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Comments
We continue to make steady progress heading north. We are about to start operations at site I9 28, where we will deploy the CTD to the sea floor in 4000 m of water, deploy XBTs during the CTD cast to calibrate their temperature and depth sensors, and use the large volume pumping system to collect several hundred litres of sea water for the biologists. The pumped water is filtered and analysed in various ways to determine what microbes are living where and what they are doing. The amounts of various pigments used by phytoplankton tell us what species are present. Another group is filtering the water to study fragments of genetic material drifting in sea water at different depths. With the help of a supercomputer, these fragments can be matched to a library of genetic material to determine not only what micro-organisms are present but also what they are doing, e.g. what proteins are being produced and used to carry out different functions in the cell. These observations will be linked to the other physical and chemical measurements being made to determine how the environment shapes the distribution of micro-biota.
Regards, Steve and Barbara
Map
A map showing Australia and Antarctica. The map shows the journey of one voyage that has occured in the season, with each route highlighted in a distinct colour.