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| ominous storm. The weather changes rapidly in Antarctica! |
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| -1.9c waters. -30c air temp. its a dry cold. but it is cold! |
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| CTD goes overboard. To see what this is check out this post |
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Photos from the Icebreaker
A Glimpse in the Lab
Here’s a video from the ice breaker Nathaniel B. Palmer, of what it like
to sail the Ross Sea and some time-lapse of the international group of
scientists working in the lab. The video was produced by Cassandra
Brooks, of Stanford University.
 |
| A large plankton net drifts behind the boat collecting everything that gets trapped inside. |
 |
| The plankton net that we tow behind the boat at less than 2 knots collects many creatures. Krill is one of the animals responsible for sustaining the base of the food web. Note some krill have black eyes and some have red eyes. |
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| There are four “labs” on ship. They were all empty and we had to set up all of our own equipment and secure everything to the counter and lock all of the cabinets and drawers so that during high waves things don’t fly off. |
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| Some of the scientists on board are collecting the sea water and measuring the concentration of oxygen. |
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| Every day, chief-scientist, Dennis Hansell, and the other co-scientists sit down with maps, weather charts, and ice charts to plot out where in the Ross Sea we would like to take samples from. We sketch out a rough idea, but this idea may get altered depending on ice cover (can’t access an ideal location) or weather (too stormy or windy to stay there to sample). |
 |
| This is a homemade sediment trap, constructed from a description published in a 1985 paper. Tubes of water float upright in the water column and collect particles falling from the surface. They are filled with sea water that has had even more salt added to it so they are more dense than the surrounding sea. Being more dense allows the contraption to stay upright. The cherry-flavored Life Savers dissolve after 1 hour and the rubber bands snap off allowing the plastic to come off the tops. Once the tops are “open,” particles fall in to the tubes. This contraption is moving with the current (there is a garbage pail acting like a “sail” to catch the current and move the sediment trap horizontally) and after a couple days we pull it back on the boat and see what has fallen in to the tubes! |
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| A close up of the top of the sediment trap. In 1985 a paper was published that used Life Savers (specifically cherry flavored) to hold this contraption together. The sediment trap sinks to 150 meters and in 1 hour, the cherry Life Saver dissolves. The rubber band snaps off and the plastic wrap comes off the top of the straws. The straws are then “open” and can let in seawater and any little organisms that might be falling from the surface layers of the sea (anything above 150 meters falls in). |
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| Sending the sediment trap into the water. Dave is tethered to the ship in case a wave should come knock him off. |
Rooms on the Ship
The ship was a little less than 300ft in length. There were 5 stories (main deck where the galley, baltic rooms, machine room and most the labs were, first floor, second floor and third floor sleeping quarters where you could also find lounges, fourth floor lounge and office, fifth floor was the bridge. You could venture even higher to the ice tower. Below the main floor was the engine room. So technically, I suppose you could say the ship was ~7 or 8 "stories" tall!!!(?)
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| Eating area, room where we take seawater samples, hydrolab (where I worked most) |
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| The Galley. Don't wear your tanktops in here!! |
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| This is the treadmill. Check out that view! I can run only 3 miles on it before getting incredibly bored. |
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| The gym. We’ve been squeezing in to do INSANITY workout videos. Try that while the ship rocks! |
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| This is the conference room, which has WiFi. This is also our “muster station.” If there were to be an emergency abandon ship we’d first meet here. |
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| the all important coffee station |
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| This is one of the lounge areas where we have WiFi access and movie access! We don’t really have much downtime but maybe we’ll make more use of this theater toward the end of the cruise while we are heading to Punta Arenas. |
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| This is the computer and printer room |
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| From this room, we look at the screens, data and CTD information to determine how far we have to the next station, what speed the winds are, what temperature the air and sea are, how fast the CTD is coming in, etc. |
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| This is the “dry” lab, which is the biggest on the ship. These counters were clear when we embarked. We had to find, unpack and set up all equipment you see here. |
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| This is the bio lab. |
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| The Sauna with Gianluca SAUNA KING himself wearing the extreme cold weather gear. |
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| There are two people per room. It’s very narrow. Not even the “desk chair” can fit! The TV has channels to view each of the other main rooms on the ship. You don’t even have to get out of bed to see if the CTD has come in on deck yet! |
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| the head |
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| The Palmer waiting for us to board. Photo cred Amy Westman. |
Cruise Life - nowhere to hide
I just want to illustrate the work life out here. I have worked 20
straight days in a row. No weekends. No evenings off. Few breaks. Each
day varies in time schedule but it usually consists of waking up at 7
a.m., taking at least two shots of espresso before working until lunch
at 11:30 a.m. -12:30 p.m., working until dinner 5:30 p.m.-6:30 p.m. and
working until 11 p.m., sometimes even until 2 a.m. It’s a good day when
you can throw an hour in for an INSANITY work-out or a sauna break and
get more than 7 hours of sleep. “Downtime” consists of uploading my
Facebook photos, writing up blog drafts, organizing data, and reading
textbooks on the Southern Ocean (all still work related). We all are
starting to feel the strong desire for a weekend. And a beer. Just. One.
