We've been at sea now for two days. Fatimah is in good spirits and the work is going well! We arrived at our first station over friday night. With all equipment in place, it was time to put our skills to the test. First the structure of the water column at this deep (~ 2000m) site was determined through measurement of important parameters such as temperature, salinity, oxygen, etc. Sure enough, salinity increased and oxygen dramatically decreased between 60 - 80 m.
Together with chief scientist Gert-Jan, Nikki and Peter quickly devised a scheme to sample the water column with emphasis on the oxygen transition zone, after which the first water samples started coming up. Exciting times as we started sampling water from depths between 50 and 2000 m for analysis of both dissolved elements and mineral particles. Fatimah, Tom and Matthias had a relaxed start until sediment cores started coming in. This was their cue for a long day of hard work, dividing the sediment into thin horizontal slices that will be used for an extensive array of dissolved elements and particles. The first cores were about 40 cm long, after which the big guns were deployed: a coring device was lowered up to 7 m into the sediment lying under 2000 m of water. Matthias sampled the core with syringes to analyze methane concentrations in the sediments. This long core will inform us about the longer history of the Black Sea.
Once everybody was supplied with water samples or cores, it was time to put our heads down and power through. But we were ably assisted by the crew of the Pelagia and the NIOZ technicians. Karel and Sharyn prepared solutions and analysed our water samples, while Henk helped out in between preparations for his seismic surveys. On sunday we arrived at the second station where Iuliana and Eveline started the in-situ pumping of water samples from a range of depths. Tomorrow we will continue here with more coring. This is a key site for the science we are doing. Fingers crossed we get good samples!
Cheers,
Peter and Tom
Cheers,
Peter and Tom