April Fool's Day

April Fool's Day brought about an interesting turn of events. The night
watch, a group that appears to be very creative, decided to pull a few
pranks for April Fool's day. As I exited my room that morning, on my way
to the gym, I happened to notice an out-of-place sign above the MPC office
door, picture number one or 'Starbuzz'. I knew it wasn't there the night
before. The back-story of this sign stems from the unlimited lattes that
flow from that office, of which I also partake. I now make my own lattes,
although for some reason they taste better when someone makes them for me.
Also, I am still working on my foaming-skills. The 'Buzz All Weather'
latte, in particular, I consume at least once a day (see picture two).
Although, I am very curious about the 'Buzz Bomb.' Sound delish!
There is another back-story for the third picture ('beware of the honey
bears'). The ET on the ship has a phobia about honey bears on ships; he
believes they bring bad luck (I thought it was women on ships who brought
bad luck. Huh.) He will remove the honey bears from the table he sits at
in the mess hall. So, some people decided to collect all of the empty
bears and make a sort of shrine. I thought it was very amusing. This is
what people do when they are bored. It keeps morale at a somewhat elevated
level. There were a few others that I cannot share here (or for which I do
not have photographic evidence).

Chow!

Aimee

A close encounter of the whale kind

We had another close encounter to Humpback whales a couple of days ago.
Actually they got a lot closer to the ship than the first time around. I
woke up the other morning and heard someone outside my door says something
about whales. I was just about to go to the gym but decided I should check
out the whale sighting first. It was a very calm day out. The seas were
almost glassy, and the sun was peeking through the clouds. I went out to
the stern and saw at least 2 whales, not all that close, playing in the
distance. I watched for a bit and then proceeded to the gym. We were on
station. The cast was coming up in a couple of hours, and I needed to
start my day. I did my thing in the gym and when I returned to my room I
decided to grab my camera and take some pictures of the beautiful day
outside. Little did I know that the whales were still hanging out around
the ship. They had been around for at least 2-3 hours now. The were
closer to the stern, I was near the bow. As I stood there taking pictures
they slowly swam towards me. I could hear them making noises, both vocal
sounds and the noise of the water passing through their blow holes. It was
amazing. I don't think I have ever been so close to whales before. The
water was glassy and clear enough that I could see the rest of their bodies
under the water. It was a very cool experience. Hope you enjoy the
photos.

Chow.

Aimee

Where I spend most of my time

I decided after I posted the last blog that I should elaborate on what I
was doing. In the picture I posted last time of me sampling from the CTD I
was collecting samples for CDOM or chromophoric dissolved organic matter.
According to the literature, it is an 'optically active component of DOM
that plays a critical role in carbon cycling' (Du et al 2010; Coble,
2007). This material can influence how light travels through the water
column and, therefore, can affect the growth of aquatic organisms, such as
phytoplankton. Because CDOM is a component of the global carbon budget, it
is important to monitor the abundance and composition in the water column.
I collect 18 samples/day for CDOM (60 ml/sample) and filter each sample
through the glass filter set up I have pictured here. This usually takes
about 2-3 hours to complete, including collection from the rosette.

I spend almost 12 hours a day in a room that is called the wet lab. It is
called this for a reason. During stormy seas, if the watertight doors are
not sealed completely, water enters the room with every wave. One of these
days I might be washed away! During most of this time I am working on the
wooden filter rig, seen in the second picture. At least once a day I
collect almost 20 L of surface water from the underway seawater system and
filter almost all of it, particularly when we are in low biomass waters
(like we are today). When water is available from the rosette, I try to
take water column profile samples, at least for phytoplankton pigments. I
require a lot of water for the various parameters I collect and the Niskin
bottles only hold 10 liters. I keep the room somewhat cool to protect the
samples and so that the heaters do not blow dust or other unwanted
materials into my samples.

Today the sun finally decided to show its face! Although we are no longer
in the ice, the sun and calmer seas make for a wonderful day. We are still
in the process of working our way back north towards the 67S line. After
we finish this transect on the 170W line, we will steam for 2 days (approx
10 knots/hour) to get to the aforementioned line. We will continue our
travel west towards Chile.

Ship fever has set in a bit. However, the morale team has come through and
at least 2 activities are being planned for the future. One activity that
was announced today is a murder mystery game. I have never heard of this
game but apparently everyone draws a card (regular playing card) and
whoever draws the Queen of Spades is the 'murderer.' That person, with
some reasonable restrictions, can go around (discretely) and 'murder'
people by showing their card. Those who are not the murderer can try to
guess who it is and confront that person. If they are correct, then he/she
becomes the murderer. If the accusation is false, the accuser dies
automatically. Sounds amusing, right? Also, we still have a second round
of Cribbage. Not sure if I have advanced to the second round yet but, to
be honest, I am somewhat over the whole thing.

Chow for now!