Beer. On that note: Week three and we are out of fresh vegetables and
fruits. It’s time for the canned goods, meat, carbs and cheese. I’m not
complaining at all! I’m just sharing the reality of research life at
sea. Only 38 more days to go! MISS YOU ALL XOXO
We could use the iridium phone to call free to the US. I was told it sounded like we were talking in a tin can from across the room. People at home may have been frustrated with the lack of communication or seemingly low effort in communicating, but when you are on a boat, in the middle of nowhere, and the satellite phone doesn't work all to well, and everyone on the ship can hear you conversation....communicating in a normal fashion is not easy to do. Here is an example of no privacy =)
We could use the iridium phone to call free to the US. I was told it sounded like we were talking in a tin can from across the room. People at home may have been frustrated with the lack of communication or seemingly low effort in communicating, but when you are on a boat, in the middle of nowhere, and the satellite phone doesn't work all to well, and everyone on the ship can hear you conversation....communicating in a normal fashion is not easy to do. Here is an example of no privacy =)
INTERNET HELP FROM HSIAO-CHING
While I was in Antarctica, internet was limited to 10MB a day. That goes QUICKLY. If you log on to Facebook you have to use the mobile site and within 5 minutes of scrolling through the newsfeed your time runs out. Some days it was very frustrating to be connected so unplugging from the grid was a relief.
I originally intended to keep this blog going during my time out in the field. How silly THAT idea was. Antarctica is anther planet and its a miracle there's any form of communication out there!
When I could I would write word documents and convert them to PDFs then email them out to friends and family with my ship-board email account. I would also shrink images to teeeeeny tiny and post them on facebook. Sometimes just getting 10 small images would take up to 40minutes.
Hsiao-Ching with the Institute of Systems Biology would collect these infrequent posts and put them together in one place for our Institute's website Molecular Me.
Please see February through April posts to see more stunning images of Antarctica! http://isbmolecularme.com/category/lab-notebook/
Algae
Light
Cruise Tracks and Cornhole
I originally intended to keep this blog going during my time out in the field. How silly THAT idea was. Antarctica is anther planet and its a miracle there's any form of communication out there!
When I could I would write word documents and convert them to PDFs then email them out to friends and family with my ship-board email account. I would also shrink images to teeeeeny tiny and post them on facebook. Sometimes just getting 10 small images would take up to 40minutes.
Hsiao-Ching with the Institute of Systems Biology would collect these infrequent posts and put them together in one place for our Institute's website Molecular Me.
Please see February through April posts to see more stunning images of Antarctica! http://isbmolecularme.com/category/lab-notebook/
Algae
Light
Cruise Tracks and Cornhole
Monica Orellana Interview
A lovely interview was done (thanks Andrew Margolin) with my boss Monica Orellana. The official link is here http://tracers-nbp1302.blogspot.co.nz/p/interviews.html but I needed to do a special shout out to her for giving me such a wonderful opportunity!!
Please click the link and scroll to her interview. You can also read other awesome interviews with the scientists and crew: check out Penguin Expert Jerry Kooyman. He has a mountain named after him!
Interview with Dr. Mónica Orellana Co-Chief Scientist of the TRACERS Cruise and Scientist at Institute for Systems Biology
Mónica in the lab at the Institute for Systems Biology. Photo courtesy of M. Orellana.
Q: Have you been to Antarctica, or done polar fieldwork before?
