Sediment & Whales
At the beginning of the new year we finally started the sediment sampling within our geochemical project.
After strong winds, rain and snow storms during the past days had undone any efforts to get sediment cores from the adjacent coves, we benefited from the nice weather today and headed for Marian Cove, where the South Korean base King Sejong is located. The sun was shining and Maxwell Bay lay in front of us, calm like a lake. First fountains were visible, and suddenly humpback whales emerged from the water, curiously swimming around our zodiacs to greet the "strange" visitors. It was an indescribable moment, we hold our breaths until they finally dived away.
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At Marian Cove, almost the whole bay was completely covered with drifting ice, which made it very difficult and dangerous to reach our sampling points by boat. At the 3rd attempt we were able to retrieve our first core of this season, which had to be celebrated on board with hot tea and cookies. Back at home the core was immediately sampled for pore water (the water in the pore space of the sediment) that - analyzed for nutrients and trace metals - gives evidence for the different microbial processes and communities in the sediment. Following this the really dirty part of the work began: the slicing of the sediment core. After an hour of work we were completely covered in brown sludge. For some it may be only common mud, for others like us a valuable geological archive of the climate development in this area during the last century.
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und ihr habt tatsächlich ein labor! find ich gut! ;)
Posted by sanja, 24/01/2011 10:27pm (11 years ago)
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very nice, congratulations
Posted by Anne, 12/01/2011 11:06am (11 years ago)
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Liebe leute, was für eine tolle Geschichte und schöne Bilder, viele Grüsse doris
Posted by doris, 11/01/2011 5:08pm (11 years ago)
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