Dispatch 15: A Tale of Rosey and the Lab Rats

Kristina Brown and Mary Steele (IOS)

August 19, 2006


	Mike Dempsey guides "Rosey" over the side of the Louis. Photo by Rick Krishfield, WHOI.

	Mary Steele draws water from a Niskin bottle for oxygen analysis. Photo by Rick Krishfield, WHOI.

	The Lab Rats in the main lab. Photo by Rick Krishfield, WHOI.

T'was an hour before station
And all through the lab
Not a scientist stood still,
Not even to gab.

The lab is a bustling
In preparation for the cast.
'Cause once rosey's on board,
The sampling happens fast.

Sheets of ice in the distance,
Gray water beneath,
A thick fog creeps up slowly --
A view beyond belief.

Old Rosey lay empty,
Alone on the deck,
While the watch crew get bundled
From their toes to their neck.

The bottles lined up
And labeled with care,
In hopes of Arctic waters
That soon would be there.

With a call from the bridge
We prepare the rosette
With one last final check,
All the samples we'll get.

Sarah stands as chief scientist
Watching over the action.
Not a detail forgotten,
No sign of distraction.

With the rosette now lowered
From the window you can see
Jen in eager anticipation
Of what the transmissivity might be.

Back down in the lab
The analysts are busy
Measuring, bubbling
And making things fizzy.

Ness's island in the middle
Set up for CFC's.
She works around the ticking clock
Never stopping to catch her ZZZZ's.

In the corner there is coffee
With Mary close beside
Measuring oxygen like Winkler,
She titrates each day with pride.

Michiyo with her Dosimat --
It's Alkalinity she measures.
Observing the Mackenzie outflow,
But Origami is her pleasure.

With Linda measuring nutrients,
A phytoplankters buffet,
She keeps the lab smiling
With her laughter all day.

Kristina, Hugh and Mike
Work in a cold lab out back
Measuring salinity and ammonium
With the air conditioner out of whack.

But that is not all,
One more lab will suffice
Where Helen probes at zooplankton
And Pat and Jenny study ice.

The rosette cast continues
From off the starboard side.
The winch operator winching --
He is the CTD's guide

Rosey ascends through the water
With Shige and Abby at the controls,
Bottles tripping and collecting
As traveling up, up, up she goes.

From winch line to pallet
She is rolled into the shack
With water hungry samplers
Waiting to attack.

Before the frenzy begins,
Jane steps in with the list.
The water cop rules
So no samples are missed.

Now CFC's and Helium
And Oxygen to start.
Then DIC, POC,
We know the order by heart.

Then C13 and bacteria --
Fill the Chlorophylls to the top.
Salinity, Nutrients
It seems to never stop.

Once they're filled to the brim,
Then the bottles are capped.
They are placed in the cooler
While the samplers take a nap.

But the day is not over,
Juxin and Yutian have just begun
Deploying their sensor
To catch the last of the sun.

With the station now sampled,
The ship steams away
To the next CTD site
For later that day.

Last updated: October 7, 2019