A: No I have never been to Antarctica, I would really like to be there with all of you
as you know, but it is not possible this at time!
Q: What will your role in TRACERS bring to the Institute for Systems Biology?
A: One of the ISB’s goals is to increase environmental sustainability. ISB has been
using systems science to improve the understanding of interactions of microbes and
ecosystems. Through TRACERS, we are learning many aspects of the Ross Sea
Ecosystem by applying sophisticated technologies, perturbation experiments and
high-resolution measurements to understand the role of Phaeocystis and other
microbes in carbon export. Thus, Phaeocystis now becomes a new model cell system
for ISB, and the Ross Sea a new working ecosystem.
Q: How does your work on TRACERS (or more broadly, at ISB) contribute to the field
of marine science?
A: We are using immune-probes coupled with microgel measurements in the water
column to improve our understanding of the exported carbon by Phaeocystis in
colloidal and dissolved polymeric material forms. These tools have broad
applicability to other ocean systems but are not widely used. Immunoprobes will
allow in situ tracking of Phaeocystis polymers and proteins, their transformation
and degradation in the water column. Our contribution to TRACERS,
oceanography and marine sciences will be to provide information on the cycling of
Phaeocystis polymers and proteins such as RuBisCO as actual biopolymers in the
DOC pool. This creates a link between the biology at the ocean’s surface, and the
transformation of the exported particulate matter in water column.
Allison on the helo deck on a sunny day in Terra Nova Bay, displaying one of the
incubators that she has used for multiple incubation experiments during TRACERS.
Photo credit: A. Margolin.
Allison in the hydro lab, prepared to head out to the incubators on a cold day, typical of
the Ross Sea. Photo credit: A. Margolin.
Q: Why is what we are doing in the Ross Sea important?
A: Understanding particulate matter transformations in the Ross Sea will help us to
explain the role of particular matter transformations in carbon and nitrogen export
in larger contexts across global ocean.
Q: What do you hope to learn from the samples collected and analyzed during the course
of the TRACERS Cruise?
A: The samples collected will help us understand the transformation and
solubilization rates of the particulate production in the water column. The coupling
of antibody probes with measurements of gels will enable us learn about the specific
transformations. Gels can reach high percentage of the dissolved organic carbon
pool (10-30%), however their dynamics in the field are not well known. Only
recently, we learned that gels have important roles including transferring proteins
into the deep sea and have an important role as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) in
the Arctic and possibly all across the world oceans. By high-resolution sampling we
will have a very good quantitative understanding of the gel’s role in transferring
material to the deep ocean.
Image of a microgel under the microscope. They can be thought of as mucus produced by
algae. Photo credit: A. Lee.
A cartoon showing that phytoplankton (or algae) can produce DMS—that’s dimethyl
sulfide—which acts as cloud condensation nuclei and affects the earth’s radiative
balance. It has recently been found that microgels also play a role as CCN in the Arctic,
and might also play a role in the Ross Sea and global ocean. Image adapted from an
image provided by NOAA/PMEL.
Q: What are the challenges as a chief scientist, of participating in the TRACERS Cruise
from Seattle as opposed to on board the Palmer?
A: Communication, always being behind by a day!
Working in the Ross Sea put us on the New Zealand time zone (M – light blue), while
Mónica in Seattle (U – purple) was 20 hours behind us. However, now that we have
crossed the dateline and have been moving east, we are just about in the same time zone.
Image from www.nist.time.gov.
Q: How were you introduced to the other chief scientists and their work?
A: I have known Dennis Hansell since he was a post doc at the University of
Washington School of Oceanography, but only in the last 5-6 years we have
collaborated scientifically. I have also known Jack DiTullio, but we had never
collaborated before; I have known of R. Dunbar and A. Bochdansky’s work, but I
haven’t met them in person.
Q: What other projects are you working on, and how are they interrelated?
A: I work on various aspects of phytoplankton. I have a project using a multiscale
systems approach to understand the physiological, cellular and molecular responses
of diatoms to climate change and ocean acidification. Another project is to use
phytoplankton proteins as tracers in the water column. We are also working on
archaea/chlorophyte interactions and the role of gels and their physico-chemical
characteristics in the water column and as CCN. These different approaches allow
us to understand the mechanisms of gel production and their roles in carbon
cycling.
