BENEATH ANTARCTIC ICE

Pema Kitaeff
March 22, 11 AM, NHE

In an illustrated lecture, Pema Kitaeff will share her recent research experiences diving under more than 7 feet of Antarctic ice.  For five weeks in the fall of 2007, she was part of a team conducting research on nudibranch egg masses and exploring the subtidal marine communities of the far south.  Pema’s experiences included encounters with Friendly, a Weddell seal who shared her diving hole, pycnogonids (sea spiders) who became subjects of the team’s experiments, brilliantly colored soft corals, and many other marine organisms.

From 1999 -2001, Pema was an inspired PTMSC intern and diver who started a PTMSC youth group and then taught its members to dive.  She went on to receive an MS degree studying the relationship between anemones and algae at Western Washington University and presently works at the University of Washington Friday Harbor Labs where she is the Dive Safety Officer and Marine Tech.  Pema had always dreamed of diving below the ice and avidly read about the experiences of Shackleton and Scott, famous Antarctic explorers.  Then, in October 2007, she was asked to replace a UW Antarctic team member who had been injured and couldn’t dive – and her dream became reality.

Admission: $5/members; $7/non-member