Cruise chic, fall 2006. (Photo by Denis Costello)
The iron sampling "fish". (Photo by Denis Costello)
Putting the iron sampling fish in the water. Here I am with the Kevlar wrapped Teflon line that carries clean water to the lab from the fish. I am holding the line taught while it is being tied off. (Photo by Jen Boehme)
Ben and Eric (2 graduate students participating in the cruise) put up a HEPA filter in the clean room or 'bubble' as we call it. (Photo by Kathy Hardy)
Here I am in the bubble filling bottles for an incubation experiment. We have to wear the Tyvek coats and gloves to prevent contaminants from entering our samples. (Photo by Jen Boehme)
These are two of our on deck incubators which hold our bottle samples.
(Photo by Kathy Hardy)
NORTH PACIFIC OCEAN (May 18, 2007): Yesterday we started 3 incubation experiments using sea water collected with a metal-free collection system which we call “the fish” because it is towed alongside the ship from the end of a boom and it looks somewhat like a fish swimming along next to the ship. We added the collected water to clear bottles and then added various nutrients and chemicals to see how they effect the growth of the critters in the sample.
All of these experiments are set up in a make shift clean room. We basically take one of the ship board labs and cover every surface with plastic. Then we install HEPA filters which filter all of the incoming air and create a positive pressure in the room. This prevents dust particles from contaminating our samples with metals. There’s a lot of iron in one little dust particle, enough to ruin our experiments. After the bottle samples are prepared, we take them out to the deck where they sit in plexiglass incubators which are cooled continually with sea water to maintain ambient temperatures. The clear bottles allow the sunlight through to the organisms growing inside. After a few days, we will collect and analyze the samples.
Many people on board are sick right now. My estimate is that a third of the crew and scientists didn’t show up for lunch today. The Captain thinks we have a Norwalk virus lurking on board. Norwalk is the “cruise ship” virus which causes an unpleasant and violent combination of throwing up and diarrhea. The crew is scrubbing everything down and we are advised to be extremely careful about washing hands. I have never experienced an illness like this going through a ship. It is a bit unnerving, like being locked in a large house with 30 highly-contagious people. From what I hear, it should only last a couple of days. Coincidentally, as I write this, I can hear the sound of some one being sick in a nearby bathroom. Like I said, a little unnerving...
Yesterday I saw a black footed albatross. Albatross, along with the fulmars and shearwaters are birds of the open ocean. Albatross spend almost all of their life at sea and only come to shore to nest. In fact, young albatross spend years at sea before they nest for the first time.
Seeing these birds is one of the benefits of these cruises. The one I watched yesterday glided just above the waves, I watched for about 5 minutes and never saw him flap his wings. Albatross skim close to the ocean surface to take advantage of the difference in air pressure caused by wind blowing across the surface of the ocean. Because the air next to the water moves slower due to drag exerted on the air by the water, it creates a pressure build up near the air water interface. This higher pressure at the surface allows the albatross to fly without flapping his wings! The faster the wind speed, the easier it is for them to fly. It is an amazing thing to watch an albatross use its 7-foot wing span to glide across the surface of the ocean.
The albatross is designed for the open ocean and rides the waves with seemingly effortless ease. Although to live at sea we require tons of machinery and fuel and the expertise of the crew of the ship; we too have become, at least temporarily, creatures of the open ocean.
