\nA Day in the Life – Science At Sea<\/strong>
\nAfter a quick visit to Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, the MARIA S. MERIAN departed for the beginning of our three-week research expedition to Halifax, Canada. For many of us it is our first time in the cold waters of the Laborador Sea, and for some it is the first time at sea altogether.\u00a0 In the first few hours after leaving port, the upper deck was filled with excited scientists taking shots of drifting icebergs and the picturesque mountain range that surrounds Nuuk. With calm seas and a sunny sky, we couldn\u2019t have asked for a better day to start our cruise!<\/p>\n
Among us are twenty-one scientists that come from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, including Germany, France, Belgium, Canada, and Peru.\u00a0 Our experience ranges from core technician, to professor, to bachelors student, making us a very diverse group with a lot to learn from each other over the duration of the cruise. We are also joined by 24 crewmembers that work hard each day to operate the ship and provide a great quality of life for everyone on board.<\/p>\n
A typical day of life at sea aboard the M.S. MERIAN begins with breakfast at 7:30 am in the meal room.\u00a0 This is a great time to discuss the day\u2019s plan with colleagues and share expertise with those who are new to sampling protocol at sea.\u00a0 After breakfast, we break into assigned groups to prepare for the day\u2019s sampling operations.\u00a0 These groups include water sampling, sediment core sampling, plankton sampling and gear handling. There is also a hydroaccoustics group that works shifts to survey the seafloor in search of ideal locations for sediment sampling. Once the ship has moved into position for a station, the sampling instruments are lowered successively into the water column or to the seafloor.<\/p>\n
When sampling the water column we use a plankton tow and an instrument called a CTD-rosette, which stands for Conductivity (a proxy for salinity), Temperature, and Depth. This instrument is essentially lowered through the water column and records a depth profile of temperature, salinity, and additional parameters such as oxygen and chlorphyll content.\u00a0 The scientists that are part of the water sampling team analyze these depth profiles to identify the different water masses present at the station.\u00a0 They then raise the CTD-rosette slowly and send messages to the instrument to collect bottles of seawater when it reaches each depth of interest.\u00a0 It is then brought back onto the ship, where the bottles are subsampled for analysis back on land.<\/p>\n
When sampling the seafloor we use four different types of coring devices:\u00a0 the Giant Box Core is used to sample surface sediments, multicores are used to sample the sediment-water interface, and gravity and piston cores are used to collect 5-20 m long samples of the seafloor. Once the cores are out of the water, they are characterized and sampled on deck. These devices are deployed after the water sampling is complete in order to ensure that the water column is not disturbed before being characterized.<\/p>\n
The time it takes to sample at a single station ranges from a few hours, to all day.\u00a0 Therefore we break up the work by meeting for coffee in the morning and afternoon, as well as for 11:30 lunch and 5:30 pm dinner.\u00a0 After all the work is complete, there is plenty of time to relax and enjoy the quiet nights at sea.<\/p>\n
Today, we all worked hard and successfully completed sampling at the very first station of MSM45. We are in good spirits and certainly hope things remain this smooth for the rest of the cruise!<\/p>\n
![\"Day1_Bild1_NEU\"](\"http:\/\/www.oceanblogs.org\/msm45\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2015\/08\/Day1_Bild1_NEU.jpg\")
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