July 1, 2009

7-1-09

“He that hath a beard is more than a youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a man”
-Bill Shakespeare

I figured I would throw in a beard update picture. I had foolishly brought my electric razor on the cruise, without the charger. Once the battery went dead I asked around a bit to see if others had brought an e-razor that I could borrow to give myself a quick trim. Wisely, everyone else brought strait razors leaving me without any options. Now that my neck has stopped itching, I decided to just let it go until I get home.

We are now embarking on our longest west bound cruise path, the MN Line. You can see our current location on the cruise path image. The path is laid out in order to study as many important features as possible in the allotted time. I am particularly excited for the MN Line because it takes us by the spring phytoplankton bloom location. Phytoplankton are the autotrophic component of the plankton community. The name comes from the Greek words phyton, or “plant”, and plankton meaning “drifter” or “wanderer”. Phytoplankton get their energy from the sun by photosynthesis, just like land plants, and are the base of the marine food chain. They are the primary food source for the krill we have been collecting and studying throughout the cruise. A bloom refers to a rapid increase in phytoplankton population in an aquatic system. Bering Sea phytoplankton blooms typically take place in the spring after the sea ice melts allowing sunlight to be harvested. Phytoplankton can live below the ice, but in much lower numbers.

One bloom location in particular was visited by the spring BEST (Bering Sea Ecosystem Study) cruise. Water particles and sediment were collected from this spring location. We will be returning to this same location after completing the MN line, allowing us to collect more water particles and sediment to see how the spring bloom material has changed and degraded over time. Of particular interest to me is the protein fraction of the water particles and sediment. Amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, are routinely measured in marine sediments. The source of these amino acids has been elusive. We are using proteomic techniques to unravel this mystery. Once we collect the samples they will be frozen at -70 degrees Celsius to be analyzed back at our lab in Maryland.

At each sampling station one task is carried out at a time. Often times, our bongo net tows are done after other tasks, like water collection, have already been carried out. At our last station, those of us operating the bongo nets, were the first sample collectors. This allowed us to collect water from the CTD Niskin bottles at the same time as everyone else who was collecting water for different analyses. It was a welcome change to collecting water in smaller groups of people. This time it was like a Niskin party as everyone filled up their respective containers. It is not clear yet exactly what time we will be returning to the spring bloom location, but the more I get to interact with the other scientists and learn about the past cruises, the more excited I am to fill in my piece of the Bering Sea puzzle. Seeing as how it can be commonplace on a cruise to let one’s beard grow out a bit, I am fitting in little more with each day’s growth.

-Eli