5 July, 1997

Aloha!

Today Dr.Dave Karl and I sat down with another scientist in the group, Dave Bird, and discussed the project that I would be working on the Hawai'i cruise that begins Monday morning and also in Antarctica.

We discussed methods that would be used and the limitations of each method. My actual project will be explained in the project section at a later date. Some of the things I will be doing, though, involve a LOT of water filtering and testing water samples for Carbon, Nitrogen, and Phosphorus, as well as dissolved Oxygen. The are all indicators of the roles within the food chain that different sized bacteria fulfill.

The work in the laboratory area has been rather sporatic this weekend due to the holiday. But it's surprising how many people are in and out even on a supposed holiday weekend. Science is not just a job to many of these people, but a way of life. So many samples to run, so many experiments to design, and so little time. The promise of discovery is a driving force that keeps its seekers working at a hard pace here. It is an extra push that escorts scientists from their homes to the lab to check on yet another series of tests. Subtle and persistent, this pressure has yeilded many exciting results and keeps the discoveries coming.

Aloha,

Besse Dawson