Journals 2009/2010

Jason Pavlich
Red Hook Central High School, Red Hook, NY

"Estimation of Primary Productivity and Particle Export Rates as a Function of Phytoplankton Community Structure in the Bering Sea" R/V Thompson June 15 - July 15, 2010

Journal Index: June 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18         19 - 20 - 21 - 22 - 23 - 24-25         26 - 27 - 28 - 29-30 July 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 7 - 8 - 9        10 - 11 - 15

July 11, 2009
World Cup Final (and Pat's Birthday)

58° 02.83 N
169° 39.00 W

Pat woke me at 02:00 in time for the last bongo net tow of the cruise. The krill team of Megan, Jessica, and Tracy after a long drought finally caught enough krill to run their experiments. They stopped at the end of the tow to sing happy birthday to Pat. I stayed up to catch up on my blog entries, watch the sun rise, and eventually help Matt with his spatial sampling from the Prod CTD. We have a routine fairly well established so it did not take very long for the work to be completed. The filtrations were finished up by about 09:30 and made our way from the stable isotope van back down to the main lab.

Brian Hoover- If for some reason you are reading this - STOP!

Brian, one of the two sea observers on board, is going to attempt to avoid knowledge of the World Cup Final result until he returns home on Thursday night to watch the game in its entirety. Good luck with that.

Since there is no TV reception on the Thompson, a number of us have been following the games of the 2010 World Cup via Internet when we can. Unfortunately the download speed does not allow for live streaming video so we have been dependent on the ESPN Gamecast to follow some of the matches in real time. At 10:30 our time, the play-by-play commentary for the World Cup Final between Spain and the Netherlands was displayed on the computer in the main lab. People kept checking in to see if either team was able to break the 0-0 deadlock. As the game progressed, the frequency of visits increased until by overtime there were seven scientists (including myself) gathered around the screen. We all thought for sure that the game would proceed to penalty kicks when Spain scored to clinch the world championship. Unfortunately, it is not that exciting reading it on a computer screen and we all looked at each other like, "That's it? It's over?"

The sediment trap tubes were cleaned after lunch and set out to dry. The workday was done by 15:00 so I took the time to finish Love in the Time of Cholera and watch a DVD on my computer that I borrowed from the ship's collection. The Last King of Scotland is the story of Ugandan dictator, Idi Amin, who rose to power as a "president of the people" only to become a ruthless ruler who in the end killed roughly 300,000 of his countrymen in a mad attempt to hold onto power.

It's shortly after dinner now and I am really tired. Tomorrow promises to be much busier so I think it's time for bed. Only three more days 'til Dutch.