Aft: towards the stern or back of the boat |
| Benthic: term for organisms living on the sea floor |
Bow: the front, pointed end of the boat |
| Bransfield Strait: the body of water between the Antarctic Peninsula and the South Shetland Islands to the north |
| Captain: the individual who oversees all ship operations and is responsible for the ship and crew safety |
| Chief Scientist: lead scientist or Principal Investigator, the individual responsible for relaying science needs to MPC and captain |
| Co-PI: Co-Principal Investigator, scientist who shares in the responsibility of leading a research effort |
Drake Passage: seaway between the southern tip of South America and northern tip of Antarctica, some of the roughest seas in the world occur here |
Endemic: an organism found only in a certain region and nowhere else in the world |
| ET: Electronics Tech, a Raytheon employee who oversees e-mail, ship's computers, and electronic portions of science operations |
| Fore: towards the bow of the boat |
| Global warming: increase in the average temperature of the planet, global warming is currently occurring due to human activities like burning fossil fuels |
| Holopelagic: organisms that spend their entire life in the water column |
Invertebrates: all animals that do not possess a backbone, invertebrates make up 95% of all known animal species |
Larvae: the juvenile forms of animals, there may be several larval stages before reaching the adult form, some larvae look completely different from the adult form that they will eventually become |
| Mates: ship's crew responsible for "driving" the boat, typically there are 2-3 mates on a ship |
| MPC: Marine Projects Coordinator, Raytheon employee, responsible for oversight of all science operations and a liaison between scientists and ships crew |
| MST: Marine Science Tech, Raytheon employee, oversees laboratory equipment and helps with science laboratory needs |
| MT: Marine Tech, Raytheon employee, helps primarily with operations on the science deck |
| NSF: National Science Foundation, the primary U.S. government agency that sponsors non-medical research including all types of Antarctic research |
Palmer Station: a U.S. Antarctic station located just north of the Antarctic Circle, located on the southwestern coast of Anvers Island off the Antarctic Peninsula, the temperature at Palmer Station averages about minus 10°C in the winter and 2°C in the summer |
Pelagic: term for organisms inhabiting the water column |
| PI: Principal Investigator, a scientist who leads a research effort |
| Plankton: animals that live in the water column and usually are moved around by tides, wind and currents, animal plankton includes jellyfish, worms, crustaceans, molluscs as well as eggs and larvae of many species |
| Polar front: region separating water masses of polar origin from those of tropical or subtropical origin |
| Port: the left side of the boat when facing forward |
| Punta Arenas: the Chilean port where the R/V Laurence M. Gould voyage will start and end |
| Raytheon: the company that organizes and runs logistics for scientific operations in Antarctica |
| South Shetland Islands: the chain of islands running along the Antarctic Peninsula |
| Starboard: the right side of the boat when facing forward |
| Stern: the back end of the boat |
| USAP: U.S. Antarctic Program |
