June 21, 2009 Summer Solstice

Summer Solstice 6-21-09

Happy Summer Solstice! This will be the longest summer solstice daylight period of my life so far. However, it will not be the most daylight I will see this cruise since we will be heading even farther north than we already are. Check our location under the Current cruise track link on the cruise website: http://www.knorr.whoi.edu/

As you might remember, I took a sea sickness med yesterday (Meclizine, 25 mg). I went to bed around 9 AM and slept until 3 AM the following day for a grand total of 18 hours strait. I woke up briefly some time in the middle, but rolled over and quickly nodded off again (one or both of the periods were well over my target of four hours uninterrupted). I would have slept even longer if Rachel didn't come wake me up for the next Krill tow. Who knows, I could have gone over 24 hours.

Once I got dressed and ate a quick snack, I was back out on deck with everyone, ready for another productive krill tow with the bongo nets. Despite being in relatively shallow water (about 70 m) we got a good haul of krill. In general you see more krill as you go towards the deeper water and less as you go towards the shallow water. We filtered particles from water collected at 18 meters (depth chosen based on a combination of light penetration and the chlorophyll maximum) using our filtration manifold (system of metal tubes with glass funnels attached to them). We would measure water in large graduated cylinders and then suck it through the filters using an aspirator pump (blue and grey box with black tube to the right and behind of the filtration manifold).

The amount of water we filter at each station changes based on how much particulate material is in the water. In general we stop filtering once the filters are so full of particles that they begin to filter very slowly. This morning the big filters (under the funnels on the left side of filtration manifold) were able to handle five liters (close to average) of water before they were loaded with particles. Sometimes the water can be so loaded with material that it is tough to filter only one liter. Other times there is so little material in the water that you can filter up to thirteen liters of water.

When we were done filtering we had some more eyes to remove from krill collected at a previous station. This is done using tweezers and a scalpel, below a dissecting microscope. Once the eyes are removed they are placed in vials to be extracted later (add solvent to the vials to remove certain compounds from the eyes).

As the light was returning and I was waking from my post sleep fog, I noticed our first real foggy weather that we had encountered so far on the cruise. Considering that the majority of the cruise last summer was very foggy, I am glad we got to experience some sunny days. I have always enjoyed foggy weather. Seeing it cover a landscape or skyline makes it seem much more mystical and romantic. Especially around industrial areas. Throw down some fog and even the most polluted oil refinery can look like a charming relic of the industrial revolution. The fog around the ship made me feel a little less like a graduate student and a little more like an intrepid explorer. Now I just need to discover something and I'll be all set. Wait, isn't that my goal as a graduate student as well?

-Eli