Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 02/16/2012 - 06:35

Hi Ms. Herrmann!

This is Maddy, Semhar and Elizabeth! How are you? We had a two hour delay this morning so we are all feeling refreshed. What time do you have to get up in the morning? Is it still dark when your arise?

Nell Herrmann

Hi ladies!Thanks for writing. Glad to hear you had a 2-hour delay. Was it because of snow? Freezing rain?
The sun comes up early here-before 5:00 a.m., so I've only seen one sunrise so far. The time I've had to wake up on the ship has varied with whether or not we have meetings in the morning. Now that I'm at Palmer Station (I arrived today) I will be having a meeting with Dr. Amsler, Dr. McClintock and the rest of the research team every day at 8 a.m. We unpacked some of the lab equipment they will need today and will begin in earnest tomorrow. I'm looking forward to helping in any way I can!
Keep in touch,
-Ms. Herrmann

Anonymous

That isn't too early, that's good. So what sort of lab equipment do you use? I know my dad uses an electronic fish thing to measure stuff. On a totally unrelated topic, Semhar wants to know what the time zone is. What time is it now?
Thanks!
Elizabeth
Semhar
Maddy

Anonymous

That isn't too early, that's good. So what sort of lab equipment do you use? I know my dad uses an electronic fish thing to measure stuff. On a totally unrelated topic, Semhar wants to know what the time zone is. What time is it now?
Thanks!
Elizabeth
Semhar
Maddy

Nell Herrmann

Hi ladies,Great to hear from you! When the divers are out on the boat, they of course need their SCUBA gear (tanks, regulators, buoyancy compensators and weight belts). They also take collection bags underwater with them for the samples they gather underwater. In the lab, they are using a big set up called an Aqua Medic. It has water tables on it that will be filled with a mixture of glycol and water. These will help keep the water in their experiment at the right temperature (half of the samples will be kept at 1.5 degrees C and the others at 3.5 degrees C). There are pH probes and a CO2 tank that will bubble CO2 into the water to regulate the pH. I wrote a whole journal about it on 2-18-2012 called "Setting Up and Cleaning Up."
I am 2 hours east of you, so it's always two hours later for me than it is for you. (I'm writing this at 11:42 a.m. so it's 9:42 a.m. in State College.)
Keep in touch,
-Ms. Herrmann