Journals 2006/2007

Bill Griffith
Carroll High School, Southlake, TX

"Seafloor sedimentary habitats and shallow subseafloor microbial communities of the South Pacific Gyre" December 17, 2006 - January 31, 2007

Journal Index: December 13 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20                 21 - 22 - 23 - 24 - 25 - 26 - 27                 28 - 29 - 31 January 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10             11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18             19 - 20 - 21 - 22 - 24 - 25 - 26 Additional Resources

January 6, 2007
Site 7

Maybe I have finally found my missing day. Dates change from one room to the next on the ship. Last night some of the logs indicated it was January 4th, others January 5th. The original explanation I got regarding date line was not correct. Basically some of the logs are based on real time and some are based on the date and time at English mean time. Well, officially, for me this is the 6th of January. We are currently at site 7 and finishing up some of the core operations. We arrived here about 10pm last night and began the survey as I went to bed shortly after midnight. When I awoke at about 8am, the ship was stationary and coring was underway. Steve, the lead scientist, advised that due to time restrictions we will skip site 8 and proceed on to site 9 when we leave here. Site 9 is located further south in cooler waters. Within the lab we are still constantly checking data and comparing it to standards. Because the microbial life is so limited here and slow, chemical changes are very small and accuracy is the key. The lead chemist Art Spivack wants everything ran at least 3 times and checked, checked, checked. After reading some of Broecker's book on trace chemistry of the ocean, I understand how limited and valuable the information is that we gain on this trip.