Deanna - Best lab ever

October 3, 2013 
The Tomoka River - Instrumentation and Data Collecting

We couldn't have asked for a better day! It was perfect. A nice breeze and mostly clear skies. I love when I get to go on a boat. This was a great research vessel. We all worked together like we've been doing this forever.

Dr. Woodall was there ready to go take us on our adventure.

Dr. Woodall looks a bit worried. But she was smiling at the end of the day!

Here be our boat...

DSC research vessel.

We traveled to our furthest point and

began our testing near the mouth of the river. 

 

Dr. Woodall went over each test and each instrument with us, and then turned us loose. 

Here I am using a hand pump to create a vacuum on our filtering apparatus. We were checking for Total Dissolved Phosphates in the water at each of our 5 Sample Sites. Once the water is filtered, the filtrate was then put into a HACH DR 1890 Colorimeter and this instrument measured the Total Dissolved Phosphate in the water.

Here Seaira is showing us how to use the EA-3010NL handheld Anemometer. The anemometer measured the wind speed and air temperature.

  

Angela demonstrating her ability to use the Turner Design Aquafluor hand held Turbidimeter. The turbidimeter measures the "cloudiness" in the water caused by suspended solids.

Another of the instruments we used to tell us how "cloudy" the water was, was a Secchi Disk. This instrument is a flat circle with alternating quadrants of black and white. The point is to lower it into the water until you can't differentiate the difference between the black and white. Then you note the length of the rope.

The HACH 950 Flowmeter was of special interest to me as we will be using it for our project. The Flowmeter measures the velocity of water. I really feel I need to be able to get in the water with the Flowmeter so I can play with it to understand it.  

Houston holding the rod with the Flowmeter on it.

The YSI 85 hand held meter gave us a lot of data. We lowered the meter in the water and we gathered data for the amount of oxygen in the water, water temperature, and water salinity.

Dr. Woodall demonstrating how to use YSI 85

 I think that the HACH HD113 pH Meter is the only other instrument I haven't mentioned. It consisted of a "wand" that was cabled to a hand held instrument. The "wand" was lowered into the water and gave us the pH in the river at each location.

All-in-all, it was a very interesting day. I love being outside and this was the best lab!!

This is the best classroom ever!!