In June, 2011 I was able to participate in a series of day cruises over 2 weeks in the Monterey Bay. This was made possible by the generosity of Dr. Francisco Chavez at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI). His lab group studies biological oceanography, and seeks to answers similar questions as Ken's, but using a different approach. They focus specifically on the Monterey Bay, and use both AUVs (autonomous underwater vehicles which collect data and send it to land via internet) as well as collecting seawater on a boat to analyze themselves. Tim Pennington, Francisco's lab manager, acted as chief scientist aboard our tiny vessel, the R/V John Martin.


The R/V John Martin is named after a very famous Chemical Oceanographer who first proposed that large patches of the ocean abundant in macronutrients* were unable to support high levels of phytoplankton biomass due to insufficient levels of the micronutrient** iron. Iron is important for phytoplankton because it is an essential part of what allows them to do photosynthesis. This theory proved true, and has been a a huge driver of ocean research, as some people think it is also a way of solving the CO₂ problem in the atmosphere.

So while Tim was directing sampling for the MBARI lab group, I was able to tag along and use an improvised sampling device to collect my own trace metal clean samples.

This involved a 20 foot pole, with Teflon tubing attached to it. One end had a weight keeping it in the water while the other hooked up to a pump aboard the boat. This sounds a lot easier than it was! At one point half my Teflon line broke off and is currently lying somewhere in the bottom of Monterey Bay. I also had to avoid contamination from the diesel exhaust of the ship (see arrows in photo below).

In order to pick where I sampled, I used the UDAS (underway data acquisition system) which shows realtime data on things such as seawater surface temperature, salinity, and fluorescence (phytoplankton biomass). Changes in these 3 parameters indicate different types of water masses. I tried to pick a variety of waters- some high in biological productivity and others low.


Here are some other photos from the trip:


(Left) Mooring station M1, which relays information back to land. (Right) Wonder what happens when you let a balloon go? A lot of them end up in the ocean, which look like jellyfish to seaturtles, who then get them caught in their throats; this causes them to starve to death. We stopped and picked at least 15 out of the water over the course of 7 days.


(Left) We deployed several drifters, which as the name implies is a floating device that travels along with the surface current, and relays its GPS coordinates to a computer every 15 minutes. Tracking these down to retrieve them in the fog proved to be no easy task! (Right) Tim & me working to sample through the loss of half my Teflon line.

*Macronutrients are the molecules like nitrate, phosphate, and silicate which phytoplankton need to grow. They are analogous to the main food groups humans have (grains, protein, vegetables, dairy, etc.).

**Micronutrients are the things needed only in very small amounts, such as iron and zinc which are essential to the function of enzymes and proteins in the phytoplankton. These are the same things that we humans need in tiny amounts- analogous to what's in our multi-vitamins.





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