Yesterday we spend 13 hours at-sea aboard the R/V
Weatherbird II!
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Docked after a long day! |
The boat trekked 18.25 miles SW of Tampa Bay, in the mid-shelf
of the Gulf of Mexico, known to our crew as ‘Site 1’. I was part of the CTD
team at Site 1, which appeared much larger than the CTDs we have been using at
other universities.
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CTD and niskin bottles for water quality and water sampling. |
However, the CTD is actually attached at the bottom of the
equipment – the majority of the machine is composed of niskin bottles, which
are fired shut at predetermined depths to collect water samples. We collected
samples from the bottom, middle, and surface. Fortunately, Drew (a crew member)
advised us to fire two bottles at each depth in case one failed to shut, which
did happen. From the data, we were able to see temperature dropped 2C at the
bottom (as compared to the surface) but Chlorophyll a was significantly higher
at depth than at the surface, which was attributed to light stress at the
surface.
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Me, Kristiana, and Heather! Ready for dredging! |
My team also did a 10 minute dredge at Site 1, which
resulted in several sponges, shells, macroalgae, and crabs. Shells proved to be
the most difficult to identify for our group, likely because we, collectively,
have the least experience with mollusks. I was most excited to see a jubilee octopus
crawling above the heap of unsorted material that we were pulling out of the
dredge!
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A few results of our dredge at Site 1. |
After finishing identification and heading inshore, we
stopped ‘outside of the Skyway’ at ‘Site 2’. My team was responsible for the
neuston pull and the bongo net pulls. Both pulls are meant to collect plankton,
neuston collects plankton at the surface while the bongo nets collect plankton
of the mid-water column, which was 2-3m at Site 2. Both pulls produced several
Dana’s Blue Crab; however the bongo pull also produced a lined seahorse! We
analyzed zooplankton of both pulls in the lab today and found there was a much
larger abundance and diversity of zooplankton in the bongo samples as compared
to neuston samples, indicating zooplankton habituate the mid-water column
moreso than the surface.
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Kristiana and I hooking up the flow meter to our bongo nets. |
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Lined seahorse from our bongo pull! |
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Pregnant Dana's blue crab in our neuston pull. |
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Neuston pull "action shot" |
Overall, my first experience on a research vessel was
incredible! Using all of the equipment is an unparalleled experience that I
hope to repeat in the future!
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