Q: Where did you get your degrees and what were they in?
A: BA Biology from Universidad de Concepción (Chile)
MS Zoology from University of Concepción (Chile)
MS Biological Oceanography, University of Washington, (USA)
Ph.D. Biological Oceanography, University of Washington (USA)
Q: Have you always been interested in marine biology, or are there other avenues that
you have explored and/or plan to explore in your future?
A: Yes, I have been interested in biology since I was 9 years old, when I told my
parents that I would be a scientist! The sea, its immensity, its motion, its flora and
fauna have always fascinated me. I grew up in Chile, a long narrow country on the
Pacific and the ocean has touched its people from giants like the Nobel laureate
Pablo Neruda (“Ode to the Tuna at the Market”), to (at that time) students like
myself pondering the complex and mysterious beauty of the marine microscopic
world.
Pablo Neruda was born in Parral, Chile in 1904. He began his writing career at the early
age of thirteen. Pablo Neruda received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1971 for his works
as a poet.
Q: What are some of the challenges you have faced and overcome as a Chilean and as a
woman in the field of marine science?
A: I don’t feel that I have had a challenge as a Chilean woman “per se”, but my
most difficult challenge has been to be at the interface of scientific disciplines. I did a
post doc in bioengineering, which allowed me to visit the boundaries between
disciplines, observe new practices, methodologies, and perspectives. These
perspectives have enhanced my career and the manner in which we do research.
Working in an interdisciplinary environment has been rewarding, but not an easy
road to travel. It has required additional training to understand fundamental
differences in the thought processes and languages of different disciplines. This path
has also involved some inherent risk, one of which is the slow pace of recognition for
the applicability of new concepts in oceanography, and being outside the normal
oceanographic environment. The risk has been balanced by the gratification
springing from innovation and new understanding of old ideas and producing new
paradigms.
Q: What advice do you have for young women, and/or those foreign to the US, interested
in pursuing careers in science?
A: Anybody in science should have a joy for learning, a great level of curiosity, and
be ready for a great adventure! And, of course be hard working!
Photo and quote courtesy of ISB.
Q: Who has been an inspiration to you in your career, and how do you see yourself as a
reflection of them?
A: I have been influenced and supported in my career by great mentors, fellow
students and past and current colleagues. I am especially grateful for my thesis
adviser, Mary Jane Perry then at the University of Washington (University of
Maine now). Her intellectual vision, energy, and enthusiasm has remained a lasting
influence. Science is the result of a process of creating relationships and meaningful
collaborations and interactions, I have been fortunate in this regard.
Q: What are your hobbies? What do you do for fun?
A: I love gardening and creating floral arrangements, especially wedding bouquets
for my friends and friends of my friends. Also, I love doing yoga and dancing
zumba, although they are at the opposite ends of the exercise spectrum. I do a fair
amount of biking and hiking in summer and skiing in winter! I cannot be without
good and interesting books! Finally, I love learning languages.
Q: What’s your most memorable cruise for 1) social, 2) scientific and 3) collaborative
reasons?
A: My most fascinating cruise from every point of view until now has been my
cruise to the Arctic (87°N) in 2008 for many reasons; first it was incredibly beautiful,
second it broke my heart to see global change in action, but the most compelling
reason was the discovery of microgels in the clouds. When I saw gels from the clouds
in the microscope and that they resembled those that we were finding in the
subsurface seawater and surface microlayer it was an extraordinary moment and
unforgettable feeling! I was thrilled and simultaneously in disbelief! The
collaborations from that cruise have been very rewarding!
A rainbow in the Arctic along the 87°N cruise that Mónica participated in back in 2008.
Photo credit: M. Tjernström.
The sun over the Arctic sea ice. Photo credit: M. Tjernström.
Please click the link and scroll to her interview. You can also read other awesome interviews with the scientists and crew: check out Penguin Expert Jerry Kooyman. He has a mountain named after him!
Interview with Dr. Mónica Orellana Co-Chief Scientist of the TRACERS Cruise and Scientist at Institute for Systems Biology
Mónica in the lab at the Institute for Systems Biology. Photo courtesy of M. Orellana.
Q: Have you been to Antarctica, or done polar fieldwork before?
