Educational Activities

Journal Entry
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August 29, 2003
Friday

It’s very difficult to believe that we have been underway for 9 days. The time has flown by. We are fairly settled into a work routine. The Avon that carries divers to collect the rhizosolenia mats leaves the ship at 9:00 am and returns 2 hours later. Then, the MOCNESS is deployed to collect various organisms at various depths. Then, we put a 1 meter net in the water and tow it for 10 minutes at a depth of about 20’. The Avon goes out with the divers to collect more mats around 3 in the afternoon. After that, we put the CTD in the water to collect water samples.

I am preparing the rhizosolenia mats to run two tests once back at the laboratory in Port Aransas, Texas. The two tests are carbon:hydrogen:nitrogen ratios and then, nitrogen: phosphorus ratios. These two tests give the scientists a determination of the chemical composition and utilization of the elements within the mats. I prepare the mats for theses tests by putting the mats through filters. The filters are then placed into either sterilized foil packets or small centrifuge tubes and then, frozen. The whole process takes me about 1.5 hours each time the divers go out. So, about three hours per day.

The rest of my day is spent on preparing lessons, email responses, and video/audio clips to put on the STEAMER web site. I’ve become quite the historical photographer on this cruise. I can’t seem to go anywhere on the ship without both the digital camera and the digital camcorder. It’s fun knowing that the researchers want to capture their work on film. However, I am beginning to feel like a camera geek slinging both cameras over my shoulders at all times of the day and evening.

We’ve had a little trouble getting the MOCNESS to deploy properly for the last few days. After working with it for about 30 minutes and doing a lot of problem solving, our electrical technician, Fred, and the ship’s resident science technician, John, got it working like a brand new machine. These guys are really good at what they do!

Dr. McKay found a few Halobates in the first 1 meter tow net today. He knows I am very interested in this little marine insect and gave them to me. These insects are cousins to fresh water, water striders that you can commonly find in streams, lakes, and rivers around the United States. However, Halobates live their entire lives on salt water in the open oceans. They are very unique. Dr. Villareal arranged for me to do some extra 1 meter net tows and we got about 50 insects. I separated these from other small tiny organisms that were towed and I put some of the Halobates in the freezer and some in ethanol.

Shout out to the RoMP and STEAMER crews. What a great group of people to work with. Also, to Luis and Danny, thanks guys. Have a fun holiday weekend.

Dr. Nikki Hanegan

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