First day's work

Greetings from the Thompson! My name is James Maxwell Kunetz, and I’m one of the students currently at sea collecting data for my senior thesis project! I’m studying the impact of temperature anomaly events on local nutrient profiles! Today was our first full day at sea, and my first watch (1200 to 1600) was jam packed! Primarily, we oversaw the first CTD cast of the cruise, which involved learning how to prep the bottle-sealing mechanism on the device, a design that I found to be of particular interest. It involves a series of magnetic clasps that are connected to the lids of the sampling bottles by a series of strong wires. When we want to close a bottle at specific depth during the CTD cast, we send a signal from the computer on board that causes an electrical pulse on the device, releasing one of the magnetic clasps and closing the bottle of our choice. Ingenious!

In general, I’ve found being at sea to be a wonderful experience. I’ve had a feeling akin to childlike joy every time that I’ve gotten to learn some new procedure or gaze out at the endlessly blue horizon. Finding my sea legs has been a struggle though. The up-and-down motion of the boat has had me wobbling around all over the place like a newborn baby deer. I’ll be walking down a hallway, totally normal, when I’ll suddenly be forced to lurch hard to the left! I’m getting the hang of it though, and the crew members I’ve chatted with have said that I won’t even notice it after a few days. Looking forward to that! But until then, thank you for reading and supporting the UW School of Oceanography class of 2022!  

--Max Kunetz