Week 1

The first week has been fantastic! With the guidance of my frontline mentor, Charles Seaton, my project will control the quality of data from the LOBO (Land/Ocean Biogeochemistry Observatory). This week I learned about the LOBO, how it generally works, as well as the types of data it monitors. To my surprise, this instrument monitors A LOT of different types of data ranging from Salinity, Fluorescence, to Oxygen, Nitrate, as well a list of other characteristics of the Columbia River Estuary. I am beginning to understand the importance of such characteristics of the estuary, how each alters and affect the others, and the importance of data accuracy. I have also been working with and learning about a programming software called MATLAB. So far, it has been fairly simple to use and learn and I enjoy the opportunity to learn a new language. It makes plotting and analyzing LOADS of information fairly simple. This week has been very informative and I can’t wait until I really get into my project.

Here is a snapshot of a powerpoint of the data I am working with: