Journals 2007/2008

Janet Miele
Woonsocket High School, Woonsocket, Rhode Island

"Narragansett Bay Ecosystem Productivity & Nutrient Study" July 16-24, 2007

Journal Index: July 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20 - 22 Additional Resources

July 19, 2007
MERL Lab Day 4

Katie, Hannah and I took the tubes that were frozen over night out of the freezer and allowed them to warm. The tubes were then spun in a centrifuge and the supernatant poured off into cuvettes for testing on the fluorometer.

All this work was done in the chlorophyll room lit with yellow light. The yellow light was used to light this room eliminating any possibility that samples with algae would absorb the red or blue light from regular light bulbs that is necessary for photosynthesis.

As we worked, we talked about how each of us had come to be working on this project. Katie in particular, felt that this project had helped her focus on what she wanted to be studying after high school. She also felt that this research experience helped her get into the university of her choice, the University of New Hampshire, as an environmental science major.

In the afternoon, Leslie took me out on the dock and gave me a one on one session on how to use the various equipment necessary for tomorrow's cruise. I would be going out to help collect her samples with the DEM crew as they surveyed their buoys. We used the Niskin bottle and practiced collecting samples at the surface and 1 meter from the bottom. Boy was that ever heavy when it was charged with the water sample. We also used the YSI Sonde that electronically collected water column profiles: dissolved oxygen, temperature, pH, salinity and fluorescence.

Inside the YSI Sonde. For more information visit, http://omp.gso.uri.edu/doee/science/physical/choxy2.htm

I sure had a workout dropping and hauling the probes and other equipment into the water. We finished the lesson and packed up all the equipment and made it up the hill to MERL just in time. Those promised thunderstorms began to roll in.