July 26, 2012
In the mouth
Same applies for this post. After 3 years of trying we made it. We are at the mouth of the Amazon River and it was spectacular. The water is completely brown, like coffee with some milk in it. Nothing like I have ever seen before, especially in the ocean. But the most amazing part was that the salinity was less than 1 ppt (parts per thousand) at about .05. The average for the ocean is about 35 so that is really low. It is basically fresh water. What makes it even crazier is that we were about 12 miles from the river itself, out in the ocean. Now this may not seem that cool at first but it is difficult for me to wrap my head around. The ocean for miles and miles and miles around us was brown and fresh. The ocean! Goes to show you even further how much influence this river has on the ocean out here. It made the trip even more worth it. Thanks Tish and Doug! Dr. Patricia Yager is co-chief scientist on this cruise (the big cheese) and she is the person that gave me the berth on this cruise and Doug (my advisor) sent me out here.
Anyway, it’s pretty muddy out here. I just filled some of my bottles with “water” (and I am using that term loosely) to start my incubations and there is about an inch of mud sitting on the bottom. Should be interesting trying to filter these samples…