SIO 119: Physics and Chemistry of the Ocean

LAST YEAR'S TIDE POOL FIELD TRIP: 9 February 2013

Tide pools get a lot of attention for their rich biology, but what about their chemistry and physical oceanography? Our field trip aimed to understand how the water in a tide pool changes in the time that the tide pool is isolated from the open ocean. class picture

tide pool sampling We chose 3 tide pools to sample 4 times each, with 20 to 30 minute time intervals between samples.
tide pool sampling Temperatures were measured at shallow and deep depths to let us evaluate how the heat content of a tide pool changes in time.
MAE grad student Felipe Mejia (from Jan Kleissl's group) brought along a pyranometer, a net radiometer, and a thermistor so that we could track the solar energy input. tide pool sampling
tide pool sampling Tide pool latitude, longitude, and temperature were logged each time a sample was collected.
tide pool sampling Water samples were "poisoned" to stop biological activity, to keep the CO2 content from changing before samples could be run.
tide pool sampling Samples were returned to the Andersson lab to be run.
Lots of marine life .... tide pool sampling
tide pool sampling tide pool sampling