"Catch of the Day"... loaded with Omega-3 fatty acids!

Day 6 of our cruise on the Gulf of Mexico and we've reached "ground zero" of the Deep Water Horizon oil spill (see picture link). So far, the weather is holding and the sea is almost as calm as a lake. A far cry from the Arctic/sub Arctic cruises I sailed on some 15-20 years ago. Another oddity, to me at least, is the connectedness one feels now on modern cruises. Beyond the Wi-Fi email access (slow but steady), we now enjoy satellite TV! I can proudly say I watched my London-based soccer team win its Saturday match live in the middle of the sea. But that's hardly relevant to science, is it? Well, it sort of is. If we're not blind (and deaf) to the human world, we're less and less so to the natural one as well. Not so long ago, we chose water depths for sampling based exclusively on water masses derived from salinity/temperature profiles. And that was after download of the data stored in the CTD once it was brought back on deck. Today, we not only monitor salinity and temperature in real time, but we also carry a whole suite of sensors that measure other chemical properties. Choosing a water depth to sample is as easy as reading a graph on the lab computer. It takes some of the guessing out of science. In this trip, for example, we are using several fluorescence probes to detect the potential presence of hydrocarbons (from the oil spill) in the water column. And we are observing interesting "features" at depths (around 1000-1300 m) previously identified as an oil plume by prior research cruises. We also have a cavity ring-down spectrometer on board, one of the coolest instruments to hit the analytical tool kit in recent years. Dr. Alan Schiller (University of Southern Mississippi) is measuring methane with this instrument and lifting even more the "blindfolds" usually associated with fieldwork research. We have found some methane in the water column as well as definite evidence of fresh oil at the surface of sediments (see the picture of fluorescing oil droplets under black light). Granted, we will still have to wait months for all the data to make its way into our spreadsheets, emails and eventually into conference talks and scientific papers. It will take me that long to measure the hydrocarbon concentrations and chemical signatures from just a subset of all the sediment and water samples we are bringing back. For all its gadgets, seeking to shrink the time it takes to produce data, science and in particular ocean research, is still a process of delayed gratification... Though sometimes, when the results we get are not what we anticipated, it can become a process of delayed frustration. In anticipation of the long hours in the lab producing towards some answers, we might enjoy ourselves now, in our pretense of isolation. It's so pretty out here; I can't but feel a sense of elation at being part of this. And this year is particularly special for me since I get to do this with my son, Noah.