Where does it all go? Options

[Amy_Clapp]

Hey Steve,
First off--you are taking the most amazing pictures--especially since your scenery must not be changing too much everyday. I have really enjoyed looking at the pictures.

So, I thought the huge core that was brought up was very interesting, and how they capped it all made perfect sense. However, I kept wondering where is it going to go? How is it going to get shipped? And what are scientists going to look for in the lab and what will it tell them? Anyway, answering those should keep you busy--but I really was wondering that....
Thanks and keep up the great, science-filled journals--they are fun to read, and I'm learning something too!!!
Amy

[Steve_Marshall]

Hey Amy,

Thanks for the compliments about the pictures. You are right in that the scenery doesn't change much, but it's funny you bring that up because I think I had mentioned in my journal entry about the flight from Fairbanks after our orientation meeting, that sometimes the more you see something, the better you get a picking out subtle differences as long as you don't let what seems like the same thing make you stop being observant.

As for your other questions, the cores will stay on the ship since there will be another leg to this cruise in August that Ute, the TREC teacher for that cruise, will be going on. While on the ship, they are kept in a refrigerated area to minimize biological or chemical activity that might affect the state of the sample. The second cruise will stop in Norway, and at that time the cores will be sent to Stockholm and opened. Eventually they will make there way to the Byrd Polar Research Institute in Ohio. Why they take that particular path, and why they open them in Stockholm and then send them to Ohio I'm not clear on. I'm also not positive what will happen to them after, but if experience holds with other cores, they will likely be available for anyone who wants to work on them. Often, cores are sampled for a particular procedure, and then what remains from that procedure can be sent to someone else who uses it for something else. As I mentioned, since there are so many ways a core can be studied, a small sample can go a long way in providing data for different studies.

What all these studies, like reflectance, biological, compositional, textural, etc studies mainly are meant to provide is evidence for climate change or interaction between the Arctic Ocean and the atmosphere. Some more detailed explanations of how these types of research provides that information is given in some of my journal entries.

If you want those details, or if I haven't answered the question the way you meant it, please feel free to ask more!

Thanks again for taking time to follow along and ask questions,
Steve

[Max_Holmes]

Hey Steve,
It is actually Amy here, I'm just using Max's computer in the airport (we're stuck here for a while--see journal entry). Anyway, thanks for resonding-that was ample enough detail--any more and I probably would have gotten confused.
Thanks and have fun on the rest of your trip....
Amy