10 December, 2001

We sampled from our 14th ice hole today. We have one remaining. What are we doing with these samples? In addition to the E Coli and toxicity tests, there are several other things tested for.

1. Water is first collected by lowering this open niskin bottle into the ice hole and then triggering it to close, trapping water inside. Notice the collection of empty sample containers. They will all be filled with water from the niskin bottle.

2. Once the filled niskin bottle is raised, individual sample bottles are filled. Some of the water will be used for an oxygen demand test(how fast it is used). This test is abreviated BOD for biological oxygen demand. This gives an indication as to how much life is present in the water. Another test is COD for chemical oxygen demand. There are some pollutants that like oxygen. This test will indicate their presence.

3. Question of the Day: Alas, I did not get a correct answer for why we are sampling remote sites. I would like to give mention to two students who came close: Thomas C in Ms. Frankels class from School #4 in Oceanside, NY and Jackie from Goodman Middle school in Washington State. These sites will serve as controls. We are trying to find sites that have had no human presence so we can compare them to our results.

4. New Question of the Day: Two of the pollutants that the soil samples will be analyzed for are PCB and TPH. We want to know if they are at McMurdo(pictured above) and in what amounts. What are these pollutants and what do they indicate?

5. outside taking soil samples Todays Temps: +3 C, +37 F, no wind chill(12noon)