September 29, 2011
This morning, we had two scientists talk to us about benthic ecology. This deals with organisms living on the seafloor. They are good indicators of the global state of the environment, but the scientists don’t know much yet.
I went up on deck today to watch the Boxcore go to the bottom of the ocean. This is an instrument that brings up a cube of ocean floor sediments for analysis. The scientists took the top layer to their lab, and we had to shovel the rest of the mud out of the box back into the ocean. I like how the crew lets us get involved with these kinds of operations and we feel involved in life on the ship as opposed to only watching what is happening.
Afterwards, I went to the lab with two others to sort the organisms found in the mud from the Boxcore. My mind was blown when we showed the scientist some strange creatures we found and she didn’t know what they were. I thought scientists knew so much, but there are still so many species on the bottom of the ocean that are undiscovered.
Karen Butt ’12