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 9, 2007
The Long Stretch

We were still moving from site 7, the furthest most easterly site, to site 9 further south and west when I awoke today. The seas were still heavy but not as bad as they were the day before.

Yesterday we spent a lot of time just catching up. Most of the science crew were completing tests on samples or trying to organize data. Two of the science group are working on thesis papers and each time I saw them they were working hard on a laptop. Art, the chief chemist, wasn't feeling too well today but still managed to work at his computer and organize data.

The ocean remains void of any observed large animal life such as whale or dolphin. This is a vast open area of the ocean and it would be hard to see such wonderful creatures even if they were near. I keep looking.

I had the time to do some exploration on my own also. I took some of the left over sediment from site 7 and cleaned it up with several washings and filtered it several times. I was looking for iron micro-meteors in the sample (occasionally found on the surface of deep ocean sediment). When examined later under a microscope I did not find meteors but I did have the opportunity to look at sediment material over 8,000,000 years old. It was like looking at a archeology dig. What wonders. One small spherical caused some question among several of the group but it was later felt to be the remnants of a radiolarian (a spherical animal with spines radiating out). I kept the sample to show my students later. We should reach site 9 late tonight or early in the morning.