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International Continental Shelf Survey

Hey Bill, I arrived in Barrow today and was able to spot the Healy off the coast. Great to see you from afar. I've enjoyed keeping up with the expedition online, and am curious what your crew used as indicator for the pH testing. Best of luck with the rest of the journey. Josh

Tue, 08/17/2010 - 07:54

Bill Schmoker

That's sweet! Pretty small world sometimes. I'm waving back at you as we head north away from Barrow towards the ice. We were 'in' town to pick up a replacement crew member and fuel filters for the Canadian Coast Guard Cutter Louis S. St. Laurent. They can't go fast while they are streaming seismic gear so we went ahead to do the pickup. We sent out two ship's boats to pick up the crew member and parts,so that was a neat chance to see boat opps on the icebreaker.I asked about the indicator the ocean acidification team is using. The are using meta cresol blue, which is ideal for pH 7.2 - 8.2. To get the best precision the team purifies their indicator at their home lab before it is brought out to the ship. Other ocean pH studies often use thymol blue indicator.
The team has sampled water from about pH 7.6 to 8 on this cruise so far. The lowest pH was found where salinity was lowest.

Wed, 08/18/2010 - 07:44

Anonymous

A correction on the name of the indicator used by the ocean acidification team: It is Meta Cresol Purple (not meta cresol blue as I stated in my original reply.)Thanks again, & best- Bill