Back on Solid Land!

Here are a few photos of our last day packing and of the entire team of scientists on the cruise.

Hg Team of scientists. From Left to Right, bottom row: Dr. Geraldine Nogaro, Katlin Bowman, Lisa Romas, Melissa Tabatchnick, Michael Finiguerra, Kathleen Munson, Susan Gichuki. Left to right, top row: Dr. Carl Laborg, Dr. Chad Hammerschmidt, Tristan Kading, Allan Hutchins, Lynne Butler, Dr. William Fitzgerald, Prentiss Balcom. Absent - Jenay Guardiani Aunkst.

Gale wind warning toward the end of the cruise

Jenay packing.

Melissa packing up her room.

Geraldine finishing up her experiments.

Well, we returned to port earlier than anticipated due to the gale winds and 20 foot swells. Much to my chagrin, I spent my last few days in the hold, sleeping and trying to quell my motion sickness. By the end of the cruise, I wanted so badly to stand on solid ground! This was in stark contrast to the previous cruise when I did not want to leave the ship! It's amazing how we are always subject to the power of mother nature. Although she made this cruise more difficult, it will prepare us for yet another cruise that the WSU team will be taking in June 2010.

We would like to extend our appreciation to the National Science Foundation for funding our research on mercury cycling in the oceans. Thank you, NSF!

~Lisa

Lisa's Inhibitor Experiments

Part of my reason for participating in the cruise is to collect samples for my Master's thesis project. It is hypothesized that bacteria are responsible for methylating mercury, or converting it from its inorganic form to its toxic form, MMHg. The current paradigm is that sulfate-reducing bacteria (i.e., bacteria that use sulfate to obtain their energy and live in hypoxic or anoxic sediments, such as sediments at the bottom of the ocean which have little or no oxygen and are disturbed rarely) are the primary functional group of bacteria methylating mercury to MMHg. However, recent studies have shown that other groups may be responsible (such as iron-reducers). The purpose of my thesis work is to figure out who is methylating mercury in various environments. I do this by adding inhibitor or promoter solutions to my samples to try and target specific groups. I also add stable enriched isotopes (not radioactive ones!) that allow me to track how much mercury is methylated and how much MMHg is demethylated (which, in combination, tell me what net methylation is like). Basically, I am seeking to answer the question, "Who is primarily responsible for converting mercury to its toxic form in the oceans?"

I start by collecting sediments as a part of the box coring team (first photo). Then, I homogenize my sediment by mixing it well in a nitrogen filled glove-box (second photo). I feel like a kid playing with mud! (third photo). Meanwhile, I make my inhibitor and promoter solutions (fourth photo). I add the sediment to my sample bottles (fifth photo), add 25 mL of a solution to each bottle, cap them, and flush the headspace with nitrogen gas to get rid of oxygen (sixth photo).

When I return to the WSU laboratory, I will analyze the isotope concentrations using our ICPMS instrument. I look forward to seeing what I find!

~Lisa

Pulling in the box corer!

Rough Seas

Box Corer 0
Ocean 1

We currently are at Station 17 which is about 4200 meters deep. The winds are 25 knots and the ocean swells are between 5-8ft. The waves are crashing over the back and sides of the boat creating some pretty challenging working conditions. We just finished box coring which was about an hour and a half ride to the bottom and the same coming up. From inside I watched the progress of the corer from the sound transmissions of the pinger and also kept an eye on the tension of the line. The tension reached over 4000lbs and showed continuous spikes as the boat bobbed up and down. In calm conditions, a clear drop in tension can be seen when the corer hits the bottom but today, it was almost impossible to tell when/if that happened. When the box corer reached the surface it was mangled and barely in one piece. There were bolts that had been stripped and bent and a few that were even missing, the pinger was hanging on from one arm and the actual box itself was cracked along one of the sides. The force from the waves may have caused the box to trigger on the way down, opening and slamming shut each time the boat rose up and crashed down. It is also possible that the box was dragged along the bottom.

