First bit of science

Posted Thurs 28th Feb, Describes Sun 25th Feb
The swell had died down considerably overnight, so woke up feeling much better though still very weak and tired. Slept most of the day until the evening when the first CTD was due to be done. This was mainly for David Pearce (biologist) and Rachel Malinowska (PhD biologist) who wanted some ridiculous number of litres (400?) from 30m down for filtering to get all the algae etc. So although this wasn’t a site I would use the data from, I got water anyway, so that I would know what I had to do for the next one. So I got just the one sample at 500m as if I got a full profile’s worth of samples (min 6), David would probably have had to send down another CTD in order to have enough water. So as you might guess, one sample is useless for analysis apart from the practice. It took about an hour, and the sensors on the CTD got good data. Then it was off to the CTD ‘garage’ to collect the samples. I hadn’t had chance to check everything was ready, should have done it before we left, so didn’t realise the bottles, which are stored in crates, were already filled with de-ionised (distilled) water. So thinking I would have to dry them before using them, I borrowed a large container from David and filled that. I forgot to rinse it several times with the sample water, which is very important in order to stop contamination of the sample. Even one drop of de-ionised water can change the salinity of a small sample by a distinct amount! I later discovered after emailing Deb (my oceanography supervisor at BAS) that I didn’t need to dry the bottles, just empty and rinse thoroughly, so my panic was for nothing. My mistake obviously made the sample useless, but that didn’t matter, as the aim was to find out how things worked.
So now I knew what needed to be done, so I sorted out my lab. It is very nice having a lab to myself even if it is small, especially as there is a sign saying keep out on it, so I am the only one who goes through the door! I think I will have to get a radio down there, so I have something to listen to when I analyse my samples.
Then it was off to sleep as the 3hrs I had spent up, had tired me out completely. But things were definitely getting better.