January 16, 2006 A gorgeous sampling day
Today was one of our regular sampling days, and since I stayed behind the last two times, I decided to go out in the boat today. The morning was absolutely stunning. It was sunny, calm and relatively warm. The air was clear and we could see the spectacular mountains all around the coast here. Up until now, most of these views have been hidden from us by low clouds. Among other things, we could see the top of Mount Williams, a very large mountain that looms behind the big glacier that is right behind the station.
Maria drove the Zodiac this morning and did a great job. We had to negotiate through some brash ice near the station, but after that it was a smooth ride out to Station E, our furthest out station. There we met another Zodiac, that is part of the LTER phytoplankton group. They do a bunch of light measurements in the water, and they use that information to select depths to sample from. They typically sample at the surface (100% light), and at the 50, 20, 10, 1 and 0.5% light levels. The phytoplankton need sunlight, so the light penetration is a key factor in determining where the organisms will be. The light penetration changes from day to day due to several factors including how much plankton are in the water. We sample the same depths as the LTER phyto group does, so we needed to get the information from them. They handed us a notebook and we quickly jotted down what we needed. We then proceeded to do our own sampling.
Sampling from a small boat is tricky. We have a davit and winch, but it is a lot of work to put the sample bottles on the wire one by one at the selected depths, lower them down, and then take them off again and sample the water as they come up. Each bottle has to be completely sampled before the next one can be processed. The sampling can be a cold job because your hands get wet. We try to wear gloves most of the time, but some things just can’t be done with gloves. While we were sampling some chinstrap penguins cruised by. They poke their heads out of the water and honk, and then they are gone. They are too fast for a photo.
The sampling at Station E went very well and we all enjoyed the stunning scenery. But just as we were about to leave the wind kicked up a bit. The station radioed out that the winds had hit 19 knots at the Station. Once the winds get above 20 knots they get concerned and they can cancel small boat operations. We headed to Station B, which is just off Bonaparte Point (near Palmer Station). By now the wind was whipping. I had to use the motor to hold the Zodiac in position while George and Maria did the sampling. Lots of brash ice was being pushed out of Arthur Harbor and through the area we wanted to be. The sky had become gray and heavy on the horizon and it was a very different experience from just an hour before at Station E. While we were sampling a larger chunk of ice floated by with a crabeater seal on it. My camera’s memory was full so I couldn’t get a photo. George did get some so if I can get those from him I will post them. We got within 20 feet of the seal and we had a nice look. The seal didn’t seem to mind, it just went about taking its nap.
By the time we got back to the station we were all chilled. After a quick lunch we started processing the samples. I ran all the DMS samples on the GC and everyone else did their special tasks. Sampling days are long and busy, but they can offer some great experiences.