None of the damage is unrepairable, and if necessary it all could be fixed at sea. However, the weather is projected to get much worse and the captain wants to head for the coast by 8AM Tuesday morning. On Wednesday we will be facing 40 knot winds and 15-20ft swells and unless that changes this will probably have to be our last station.

-Katlin

Sending the box corer down!

Paul (Endeavor crew), Allen (UConn) and Dr. Hammerschmidt are attaching a "pinger" to the box core line. This sits 75 meters above the box corer and emits sound that can be tracked by the ship's computers to tell how far from the bottom the box corer is.

Geraldine and Lisa waiting on the box corer. We go down at 50 meters/minute so for deeper stations it can take a while for the box to reach the bottom and come up!

Abyssal Plain

Early this morning, we reached Station 16. We have passed the continetal shelf and slope and are above the abyssal plain. The abyssal plain lies between the continental rise and the mid-oceanic ridge. It is the flattest section of the deep ocean basin and is very deep (a few thousand meters in depth). It covers 40% of the ocean floor, yet, it is one of the least explored areas of the ocean.

As a part of the sediment team, I awoke at 5 A.M. to begin box coring. The sea was so serene as it quietly lapped against the boat in the darkness. Geraldine and I were able to see the sun rise and we even caught a glimpse of a faint rainbow. It was so nice just to take a few moments to ponder where we are and how vast and beautiful the ocean is!

On a more technical note, we had to attach the "pinger," which is a device that sends out sound waves in order to determine how far the box corer is from the sea floor. Katlin sits inside in the main lab in front of all of the screens, watching the data being sent by the pinger. She can tell when the box corer hits bottom and tells the doghouse when to stop the box corer and start bringing it back up to the boat. Today, we hit 3,358 meters deep!

Just before sunrise...

The sun creeping up in the sky to begin the day...

Me in front of the sunrise, dressed in my deck gear.

~Lisa

Station 4

We are now finished with our third station and are currently in a 10 hour transit to our next sampling location. Station 4 was a lot of fun for me because I got to start work on my undergraduate thesis project. I have been taking classes towards an honors degree and one of the last requirements is that I do my own research project. My project examines photodecomposition of methlymerucry in seawater, a portion of the mercury cycle that has been given little attention. While there are many experiments in freshwater systems, including a study done by Dr. Hammerschmidt and colleagues in Artic Alaska lakes, little has been done to understand the mechanism in seawater. My research models experiments of methlymercury photodecomposition in freshwater systems and applies them to seawater.

Before arriving at a station, I have to "order" water to use for my experiments. Because my project is studying photodecomposition, I need to make sure that I am getting seawater from the surface and the from the top 10 meters which receive the most sunlight. The water sampling Rossettes are programmed at each station to open and close at different locations, enabling us to collect water from various depths. Once I have my water, a majority is filtered and transferred into 500mL Teflon bottles. The bottles are then spike with known concentrations of methlymercury and stored in incubation chambers. The incubation chambers are clear plexiglass boxes that have a constant supply of fresh surface sea water being pumped in/drained out (I'll try to post pictures soon!). Light is able to penetrate both the incubation box and the Teflon bottle and this will be assured by using a device to measure photosynthetic active radiation or PAR inside and outside of the box.

I will be running four different experiments with variations in initial methlymercury concentration, filtered v. unfiltered seawater, different amounts of PAR, and different locations/sources of seawater. I will collect and freeze my samples at sea to bring back to Ohio for analysis at Wright State! It will be exciting to see how much methlymercury is broken down by the sun and to compare that process to what we have observed in freshwater.

-Katlin

Dolphins

We saw a pod of dolphins today! There were plenty of seagulls around, too. There must have been a school of fish they were all feasting on.

~Lisa

P.S. Tristan says "Hello" to his Nana :)

Station 4

Yesterday, we completed Station 2 and now we are at Station 4. The seas are still a little rough, with 4-8 feet swells, but it is sunny outside and the sky is crystal clear. We are crossing our fingers that we might see some whales today. We are still on the continental shelf, somewhere off of the coasts of Maine and Nova Scotia. The diagram below shows the different parts of the ocean floor and the terminology used by oceanographers to describe it. The next station, Station 6, will also be on the continental shelf and the following station, Station 9 is in the deep ocean. After that, we will head back toward land to sample water, zooplankton, and sediment from the continental slope. Then we will head back out to the deep ocean before finishing near the coast.

