Jeff Schilling's blog

As the 2008 cruise season winds down, we take a fun look back at what life was like aboard a research vessel. It's not all chasing salinity and collecting marine microbes.

I have returned from the research cruise on the Wecoma. It was a tremendous experience working with Byron Crump and the rest of the team. Plus you couldn't ask for a better crew then those aboard the Wecoma. I will be assembling another video about life aboard the Wecoma, there might even be a special song included. Check back.

For now, here is what I learned about what the Wecoma provides you and what supplies you should bring:

We are getting close to the end of the cruise. A large portion of life aboard is collecting and filtering water. Lauren Vice, a summer research intern, has become extremely proficient in performing RNA filtering of water samples. (When she is not raiding the ice cream freezer.) Today's video blog has Lauren demonstrating the filtering process.

I have learned that it is tough trying a hold a camera steady when the boat lists and sways constantly. Using the camera's optical stabilization helps a little. Having said that, today's swaying video blog has Peter Kahn, OHSU graduate student and fellow Billing Senior High School alumni, demonstrating how to perform primary productivity measurements.

Sitting on the back of the ship is a unique looking piece of equipment called the Argos Drifter. The drifter looks like a large, blue piece of PVC pipe with red wings and orange floats. In today's video blog, chief scientist, Byron Crump, explains the purpose of the drifter.

This is our last day in the Columbia River before heading out into the ocean. Caroline Fortunato from the University of Maryland took time out of her busy day to let me film her performing the first step in DNA extraction of water samples. Strangely enough, this procedure starts with large pliers.

Today's video blog has Byron Crump,the chief scientist, giving you a tour of the wet lab on the Wecoma. This lab is where they filter and process the water samples we collected with the CTD.

Today was a marathon of CTD casting. Justin and I cranked out one every half hour on our shift. We were chasing salinity up and down the river. Tired and a little haggard looking at end of the day, I recorded this video blog.

Hi. My name is Jeff and this is my job.
(sorry about borrowing the line from Mike Rowe.)

The chief scientist has assigned me to a "real" job during the cruise. I am going to be performing CTD casts 12 hours a day . So, what is a CTD cast? In today's video blog, Dave O'Gorman, marine technician, gives an overview of the sensor.