Journals 2004/2005

Eric Goff
Hedgesville High School, Hedgesville, West Virginia

"Monitoring harmful algal blooms using autonomous sampling platforms" R/V Suncoaster August 2-6, 2004

Journal Index: August 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6

August 3- Day Two

A tad bit tired and a little sore from the bumpiness of the boat, I arrive at my post a little before 4 am. I set into my routine of prepping the filtration set-up and waiting for the first sample to be taken. There was a rotation of samples, first would be a simple surface flow through pump that went rather quickly and did not allow for any down time while prepping for the next test that utilized the CTD. I was fortunate enough to get to assist with the deployment of the CTD.

Each water sample needed to be filtered at least six times. If the sample came from a flow through station, it would be suction filtered six times. Each piece of filter paper (costing a whopping $10 a piece) was removed from the filtration system. Three were tested immediately, while the other three were placed in a cryogenic tube and was placed in a dewar flask containing liquid nitrogen. This kept the samples until returning to the lab. I had a lot of difficulty getting the rods that contained the cryogenic tubes to go back into the Dewar - I thought I had been doing something vastly wrong, but everyone else was experiencing the same difficulties.

That evening following dinner, I went out to look at the Gulf, and there were dolphins swimming along side the boat!