Winding down and field trip

On Monday, we finally spiked our new phytoplankton cultures for the isotope uptake experiment. Coulter counter, fluorometer and PAM fluorometer measurements were taken before inoculation and at the conclusion of each time trial. It was great learning how to use all of these different instruments. The first day of the time series, we noticed the settings of the PAM were different from when we ran the original experiments. Having started the uptake experiment already, we decided to leave the settings until after this experiment was over to keep consistent data.  Actual uptake data will have to wait for processing as that is processed off site, it may take a few weeks so I most likely won’t find out about the results till after this internship ends.

Tuesday, we processed the second set of time triplicates and I ran what will probably be my final photodegradation experiments. I reran the MilliQ set because the research with the HPLC found that the new column gave more sharp precise peaks, so it was worth the effort to redo the experiment to get a better idea of the concentrations present in the solutions I made. So far the results have not yet been processed.

Friday, we went to Astoria as a group of interns. We visited Astoria column, which gave a great view of the Columbia River estuary. In the afternoon, we spent some time at the Maritime museum in Astoria. There are lot of artifacts there since Astoria has been an important port town for many years. There was even a real ship that we got to explore. I didn’t know that the Columbia river estuary was such a dangerous place to enter until then. Due to the fog and currents, special pilots are required to navigate the shipping channels there.

Final two weeks are coming up, starting to really crack down with writing my report and preparing my presentation now