Slightly rougher seas overnight - despite pre-dosing with more Phenergan, which normally makes me sleep like a dead man, I was repeatedly woken by being thrown about in bed. Had a simple breakfast of porridge and preserved fruit, followed by a croissant and some coffee. Think I'll stick to tea in future.
Not much to see on the bridge today - the seas are all around with a 3-4 metre swell and just 2 albatross going about, slightly overcast.
In search of some interest (and to find where everyone on board has vanished to) I went down to the marine Science lab where they are "trawling" for little creatures called 'pteropods'. These little things - not even half a mm across are one of the important links in the food chain from the photosynthesising phytoplankton to the fish. They have a thin but hard shell around them which is calcified, which is why they are being studied. As the global CO2 rises, and therefore more becomes dissolved in the sea, the acidity of the sea increases. Once the acidity of the sea reaches a certain point, it will dissolve the shell as it is formed and these little fellows will not be able to survive. Currently this is predicted to occur by the end of the century.
The problem then is what will happen to things further up the food chain. The other thing that is coming up in their filtering experiments is gloopy jelly-like things affectionately called "snot" by the biologists. They are very simple jelly-creatures - some long like slugs, some round like a Yorkshire pudding, but only a few cm across. The predictions are that these jelly things will take over and the Southern Ocean will become a "jelly ocean", with consequences for the fish etc who probably don't feed on them.
The Continuous Plankton Recorder was also deployed today - this little torpedo-shaped thing has been use din the same design for over 50 years. It is dragged behind the boat, and the water rushing past drive a propellor which in turn drives a mechanism that continuous moves a long piece of gauze from one spool to another while it is immersed. This gauze filters the water, trapping the plankton in it, so to give a continuous reading of the density of plankton as the ship travels.
The picture is tiny - it has to be to get through the email system, but it shows the CPR about to be lowered into the water.
Had mushroom & chicken risotto for dinner, followed by apricot crumble with ice-cream.
___________________________________________________________________________
Australian Antarctic Division - Commonwealth of Australia
IMPORTANT: This transmission is intended for the addressee only. If you are not the
intended recipient, you are notified that use or dissemination of this communication is
strictly prohibited by Commonwealth law. If you have received this transmission in error,
please notify the sender immediately by e-mail or by telephoning +61 3 6232 3209 and
DELETE the message.
Visit our web site at http://www.antarctica.gov.au/
___________________________________________________________________________
No comments:
Post a Comment