Last night ended with a small shore leave for both participants and crew in Port Huron. After everyone had settled back in, the crew took shifts for staying on watch, and we enjoyed out first night in the little cubby holes we’re calling home for the week. While most of us slept like a rock, Ron woke up at 3:30. When he ventured out as the sun was rising, he saw a pink and orange sky with dark grey clouds looming overhead. He pondered for a moment and asked himself if this could “be a metaphor for the relationship of humans with the Earth system.” The rest of us started moving about 7:00 to watch the ship leave port at 7:45, but we had to wait for a freighter. One thing we’ve learned on this trip is that the schedule is always changing. As we traveled from the Seaway Terminal into Lake Huron, we passed several landmarks such as the Huron Lightship, the Bluewater Bridges, and the Fort Gratiot Lighthouse.

It was a little later than we had planned, but we finally got to do scientific sampling today. Group A started at Station 1 and did a Secchi disk measurement, sent down nets to collect phytoplankton and zooplankton, collected water samples in the Rosette, and tried to collect sediment from the bottom of the lake using a PONAR. They were only able to pick up sand and rocks, but they did find a few cute Quagga Mussels we could use as examples of invasive species in the Great Lakes. Group B meanwhile was hanging out on the O2 deck and making bets on how far down the Secchi measurement would be. Most thought it was less than 5 m, but Chuck was closest to the 8.3 with his guess of 7 meters.

When the sampling was over, we set sail for our next sampling area—Station 9. While we waited for the ship to make its destination, Jim Lubner gave an excellent presentation on the limnology of the Great Lakes. He gave us a brief glimpse of the geology, physics, chemistry, biology, and ecology of the lakes.

Dr. Greg Boyer walked through some of the cool creatures we’ll be finding under our microscopes. I think even with the handouts he gave, we’ll still be calling him over every time we see something new and exciting through the lens.

By now it was time for Group B to suit up and get their hands muddy. They collected the same samples as the first group, but at Station 9 they brought up some very cool mud from the lake bottom instead of rocks and sand. While this half played field scientist, the others worked in the laboratory analyzing water data and hunting for phytoplankton and zooplankton under the microscopes.

We took some time between samples to hear about the contaminants that are threatening our lakes system from Todd Nettesheim. He was very knowledgeable about the effects these pollutants have on the waterways. It was interesting to find out that chemicals such as DDT that have been banned for decades are still found and affect our water life. Beth Hinchey-Malloy, a Marine Biologist, delved deeper into the effects of these chemicals and other factors such as invasive species and cited how the marine organisms have changed over the years. The place of the most common creatures in the Great Lakes ecosystem twenty years ago have been replaced by others.

Dr. Boyer spoke on toxic cyanobacteria blooms. It was interesting to see the different factors that lead to these blooms. Even though most of the blooms are not dangerous to humans, Dr. Boyer mentioned a food chain that will make most of us think twice about seafood for a while. It was along the lines of “mussels eat the algae, the people eat the mussels, the people die.” Seems pretty concise and definitely an eye opener as far as how people are treating these blooms. Global warming was touched on in the lecture, but I think that the best tongue-in-cheek quote from the lecture was “The climate change is going to give us bigger pumpkins.”