Day 13: I must be crazy.

 No down time today!

Today was moving day! We finally moved into the new building! I'll have pictures of the new building that is spoiling me soon...

Science staff had to move the mattresses of the researchers from the
old building to the new building...

And then had to make their beds... I've never
made so many beds in my life!

Today was also the start of my nutrient experiment! No more planning, this is the real thing!

Step 1: Take the core from Left Lake! Notice the glove on my
hand, to protect the hand that I had cut during the practice coring! 

Step 2: Taking the water out of the core tube, then letting the
sediment slide out (using the power of physics and pressure!)
and catching the last 3 or so centimeters of the top sediment.
Then...

Step 3: Plop the sediment core into the "microcosm" container.
And transport these 23 containers back to the lab where...

Step 4: Lake water that was batch sampled are added to
the sediment containers and the containers are labeled. I also
add the 6 DI control containers that will tell me if the container
itself is messing up the measurements.

Step 5: Set the containers into a pool! The water in the pool
will regulate the temperature of the water in the containers.
I had to tie each of the 29 containers into the pool on the poles!
These sit overnight before I spike them with the nutrients
tomorrow morning and start...

Step 6: Sampling! I have to take 158 samples
of water so this picture is to give perspective
to this number, 158. These are just one of the
containers I have to fill in order to measure
TDP and TKN. I also have to measure SRP,
and anions of nitrogen. And, I'm going to
measure Chl a and other pigments that are
found in plants. I'll explain these in more detail
when I have a moment. (It was hard enough to
find time to shower today... or the last couple of
days!)