HPU Blog Mirror

There is something green in the waters off Scripps!

As you can see, there might be an algal bloom happening right off the coast. One of the more awesome parts of working at Scripps is that I am surround by all manner of marine biologists and oceanographers, so when something strange happens the whole community discusses it. It wasn’t long before an email was sent to everyone at SIO asking what the “green in the water” was. Replies came quickly, the most informative was from SCCOOS:

The harmless, green foam that invaded Orange and LA County beaches in late July has extended down to San Diego County. Last week, researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography also found Tetraselmis, a microscopic green algae, in samples from Scripps Pier. The foam has persisted this week, though it’s patchy distribution make it visible only at some beaches and the foam becomes more apparent in the afternoon when the wind and waves mix the surface waters. This green flagellate which is only 10 micrometers in size has been found in concentrations as dense as 15 million cells per liter of seawater. There are no documented health hazards with swimming or fishing in areas of Tetraselmis blooms.
- http://www.sccoos.org/data/habs/news.php

So the good news is, it won’t hurt you, the bad news is, it looks kinda gross.
-Andrew

It has been a while since I last posted, the main reason is due to being without a computer for about 2 weeks. The reason? My grandparents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in Kauaʻi and all of their descendants attended.

On the way to Kauaʻi I had a 24 hour stay on Oʻahu. While there I got to show my brothers my school and also take care of some registration business. I am now all set for the upcoming semester where I will be taking the following classes: Intro to Japanese I, Calculus II, Physical Chemistry I, and Physics I. It is looking to be a busy semester for me.

After a quick 30 minute plane ride to Kauaʻi a stop off at Costco and a 1 hour drive to the north shore we arrived at the Hanalei Colony Resort where I would be spending the next few days.

Each of the buildings had 4 apartments, while the buildings were identified by letter they were also identified by a Hawaiian name. The building I stayed in was named after a Hawaiian Owl

I stayed on the second floor of the building and we had a rather nice view of the ocean.

The first day I drove back to Kapaʻa to meet up with a friend from HPU to go hiking. After which it was our turn to make dinner for the whole family. Having lived in Hawaii for some 2 years now, I have some idea as to what would be some good local flavor to introduce my family too, so I made spam musubi, ahi maki, spicy ahi poke over rice, and teriyaki chicken. It was a big hit with the family, though some didn’t eat any of the fish because it was all raw. There was plenty of rice and all I was missing for a good plate lunch was some mac salad.

The next day was a beach day. I, along with my brothers, walked down the beach to a place called Tunnels, about a 2km distance. While at the beach I did some swimming around the reef and managed to spot a very colorful eel and a healthy looking turtle. I don’t have any photos unfortunately.

On the 4th of July itself we were again responsible for dinner for the family, about 20 people and guests. This being America we decided to cook up some American food, hamburgers, hotdogs, and corn on the cob.

The above photo is of my brother cooking the corn. Earlier in the day we had all posed for a family portrait.

Much food was had and the countries independence was celebrated, naturally, by blowing part of the country up with fireworks.

With my stay in Kauaʻi soon coming to an end we took one of the last full days on the island to go check out Waimea Canyon also known as the Grand Canyon of the Pacific. It was very impressive.

On returning to the mainland I only managed to spend one night in my own bed as the next day I, with my brother who was moving there, drove to San Jose for the weekend. Things didn’t return to normal until yesterday.

So I’m a bit late with this… but better late than never.
Every memorial day I go out to Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery where I place flags in front of grave markers. I have always placed flags in front of the same set of stones and even met the family of one of the people buried (not this year but previous years). They were happy to learn that I was the one who always made sure their father’s (and grandfather’s in the case of the kids) had a flag properly placed in font of his marker.

This year I noticed that the same marker had a new inscription on it, on reading it I realized that it was the wife of the man who was buried. I realized that I had met her, with her family, visiting her husbands grave. This year their grave received extra care.

Last week I was at the AGU Ocean Sciences meeting in Portland Oregon. This meeting took place at the Oregon Convention Center with over 4000 scientists from around the world presenting findings, discussing results, and planning the future of oceanography for the next few years/decades. I was there to present a poster about the work I did over the summer while working at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. That work culminated in the eventual creation of this website: http://ushydro.ucsd.edu/virtual_cruise/.

Some of the most interesting discussion was about the amount of plastic in the ocean, its source, where it is going, the distribution and the possible impacts. After seeing the findings of several independent researchers it became clear to me that the plastics issue is far larger than I previously thought. And, most of the plastic isn’t in large chunks, but rather small microscopic pieces that are not much larger than most plankton (not jellyfish size). Sadly I missed the discussion on ocean acidification.

There were a few people I was eager to meet. Namely, Chris Measures and Jules Hummon. Both of these individuals were featured in the videos on the website that I had edited. Chris Measures has a primary interest in trace metals and coffee. Jules Hummon is more passionate about ADCPs than anyone I have met before. I learned that they were out of Hawaii, so I may have a chance to visit their labs at some point in the future.

In all the meeting was a great experience though a bit tiring. I would do it again if I had the opportunity. And now to play catch up with my schoolwork.
-Andrew