Sunday, August 5, 2012

Day 7 (Aug 5 2012)

Today, by virtue of finally having time to hold our first group meeting, we finally figured out what we are doing here and why.  Or, rather, we took the first steps in that general direction.

Unfortunately, we had no sooner done that then sadness struck.  Having swooped in and got us up and running, Rudolph and the crack Munich mesocosm team departed for points south, as quickly as they came.  With the four of them gone and Jussi home for the weekend, it is pretty quiet around here now.  And in the evenings, the cook is also not around.  We have the run of the place.

The afternoon and evening today were spent on relaxation, nutrient addition, and working further towards being ready to start our experiments.  Richard and Sari will probably start their first set of experiments tomorrow (it is 9:37 pm right now and they are still out at the mesocosms doing trial runs of their sensors and other equipment, not to mention taking the Bolinopsinator out for another spin).  We think we will start ours on Wednesday morning.  We could start them on Tuesday, but reinforcements arrive only on Tuesday night and we certainly need the extra two sets of hands.





Aug 5 2012a-  Saying goodbye to those who, having got us all set up and running, are now leaving.






Aug 5 2012b-  And off they go.....







Aug 5 2012c-  Omigosh.  It's dinner time already.  How did I go the whole day taking so few pictures?  But check out this dessert!  I am going to have to take up marathon running when I get home....








Aug 5 2012d-  I found a new friend in the lab this evening.  I put it in a plastic beaker and took it outside.






Aug 5 2012e-  The close up view.  Sometimes (like right now), I love Google.  That's an Emerald Moth (Geometra papilionaria).  And it only took me 5 minutes to figure that out.







Aug 5 2012f-  Morten recovered the gel trap he'd put out as a test 2 days ago.  Look at all those aggregates!  And we haven't even started the experiment!!!!






Aug 5 2012g-  Once again, lots of midnight oil being burned.  Juli teaching herself to catch 20 copepods of the same species within 5 minutes.  A task that requires some practice.  Go Juli!






Aug 5 2012h-  And Morten is trying to get the lights just right for a good picture of the aggregates caught in the gel trap.








Aug 5 2012i-  Meanwhile the NOC team has come back (at 10pm) from testing their sensors and at 10:30pm dragged Morten out to the mesocosms to add some copepods to their bags because they want to start their experiment tomorrow.  It's 10:53 pm now and very nearly dark.  I ought to run out and check on them.  Of course none of us thought to bring flashlights (we're at 63°N and it's summertime) and they don't do streetlights out here in the boonies.....





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