2014 R/V Point Sur Chief Scientist Training, Cruise No. 2 » Christine Shulse http://csw.unols.org Mentoring our sea-going scientists Tue, 14 Oct 2014 12:26:21 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=4.0 Farewell http://csw.unols.org/2014/10/farewell/ http://csw.unols.org/2014/10/farewell/#comments Sat, 11 Oct 2014 18:35:16 +0000 http://csw.unols.org/?p=1475 Continue reading →]]> DSCN0646_smallWell, the cruise is over and the offloading is almost finished. We’re all excited to get back to the lab and start analyzing the samples we’ve collected. We had a great and productive cruise, thank you to the Captain and Crew of the R/V Point Sur, and our mentors Kenneth Coale and Clare Reimers for everything we’ve learned along the way! Now, follow along as another group starts their cruise next week!! ]]> http://csw.unols.org/2014/10/farewell/feed/ 0 Internal Wave Hunters http://csw.unols.org/2014/10/internal-wave-hunters/ http://csw.unols.org/2014/10/internal-wave-hunters/#comments Sat, 11 Oct 2014 02:32:16 +0000 http://csw.unols.org/?p=1466 Continue reading →]]> On this cruise we have two physical oceanographers, Andy Pickering and Gunnar Voet. They are on the hunt for “internal waves.” Although the name sounds pretty groovy, you can’t surf these waves. Internal waves travel along density interfaces below the surface of the ocean. If you’ve ever mixed oil and water and looked at the interface between the two, you’ve seen an internal wave! When an internal wave passes through the ocean, it can lift or lower a layer of water, moving zooplankton and phytoplankton into or out of the sunlight. When these waves break, they cause the water to mix, moving nutrients around. To find the waves, Andy and Gunnar use a large pole-like tool called a biosonic. Check it out below!

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]]> http://csw.unols.org/2014/10/internal-wave-hunters/feed/ 0 Trawling Along http://csw.unols.org/2014/10/trawling-along/ http://csw.unols.org/2014/10/trawling-along/#comments Fri, 10 Oct 2014 02:43:44 +0000 http://csw.unols.org/?p=1462 Continue reading →]]> One of our Co-Chief Scientists, Kim Bernard, studies Euphausiids, aka krill, aka whale food. In order to collect the little guys, we’ve been deploying large nets off the back of the boat, like the one seen below on the left. Once the nets are back on board, Kim uses the hose to wash everything off the inside of the net into a collection bottle attached to the end of the net. At the end she gets a concentrated sample that looks a bit like split-pea soup (below right)! Yummy (for a whale).

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]]> http://csw.unols.org/2014/10/trawling-along/feed/ 0 The MOCNESS Monster http://csw.unols.org/2014/10/the-mocness-monster/ http://csw.unols.org/2014/10/the-mocness-monster/#comments Thu, 09 Oct 2014 01:06:40 +0000 http://csw.unols.org/?p=1454 IMG_1200This afternoon we deployed the Multiple Opening/Closing Net and Environmental Sensing System, better known as the MOCNESS, and caught this little guy pictured at right. What is it?? Leave your guess in the comments. ]]> http://csw.unols.org/2014/10/the-mocness-monster/feed/ 0 First Deployment = Great Success http://csw.unols.org/2014/10/first-delpyment-great-success/ http://csw.unols.org/2014/10/first-delpyment-great-success/#comments Wed, 08 Oct 2014 23:11:39 +0000 http://csw.unols.org/?p=1450 Continue reading →]]> IMG_1183_smallOur first deployment today was the CTD (Conductivity-Temperature-Depth) device. We send this device down into the ocean on a wire and the gray bottles shown on the right collect water at different depths. Here scientist Hilary Close is collecting that water to analyze chlorphyll a levels, a measure of primary producivity, or how “green” the ocean is. ]]> http://csw.unols.org/2014/10/first-delpyment-great-success/feed/ 0 Teamwork! http://csw.unols.org/2014/10/teamwork/ http://csw.unols.org/2014/10/teamwork/#comments Tue, 07 Oct 2014 19:36:32 +0000 http://csw.unols.org/?p=1447 Continue reading →]]> Welcome to Dexter’s Kill Room the trace metal clean bubble! Chief Scientist Ana Aguilar-Islas and scientist Pete Morton set up a “bubble” as we mobilize for the cruise tomorrow:

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Ships are made of metal, so this plastic-wrapped set up will keep ship-based metal from contaminating their samples. Dexter would be proud:

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