18 May 2004

Joined: 23 Mar 2004 Posts: 87

May 18, 2004
11 pm Alaska time

Unexpected events have put a change into the Plan of the Day called the
POD. During the sampling time at station six, one of the winches blew an
O-ring and leaked hydraulic fluid. The winch had to be repaired and the
very slippery hydraulic fluid cleaned up before sampling could begin
again. Absorbent pads were placed on the floor of the lab so fluid
would not be tracked about. The repair took about 4.5 hours.

We have been on station all day sampling between events. The benthic
(that is the ocean floor) sampling is expected to go all night.
Meanwhile, it has been a good day for walrus spotting. I was able to
get some movie footage of the walrus using a telephoto lens and I will
add it to this page when I return to land at the end of June.

WALRUS NEAR STATION 6

I have been trying to get the video camera to talk to my computer today.
MST I El McFadden has been a great help. El is the computer expert
helping the scientists. He has been gracious enough today to answer my
questions, teach me to compress files and help me with the video camera.

MST I El McFadden

Earlier today Heike helped me sign up to go onto the ice when we get
to ice that is thick enough to sample. The lack of ice so far has been
a change from the 2002 spring SBI cruise. Then the Healy had to break
ice beginning in Nome. We are still in relatively clear water. We
should be getting into the ice in a day or so. Then Rolf Gradinger's
group can begin taking ice samples. Rolf is from University of Alaska,
Fairbanks and is studying ice algae. The name of his and Hajo Eicken’s
study is called “Magnitude and Control of Sea Ice Algal Primary
Production” (Hajo is not on the cruise). Rolf, Sarah Story, Heike
Merkel (students from UAF) and Kazu from University of Hokkaido, Japan,
will take ice thickness measurements and samples from the ice to work
with the algae that lives in the ice. It takes about six hours to make
the collections.

Later I helped Sarah cover plastic over a piece of equipment they will
use on the ice. It is important that the ice does not come in contact
with any additional organic material. The plastic provides a protective
layer between the organic wood the equipment is constructed from and the
ice. Once the ice algae are collected, a bit of carbon-13 is added.
Carbon-13 is a non-radioactive isotope that can be traced in the algae
using a machine called a Mass Spectrometer. The algae are exposed to
the Carbon-13 for 4-24 hours. The samples are then frozen at –30 degree
C. When the group gets back to UAF, they will use the Mass Spectrometer
to measure how much Carbon-13 was taken into the cellular structure of
the algae during the exposure period.

Rolf Gradinger

Heike Merkel in her mustang suit ready to go outside.

Sarah Story covering equipment with plastic and duct tape.

Kazu adjusting equipment.

To see photographs taken by Steve Roberts of UCAR/JOSS, click here.