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| Vroooooom! As the snowmachines came to a stop and the happy volunteers shoveled away, I waddled off my teachers snowmachine. I realized by the snow flying in the air, that shoveling was afoot. I asked if I could shovel and they let me. | |
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| We finally got the snow out, in a good looking, square form. The Alaska Fish and Game employees then took two large wood boards off to reveal flat pieces of Styrofoam. "A seal has been here, notice the markings on the foam," called out Betsy Brennan. After everyone looked at the markings on the foam, they started to pull in the crab pot. When the crab pot was revealed, I was surprised to see a net, instead of a pot. | |
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| As Paul Thompson did the tagging, Greg Mitchell recorded the information. I then asked if I could hold a big crab. They said yes, then I posed for a picture. | |
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| After the crabs, someone stated they found shrimp, starfish, and a Lyre Crab in the bottom of the crab pot. When they opened the bait box, they found copepods and krill, along with chopped up, dead, smelly and mutilated fish. They poured out the mess on the snow, so everyone could take a closer look. Many "ewwws" and playful screams came from the girls. I also heard some guys say "ewww." | |
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When all of the crabs were put back in the water, we collected water from different depths; 10, 20, 30, and 40 feet. Our method to get the water was to use a bottle with a cork in it. Both the bottle and the cork had thin rope attached to it. When the bottle was at the right depth, we tugged on the rope attached to the cork Back in the classroom, we will check the salinity of the water. Checking the salinity wasn't something I understood at first, but it's just checking how much salt is in it. |
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| Collecting the phytoplankton was my favorite part. We collected the phytoplankton by lowering a small net with a Christmas tree, light bulb looking attachment on the end of the net. It was shaped like a cone. We lowered the net many times, all unsuccessful. Everyone laughed as Mr. Hindman looked into the net to discover that he forgot to take the lid off of the collection tube. | |
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| When we were all done with the plankton collecting, we lowered a secchi disk into the water to check how clear the water was. The disc disappeared after 15 feet. We also checked the water temperature, it was 27 degrees Fahrenheit. | |
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Then, we took ice samples from the top, middle, and the bottom of the sea ice using an ice auger. We were all done now and came back to school tired and worn out. |
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