Post 2- Arrival in Astoria

Hello from Astoria!

The ISU Student Team. (Left to Right): Zack,  Ashley,  Mary, and Ron.

Hello! I'm Zack. I am a Geology major at Indiana State and I work in Dr. Tony Rathburn’s lab where we focus on deep sea marine ecosystems, and in particular, organisms called foraminifera, or forams (as they are fondly referred to). In order to collect the samples that we use in our lab we have to go to sea. For this expedition we will be using a variety of different devices to collect samples of all kinds. Some of our work will involve placing experiments precisely in sediments up to 800 meters below the surface of the ocean. Because it is necessary for this work to be so precise, we will be using a submersible called Alvin. Alvin is owned by the Navy and operated by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. I will post more information on Alvin as the cruise continues!

Once our science team was allowed to board the research vessel we began setting up the sampling instruments needed to conduct our research and organizing the lab. For this cruise we will be using a multi-core device to collect sediment samples from the sea floor. The multi-core looks like a large metal teepee. It has a central "spider" device that holds 8 tubes designed to collect sediments from the seafloor. Lead weights have to be added to help push the tubes into the sediment. We got our work out moving the lead weights from the wooden box they came in to their place on the multi-core.



 
 Ashley's observations: Assembling the multi-core proved to be a very entertaining event. My favorite part was when Zack cleverly climbed into the box and it was declared a Zack in the box. Tony and I sang the traditional jack in the box jingle as Zack poked in and out with weights for the multi-core.

The multi-core (as shown in the photo) is a great instrument  to use to sample seafloor sediments and bottom water. The multi-core is lowered to the bottom and into the sediment so that the core tubes disturb the sediment water interface as little as possible. Our group worked on the assembly of the multi-core today and it turned out to be a challenging team building exercise! Hopefully our work will prove fruitful when we deploy it tomorrow!

If you would like more details about the multi-coring device as well as a look at other scientific sampling equipment commonly used at sea check out Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s website at  http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=7121