A: No I have never been to Antarctica, I would really like to be there with all of you
as you know, but it is not possible this at time!
Q: What will your role in TRACERS bring to the Institute for Systems Biology?
A: One of the ISB’s goals is to increase environmental sustainability. ISB has been
using systems science to improve the understanding of interactions of microbes and
ecosystems. Through TRACERS, we are learning many aspects of the Ross Sea
Ecosystem by applying sophisticated technologies, perturbation experiments and
high-resolution measurements to understand the role of Phaeocystis and other
microbes in carbon export. Thus, Phaeocystis now becomes a new model cell system
for ISB, and the Ross Sea a new working ecosystem.
Q: How does your work on TRACERS (or more broadly, at ISB) contribute to the field
of marine science?
A: We are using immune-probes coupled with microgel measurements in the water
column to improve our understanding of the exported carbon by Phaeocystis in
colloidal and dissolved polymeric material forms. These tools have broad
applicability to other ocean systems but are not widely used. Immunoprobes will
allow in situ tracking of Phaeocystis polymers and proteins, their transformation
and degradation in the water column. Our contribution to TRACERS,
oceanography and marine sciences will be to provide information on the cycling of
Phaeocystis polymers and proteins such as RuBisCO as actual biopolymers in the
DOC pool. This creates a link between the biology at the ocean’s surface, and the
transformation of the exported particulate matter in water column.
incubators that she has used for multiple incubation experiments during TRACERS.
Photo credit: A. Margolin.
Allison in the hydro lab, prepared to head out to the incubators on a cold day, typical of
the Ross Sea. Photo credit: A. Margolin.
Q: Why is what we are doing in the Ross Sea important?
A: Understanding particulate matter transformations in the Ross Sea will help us to
explain the role of particular matter transformations in carbon and nitrogen export
in larger contexts across global ocean.
Q: What do you hope to learn from the samples collected and analyzed during the course
of the TRACERS Cruise?
A: The samples collected will help us understand the transformation and
solubilization rates of the particulate production in the water column. The coupling
of antibody probes with measurements of gels will enable us learn about the specific
transformations. Gels can reach high percentage of the dissolved organic carbon
pool (10-30%), however their dynamics in the field are not well known. Only
recently, we learned that gels have important roles including transferring proteins
into the deep sea and have an important role as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) in
the Arctic and possibly all across the world oceans. By high-resolution sampling we
will have a very good quantitative understanding of the gel’s role in transferring
material to the deep ocean.
Image of a microgel under the microscope. They can be thought of as mucus produced by
algae. Photo credit: A. Lee.
A cartoon showing that phytoplankton (or algae) can produce DMS—that’s dimethyl
sulfide—which acts as cloud condensation nuclei and affects the earth’s radiative
balance. It has recently been found that microgels also play a role as CCN in the Arctic,
and might also play a role in the Ross Sea and global ocean. Image adapted from an
image provided by NOAA/PMEL.
Q: What are the challenges as a chief scientist, of participating in the TRACERS Cruise
from Seattle as opposed to on board the Palmer?
A: Communication, always being behind by a day!
Working in the Ross Sea put us on the New Zealand time zone (M – light blue), while
Mónica in Seattle (U – purple) was 20 hours behind us. However, now that we have
crossed the dateline and have been moving east, we are just about in the same time zone.
Image from www.nist.time.gov.
Q: How were you introduced to the other chief scientists and their work?
A: I have known Dennis Hansell since he was a post doc at the University of
Washington School of Oceanography, but only in the last 5-6 years we have
collaborated scientifically. I have also known Jack DiTullio, but we had never
collaborated before; I have known of R. Dunbar and A. Bochdansky’s work, but I
haven’t met them in person.
Q: What other projects are you working on, and how are they interrelated?
A: I work on various aspects of phytoplankton. I have a project using a multiscale
systems approach to understand the physiological, cellular and molecular responses
of diatoms to climate change and ocean acidification. Another project is to use
phytoplankton proteins as tracers in the water column. We are also working on
archaea/chlorophyte interactions and the role of gels and their physico-chemical
characteristics in the water column and as CCN. These different approaches allow
us to understand the mechanisms of gel production and their roles in carbon
cycling.
Q: Where did you get your degrees and what were they in?
