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

December 27, 2006
Time Goes On

My computer is keeping track of the date for me know. Each day rolls into the next as chores are repeated and tasks completed. Overheard two other members of the party discussing what day of the week it was? Guess I'm not the only one beginning to be lulled by the sea. Today was spent primarily on site 3. Coring samples coming up during the morning did not appear promising in regard to depth of sediment. Two 5 meter samples were taken however during the morning and samples began to be delivered to the labs at about 3pm. Since my shift was the afternoon shift, most of my time was devoted to logging in samples and pressing them to recover the interstitial water for analysis. Pressing and preservation took up the shift time until relieved at midnight. I did break away from chores however to film the recovery of the German lander. There was a lot of concern about its recovery. The lander is free floating. When released over the side the night before, one of the German technicians advised it would be about 11 hours before it came back up based on timers on board. He seemed concerned about the whole prospect. The lander was worth a large sum and it could just be lost to the bottom. However, at about 1:30pm, the lander came to the surface and was recovered (filmed). All were relieved to see it back on deck.

German Research Lander