Ocean Science is Difficult to Measure by film student Stephanie Wong

 

According to Hugh Ducklow, obtaining every bit of information is expensive but it is necessary research. “The ship costs $50,000 a day before you even start paying for the science. We’re 10,000 miles from our labs at home. It seems trivial to have a single filter of carbon from the water compared to the hundreds that we do, but every one is hard to get, and every one adds up to make a bigger picture”. LTER scientists measure the carbon content of different levels of the ocean using their one and only CTD (above), a machine controlled by humans that captures water at specific levels –thousands of feet in difference– under the sea.Hugh points out that, after 21 years of research, areas in the North have shown obvious changes and responses to the diminishing sea ice. “We are at the end of this story… If we listen to climate scientists and we look at models that forecast global warming over the next century, we expect all of Antarctica to be warming.” Why are we at the end of this story? What do these changes mean for us– for the rest of the world?I am working on editing scenes with Hugh Ducklow, the chief scientist of the Palmer Long Term Ecological Research Project. Though I grew up being very visual arts-focused, this project is a huge deal and is luring me in with both the interesting and relevant science as well as the beautiful shots of Antarctica I get to see and use to shape these stories. I am growing fond of the information quickly, and realizing the importance of all the minute details and their relationship to all other organisms. I feel privileged to be able to get direct access to the scientists of the stories we are editing. Later this week, other students and I are meeting with Hugh Ducklow, Doug Martinson, Oscar Schofield, LTER scientists.