Journals 2006/2007

Anna Hilton
Jennie Moore Elementary, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina

"Monitoring, Assessment, and Prediction of Tidal Creeks in the Southeast Hollings Marine Laboratory, South Carolina" July 5, 2006 - August 18, 2006

Journal Index: March 25 - 26 July 5 - 6 - 14 - 17 - 18 - 19-1 - 19-2 - 25 August 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 18 Vocabulary Additional Resources

August 8, 2006
A Very Hot Day on Hewletts Creek

Safety in the field includes plenty of water and sunscreen.

The low tide was later each day so we left later each morning for our sampling. We headed inside the marine center for a discussion of our research that day. Guy talked about the heat factor and told us to take it easy that day in the marsh. He reminded us to let our team leader know if we felt too hot or dizzy. He reminded us to take plenty of water breaks. Guy went over the topographical maps with us. I was looking forward to seining Hewletts creek. Our teams stayed the same.

Enjoying the air-conditioned marine center to plan for the day's field work

Once we were in marsh Lisa handed her field bag to Travis and climbed into the creek to retrieve the sonde. The cell phone is essential field equipment used for communication between research teams while in the field. I had to laugh when Travis handed Lisa the phone and told her it was her mother. Lisa told her mom she was "at work" and would call her later.

Lisa taking a call at work.

The day was very, very, hot. I took along extra water and wet not only my hat but also my hair in an attempt to cool off. We took turns seining the reaches in the creeks. Our samples were small. Lisa told me that it was difficult to know what caused the small samples. Could it be the sewage leak earlier that year or could it be the temperature and salinity of the brackish water? I will be interested to see the results of the Tidal Creeks Monitoring and Assessment Project. How do the scientists at HML interpret the data we collected on our sampling trips? After the seines we decided to join Kolo who was collecting oysters in an area of the creek that joined a larger tributary. As we waded through the creek toward Kolo, we noticed the creek was getting deeper and cooler. We took a break-floating and talking about different marine science courses and our mutual love of the salt water marsh!

Cindy and Angela waiting for our return from the field to help us process our seine samples

Back at the marine center we worked together to process the biota samples by rinsing, cleaning, bagging, and labeling the samples.

Sarah and I labeling the samples