Palmer Station Timeline
2015-present
Winter 2015
Manager: Bob DeValentino; population 21 (list and photos)
Google Trekker backpacking camera put to use around the station.

The project team blog archive is here, although it mostly covers previous visits to the station and the photos are gone. The project also posted on their Facebook page through 2019.
The Laurence M. Gould encounters heavy sea ice after a final fishing trip (12 June)...

Summer 2015-16
Building LIDAR and thermal image survey conducted (October).

Rutgers air sampling experiment set up in the backyard (November).

This was a Rutgers project led by investigator Yuan Gao, to measure and quantify atmospheric iron, using a number of different air samplers and an associated weather station, which of course required this platform, along with power and data connections. They also collected area snow samples. The team returned to install additional equipment in November 2016, and the project was completed and dismantled at the end of January. This photo, by Yuan Gao, is from the November 2015 science sitrep.
Newly revealed island named for long time Palmer researcher Bill Detrich.

Melting ice cover around Arthur Harbor recently revealed yet another new island 3/4 mile north of the station. It actually started to appear in 2012. On 19 January 2016 the U.S. Board on Geographic Names accepted the name Detrich Island for this 100' high ice-covered island. A 2 March 2016 Northeastern University news article describes the island and zooms in on its satellite photo...and a custom Google map allows us to zoom in on the island, the station, and the fast-melting glaciers that could eventually reveal that the station itself is on an island (note, you may need to zoom out to see the image). The photo (from the article) is by University of Oregon researcher Thomas Desvignes.
New Palmer Station master plan unveiled (2 February).

The plan is another phase in the eventual rework of the station following upon the 2012 Blue Ribbon Panel report. It was prepared by a team led by OZ Architecture which also produced the McMurdo master plan. Major features--replacing the biolab and boathouse buildings, reworking GWR, and constructing new berthing ("lodging") and power plant buildings. Phase 1 is, of course, a new pier. The plan is available here.
Winter 2016
Manager: Ken Keenan; population 21 (list and photos)
The first of the RHIB's undergoes sea trials (July).

At left, the first of the two new 33-1/2 foot aluminum vessels is being test fitted to its trailer. More details about the vessel specifications, construction photos, and the sea trial video off of Long Beach, can be found here.
Leidos takes over the Antarctic Support Contract from Leidos (16 August).

This was perhaps due in part to a "Reverse Morris Trust" arrangement--a way for L-M to recover cash (potentially $8 billion) to pay for their acquisition of Sikorsky, and to offset their loss of the long range bomber program to Grumman. Needless to say, the USAP contract was NOT the key piece of L-M's business that Leidos wanted, My full coverage is here, with detailed links. At left, my August 2017 photo of the current sign in front of the ASC project headquarters building.
Summer 2016-17
CBS News team, led by correspondent Mark Phillips, visits Palmer Station (14 February).

The first of the two new RHIB's gets its first launching at Palmer Station (3 March).

The R/V Hero sinks at its moorings (4 March).

This tragedy is still evolving, and the details of why it sank when it did may never be known...although this is not totally unexpected. The Coast Guard, the Washington Department of Ecology, and the Pacific County sheriff's office and Emergency Management Agency were involved, and a contractor removed diesel and lube oil. And I was a bit involved in providing them information. For now the vessel is just sitting there...perhaps eventually Washington State may remove it. The story so far....
James McClintock, a member of the UAB team, is interviewed by NPR host David Green (8 March).

Winter 2017
Manager: Ken Keenan; population 20 (list and photos)
Plan to replace the 50-year-old pier advances.

Summer 2017-18
The second of two RHIB's is delivered (October). It was named Hadar after the second brightest...

William Fraser's team returned for another summer of penguin study.

UK Antarctic Heritage Trust and NZ AHT conduct major conservation effort on Stonington Island.

New massive penguin colony found! One might wonder why we are still studying penguins, but here's proof. This colony was discovered not by the Fraser group or other USAP scientists working at sea level around the peninsula, but by a multinational research team who examined Landsat and older satellite images and found pinkish-red guano stains on the Danger Islands (a group of 9 islands just north of the Antarctic Peninsula and about 15 miles SSE of Joinville Island (see below). The team, including Oxford University researcher and friend Tom Hart, visited the hard-to-reach islands in 2015; their drone survey revealed about 750,000 breeding pairs of Adelie penguins. Media coverage with videos include this 2 March 2018 BBC News article, this 2 March Guardian article, and this 5 March New York Times article. The 2 March paper "Multi-modal survey of Adélie penguin mega-colonies reveals the Danger Islands as a seabird hotspot" is here--open access, published in Scientific Reports.
USAP scientists on Joinville Island rescued by Argentine naval helicopter (11 March).

The team, led by principal investigator Alexander Simms, had been investigating newly discovered raised beaches on Joinville Island, but as time approached for their pickup by the Laurence M. Gould, the Weddell Sea ice conditions deteriorated and the LMG was unable to approach the island. USAP requested assistance from Argentina, as their naval icebreaker Almirante Irizar was in the vicinity, and a helicopter from the icebreaker picked up the science team and their gear. More information, photos, and video....
The 50th anniversary of the permanent station is commemorated (20 March)

The Biolab was dedicated on 20 March 1968...50 years on from that was a significant dedication ceremony, with speeches, a toast, and significant historical photographs from the 1968 event from someone who was there. Check it out!
FIVE 2017 Polies head to Palmer station for the winter at the same time!

