2017 Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Visit

During my summer I always visit a small island off the coast of Massachusetts. It is called Martha's Vineyard. On Martha's Vineyard I write a blog about nature and science. One of the many adventures that I am going to write about this summer is visiting Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). At WHOI I met up with some researchers and scientists who were studying chemicals in the ocean. I am also going to be working with them on a project this summer.  

The head of the group, Anna Michel showed me the Deep Submergence Laboratory.  To learn more about Anna and her work click here I got to learn about many of the different devices that they built and use to complete their research.  They built a device called a Deep Sea Laser Spectrometer, which is a high tech device that is mounted on a remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV). The Deep Sea Laser Spectrometer collects and measures gases from the salt water.

Another instrument in the lab that can be used for analysis is a Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer (FTIR).  The laser inside sends out a lot of light, gases absorbs light, the light hits the mirror, and shoots the remaining light back to the detector.  Different chemicals absorb different wavelengths, so they can use this process to determine which gasses are present.  

In the lab, they also had a gun shaped device (XRF) that analyzes the oil patties and identifies what type of oil it is. The specific oil patties they were measuring were from the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. There's a picture of the device below.

After seeing all of the other devices and machines in the lab, we met a lady named Victoria who was programing the “brains” for the Jetyak an autonomous vehicle.  She previously built a ROV that mimicked the movement of a turtle.  I was excited because Amanda and I explored biomimicry a few summers ago.  Check out previous post by clicking here. Then I met a guy named Luka who was a computer designer that was designing and 3D printing parts for an autonomous Jetyak.  

We then met up with a teacher named Stacey Strong. She is completing her research experience for teachers fellowship at WHOI this summer.  To learn more about Stacey Strong’s work as a teacher visit the Facebook page Sturgis ROVers.  She collected a container of sand at Surf Beach and my job was to sort through it with a three-section sieve I made and try to find microplastics. My job over the summer will be to visit different beaches around Martha's Vineyard looking for microplastics in the water and sand that could harm nature.  After I collect the samples, I will bring them back to the scientists for them to analyze and figure out the types of plastics we found using a laser.  

After we finished sorting through the sand, we went to a presentation where all of the scientists, engineers, programmers, and physicists shared what projects they were working on. I thought it was really interesting to hear what each person was doing. I really enjoyed visiting WHOI and can't wait to come back and show the scientists my microplastic samples!