This is th End

my only friend, the End.   Well, not the end. Just the end of Leg1.  Slow start but a good mission overall once we got going. Finished two of the three coastal lines (NH and CR - LP was canned in the name of time).  Got two great REMUS missions in - the vehicles went out, did their back-and-forth, up-and-down thing and came back both times without a hiccup.  Craig says the data are very good indeed...sounds like a brown bag talk to me!  And, made some interesting observations about methane that wiill make Leg2 all the more fun to partake in. An incubation done in syringes shows a significant drawdown in 24hr - corresponds to a calculated oxidation rate of 1.7 nM/hr.  Also found very elevated [CH4] in high salinity bottom waters associated with the development of an ETM in the North Channel.  Used that information to prospect for another event and voila!  a repeat observation.  So, it must be real, right?  A 24hr syringe incubation is in progress now to determine if methane oxidation is associated with these particle-rich ETM waters. Stay tuned!

Anchor is now being pulled and we are headed into Astoria for a night on the town.  Tomorrow most of the Leg1 scientific 'sailors' get off and a whole new crew of 'supersuckers' get onboard.  The plan is to be back in the estuary doing CMOP science by mid-afternoon (August 3).

Fred Prahl, Chief Scientist