Our current research cruise will mark the fourth cruise I have participated in since coming back to ISU in 2007. I met with and joined Tony Rathburn’s lab during my freshman year and soon after was on a cruise off the coast of San Diego, Ca. Since then I have traveled to Antarctica, Costa Rica, and currently to the North Pacific to study and learn about the wonders of the ocean.
This cruise is my first as a graduate student, and as I work along with the other scientists and crew of the R/V Atlantis, I feel that I have a great deal to contribute now. My experiences on other cruises has helped to build up my confidence about my abilities. I have noticed that others now come to me for help and opinions much more often than before. Since we have a limited time to gather as many samples as possible, all scientists on board have multiple responsibilities, my main responsibility on this cruise is the deployment, recovery, and processing of the multicore. The multicore is an instrument we use to take samples of seafloor sediments. It is shaped much like a teepee and in the center there is a circular shaped piece called a “spider” which has eight arms to which sediment tubecores are attached. As the multicore is lowered by a cable to the ocean floor, it impacts the seafloor, driving the cores into the sediment to collect a sample that can show the various sediment layers as they appear naturally. To deploy this instrument, two ropes are attached to the frame (the teepee part) and guided by two people (usually myself and either another scientist or crew member) to keep it from swaying due to the ship’s rocking motion. It is lowered over the side by a crane and sent to the bottom. At this point the computer room monitors the descent and records all the data we need about the site (latitude/longitude, actual depth, speed of descent, etc.) Once the multicore is at the bottom and the samples are collected, the tricky part of pulling it out of the seafloor takes place. Once it is on it’s way up, we prepare to recover it when it reaches the surface. When the multicore is on the surface you have to use two poles with hooks on the ends to “hook” the frame and, like the deployment, use the ropes attached to the poles to guide the multicore back on board the ship.
Once the tubecore samples are on board, individual tubecores are assigned to each of the three science groups based on their specific needs. After the tubecores have been assigned, they are brought into our lab for processing. As mentioned earlier, tubecores preserve the sediment layers intact, so when we process the cores we slice the sediment into either 1 centimeter or ½ centimeter slices so we can determine what organisms (specifically foraminifera) are present in a layer and how far down into the sediment they live. The slices are then placed into sample containers where they are preserved and prepared to be sent back to Indiana State for analysis at a later date.
All in all, I am enjoying participating on this cruise and look forward to experiencing more “firsts” while at ISU. I also want to congratulate Ashley on her first ALVIN dive and hopefully I will be able to follow in her footsteps of having my own first dive. I will write some more as the cruise progresses, I hope all of you will continue to follow along with us on our journey of discoveries.
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