I'm in handover mode with Helen the current marine assistant. I feel very lucky because my job is quite varied and interesting..... scuba diving being the most exciting part of it. We're supplied with good dry suits and use full face masks so it's only really your hands which get a little bit cold towards the end of the dive. The water is around 0 degrees celsius at the moment.
Other tasks include going out on a boat to to CTDs and collect water samples. The CTD is an instrument which measures Conductivity (salinity / saltiness of water) Temperature and Depth, and is lowered by hand winch to the bottom of Ryder Bay and back (which is 500m deep!). Fortunately it is somewhat smaller than the one used on the JCR. CTDs are done roughly twice a week and the water samples are analysed back in the lab for chlorophyll and ammonia whilst some samples are also sent back to the UK for analysis.This month Helen and I took a trip out to a local island 'Lagoon' where we installed some plastic settlement plates in the intertidal zone, I'll have to go back once or twice a year to photograph them and see if anything has grown on them. There is a small hut on the island were you can stay overnight if the weather gets bad or if you choose to get a night away from base. There are hoards of elephant seals there at the moment, they're massive, noisy and smelly but pose no threat.
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There are hoards of elephant seals there at the moment, they're massive, noisy and smelly but pose no threat
Do they make you homesick for nights out on Broad Street?
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