolved organic carbon/nitrogen, absorbance spectra of coloured dissolved organic matter (CDOM), particulate organic carbon/nitrogen, persistent organic pollutants (POP), chlorophyll a and pheopigment concentration, photosynthetic parameters measured with a Fast Rate Repetition Fluorometer (FRRF) and a Pulse Amplitude Modulated Fluorometer (PAM) as well as algal species composition and biomass and species composition and biomass estimates of ice-associated metazoans.

Ice texture analysis from ice cores taken at the "biology main site" was carried out onboard. On the main sites we collected in total 11.8 m of ice cores for textural, salinity and O18 analysis. 28 % of the collected ice was congelation ice while the remaining was largely frazil ice (except for some possible snow ice layers that will be detected later using O18 data). Bulk salinity of the ice cores (n=13) ranged from 4.1 to 9.4, with an average of 6.1. A second, trace metal clean, coring site, was sampled for iron-biogeochemical work.