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Research Cruise Video Blog
Day One - Ship Tour My name is Jeff Schilling and I am aboard the Research Vessel Wecoma. For the next 10 days, I will create daily video blogs of what life is like aboard a research cruise. Some science. Some fun. In today's blog, we get a quick tour of the ship, undergraduate intern Lauren Vice shows us what she packed, and I attempt to put on the emergency life suit. Enjoy! Watch Video
Day Two - Meet the CTD Chief scientist Byron Crump has assigned me a 12 hour shift of performing CTD casts. In today's blog, I learn about the CTD from the marine technician, Dave O'Gorman. Watch Video
Day Three - CTD Marathon Now that I am up to speed on how to operate the CTD, Justin and I performed a cast every half hour for 12 hours straight. Byron was chasing salinity in the Columbia River estuary. Tired and a little haggard, I recorded this video blog at the end of my shift. Watch Video
Day Four - Tour of the Wet Lab We collected water samples at different depths today with Niskin bottles attached to the CTD. The water goes to the scientists in the wet lab for filtering and measuring chemical properties. Today's video blog has Byron Crump giving a tour of the lab and the work going on in there. Watch Video
Day Five - DNA Extraction This is our last day in the Columbia River before heading out into the ocean. Caroline Fortunato, graduate student from University of Maryland, let me film her performing the first step in DNA extraction of water samples. Strangely enough, pliers are needed to start the procedure. Watch Video
Day Six - Argos Drifter Operations Today we are following patches of water with a drifter. This unique looking piece of equipment has a blue cylindrical shape, red wings, orange floats, and electronic sensors. The chief scientist, Byron Crump, explains the scientific purpose of the drifter. Watch Video
Day Seven - Primary Productivity In the oceans, almost all primary production is performed by algae, with a small fraction contributed by vascular plants and other groups. Peter Kahn, OHSU graduate student, demonstrates one technique to perform primary productivity measurements. Watch Video
Day Eight - RNA Filtering Process A large portion of life aboard a cruise is collecting and filtering water. Lauren Vice, a summer research intern, has become proficient in RNA filtering of water samples. Today she explains each step in the filtering process. Watch Video
Day Nine - Bacterial Production Measurement Byron Crump performs bacterial production measurement of our latest water samples in the radioactive isotope lab. Watch Video
Day Ten - Sailing on the Wecoma We are almost home. Justin Roberts, a CMOP intern, wrote a song about our adventures aboard the R/V Wecoma. It is a fun look back at what life was like aboard a research vessel. It's not all chasing salinity and collecting marine microbes. Watch Video
Complete Cruise Video Blog I have edited the entire cruise blog into a single video for you to view. The run time is 32 minutes. Watch Video
