Hey Mom!


I know you’re the one really reading this blog, so this is for you!

88 days. That’s all that stands between me, and the journey of a lifetime! Well 88 days, prep work, classes, tests, and lots of homework, but honestly that feels like nothing.

So, what is this trip of a lifetime?
 It’s a forty-five-day research cruise on the RV Laurence M. Gould centering on Palmer station, Antarctica. My team of five is one of four teams on board the ship for this trip, and we’re going to be studying the microbial ecology of the marine microbial communities along the Antarctic Peninsula.

What does this even mean? 
It means we want to study the specific bugs (bacteria/archaea) that live in those waters and how these bugs interact with the marine environment around them.
Isn’t that what you already do? Oh yeah! I get to study the marine microbial ecology of Pensacola Beach on three temporal scales here at home, and now I get to use these same assays and techniques while puking into a bucket for 45 days! Woo!

This is the place I’m going to post updates during my trip, starting now with the prep work, so keep checking back to watch what goes into an Antarctic research cruise because I have no idea!

Comments

  1. LeslieGApril 30, 2019 at 4:40 AM

    I am not your mom, but I have read a couple. Very very interesting stuff. This is an adventure for me as well because I will NEVER do what you are doing now. Thank you so much for sharing your adventure! Leslie, Gulf Breeze

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