Journals 2006/2007

Peggy Deichstetter
St. Edward High School, Elgin, IL

"Arctic Kelp Bed Study" July 16 - August 3, 2006

Journal Index: July 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20 - 21 - 22 - 23        24 - 25 - 26 - 27 - 28 - 29 - 30 - 31 August 1 - 2 - 3 Additional Resources

July 26, 2006
On Core

Ken, Brenda, and Katrin went on a night dive to retrieve more samples. They amazed me: they left at midnight and returned at 6:00 am and here they are in the lab sorting organisms.

My first job this morning is to go get a bucket of seawater. Easy right? Not for a "Klutz" like me. You have to climb down an embankment and climb back up again. I could only carry a quarter of a bucket at a time.

I needed the water so that I could do the core samples. The team took five core samples at the two sites they visited last night. Each clay core had to "sieved" for minute organisms. This has to be done gently and slowly, as the organisms are small and delicate. In a tray you put the core and about a cup of water. You shake the tray gently and the core begins to dissolve. You pour that water through the sieve, then repeat until the core has all but disappeared. The materials are then collected from the sieve and put into a collection jar for Katrin to sort and Susan to examine later.

A core		Sieving a core

I finished the cores around 4:00 pm. (Amazingly Ken, Brenda and Katrin are still working.) My next job is to clean an aquarium tank. Ken has been collecting organism from the bottom. Many people working up here have asked what we are doing. Ken is building an aquarium to educate the workers on all the neat stuff that is right off shore.

The final job for the day is to press some specimens of algae. It's a beautiful day. The sun is shining and the temperature is in the seventies. Ken, Sue and I go for a walk along the beach.