Friday, September 30, 2005

the wind and the waves

We’ve known about it since Day One in Oceanography class. Our first field trip—a “cruise” on a research vessel in Lake Muskegeon.

I was picturing: cold and wet. (I brought dry socks—no, I’m not kidding!) We’d be helping with the work and the experiments at three different stations in the lake. (I brought Advil and Band-Aids, and prayed I’d remember high school chemistry.) It sounded like we would have fun, and learn a lot.

That’s very interesting, I thought, but I’d rather read about someone else doing it…

It turned out to be beautiful. A little warmer than yesterday, and any clouds were faint and at the horizon.

The first order of business was an introduction to the ship’s lab, by one of the instructors on the boat. Then, my unofficial lab partner and I worked on an alkalinity experiment for station one. (That sounds so high-tech. We swished some chemicals around and wrote down numbers after the water changed color. Pretty straightforward.) It didn’t take long, and then we were outside again, watching the little rainbows form in the spray.

At one point, we passed by the the opening to Lake Michigan, and the waves built and built. All railing room was taken, so a few of us tried to keep our balance standing in the middle of the deck. (This is so random, but it reminded me of tube-surfing in London. When we would ride the subway, sometimes we’d try and stand in the middle of the cars and keep our balance without holding on to anything. Best method: spread your legs apart and bend your knees a little. It’s awesome. You’ve probably tried it before. Back to our story.)

At our second station, I helped with two other girls to find the “turbidity” measurement. I think that means how clear the water is. Anyway, we filled a tube with lake water, and then checked to see if we could still see a little black-and-white disk at the bottom of it. (This is so my kind of science. I can handle a little black-and-white disk.) We did the same with some water that was full of blue-green algae (it looks like the sickest green smoothie you’ve ever seen), and then one more time with the black-and-white disk over the side of the boat, at the third station.

In between stations, we heard from the instructors about all kinds of lake concerns. Evidently at the bottom of Lake Muskegeon, there is a ton of rotting sawdust, from lumber mills that used to be there. Weird. We also heard about lampreys and diatoms and bloodworms and all kinds of things. Acidity and conductivity. Hundred-pound carp that can break your leg if they jump at you. (Seriously!)

It was a three-hour tour (couldn’t resist, sorry), and we got back to Calvin around five. I barely got wet (dribbled a little green algae on my thumb), and I was only a little tired from standing and rocking for three hours. The instructors on the boat were funny and informative, and I got to know a few of the other students better.

I’m a little sun- and wind-burnt, and as I type, it kind of feels like the screen is slowly moving up and down with phantom waves. But the whole afternoon was a ton of fun.

Next week: Oceanography takes us to Leelanau Peninsula! Completely new territory for this English major. This trip will be an overnight one—almost two full days of studying coasts.

But before then… I have a few novels to finish (for classes, of course, we’re not to pleasure reading yet), a paper to write, and my first exam. Tromping around in the fall colors and sliding down sand dunes will be a fitting reward.—jl

Posted by Jenn Langefeld on 09/30 at 08:57 PM
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