Journal Entry

Dr. Stacy Kim and Rusty Fairey both work at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories in Moss Landing, California. The Dr. in front of Stacy's name stands for "Doctor" but she isn't a medical doctor. There are "doctors" in many fields. After the four years of college, there is even more to learn! You can get a master's degree next (which usually takes 2-3 more years at a university) and then, if you really love what you are doing, you can get your PhD (Doctorate of Philosophy) which may take another 4-6 years!

Stacy and Rusty study ocean life and how humans impact that ocean life. Stacy studies the organisms on the seafloor and Rusty studies marine pollution.

PHOTO OF STACY COMING SOON

Which statement about Dr. Stacy Kim is false?

1) Stacy has been in -2 degree C water (29 degree F)

2) Stacy has been 2500 m beneath the sea

3) Stacy has been to the South Pole

Got your answer? Okay, how about Rusty?

Rusty really does go fishing for science. This is a giant sturgeon he will test to see if it has chemicals from human activities in it.

Which statement about Rusty Fairey is false? (Parents - these aren't as bad as they sound!)

  1. Rusty hates being cold.

  2. Rusty's first dive was in the Lone Star Brewery in Texas.

  3. Rusty used to "steal" cars.

Okay - here are the answers!

Stacy Kim

  1. TRUE: The water in Antarctica can get "below freezing" of 0 degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit) because it has salt in it. The salt ions get in the way of the formation of the orderly crystal structure of ice. The saltier the water, the lower the freezing temperature.

  2. TRUE: Stacy went down 2,500 m (over 8,000 feet) in the Alvin (an amazing submersible we will learn more about) to a hydrothermal vent area 9 degrees North on the East Pacific Rise. Normally, the deep sea has high pressure, low light, and low temperatures as common environmental conditions, but vents have temperature swings (from the normal 4 degrees C up to 350 degrees C), low oxygen, and some really nasty chemicals in the hydrothermal fluid.

  3. FALSE: Stacy hasn't been to the South Pole because there isn't an ocean there and she studies marine organisms. The North Pole does have an ocean under its ice so submarines have actually gone there, but the South Pole has more than two miles of ice on top of land!

Rusty Fairey

  1. FALSE: Rusty actually likes the cold - otherwise he'd be crazy to volunteer to dive under the ice in Antarctica.

  2. TRUE: Rusty did his original diving certification at the pool at the Lone Star Brewery in San Antonio, Texas. They have a huge water complex there. On his first dive in a lake, the visibility was poor and he came face to face with an enormous catfish!

  3. TRUE: Rusty had some friends at a bank and they got paid to repossess cars at night from people that didn't pay their bills. This was "legal stealing" because they had a spare set of keys for each car and it was their job to take them.