Antarctic Scientists Inaugurate 'Ocean Station Obama'

Scientists aboard the U.S. research vessel Laurence M. Gould held their own presidential inaugural celebration 10,000 miles from Washington off the coast of Antarctica. Stopped in desolate, icy seas for three days to do climate-change research, they dubbed their temporary study area Ocean Station Obama. "The project scientists have decided to dedicate the station to President Obama and his administration to recognize their vital interest in the problem of climate change," said Columbia oceanographer Douglas Martinson

During Ocean Station Obama, which lasted Jan. 19-21, the scientists conducted a special study to characterize physical and biological processes related to Adelie penguin foraging in the area, and investigated processes that store atmospheric carbon dioxide in the water as a result of marine biological activity (the so-called biological pump). At station Obama, scientists conducted repeated sampling with electronic water samplers, zooplankton nets, submersible pumps and optical sensors.

The ship followed a freely-drifting array that collects particles settling through the water column. They also deployed an undersea glider equipped with oceanographic sensors to profile the study region in greater detail. Meanwhile, part of the research team camped on nearby Avian Island, conducting censuses of penguins and other seabirds that forage in the Obama region.

Individual locations at sea where samples are taken are referred to as oceanographic stations. Oceanographers name such stations to facilitate future identification, and it is common to name them after people, events, animals or anything else to distinguish them. Station Obama is located in Marguerite Bay immediately south of Adelaide Island, in the eastern Bellingshausen Sea (approximately 67 deg 46 S, 68 deg 51 W).

On Inauguration Day, several blogs, including one hosted by the scientific journal Nature, were abuzz with news of Ocean Station Obama.