|
Read questions and answers in the Mail Buoy» December 1, 2011 Hello to the crew. I'm a student of Dr. Hera Karayanni. First, congratulations for the great job you do, and I would like to thank you for the opportunity you give us to experience such an important research trip!! Reading all that you write, I would like to do some questions: 1. Do you think about making a column Winogradsky with water and sediment that you gathered? Thank you, Dear Sofia, 2. Yes, most of them. Some students, for example, did their internship aboard, so I assume they won't work with samples from here. But all other scientists bring their own samples home. Or actually we have to ship some, because we don't want to transport big boxes of samples on dry ice together with all our luggage in the airplane. So, a world courier service will help us with that! 3. 0.65 µm filters from Millipore (47mm in diameter) Durapore fabric is what I used. 4. Yeah, I guess some organisms which were adaptive to a broad range of salt may have had the chance to withstand the new conditions. But I guess that can just be true for a very small proportion of the original community. When conditions change that much, you must think about those salt dissolvements as a catastrophe-like impact. And salt-specialist organisms that came by (e.g. as cysts driven by turbidity via low salt waters) had the chance to build up their new habitat. Maybe it’s comparable to a forest that burned down and small pioneer plants have the first and best chances to settle down. Thank you for your interest in our expedition. Alexandra Stock, Technical University of Kaiserslautern, Germany Hi, my name is Ally and I am in Ms. Sheild's seventh-grade class. I was interested in finding out what the most difficult piece of equipment is to operate on the actual ship itself (not Jason, SID-ISMS, etc). Thank you so much for spending the time to answer this question. Ally A-P., Probably the most complex piece of scientific equipment that the ship has installed is our multibeam system. The multibeam is an instrument mounted underneath the ship that sends out hundreds of beams of sound that fan across the seafloor. It then listens for the echoes of each individual sound beam. Based on the time for it takes to echo, we can calculate how deep the ocean is where that beam hit. Sending out so many beams at one time allows us to accurately map the seafloor very quickly. The reason this instrument is so complicated is that in order to produce an accurate map, the instrument has to also incorporate data it gets from GPS, a satellite clock, a motion sensor, a heading compass, and a seawater temperature and salinity sensor all in the same split second that it is sending out these hundreds of beams of sound! Catie Graver Hi I am Brendan from Ms. Sheild’s class. How good is the food on the ship? Would you consider it most like cafeteria, homemade, or restaurant food? Brendan J. Food on board the Atlantis is actually all three types you mentioned. It is self-service, on a tray where you make your own dishes from salad to main dish (two choices) and desert. Of course, it cannot be like homemade because we all come from different homes and so each one of us misses his/her favourite home-cooked dish! But I assure you that the quality is such that you can get in a lot of restaurants! The guys in the kitchen are taking good care of the scientists and crew. And, just between you and me, I have gained a couple of pounds—OK, maybe three— since we started the cruise; and this says everything about food on Atlantis! Dr. Konstantinos Kormas I know that brines are created from salt that is somehow put into the water but where does this salt come from? Does it naturally occur? Stephen M. That is a good question, and the answer to it is on our Dive and Discover site. If you follow the link for “What are DHABs?” and go to the section on “Geology of DHABs,” you will find interactive illustrations of where the salt comes from. Check it out! Cherie Winner Hi, my name is Jayme and I'm one of Ms. Sheild's seventh-grade students I am wondering when you are at sea, is there any way you can prevent seasickness? I have gotten seasick on longer boat rides, but for me, that would only be about three hours. How do you keep from getting sick and if you are, what do you do to become well again? Thank you for helping me Hi Jayme, To prevent seasickness, some people take a prescription medication like Dramamine or wear a skin patch that delivers Scopalomine to your system. You have to start taking those medications before you feel sick, though. If you wait until you’re sick, they won’t work. Ginger is supposed to relieve nausea, so when I got sick yesterday, friends on the ship gave me little ginger candies that you suck like a cough drop. They helped. I’ve also heard that some people wear a bracelet that applies pressure to a point on your wrist, and that is supposed to help. Sometimes, what you’re doing on the boat can make it worse. Reading, working at a computer, or looking through a microscope are the worst things you can do if you’re seasick. Getting outside for fresh air is always good, and looking at the horizon helps because the horizon stays flat and steady even if your boat is moving around a lot. Many people eventually get used to the movement of the ship and no longer get sick. Or they might get sick the first day or two of a trip, but then their stomach settles down and they are fine. But some people never get over it, even if they are experienced sailors. So you are not alone! Good luck in your future travels. Cherie Winner I am a student from Miss Sheild's seventh-grade class. The brine lakes are "oxygenless." But doesn't water always have oxygen? Water is H2O. Thank you very much! Tina G Aha, you have asked a very perceptive question. When we talk about the brine lakes being anoxic, which means having no oxygen, we mean that they contain no molecular oxygen, O2. That is the form of oxygen most organisms use for respiration. O2 is dissolved in normal seawater, in high enough concentrations for fish, clams, plankton, algae, and other organisms to use. But DHABs contain no dissolved O2, and that’s why we say they have no oxygen. As you correctly point out, though, the element oxygen is present. However, it is bound up in other molecules such as calcium carbonate (CaCO3), sulfates (SO4-), and of course, water itself (H2O). The oxygen in these molecules is not available to organisms for use in respiration. Thank you for