ocean
-
Life @ Sea
Originally posted on Meaning Amidst Measurement: (Note: I wrote the following as a series of email messages to my family while I was conducting research during a 4-week research cruise to the deep sea hydrothermal vents in the Pacific, to give them some idea of what it’s like out there. We left shore in Manzanillo,… Continue reading
-
Rewind to October 30th, arriving in Manzanillo
Before flying out to Mexico on October 30th, equipment and chemicals had to be shipped to the research vessel Atlantis which was docked in San Francisco before sailing to meet the science group in Manzanillo. When preparing for a research cruise every experiment to be preformed must be walked through meticulously, and everything that could conceivably Continue reading
-
Changed forever at sea
As a first year grad student, I have had a lot of personal challenges on this trip. There have been tremendous highs and depressing lows. Science at sea is about seizing every moment that you can and making the most of every moment that is possible. This is especially true in the case of my Continue reading
-
Day 7 at 9 degrees North
Today is our 7th day at sea in the East Pacific. We’ve been stationed at the 9 degrees north study site and have launched two Alvin dives. The first evening of Alvin’s dives brought up buckets of giant Riftia tube worms for me to dissect and take samples that are needed to study the metabolic pathways Continue reading
-
First Launch at Nine Degrees North
This morning was the first launch of 16 over the next two weeks here on the Dark Cruise 2014 at Nine Degrees North. The first passengers on the ship are Stefan Seivert and his PhD graduate student Jesse McNichol from Wood’s Hole Oceanographic Institute. They’ll be back in about 6 hours with samples and then we Continue reading
-
Hello, Goodbye Manzanillo!
After two layovers, three flights, and a 1 hour taxi ride through the tropical heat we, a group of 16 scientists who had in some way or another found their way to the Manzanillo airport, converged on the Hotel Colonial by the Manzanillo harbor with luggage and miscellaneous last minute science equipment crates. Over a Continue reading
-
8 days away….
First, a shameless brag about a project that I worked on as an intern which was featured in the New York Times… Fighting poisons with microbes Some recent deep-sea footage of some amazing creatures on our home planet, just in time for my deep-sea research cruise. I hope I get to spot any specimens like Continue reading
-
Countdown to Manzanilla: 28 days
October is already upon us, although I can’t tell. It’s my first year living in Florida and it’s still as hot as a nun’s habit reading the Tropic of Cancer. I’ve been catching up on my background reading and practicing my experimental techniques as well as optimizing my data collection procedures. This all sounds like Continue reading
-
What is a black smoker?
The black smokers are hydrothermal vents that happen at the bottom of the ocean due to the disruption of the ocean floor as a consequence of spreading (divergence) or closing (convergence) of tectonic plates. They are rich with metals like iron and sulfur, so when the super heated material from the bottom of the ocean meets Continue reading
-
Join me on my adventures through the microbial world
“Truth be told, the planets most victorious organisms have always been microscopic. In all the encounters between Davids and Goliaths, was there ever a time when a Goliath won?” ~Leon Trotsky Trout, Galapagos –Kurt Vonnegut Welcome to my blogsite. I am a first year grad student at the University of South Florida. I am very excited Continue reading
charismaticmicrofauna 