Research conducted by Dr. Hammerschmidt and his colleagues shows that methylmercury (MMHg) concentrations are greater near the coast and on the continental shelf and decrease as you move toward the deep ocean. Our stations on the continental shelf are important, because these samples will have the highest levels of MMHg. Samples from the continental slope and deep ocean also are valuable, because few research efforts collect samples this far from the coast. In general, such comprehensive sampling of the entire water column and sediments is performed rarely, particularly for mercury analyses. We all are excited to see what we will discover!

~Lisa

Station 1

We arrived at station 1 about an hour ago and are working out some kinks with the CTD before getting started. "CTD" is a water sampling Rossette and stands for conductivity, temperature, and depth - it measures each of these electronically while also bringing up water samples. Once the CTD is complete, Michael - a Ph. D. student from UConn - will be collecting zooplankton samples. Once Michael is finished we will use a trace metal clean (TMC) Rossette to collect more water. The TMC Rossette has acid cleaned bottles and a special metal-free line to assure that the collection process is not contaminating the water samples with any trace metals. Once the Rossette surfaces, the bottles will be transferred to our on-deck clean lab to retrieve the samples. Lastly will be the sediment sampling, which is the team myself, Dr. Hammerschmidt, Geraldine, and Lisa will be working on.

It's about 8:30PM now which means we should be starting box coring around 12:00AM! The coring should take 1-2 hours so it will be a late night but also very exciting as it is our first station!

Pictured above is the water team deploying the Trace Metal Clean Rossette earlier today. The Rossette was filled with seawater and left to soak all day to condition the bottles. Each bottle (long column) is programmed to open and close at a specific depth and can detach from the frame to be emptied in the clean lab.

-Katlin

Leaving Port

Today, we left port to be greeted by rough seas -- the swells were about 5 feet high! In the morning, we held a safety meeting inside of the main laboratory. During that time, seasickness struck several of the scientists, including myself. The benefit was that we "grew" our sea legs quickly. This was in contrast to the last cruise during which it took me several days to get my sea legs. At least we will all be ready to begin research when we reach our first station around dinner time this evening!
This is an opportune time to introduce you to the 14 scientists that are conducting research on the biogeochemistry of Hg in the ocean. Those of us from Wright State University include: Dr. Chad Hammerschmidt, Assistant Professor in the Earth and Environmental Sciences (EES) Department; Dr. Geraldine Nogaro, who came from France and now holds a post-doctoral position in EES; Katlin Bowman, an undergraduate senior majoring in Environmental Science and technician in Dr. Hammerschmidt's laboratory; Melissa Tabatchnick, a second-year Masters student in EES; and myself (Lisa Romas), also a second-year Masters student in EES. We also are joined by Dr. William Fitzgerald, our Chief Scientist, from the University of Connecticut (UConn). He was Dr. Hammerschmidt's Ph. D. mentor and has made profound advancements in Hg research throughout his career. Prentiss Balcom, a Research Associate from UConn, is joining us again on the cruise. Tristan Kading is finishing his Masters thesis at Wesleyan University, but made time to participate in the cruise again. Michael Finiguerra and Jenay Guardiani Aunkst also are from UConn. Michael is working on his Ph. D. and, after graduating with a B.S. in psychology, Jenay is earning her undergraduate degree in Coastal Studies. Allan Hutchins earned his B.S. degree at UConn and has continued his work as a Research Assistant there. Susan Gichuki is a Ph. D. student who works with Dr. Robert Mason from UConn. Kathleen Munson is a Ph. D. student in the MIT/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute program and she and her advisor, Dr. Carl Lamborg, are joining us as well. We are fortunate to be surrounded by approximately one-dozen crew members of the R/V Endeavor. On the last cruise, they did a fanastic job of keeping everyone safe and helping us achieve our research goals. We look forward to be working with them again!
We are traveling through Buzzards Bay and will be cruising through the Cape Cod Canal soon. These will be our last views of land for the duration of cruise, so I am going to head outside to enjoy the sights. I will take plenty of photos to share with you after we complete our first station.

