A Productive day

Today was the first day that things went well in terms of sampling.
Except for the part where it took 5 hours to get the ship situated before
we could begin. After that, we blasted through two stations last night.
It's not too bad outside, until you get wet. The temp was -20F, with
about 30 mph winds, so the wind chill was way down there, and we were out
in it for two hours straight. One of the annoying things is that the grab
that we lower to take samples of the mud on the bottom freezes up while
it's out of the water, and we have to spray it with hot water while we are
removing the sample, AND while it is being lowered into the water. It is
so cold that the trip mechanism can freeze solid in just a few seconds.
Then we dump the mud (about 5 gallons worth) into a screen box and spray
water over it until the fine mud particles are gone and only critters and
shells are left. It takes about 20 minutes to wash all the mud off the
sample, and after the first one (we do 6 usually) you are wet from head to
toe with spray and mud. And the wind chill is -50. It takes u about
2.5-3 hours to complete a station, and by the time we're done, you're
fingers are so cold they just ache. Oh, and all this happens between
11:30pm and 11:30am. I got the night shift.
Time for shower and bed.
Steve

thanks to Matt Sexson for the photos.