Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2009 – ship log
At sea with Katie Bennett, past GK12 fellow
Launching the MOCNESS
Out in the Gulf of Mexico, surrounded by an expanse of featureless water, we describe our location using unseen features that lay far beneath the ocean’s surface. Today we are anchored at Brine Pool, which is the spot thousands of feet below sea level where Miss Burris made her submersible dive this morning. We’ll steam all night, and tomorrow we’ll be at Bush Hill (a hill in the middle of the ocean!), but the view from the ship’s decks won’t change a bit.
Getting the MOCNESS ready
Yesterday afternoon we did a MOCNESS (Multiple Opening Closing Nets Environmental System) tow. We deployed nine big nets at once. Each net has a trap door and we use a computer to shut them at different depths. We sent the nets almost 2000 feet down. Every three hundred feet we would shut a trap door on one net, so that no new animals could get in. In this way, we can figure out exactly what kinds of zooplankton (remember, zooplankton=animal plankton) are found at different depths. Towing through thousands of feet of water means a lot of plankton are captured.
Cod ends for MOCNESS nets where plankton are captured
We worked on identifying and counting plankton for more than ten hours! We didn’t finish working until six this morning. By the end we were all half delirious with trying to keep track of organisms that came in and out of view under the microscope as the ship pitched and rolled. At about four a.m., we heard someone cry, “he’s got a big fish on,” as they ran by the door of our lab. Of course we all leapt up, grateful for an excuse to take a break from hunching over the microscopes, and ran out into the thick heat of the night. On the deck, one of the ship’s crew was holding a fishing pole that was bent almost double with the weight of a big fish. On the horizon, walls of clouds roiled and there were flashes of lightning and the gentle roar of thunder far away. When he pulled the fish, a giant tuna, on board, it had several bloody gashes on its side. When we peered into the water, we could see a long white shape just a few feet below the surface. It…was…a…SHARK! And as Chris had been reeling in his catch, the shark had been fighting for it too! To top it all off, flying fish were whizzing this way and that across the water’s surface.
Sorting MOCNESS samples
We finished our work at six a.m., and the first submersible dive went down at just after eight a.m. Life is busy, but in the most exciting way. I am tired, but there are too many amazing things to see and do to worry about it much. Take care young scientists, we look forward to your questions!