Day 10 Thursday October 6, 2011 11:47 GMT

Today has been another beautiful day on the water.  The ocean is truly like glass, and if not for the chilly temperatures (around 54 degrees F) would be amazing to jump into.  The sunrise this morning was the most spectacular that I think I have ever seen.

We are progressing well, we are at Station 35 right now.  Only 89 more stations before Rio!

There are 13 different groups sampling from the Niskin bottles (big grey tubes) attached to the rosette.  Each group is sampling for particular elements in order to determine variability in and structure of the oceans.

The first of these groups (not in particular order) is the CFC (Chlorofluorocarbon) group.  The measurements of CFCs and other 'tracers' (measurable and traceable chemicals in the ocean) such as sulfur hexafluoride help to document several ocean processes.  Through cruises like this one where deep casts are made and water samples are collected at different depths we get an idea of the invasion of CFCs into the deep waters of the ocean.  This is important because it gives us an idea of a time frame of  uptake in the oceans for uptake for other gases such as CO2 (carbon dioxide).  It also allows us to form a better picture of ocean circulation, by tracking the elements we track the flows.
For more information with better explanations, visit the PMEL CFC Tracer Program website at :http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/cfc/review/index.html.

Thanks for reading!
-Elizabeth

If you are tracking our progress we are now on the western side of the Prime Meridian at:
29  59.99 S   and    1 37.98 W

Below are some photos of: a) Sunrise this morning beginning, b) Sunrise this morning ending, c) Part of the CFC lab