A: BA Biology from Universidad de Concepción (Chile)
MS Zoology from University of Concepción (Chile)
MS Biological Oceanography, University of Washington, (USA)
Ph.D. Biological Oceanography, University of Washington (USA)
Q: Have you always been interested in marine biology, or are there other avenues that
you have explored and/or plan to explore in your future?
A: Yes, I have been interested in biology since I was 9 years old, when I told my
parents that I would be a scientist! The sea, its immensity, its motion, its flora and
fauna have always fascinated me. I grew up in Chile, a long narrow country on the
Pacific and the ocean has touched its people from giants like the Nobel laureate
Pablo Neruda (“Ode to the Tuna at the Market”), to (at that time) students like
myself pondering the complex and mysterious beauty of the marine microscopic
world.
Pablo Neruda was born in Parral, Chile in 1904. He began his writing career at the early
age of thirteen. Pablo Neruda received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1971 for his works
as a poet.
Q: What are some of the challenges you have faced and overcome as a Chilean and as a
woman in the field of marine science?
A: I don’t feel that I have had a challenge as a Chilean woman “per se”, but my
most difficult challenge has been to be at the interface of scientific disciplines. I did a
post doc in bioengineering, which allowed me to visit the boundaries between
disciplines, observe new practices, methodologies, and perspectives. These
perspectives have enhanced my career and the manner in which we do research.
Working in an interdisciplinary environment has been rewarding, but not an easy
road to travel. It has required additional training to understand fundamental
differences in the thought processes and languages of different disciplines. This path
has also involved some inherent risk, one of which is the slow pace of recognition for
the applicability of new concepts in oceanography, and being outside the normal
oceanographic environment. The risk has been balanced by the gratification
springing from innovation and new understanding of old ideas and producing new
paradigms.
Q: What advice do you have for young women, and/or those foreign to the US, interested
in pursuing careers in science?
A: Anybody in science should have a joy for learning, a great level of curiosity, and
be ready for a great adventure! And, of course be hard working!
Photo and quote courtesy of ISB.
Q: Who has been an inspiration to you in your career, and how do you see yourself as a
reflection of them?
A: I have been influenced and supported in my career by great mentors, fellow
students and past and current colleagues. I am especially grateful for my thesis
adviser, Mary Jane Perry then at the University of Washington (University of
Maine now). Her intellectual vision, energy, and enthusiasm has remained a lasting
influence. Science is the result of a process of creating relationships and meaningful
collaborations and interactions, I have been fortunate in this regard.
Q: What are your hobbies? What do you do for fun?
A: I love gardening and creating floral arrangements, especially wedding bouquets
for my friends and friends of my friends. Also, I love doing yoga and dancing
zumba, although they are at the opposite ends of the exercise spectrum. I do a fair
amount of biking and hiking in summer and skiing in winter! I cannot be without
good and interesting books! Finally, I love learning languages.
Q: What’s your most memorable cruise for 1) social, 2) scientific and 3) collaborative
reasons?
A: My most fascinating cruise from every point of view until now has been my
cruise to the Arctic (87°N) in 2008 for many reasons; first it was incredibly beautiful,
second it broke my heart to see global change in action, but the most compelling
reason was the discovery of microgels in the clouds. When I saw gels from the clouds
in the microscope and that they resembled those that we were finding in the
subsurface seawater and surface microlayer it was an extraordinary moment and
unforgettable feeling! I was thrilled and simultaneously in disbelief! The
collaborations from that cruise have been very rewarding!
A rainbow in the Arctic along the 87°N cruise that Mónica participated in back in 2008.
Photo credit: M. Tjernström.
The sun over the Arctic sea ice. Photo credit: M. Tjernström.
Line-crossing Ceremony
I’m not suppose to talk about it, but its maritime
tradition, that whenever you cross a circle of significance (Arctic, Equator,
Antarctic) you are suppose to go through a sort of traditional ceremony.
I won't tell you here what we had to do, just know that we appeased King Neptune and it was silly and fun, and Wikipedia can tell you the rest ;)
I am not longer a "pollywog" , I am now a Shellback of
The Order of the Golden Dragon for sailors who have crossed the International Date Line.
The Order of the Red Nose for sailors who have crossed the Antarctic Circle.
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