Our second post is from Darcy Taniguchi. Darcy is a PhD student in the biological oceanography program at Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
Darcy writes:
Hello outside world! I’m Darcy Taniguchi, a graduate student at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. This is my third research cruise, but each trip to the sea is a new, unique adventure. This expedition is no exception.
I’ve looked at the previous blogs (not online, of course, but saved on a computer on board), and I’ve noticed people using terms like gyre station and 24-hour sampling period. Some describe these times as busy or even chaotic (but always fun!) but I’m going to let you be the judge of that. Here is an example of what our schedule looks like at an intensive sampling station:
At about 14:00 (2 pm), there is a manta net tow to collect material from the surface of the water. At 14:30 (2:30 pm) there is a CTD cast to see how different measurements (e.g. temperature and salinity) change with depth. An hour later is a bongo net tow to sample zooplankton and other small particles below the surface. At 16:30 (4:30 pm) is a mid-water trawl that goes to the depths of the ocean to capture slightly larger organisms than the bongo, such as fish and squid. At 19:30 (7:30 pm) the manta is cast into the water again, followed by another bongo tow. No break yet—on to another CTD cast at 21:00 (9 pm), another deep Oozeki trawl, back-to-back bongo tows, and a shallow mid-water trawl. Then the early morning CTD cast at 4 am occurs, this time not only to get a vertical profile of the water, but also to collect water at different depths for use in about seven different types of analyses. By 5 am, it is time for two more manta tows, an additional mid-water tow, and two more mantas. Now the home stretch: a fourth CTD cast at 11 am, followed by two more mantas at noon and 12:30 pm, and two more bongo tows at 13:00 (1 pm) and 15:00 3 pm). And then we’re done!
Well, not really. For each of those deployments, there is a lot of work that goes into preparing the scientific equipment, tending it while it’s in the water, retrieving it when it comes up, collecting the samples from the equipment, and then rinsing, sorting, filtering, preserving, concentrating, diluting, and recording those samples. Everyone is working at various shifts around the clock to make sure all the jobs get done. So, it’s certainly a team effort, but it’s what we have chosen to do to help determine how much plastic is out here and how it may be affecting the natural world.
Darcy Taniguchi using the computer to monitor a CTD deployment.
On Aug. 10, SEAPLEX researchers dispatched a small boat off of the New
Horizon. For two hours, researches collected plastic debris in the gyre.
SEAPLEX scientists using dip nets to collect plastic debris. This small boat was launched from the R/V New Horizon.
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I’m interested in what the teacher on board is doing during all of this sampling and collection. Is she also involved in deploying the equipment and retrieving specimens? What types of information is she getting to pass on to teachers/students in the form of lesson plans?
By: Irene on August 11, 2009
at 2:58 pm
She is helping deploying and recovery of the equipment as well as with the sampling process. She is also responsible for making sure that the blogs get written! She has taken many of the pictures that have appeared on the blog. She is conducting interviews with the scientists. She is learning what it is like to be on a ship and how scientific data is collected in the field. She will also have access to some of the SEAPLEX data when she designs her classroom activities.
By: Alison Cawood on August 11, 2009
at 5:52 pm
Thanks, Darcy, for a full day’s schedule!
Everybody’s efforts are
1. impressive
2. potentially highly informative
3. indicative of very thorough use of time and equipment.
Way to go, scientists and others!
By: Nancy on August 11, 2009
at 5:45 pm
Is it possible for the plastic bebris, to affect the human race’s health as well? What I mean is that, all that plastic is inside the fish. And then they are fished and then sold out to all fishmarkets. After that, won’t that plastic then be inside our system? Also some of that plastic contains toxins and hazardous material. Is this possible?
Adrian Martinez
Mrs. Basset P.6
Chula Vista High School
Chemistry
By: Adrian Martinez on August 11, 2009
at 7:56 pm
We don’t know yet. We don’t even know if and how often fish ingest plastics. It is not likely that people would ingest any of the plastic directly (although I guess it is possible). It is more likely that toxins that adsorb onto the plastic pieces would make you sick. If there are toxins on a piece of plastic that is eaten by a fish, some of those toxins may be stored in the muscles or fat of the fish. If the small fish (which are likely to be the ones eating the plastic pieces) with toxins in the systems are eaten by larger fish, the toxins will be transferred into the bodies of the larger fish. And because the larger fish eat a huge number of small fish, they have the potential to eat and store a lot of toxins. If people eat those large fish, they would also be ingesting the toxins.
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By: Alison Cawood on August 12, 2009
at 1:26 pm
Thank you! That puts a load of my chest. And also I heard that plastic is magnetic, and I was wondering if thats true? Because if it was wouldn’t that be an advantage and learning how to pick up the by using magnetic force?
Adrian Martinez
Mrs. Basset P.6
Chula Vista High School
Chemistry
By: Adrian Martinez on August 12, 2009
at 6:21 pm
As far as I know, the plastic isn’t magnetic, although that would probably make things a little easier to clean up.
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By: Alison Cawood on August 12, 2009
at 6:45 pm
About how long will this expedition take? And is this an expedition to collect the trash and do research on the same time?
By: roberto tapia on August 11, 2009
at 8:26 pm
They are at sea for 19 days, with about 4 1/2 days of extensive sampling in the gyre (the rest is getting to and from the gyre). This is not an expedition to clean up the trash, only to study it. Any trash that is collected becomes a scientific sample.
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By: Alison Cawood on August 12, 2009
at 1:22 pm
Allison, Thank you so much for the detailed infor (especialy the photos) of the equipment being used and the links to same in the stories. Very informative not only how they’re configured but also how they are deployed and what each can tell the scientists.
Many thanks to all involved.
By: Bob Allen on August 15, 2009
at 11:36 pm
[...] Today’s blog entry is from Darcy Taniguchi. This is her second post. [...]
By: SEAPLEX Day 16 « SEAPLEX on August 17, 2009
at 10:08 am