As the sun arose on the horizon, it became apparent the weather had taken a turn for the worse.

Life on board the R/V Weatherbird II got a bit uncomfortable this morning.  In many cases, the weather and seas dictate what can be done on a research vessel.  There are many pieces of delicate scientific equipment on board that must be secured.  Anything that isn’t secured will find its way to somewhere it shouldn’t be and could possibly be broken.  Also, when deploying large pieces of equipment such as the multicorer, CTD, or the SIPPER, things can get a bit dicey.  The last place you would want to be is between one of these and the ship when the ship is rocking.  Not to mention, it is pretty difficult to perform tasks such as filtering, which involves handling small, carbon cleaned filter papers while wearing gloves and only handling them with forceps; not to mention that we are pouring water into it!  Today the multicorer was deployed; but, by the time it reached the surface after being bounced around, the core samples were gone!  The data being collected from each of these stations is very important in the effort to get a scientific picture of what is occurring  in the Gulf of Mexico.

 

The 'long lab' where samples are transferred from the deck outside to this working space on the Port side of the vessel.

Matt Flynn, Marine Biology Student at Eckerd College filters water for CHN analysis during rough weather.