By the third day, we were getting accustomed to life onboard the R/V Hatteras. Chief Scientist Mike timed our data collection so that no one got bored and the science team didn't argue (too much) about which CD we were going to listen to next.
Every research voyage is marked by small
mishaps that must be handled with ingenuity (and fixed with whatever stuff
you've got lying around). Jennifer (<<<) sews up the tear in the
plankton net.
Mike (>>>) and Terry (<<<)
carefully apply epoxy along the sewn seam. A few hours later, the net was
ready to be plunged again into the deep blue sea (>>>).
The second day's weather was a bit rough,
as evidenced by the ocean whitecaps. This did not hamper the efforts of our
intrepid "buoy crew": Collin, Heidi (looking a bit menacing at right,
>>>) and Mark.
Chris (>>>) watches as FlowCAM data pours in. In many locations, we were excited to see beautiful images of phytoplankton cells collected at great depths.
Sunset on the ocean is a pleasant experience, even if you are hard at work (<<<).