Winter 2018
Manager: Ken Keenan; population 20 (list and photos)
Antenna riggers show up in April to do stuff...

They had lots of work on and around the various antenna towers, but one of their tasks was to replace damaged panels on the earth station 8-meter radome. At left...one of the damaged panels was unbolted so it could be pushed out and lowered to the ground by rope. Here's a view from outside. The satcom earth station was constructed during the 2002 winter...the 5-meter dish does not normally have to move as it points to the geosynchronous Intelsat-23 satellite. The terminal at the other end is near Malibu, CA.
Thanks to Mike Rice for the photos and information!
Artist Karen Romano Young spends 3 months on station (March-May).

Karen is prolific children's author and illustrator currently living in Connecticut. She created a science comic story "Antarctic Log" which she started in July 2017 before her trip to Palmer Station. The photo at left is a great cartoon map of the station that she created. Here's a complete gallery which unfortunately does not include the photo at left.
Summer 2018-19
Death at Palmer Station (23 October)

Paul Eugene Kyllonen, age 57, died due to natural causes at about 1130 local time (UTC-3) on Tuesday 23 October. He had arrived on station with the first group of the summer crew on 6 October. He had previously wintered at Palmer in 1998 as an equipment operator/mechanic and in 2002 and 2003 as the power plant mechanic. (more photos, information, and credits).
Palmer pier project progresses.

Winter 2019
Manager: Ken Keenan; population 20 (list and photos)
Palmer Station veteran Maggie Amsler completes her 500th dive in Antarctic waters (~13 May).

Palmer Station alumnus Christina Koch chatted with the winterover crew from aboard the International Space Station (14 September).

Christina previously wintered at Pole in 2005, with me...and she has an extremely impressive resume...here is the NASA version! She also worked at Summit in Greenland...here's a 6 February tribute resolution by the Texas House of Representatives commemorating her, as she had been living in Galveston at the time. And I don't know that many friends who have a Wikipedia page about them! This photo is also a prominent part of the 2019 winterover photo.
Summer 2019-20
Both the Nathaniel B. Palmer and the Laurence M. Gould show up (21 November).

Venerable Skytrak forklift retired and shipped out.

This brand-new Skytrak 6036 forklift was delivered to Palmer Station by the Polar Duke in March of 1990, to replace an obsolete military all-terrain forklift for which parts were getting hard to find. But that was almost 30 years ago, and during the 2019-20 summer that forklift was retired in its turn. The story...
Chuck Amsler completed his 1000th dive in Antarctica (13 January).

Charles Amsler, age 61, a biology professor at the University of Alabama Birmingham (UAB) is only the third USAP person (and the first USAP scientist) to reach this milestone. He made his first dive at Palmer Station in December 1985...and the rest have occurred over 23 field seasons, mostly at or around Palmer. The project this season involved studying the effects of ocean warming and acidification on algal-feeding crustaceans. This 4 February UAB news release describes Amsler's work and includes a photo of him at Palmer with his wife Maggie Amsler, who completed her 500th such dive at Palmer during the 2019 winter.
And on 11 June, NSF announced that the 2020-21 USAP season will be...er..."different." The season will be limited to "activities that will...avoid irreversible damage" (ie maintenance), statutorily required studies such as the CTBT monitoring conducted in Palmer's IMS building and the AMLR convention monitoring, and vessel cruise project that do not require station support.
The endless summer...ended on 16 June as the Laurence M. Gould headed north.

As of the end of May, the Palmer winterovers had not yet shown up, and some summer folks were still on station, all due to that nasty pandemic. Brief background...in January cruise ship visits were canceled. The LMG brought some of the summer Palmer people to PA on 21 March...they had to have a military/police escort to the airport. Next up, the NBP showed up on 24 March at the end of its Thwaites Glacier Collaboration project. The NBP eventually ended up at Eureka, CA in Humboldt Bay after a stop to discharge cargo at Port Hueneme. Uh...the Palmer 2020 winterovers finally headed south from PA on 3 June, and arrived at Palmer Station on the 10th. It headed north from Palmer Station on the 16th...four days before Midwinters Day Here is the rest of the now-finished story, including a look at the summerovers, many of whom were there for six months.
Winter 2020
Manager: Ken Keenan, population 16 (list and photos)

