Boating, NSF Site Visit, WET Labs tour

Hi All,

This last week was the busiest, but by far most fun and rewarding week of this experience to date. On Monday, we were out on the R/V Robertson using the LTAIRS (lighter-than-air infrared system) and the REMUS (the underwater vehicle). The objective of Monday's cruise was to see if the infrared camera could be used to detect fluorescence at depth below water. The setup looked like this: a large heluim balloon with the camera attached was flown just over 100m high over a field of view in the lake. The REMUS was programmed to fly a mission in that field of view at increasingly larger depths. Glo-tubes were mounted on the REMUS, and the camera monitered the glo-tubes until the REMUS was deep enough that they disappeared from the field of view. The setup sounds easy conceptually, but it was a very delicate process to get everything working together. There are several outside circumstances (wind blowing the balloon, curious boys trying to pull up the transponders, boat breakdowns in the intended mission path) that we had no control over, so to get the data was a minor miracle. It speaks to the patience and the passion of the staff here in the APL. Looking at the data from these missions is incredible. Just as a quick example, the vehicle takes a temperature measurement at each depth. Looking at the temperature vs. depth plot, you could actually see how the lake was stratified and could easily spot the epilimnion, thermocline and hypolimnion in the lake. I have to say that it is much cooler looking at actual field data that illustrates what you've learned in class versus looking at the pictures in your textbooks!

Tuesday was a comparatively quiet day spent in the lab and shopping at Hardwick's, as was the first half of Wednesday. I also downloaded the student version of AutoCAD 2010 (I strongly recommend doing this for any engineering students who may be reading...it is an awesome program and will probably be vital to you in your career...and the student version is free on autodesk.com if you're enrolled and have a valid school email address and ID #) and started learning how to draw in 3D.

On Wednesday afternoon, we travelled to Portland, OR (home sweet home!) for the NSF Site Visit. The actual NSF Site Visit was on Thursday. There were nearly a dozen speakers presenting on a variety of topics related to the work CMOP is trying to accomplish, and how the work will translate to and be beneficial for society. I really enjoyed Joe Needoba's talk about estuarine hypoxia and acidification. We touched on the topic of ocean acidification in my Aquatic Chemistry class with Dr. Jim Pankow at Portland State, and since then, the topic has always been high on my list of academic interests. I also really appreciated Vanessa Green's talk on CMOP's relevance in the field of education. CMOP is being integrated into schools from the kindergarten to graduate level. CMOP is also taking initiatives to educate the broader public. It's cool to know that I play a small role in everything thats going on with CMOP. The site visit opened my eyes to a lot of that.

On Friday, I travelled to Philomath, OR (go Beavs!) to tour WET Labs, the company that manufactures the sensors I'm calibrating. I just have to say: wow. Angela Hahn and Ian Walsh led me through the tour of the factory, and Mr. Walsh answered questions I had on calibration and gave me some great advice. Seeing their calibration setup was an invaluable opportunity. After seeing that, I've restructured the design of our facility, and have realized that there are a lot of new questions to answer and things to think about. I really enjoyed the time at the factory, and I was completely blown away. The people are so willing to help, listen, and encourage, and the equipment itself is the best there is. Thank you to Angela and Ian for allowing me to come; I got so much out of that visit!

Until next week,
~Kysa