“Balloon” Houses in the deep

There are many creatures suspended in the ocean that build elaborative feeding houses that have a special mission in carbon pump. One spectacular example are Appendicularians – pelagic tunicates known also as Larvaceans. As mucus net feeders, they build huge and really beautiful ‘houses’ around their bodies that comprise two layers of filters. By beating […]

Fantastic (Polar) Beasts and Where to find them

Usually, when cruising on the ocean, the landscape doesn´t differ much: waves upon waves, that might vary in their hues of blue, accompanied by skies that either grey or also blue. And even though this view might be fascinating on the first few days, when spending several weeks aboard a research vessel, seeing nothing else […]

Into the unknown – how I found myself in Elsa´s home

Imagine you are living in a city where it typically rains a lot, the skies tend to be grey, and a dry heaven combined with a single sunbeam breaking through is considered “good weather”. That´s Kiel for you. The city where I, Lisa, have been living since September, with the perfect timing to get a glimpse of how nice […]

Refining our sample plan in real time

A key reason why we are in this remote region is that the coastal ocean here is very dynamic. Currents from the north bring sea ice and freezing cold polar water southwards along the coastline, a broad and productive shelf region hosts large mammal populations, and fjords cutting into the land from the ocean act […]

Measuring tiny amounts of metal in seawater… not so easy on a metal ship

Collecting seawater samples for trace metal analysis is different than sampling for other ocean parameters such as temperature, salinity, carbon and so on. Why? The concentration of metals in seawater is naturally very low (hence ‘trace’ metals) and it is important to avoid sample contamination from the ships environment which is full of possible contamination […]