The bags have been unpacked, rooms have been moved into, and anaerobic chambers plumbed (see picture). These last two days we have inundated with great information about the cruise, shipboard etiquette (always keep the the coffee pot full!), and how to become social media experts to relay our science. How am I doing? So what am I going to be doing on this cruise? My role will be filled as a member of #TeamWater. Woot woot! There are many goals within our team, but to summarize, we will be collecting water from the water column, methane seeps, and bottom water. In addition, our group will be targeting collection of crabs, mussels, and other microorganism communities that are present. We are hoping this will allow use to understand the chemistry and biology of these different environments. Personally, I am hoping to collected end-member fluids from the two methane seeps we will be visiting. I am planning to look at carbon and sulfur minerals/particles within those fluids. Why I am doing this? Well since this is a training cruise, I am hoping to learn how to sample end-member fluids on HOV Alvin and apply this knowledge to hydrothermal vent, aka underwater volcanoes. This is the main environment I have been studying for my dissertation. If interested you can learn more about the project here. Additionally, I am going to be learning how to sample for these fluids once shipboard, and do some minor sample processing in a glove bag (see picture above). We use a glove bag to store our samples without oxygen. The hope is to avoid having our minerals oxidize like a rusty nail or an apple left on the counter Therefore, we gain a more accurate picture of the in-situ environment. This is important when modeling a systems influence locally, regionally, or globally. In the larger view of this cruise, we will be collecting many other types of samples. Some examples include mapping the ocean floor with AUV Sentry, collecting sediment and rocks to understand their microbial communities, and understanding the biology and chemistry along the ocean floor (octopus, coral, etc.). Lots of awesome science to learn about our ocean and seafloor! We will also be broadcasting our day to day activities. If you want to tune in and see it live, click here. Once on the URI Inner Space Center's site, click on the live feed for R/V Atlantis. Maybe you will see me walking around or working on the deck! I will be in the ship until August 2, and the will be on shore at the URI Inner Space center to August 9. An additional opportunity to see me on the ship will be on July 29. I will attempting a live Facebook video from the ship ~1pm EDT for a science educator/friend back in CA. Tune in if you are interested! As a final note, I figured out how to add my Twitter feed on the right side of this blog. It is the live feed of what I am currently working on the cruise as well as my research. Hope you enjoy! -CLH
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From my personal experience, summer time in graduate school means an opportunity to pursue/complete all the projects, papers, etc. that you were unable to complete/start during the academic year. It is a time to be in the lab for long hours running experiments, or processing data. For me, it is like taking a deep breath and being reminded why I started on this path. However, since I started on this path, each summer has had its own personality. So far I have had the summer of adjusting/moving, getting organized, and growth since moving to MN in August 2013. Now that I'm about to start my fourth year in grad school, this summer has become known as the summer of field work. The summer started with me traveling to the Prairie Pothole Lakes (PPL) near Jamestown, North Dakota with collaborators. My objective was to collect sediments cores to study the effect of mineralogy and storage procedures on extracellular enzymes within PPL sediments (funded by the UMN Moos Graduate Fellowship for Aquatic Biology). See here for more information. Come Monday, I will be heading to Woods Hole, MA for my my first research cruise! This is something I have been wanting to do since I made the switch to pursue Marine Chemistry my senior year at USC. While I gained a lot of experience working under my former mentor (Dr. Katrina Edwards) about planning, executing, and packing for cruises, I am excited to finally earn my "research sea legs." With the help of my current advisor (Dr. Brandy Toner), I have packed for everything that I may need (see pictures below). All that is left is for me to get some sleep, board the plane, and head to sea. And while I may be a little nervous about my lack of sea experience, I have been reminded multiple times that we all have to start somewhere. My goal is simple - to absorb as much as I can, while hopefully collecting a few samples in the process! This cruise is part of the University-National Oceanography Laboratory Systems (UNOLS) Early Career Scientist Cruise Training program. For this particular training cruise we will be learning how to use two deep-submersible assets (HOV Alvin and AUV Sentry) to conduct our research at sea, and through telepresence. Leaving from Woods Hole, our cruise sites will be along the continental self where we will be exploring a few canyons and methane seeps in the area. Additionally, we will be broadcasting our daily activities and might even have some live posts. If you would like to follow along on this adventure, see how below!
Personal accounts (see below for icons) Instagram: @clhoffma Twitter: @clhoffma General Cruise accounts Research Cruise dates: July 28 to August 7 Cruise social media: Twitter: @AT36_EAGER Instagram: @at36_eager Cruise hashtag is #SeaFloorSci There will also be attempts to conduct live video shows to Periscope or Facebook Live on several evenings. Each of us will take turns as hosts, so tune it! Hope you can follow along! Until next time, Anchors Away!! -CLH |
AuthorColleen L. Hoffman is a scientist by day and adventurer by night. She is currently a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Washington. Categories
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