Why did the Laurence M. Gould call at Vernadsky overnight on 16-17 June? Back on 8 May local time, the Vernadsky cook Vasily Omelyanovich died from an apparent suicide, per this 112 UA Ukrainian news article. And there was a need to ship his body north. This had been his fifth deployment to Vernadsky. At left, an undated photo of Vasily Omelyanovich, presumably taken in Kiev, from that 112 UA news article.
Due to the pandemic there was an absence of the usual grantees filling the aquarium building with marine life to study...so it turns out there was a NASA medical immune system study "Pilot assessment of stress and latent herpes virus reactivation" to help combat immune system dysregulation--a problem during long-duration space flight. How appropriate for a time of global pandemic! In this photo, Lance Roth (left) is drawing blood from Tim Lynch. The project also involved health surveys and spit and hair samples for evaluation of changes over the winter.
The principal investigator is Brian Crucian of the Johnson Space Center in Houston. He earlier conducted a similar study of Concordia winterovers. This photo is by Hannah James from the September 2020 station science report.
Summer 2020-21
Ulp...that pandemic continued...and with that...a lack of science projects and news.
The researchers didn't show up, but the penguins did. So in mid-October 2020 it was time to set up the penguin webcam on Torgersen Island. Which is normally installed by the summer comms person, but since the summer crew hadn't arrived yet...winter person Mike Rice got to deal with it. Here's some of the equipment--2 135 watt solar panels, a remote controlled camera, an equipment/battery box, and other miscellaneous parts. Here's a look at the installation team and a view at some of the reasons for all this--a few hundred Adelie penguins. Photos from Mike Rice. Oh...the penguin webcam is not available during the austral winter, but you will find it here during the summer after the penguins show up to mate and lay eggs.
The pier construction for the 2021-22 summer was confirmed.

I've shared this preliminary 2018 design before here where I've included links to the preliminary drawings and other project information. Anyway...here is the 21 April 2021 Future USAP announcement as well as this 20 April NSF Dear Colleague Letter which indicated that there would be no on-station science personnel during the construction period...and that long term science projects would be maintained by ASC staff. The prime contractor Pacific Pile & Marine brought their materials and equipment on a barge from Seattle...and the construction efforts were also supported by extra trips by the Laurence M. Gould. Here is Pacific Pile & Marine's April 2021 post about the project. I should add that the final design was somewhat different than this preliminary one.
The Gould initially appeared with the winterovers on 8 May...
...but due to that COVID thing they didn't disembark until the 11th. The summer folks headed north on 24 May, arriving in Punta Arenas on the 29th. Here is Steve Allerding's photo of Palmer Station from the Laurence M. Gould the night before their departure.
Winter 2021
Manager: Ken Keenan, population 18 (list and photos)
Summer 2021-22
The new pier got built successfully...I have lots of photos I need to sort out.

For now, here's a late February 2022 photo showing the first piles and bents ready for the plank installation. The first set of planks were installed in one day! Photos from Zenobia Evans.
Winter 2022
Manager: Ken Keenan, population 19 (list and photos). The winterovers arrived on 22 May aboard the Laurence M. Gould after spending two weeks of COVID isolation in Puerto Natales.
What the new pier looked like in winter!

This is Ken Keenan's photo of the new pier, perhaps taken as the Nathaniel B. Palmer arrived in May. Very impressive...clean lines, engineered fenders instead of those large black floating ones...and a ladder, of course, as, unlike in the old days when I was there, Palmerites sometimes want to go for a swim. Here's another of Ken's photos showing the vessel "bumped up" at the pier.
Summer 2022-23
Replacement structures for NOAA's Livingston Island station built...in Denver!
The Laurence M. Gould will be going away...as well as other research vessels (Marissa Goerke photo).

Coast Guard icebreaker Polar Star visits Palmer Station.

Continuing the ship visits, MV Keith showed up in April (webcam photo).

Winter 2023
Manager: Ken Keenan, population 20 (list and photos)
The end of winter!

Here's Ken Keenan's photo of the pier, the summer folks, and the station, from the Laurence M. Gould as it heads north on 20 October 2023.
Summer 2023-24
New short paper published December 2023 discusses the retreat of the ice/glacier since 1963.

At left, a partial graphic from the paper (full size image: 1.2 MB). The open-access paper "Sixty years of glacial retreat behind Palmer Station, Antarctica" was published in December 2023 by Cambridge University Press and © The Authors...one of whom is friend Marissa Goerke who is the research associate at Palmer Station as I write this in March 2024. I was last on station in April 1990 and we never would have thought the ice cover would retreat like this...there's even an end to Hero Inlet!
The Laurence M. Gould makes its last call at Palmer Station (11 April).

This was announced a while ago, but now the time has come as the charter from Edison-Chouest Offshore expires on 16 July 2024, per this 29 April 2024 NSF news article. I've previously covered this story above on this page with more links and info. This photo is from 2024 winterover Rachel Cook.
Winter 2024
Manager: Randal Rhodes, population 19...note that Ken Keenan, after wintering 11 times at Palmer, including 10 times as manager and 8 consecutive years from 2016, will be enjoying his first summer in either hemisphere in 8 years.
And the Laurence M. Gould finishes its Antarctic career.

After its last visit to Palmer in April, the Laurence M. Gould headed north, first to Punta Arenas where cargo, waste, and retrograde was dealt with...and it also had its last joint docking with the Nathaniel B. Palmer. The vessel then continued north for 10 days of drydock at Talcahuano, Chile. It then continued north to Edison Chouest Offshore's shipyard in Tampa, Florida, where it would again go into drydock in early July (more info).