Birthday Surprise!
As I left my dorm this morning, a flier hanging by the entrance caught my eye. Someone took the trouble to put fliers up all around McMurdo informing everyone that today was my birthday!
Fliers advertising Michelle Brown's birthday were found around McMurdo Station today.
When I entered our lab room, I found my desk area was also decorated! Little colored decorations hung from the lab ceiling with a present of goodies and a lovely card. I feel very lucky to have such a great research team to work with!!
Michelle Brown walked into a decorated lab corner today. A Happy Birthday sign lined the window, a picture of her and her fiance, a card, and presents including Gingerale!
Dive Huts and Drills
After finding the correct sampling spots using GPS it was time to drill some big holes to allow divers to jump in and get sediment samples. Although I am now an expert at drilling holes in the ice, this was a job for some serious machinery. Our research team hopped in the Pisten Bully and Steve Sweet drove us down to the ice to get things started.
Steve Sweet checks the manual to the Pisten Bully before driving it.
Before drilling a big hole in the ice, we needed to get a dive hut down to the right spot. Steve Zellerhoff, a.k.a. "The Hoff", pulled the #3 Dive Hut close to where we have our sampling site. Then he brought over a large ice drill and drilled holes at the two sampling sites we had marked the day before.
Stephen Zellerhoff tows Dive Hut #3 towards the designated sampling spot.
After towing the Dive Hut, Stephen Zellerhoff tows the large ice drill to the sampling spot.
Digging the Dive Hole
Once the holes were drilled, Steve, Terry, Joni, Andrew and I cleared the ice out of them. "The Hoff" dragged the dive hut over the first hole. We used big nets to collect the ice. It was heavy!
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The Catepiller drives away, leaving the dive holes drilled and ready to dive into.
Diving for Sediment
The dive hut is nice and warm, and allows those of us who are not diving to have a little break while Terry and Steve Rupp dive down and collect sediments. Over the course of the week, the divers will dive to three different depth levels to collect sediments: 40 ft, 80ft, and 120ft. At each depth they will collect three samples for the research project. To make sure the data is correct, they will collect 3 replicates of each sample at each site--that's a lot of samples!
Steve Sweet and Andrew Klein take sediment samples from the ocean floor and separate them into jars to sample back in Texas.
Terry Palmer collects sediment samples after diving while Michelle Brown cleans the sediment containers for reuse.
Samples 1 and 2
The first sample will go back to Corpus Christi with Terry where he will look at the small organisms that are living in the sediment. By looking at the organisms, Terry can infer how healthy the sediment and ecosystem is. If there are mostly worms there, it is evidence that the sediment is polluted; while if there are mostly crustaceans, it is evidence that the sediment is healthy. The second sample also goes home with Terry where he does a microtoxicity test. This involves giving the sediment samples to bacteria in small amounts to see it has any negative effects on the bacteria. This sample is used to look at how large the grains of sediment are.
Terry Palmer seals sediment jars that have been stained pink to better identify organisms.
Sample 3
The third sample will go back to College Station with Steve Sweet where he will look at the geochemistry of the sediment. Steve tests the sediments in different ways. To see if there is any contamination in the sediment, Steve separates the soil from the sediment. The difference between sediment and soil is that soil has organic matter in it. Organic matter is anything that is or was once alive. This could be a plant, animal, bacteria, fungi, or bacteria. Steve separates the soil from the sediment by mixing it with chemicals. He then looks at the hydrocarbons (which are common in fossil fuels) and trace metals using different processes. Steve also collects some of the organisms found on the ocean floor. He will analyze the tissues of these organisms to see if there are any contaminants in them as well.
Steve Sweet sorts through the marine organisms collected on the seafloor to be tested for contaminants back in Texas.
Questions
What are some ways that the scientists make sure their research is accurate?
Do you think it is important for the scientists to collect 3 replicates? Why or why not?
Look at the picture of Steve Sweet in the Pisten Bully in the journal entry above. What do you think is the purpose of the yellow cord coming from the vehicle? How is this an adaptation to the cold environment?
Math Connection
How many total samples will the scientists collect on their dives? (Hint: read the "Diving for Sediment" paragraph carefully)
If there are 12 inches in 1 foot, and 2.54 centimeters in one inch, what depths do the divers go down to in centimeters? In meters?
Goofy Picture of the Day
Michelle gives a goofy pose to the camera while taping samples.