Spring Cruise Log: Day 01
Click here for our Departure Day report Click here for our Day 02 report
Click here for our Day 03 report Click here for our Final Day report
AUTUMN CRUISE LOG SUMMER CRUISE LOG

All were getting used to 16-hour work days (6 A.M. to 10 P.M.). Great food onboard the R/V Hatteras helped us along. We were "cruising" in terms of data collection: we completed five stations on Day 00 and six stations on Day 01.

Sue and Mike (<<<) examine microscopic plankton using a microscope. Chris (>>>) is making his point: the FlowCAM instrument captures sharp images of phytoplankton cells within flowing seawater... automatically.
Terry (<<<) runs the Flow Cytometer, counting millions of the smallest marine cells: tiny phytoplankton and bacteria. Mark (>>>) is preparing samples AND trying not to get "pushed around' by the ship's motion.
Ed (<<<) seems happy to be onboard... he's probably just finished lunch. Collin (>>>) is logging optical property data and wondering: "Where's the spring bloom?"

Sue, Mike and Annette (<<<) are noticing a change in the plankton assemblages as we travel north in the Gulf of Maine. The earliest stations showed signs of the spring bloom (i.e., chain diatoms & colonies, phaeocystis) but those species were not present in mid-Gulf surface waters. Heidi and Mark (>>>) collect their water samples.

The yellow buoy carried by Heidi and Collin (<<<) characterizes the sunlight hitting the ocean surface AND the light emanating from the ocean itself. Knowing both of these factors tells researchers about the biological composition of upper ocean waters. These buoy data help to "sea truth" ocean color measurements taken by earth-orbiting satellites.
Tim, Mark and Jennifer are deploying scientific equipment at night, especially tricky on a rolling ocean. On the evening of Day 01, we suffered a tear in our plankton net.
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