~Lisa

Some members of the scientific party -- From left to right: Dr. William Fitzgerald, Prentiss Balcom, Lisa Romas, Tristan Kading, Michael Finiguerra, Katlin Bowman, Dr. Chad Hammerschmidt, Melissa Tabatchnick, Dr. Carl Lamborg, Jenay Aunkst

Some more pictures...

Katlin unpacking and setting up equipment in the main lab.


Michael working on his computer

Chad is setting up the glove box

Tristan is connecting the fancy pH meter than can be connected to the internet
(you can check your e-mail and measure pH at the same time!)

Melissa is installing her experiment

The main lab

Melissa and Lisa are unloading the van

Melissa, Katlin, Lisa and Geraldine at Marthas vineyard

Marthas vineyard

Loading and Unpacking

Greetings from aboard the R/V Endeavor. Excitement is in the air as we finish unloading our equipment onto the vessel (picture left). Despite the rainy weather, we still managed to find time to experience the local New England Culture. On Friday, the team visited Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute to meet fellow scientists and toured the world class facilities. We also took a ferry out to Martha's Vineyard and partook in a bus/walking tour of the island. On Sunday, a few members of the team visited Newport, Rhode Island, where we visited one of the famous mansions, Chateau-sur-mer (picture right). Upon arrival back onto the R/V Endeavor, the scientists met for introductions and a brief discussion of experiments that will take place throughout the duration of our trip. Though the horizon looms gloomy, the creative brilliance of these scientists shines like a beacon that cuts through the haze of uncertainty.

~Melissa

Welcome Back!

Greetings! In August of 2008, the WSU Mercury Team participated in a two-week long, oceanographic research cruise. During that time, we had the opportunity to blog about our experiences. We soon will embark on another two-week long research cruise at the end of September 2009 and blog about our discoveries once again!
The scientific purpose of this cruise is essentially the same as the last cruise. For those of you who are just joining in to follow along with our blog, here is a description of the purpose of the cruise. For those of you who followed us last year, you will realize that this is an excerpt from our first blog. The purpose of our research is, "to study the biogeochemistry of mercury in the oceans. Like many things about our oceans, not much is known about the behavior of mercury. Since the 1990s, a significant amount of research has been conducted on mercury and a lot of progress has been made in perfecting sampling procedures, improving detection limits and increasing our understanding of its cycling in the environment. In fact, many freshwater ecosystems, the atmosphere above the Arctic, terrestrial systems, and some coastal environments have been studied. However, not much is known about mercury in the oceans. This is ironic, because, as most of you recognize, the main route of human exposure to mercury is via the consumption of fish and, yet, the majority of the fish we consume globally is derived from the oceans! Clearly, studying what happens to mercury in the oceans is an integral part of understanding potential human exposures to mercury."
Since the August 2008 cruise, some amazing advancements have been made in our field. For example, our advisor, Dr. Chad Hammerschmidt, improved the detection limit for measuring methylmercury (MMHg; an organic form of mercury that accumulates readily in humans and other organisms) in seawater to 2.0 fM. As part of the NSF funded "GEOTRACES" program, Dr. Hammerschmidt and his students measured MMHg at much lower levels than previously achieved. This allows us to see new trends and provides new insight into how mercury is cycling in the oceans. We also analyzed some of the data collected on the August 2008 cruise and much of that information has been used to improve our plans for the present cruise.
Right now, we are packing all of the materials we will need for the research cruise. We have been washing bottles, finishing important analyses, and making sure that all of our supplies from last time are in prime condition. Surprisingly, this year seems more hectic than the last! But, I think there is even more excitement in the air than last year!
As time gets closer, we will post about who is conducting research on the cruise, where we will be traveling in the northwest Atlantic, what the research vessel looks like, etc.
We look forward to sharing our experiences with you!
~Lisa