And We're Off!
After the science briefing this morning, I had the opportunity to work on my PolarTREC journals. I have had more time than I initially thought as we are still underway and the lab is basically organized. We are ready to sample when the time and location are right!
Lunch brought some excitement...we were all sitting around the picnic table (yes – a picnic table, I'll do an entire journal on food soon). All of the sudden, the ship made a shivering noise and then went silent. The lights went off and it was pitch dark. There were a few emergency lights that came on so that we could see. Of course, some people had their flashlights with them and that helped! The lights/power were out for about 5 minutes. They came back on and we finished our lunch - NO worries!
The time had finally come for our first net tow. We donned the Mustang suits, steel toed boots and hard hats and went out on the fantail.
Ms. Rose in Mustang gear and hard hat, ready for the first tow!
The Marine Science Technician and Marine Science Officers helped attach the cables and lower the A frame. The net was dropped vertically to a depth of 140 meters the first time and 180 meters the second time.
Ring net coming up from the water
We waited for the net to get to the appropriate depth and then it was brought back up. The codend was disconnected from the net and the water is poured into large clear jars.
Bob pouring the samples form the codend into waiting jars
There were not many animals in the first tow. There were lots of jellyfish, but the most notable was a very large ctenophore. Joel also identified a rock fish larvae. Because we didn't get the animals we had hoped, we did a second tow – this one deeper. The deeper sample had more copepods, as well as lots of jellyfish.
Joel identifying a larval rockfish from the sample.
Once back in the lab, Celia and Donna went straight to work sorting the copepods from the jellyfish. Jellyfish will eat copepods if left together. This work was done in the cold lab; a room that is kept at 40 degrees so there is less of a difference between the copepods natural environment and the lab. Dr. Ashjian and Bob want to separate the copepods in hopes of doing some experiments with them.
Bob identifying copepods in the cold room
I got a chance to play with the ctenophore, also called a Comb Jelly. The ctenophore has bioluminescence. This is the production and emission of light by a living organism. It looked like it had blue electric flashes inside it. Very cool!
Ctenophore or comb jelly that was caught in our samples
I can't WAIT to see what else we find in these samples!
New Vocabulary
A Frame: moveable point on the ship's stern and side that is shaped like an “A” from which you can hoist things
Bioluminescence: the production and emission of light by a living organism
Stayed tuned to this journal as we continue this exciting voyage on the USCG Cutter Healy!! Until then...
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever” Mohandas Gandhi