Shooting Killer Whales for Science in Antarctica

By taking biopsies researchers can study what killer whales have been eating

During the summer of 2014/15 I provided field safety support to a small group of scientists studying killer whales on the edge of sea ice in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. I felt like I was in the middle of a national geographic channel documentary because the wildlife was astounding. The video below has footage I took of penguins, skuas and whales:

The Antarctic ice edge

Antarctic sea ice or pack ice forms during the winter and breaks away during the summer. The ice edge is simply the line to where the ice has currently broken to. This is an extremely dynamic place that can change by small or large amounts daily due to temperature, wind and ocean currents. My main job as field safety was to find safe landing locations for the helicopter, and to minimize risk for the people working directly on the ice edge.

The scientists had 3 main projects: To collect biopsies, to photograph and identify breaching whales, and to record killer whale sounds using a hydrophone. They also successfully got some underwater footage of killer whales using a GoPro on a pole:

Collecting whale biopsies

A biopsy is the examination of tissue removed from a living body. The rifles used to do this are gas powered and shoot a small biopsy dart at the skin of the whale. The dart takes a small skin sample and bounces of the body, allowing the researchers to retrieve the dart with a tether attached to the gun. The disturbance for the killer whale is very minimal and perhaps feels like having an insect bite. Collecting whale biopsies is not particularly easy and requires patience. First you need to wait until some whales come along and swim close enough (within about 30m), and then you have to actually hit your target during the few seconds that it is breaching out of the water. There were plenty of missed shots for sure!

Recording killer whale sounds with a hydrophone

The Antarctic ocean is a noisy place! My video below shows whales breaching between the pack ice with sound recorded onsite with the hydrophone. You will notice there are lots of different and unusual sounds. The background clicking noises are the killer whales echo-locating. Some of the chirping noises may be weddell seals, and there is a distinctive "fog-horn" sounding call that I believe comes from a different type of whale.

An Antarctic Oasis - The McMurdo Dry Valleys

The McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica are one of the worlds most extreme deserts and are said to have an environment closer to that of the planet Mars than any other place on earth. With a rocky and barren landscape battered by extreme katabatic winds, the dry valleys provide an interesting if not hostile backdrop for many science projects over the antarctic summer.

Glaciers and Rock

I have been lucky enough to visit the dry valleys on 3 occasions where I have captured images of the valleys during different conditions. The photo above shows the contrast between a teardrop shaped glacier and the dry rocky ground. My video below shows spectacular helicopter footage of the Dry Valleys during a rare moment when there is "lots" of snow on the ground, and the glaciers are less distinguishable:

Antartic Dry Valleys by Helicoper

This video was shot while conducting maintenance on Antarctica New Zealand's three radio repeater sites. These sites are used to relay radio communications between science teams operating in the Dry Valleys and the Antarctica New Zealand base on Ross Island. Because it was early in the summer season the temperatures were rather cold with wind chills at Mt Mule getting below -40C (also -40F)

Map of the Dry Valleys

A satellite view of the McMurdo Dry valleys, the McMurdo Sound and Ross Island along with the route of the helicopter and locations of the radio repeater sites. It is worth zooming in to the Dry Valleys and exploring the martian-like landscape.

Me sitting on a rock at the JJ Thomson site (start of the video) with the glaciers coming down into Taylor valley in the background.

Mummified weddell seals

This photo shows one of the famous mummified weddell seals of the Dry Valleys. There are apparently hundreds of specimens that have crawled up to 41 miles inland and to elevations up to 5,900 feet above see level. Why these seals have wandered so far from the ocean has remained a mystery.

Penguins of Antarctica

Spectacular images and videos of Antarctic animals.