Spatial and Temporal Scales of Human Disturbance - McMurdo Station, Antarctica

During the pilot project the terrestrial and marine settings at McMurdo Station were intensively sampled. A "phased-in" approach allowed resources to be concentrated on defining the attributes of specific components of the system each year. During the first year the terrestrial (land) setting was targeted for intense sampling.

The second field year included a revised sampling plan for the terrestrial setting based on the first year results and an initial sampling of the marine setting. In the third year both the terrestrial and the marine sampling plans were revised based on the previous year's results and to test any remaining program design assumptions. A number of variables were measured including physical (surface disturbance, grain size, carbon content), chemical (PCBs, metals, and hydrocarbons) and biological (benthic community structure) indicators of impact.

More than 2000 samples were taken over the term of the project providing the data needed for a robust statistical assessment of the monitoring program's design elements.