writing. Keep thinking! Cherie Winner Do the protists living down there have pink on them. Julia G. Hello Julia, If you are referring to the loriciferan pictured in our “Life in the DHABs” information, that specimen was not naturally pink. The pink came from a dye that was used to stain the loriciferan so its anatomy would show up better. Biologists use many different dyes to study microbes. Some stain just the DNA, some stain lipids, some stain proteins of various kinds. Which one is used on a given specimen depends on what the scientist wants to see most clearly. Thanks for following our expedition. Cherie Winner I am in Mrs. Sheild's class, and I was wondering how you control the SID-ISMS from the surface as it travels along the ocean floor? Thank you very much for taking the time to answer my question. Taryn We are no experts in this, but we interviewed Craig Taylor for you, one of the inventors of the SID-ISMS unit. Here is basically what he told us: The SID-ISMS system is linked with the computer lab aboard via a telephone-like connection within three insulated copper wires encased within steel hydro-cable that is wrapped on the ship’s winch. DSL-like information is transmitted back and forth between a laptop in the ship’s computer lab and the SID in the deep water (about 3,500 meters depth), much like multiple conversations are transmitted back and forth in a DSL telephone system. Sensors on the SID tell us about the salinity, temperature, and depth of the instrument, along with measurements of oxygen content and turbidity. The turbidity sensors have been especially helpful in positioning the instrument exactly where we want to sample within the brine interface, which is only about 2 meters thick, or in the concentrated brine just below. The salinity meter and oxygen sensors also confirm the instrument’s location and report important properties of the water we wish to know. With specially designed SID software we can input commands to the instrument, telling it to begin sampling. It also transmits data back telling us the volume of sample collected, how fast sample water is being pumped, etc. Thank you for your question. Keep tracking. Lea Weinisch & Alexandra Stock Three questions, same answer: Do you believe that there are any other ways to collect energy deep down in the ocean other than chemosythesis? Elaine Hi, this is Ivy, one is Miss Sheild's seventh-grade students. I have a question about organisms that live in brine lakes. Since there is no sunlight for photosynthesis down there, organisms that live down there must survive by eating other organisms. So what organism is at the bottom of the food chain, and how do they manage to survive? Ivy G. Dear Scientist, Regards, You all have good questions! Actually, with your questions, you answer each other. In deep-sea brines, there is no light but organisms need to make their living somehow. This means to grow and reproduce. So both lifestyles you mention can be found in DHABs. Heterotrophs consume living organisms (e.g bacteria or other protists) or non-living organic matter (e.g organic particles suspended in the water falling from the surface. Have you heard about “marine snow?” We actually saw it with the Jason cameras). Autotrophs can synthesize organic matter using CO2 and a source of energy. In DHABs where light is lacking, there are no photo-autotrophs (that perform photosynthesis), but microorganisms can gain energy from the oxidation of organic or inorganic substances, for example from the oxidation of sulfide, which is found in high concentrations in some of these DHABs. So, it seems that heterotrophic or chemosynthetic bacteria are at the base of the food web in deep brines. Hera Karayanni Two questions, same answer: Do you think you will find organisms down in the DHABs? How many people are studying this with you? Hannah C. Michelle L. For the project to be accomplished, different scientists and technicians from different disciplines need to collaborate before, during, and after the cruise. I hope that in the future you will have the chance to collaborate with such a wonderful team! Hera Karayanni If Jason were to film living creatures at the bottom of the ocean, would you guys get the credit if it was undiscovered or would the creators of Jason get credit? Also, could any of the data be messed up by the DHABs? Thanks!!! Mary Kate J. We cannot reach ocean depths without Jason people, but Jason people cannot perform the biogeochemical analysis of samples. To get good samples and to perform a nice analysis and interpretation of results, different people from different disciplines need to collaborate. We all like our jobs and if a colleague of ours gets a credit for a discovery, then we are all be happy for having contributed in one way or another to this. All the best, Dr. Edgcomb, Hi, this William, one of your students. How long were the Egyptian refugees on board your boat? Also, have you discovered anything in the deep brines yet? Thanks, Hi William, Dr. E Dear Dr. Edgcomb, Sincerely, P.S. Have fun and remember: Don’t drink the water–it’s too salty. Hi Lachlan, Besides the extra saltiness of the brines damaging your equipment, what other challenges did you guys have to overcome? Allen X. Thank you for your question! There were quite a few scientific challenges we had to overcome. For me, the most important was the high pressure of the deep ocean. As you may read at the daily update of Dec. 5, the major issue Ginny Edgcomb and Craig Taylor had to confront with the deployment of SID-ISMS was the intense pressure at the depth of sampling. Another challenge was the low visibility at the brines. The Jason crew and Dr Bernhard had to take some risks when they were performing the sampling in these environments. Other challenges have to do with the living on a vessel, away from the facilities of one’s home. Moreover, you have to collaborate with people you probably didn’t know before and you probably won’t meet in the future. Since what really matters on the cruise is the science, you have to do your best to collaborate 24/7 with each other. For a successful mission crew and scientists have to act as a well working, synchronized team! All the best, Are there some areas or depths of the DHABs where you expect to find more protists? Alexandre F. Hera Karayanni
|
||
Mailing List | Feedback | Glossary | For Teachers | About Us | Contact
© 2010 Dive and Discover™. Dive and Discover™ is a registered trademark of Woods
Hole Oceanographic Institution
