Surface Team Mission Journal - Nerina Holden - 11 Aug 99

The surface team are focussing on corals and we search for suitable study areas in the Research Vessel PISCES, with Otto Rutten at the helm. The coral study is aimed at seeing if we can use coral colour as a way to determine if the coral is about to bleach.

Yesterday we started with snorkel surveys, then donned our diving gear to take a closer look. Some of the best sites we have found are quite shallow - ten feet - which means that we can dive for a long time. This is good news for gathering data, but bad news if its rough because we get tossed around like seaweed (which is what usually happens).

Ania and I made quick in situ coral health measurements, then took samples and sent them to the surface for processing on the PISCES. Some work is done back at the National Undersea Research Center lab, but Uli, Daryl and CC have set up an ingenious mini field lab on the PISCES so that we can take measurements from our collected coral as soon as possible. We measured the colour of the corals, and took various measurements to determine the coral's condition - or health.

We contact the Aquanauts each night, and heard about the computer problems. Luckily we came prepared, and the NURC crew have sent down our spare "topside" laptops, and brought back the broken ones from Aquarius. The broken one is now working fine back at base. It seems that the pressure down in the habitat squashed the laptop, but it's fine now! We're told the problem is related to certain hard drives that can't take the pressure.

Some of us are suffering from "sea lice," which cause a painful itchy rash that looks just like chicken pox (and feels almost as bad). So, for Mission Day 3 we are in the NURC lab processing all our coral samples. Tomorrow we visit the Aquanauts!