Blogs

Goodness! It seems as if these weeks are going by like days...Well anywho, this week I started to finish up my interface. I made some changes to my GUI: Change 1: Instead of updating the database by the number of data points flagged, I update the database once per "boxed" flag. Change 2: I am now using the variables min and max as well as the time frame to zoom in on the rows that were flagged in the GUI to serve as a placemark in the database. Change 3: I separated the extraction of data and its graph.

What happened this week? Lots! I used Monday to work on getting 3D fluorescence curves for Zn and dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and to see if I could create standard curves for these two using the Fluoromax (a spectrofluorometer). I used Tuesday to run some tests of different NH4 concentrations with different DOC concentrations. I got the same results that I had gotten last week with my preliminary tests. That is, with higher DOC concentrations, the standard curves got lower slopes, but higher y-intercepts. On Wednesday, I did the same thing I did on Tuesday, but with Zn instead of NH4.

This past week I extracted a sample Lydie collected on July 21st from Ilwaco Bay that showed slight red water coloration. I ran a few PCR reactions with several samples from Ilwaco, Willapa and La Push. Unfortunately, I did not have any amplification occur. On Thursday and Friday I purified all the samples using a gel purification technique (I basically just cut out the DNA band from the gel to isolate it). I am anxious to work with the gel purified samples to see if they produce better results with the PCR! 

I just finished my last week at CMOP! I spent week 10 working on my final paper and powerpoint. I ended the week by giving a final talk and saying goodbye to everyone in my lab. 

This is been yet another amazing internship! I am extremely happy I was able to do it for a second summer. Maybe I'll be back next year - who knows! :)

Week 5:

Nate showed us how to compile all the Phoebe data into one place in MATLAB so what we could graph it all at once. Specifically, we looked at surface salinity (0-2.5m). After that we compared this layer's salinity to the modeled layer. By comparing these two graphs we were able to point out that at some points the two graphs looked very distinct. We saw that the model predicted higher salinities close to 34 psu. On the other hand the observations graph showed lower salinities, in some cases lower than 30 psu.

Aside from the infernal weather conditions (not to mention, the record high temperatures), this week I accomplished something that I’ve wanted to complete for the past weeks. I actually got the glider moving along its trail at Google Earth. It looks so happy… I fixed the bearing, making it seem perfect as the glider makes turns on the line. The problem I had before was that I was looking at the angles from a flat surface point of view.

interviewing Mr. Sampsel.

My equipment finally came! All my stuff arrived this week, so I was finally able to start my project in earnest. I cut and drilled the rod early this week, and have been fabricating all my connections. Waiting for epoxy to dry is by far the worst part, but once that is over it's pretty fun. The initial results are not terribly promising, but hopefully its a simple problem. It is always hard to work with things that are really small.

today is wednesday the 29th and i am now half way done with my 8 weeks.i cant believe how time flys. ive been coming all alone for the past few days but now my partner in crime is back! = ) its nice to come here everyday with the AC in this hot weather and to see everyone.the week pushes on.....

Thankfully we've been able to get the experiment moving along and we're on the 8th day of data collection as of now. It looks like they'll be taking their precious time to grow as usual though so we're having to be very careful with how much volume we use for certain experiments like nutrient measurements.

I've been able to rewrite the code for the model so I can set it to run several iterations of the model with different parameter configurations while I'm at work; my computer surely hates me, but the information learned by adjusting these parameters is very useful.