Time for action!
21.07.2008 People have been working continously since we reached the operation area last night. The CTD fetched water to all who needed, and the macrobiologists got a "box core" that kept them busy all night long. The microbiologists have been searching for bacterias since early morning, and water samples have been analyzed. Marvin got his water/gas samples late in the evening, and Rolf has been running the stairs managing the whole thing.
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The Beerenberg volcano was shining in the sun as we were approaching the Jan Mayen island at 11.30 last night. The portugese geologist Alvaro didn't really know if it was day or night, while the boat found its position on one of the slopes of the midatlantic ridge, the "Gallionella garden" . There was no time to loose, so everybody were eager to get started. The CTD was set out for some measurements as well as getting water for the biologists. Also a "box core" sampler (a metallic box with a grab) and agravity corer were used. The latter one got only half a meter of sediments for Agata, so she has to wait for more material. In contrary, the macrobiologists got their box filled up so they had work to do for the whole night. They found among other things sea spiders, tube worms and brittle stars .
The first task for the ROV was to collect the samples that had stayed on the bottom for 2 years, and to whitch the microbiologists had big expectations. They had put pieces of glass and basalt into a tube, and were hoping that some iron eating bacterias would try to settle down there. Torill would try to cultivate them; she has been trying to find a good method for a long time. Besides, Ingunn will like to do some electron microscopy to look for marks from the bacterias. She and Tamara will also analyse the water in the area by pH, alcalinity (buffer capacity), sulfide, ammonium and iron.
In the next dive the ROV gets some lumps of iron oxide in which the scientists will look for bacterias and animals. Bacterias will be isolated and analysed by DNA, and some lumps are frozen to be analysed for fatty acids.
The macrobiologists found some krill, amphipodas, tube worms and brittle stars. We could see on the screen the fantastic life in the sea. Otherwise the main task for them today was to put out some remedies i.e. plastic discs, pieces of wood, pieces of coconut fibre, and cow bones that are going to stay on the sea bottom for a year. They hope that some small animals will settle there.
The day's third ROV dive went to the "Troll wall" (Trollveggen), an area where they have seen volcanic action from hot spots that have grown to chimney structures. It was an imposing sight; we could clearly see the warm water flow out of the openings making the temperature 120-130 C. From one of the chimneys there was a black smoke. The ROV was supposed to take a water sample from it, but instead it was knocked down. Also here there was some standing samples to be collected, and they were totally overgrown by white slimy threads of sulfur eating bacteria. These were taken care of by the microbiologists and in the microscope we could see the long fragments with white grains of sulfur inside.
Marvin was the lucky guy this evening, because he got his water sample from one of the chimneys, to analyse for gases. He uses his self made equipment for this purpose, and carries it around the world in a container. The machine separates the water from the gas fraction, which is collected into ampullae to be brought back to Seattle for analysis. Common gases as hydrogen and methane can be analysed in the gas chromatographer on the boat.
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