my lab chemistry skills, which were dormant for many years. Maybe
every two days or so, I make standard samples, calibrate the machine,
and analyze water samples which we've taken from CTD stations and the
sea surface. I shouldn't say I, I still am getting a tremendous
amount of help and guidance from Bettina, the MST who's responsible
for nutrient analysis and responsible for the Lachat "bible". Anyway,
today I broke the Lachat at 6 am and it got angry and decided to shut
down twice spontaneously after she fixed it for me.
A little background on the Lachat -- we make samples with a varying
known concentrations of phosphate nitrate ammonia nitrite and
silicate, then the machine measures their absorption of light of a
specific wavelength at each concentration, then the water samples are
measured and compared with the calibrations in order to arrive at a
concentration in the samples. Anyway, the nitrate "channel" uses a
column filled with cadmium to convert all of the nitrate to nitrite
so it can be measured. If air gets in the column, it is, in the
words of the "bible", "toast". I have been reminded many a time not
to do this. One of the dumber ways to let air in the column is to not
put a sample in a location where the "autosampler" samples. Today,
I did not put a sample in place. The column was toasted.
Then the winch responsible for holding the CTD had some mechanical
difficulties and needed about a 6 hour break. Which wasn't all that
bad because we had a major nutrient backlog.
I have blamed these problems and others on the evil gnome running
around the ship. Hopefully he's had enough fun. Things seem to be
calming down, the nutrients are analyzed, we're headed for our next
station, and I'm going to go to sleep without messing around with
anything mechanical.
Word is the sun is going down for about two hours a night now.
Springtime in the northern hemisphere yet?
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